X6 35d MPG

[X5Sport]

The X6 is a much rarer car generally (only 150,000 made so far) and most sold have been the diesel versions. Current data (inc 2011 sales) shows only 118 X6 35 petrol examples in the UK against 2,000 35d and 1,600 30D models. There are only just over 810 X6 40d cars on the current register. The 50i has just 45 and the X6(M) a mere 58. It's not a volume seller in petrol trim.

The break even points between the diesel and petrol models is around 10k/yr on these cars, although it's nearer 50k on something like a 320i/320D. The price gap is closing again too - only £0.06p around here, but it was £0.14p. You do pay less for fuel in Surrey/Sussex though. My folks live in Farnham and typical prices are £0.05p lower down there for some reason.

Surprised the servicing is cheaper. My dealer shows all V8 models as being more expensive than the 4 & 6-cyl engines. Given the serving is controlled by fuel used and the petrol models chew through fuel faster, I can't see how your comment goes with dealer stated charges. Certain servicing is the same regardless of engine type (time based). Are the service intervals longer on the petrol models now? They certainly didn't used to be we had petrol BMWs. Engine types & tech has moved on a lot recently though....I think my next model is also likely to be petrol. The next gen X5 is already being reported as having 2.0litre triple turbo petrol power for the entry model.

For the current X6, the economy was allegedly improved by 11% with the change to the ZF 8sp transmission (also now used in the Range Rover TDV8, Q7, Touareg and Cayenne).

[Ian J]

I've had my X6 35d for six months and have averaged 22.7mpg over 4,200 miles.

Around town I get 21-22mpg and on motorway runs averaging 80mph I will get 25-26mpg

My previous car was a BMW 645 and I averaged 20.7mpg over 20,000 miles so not much of an improvement if at all when taking the extra cost for diesel over petrol nowadays

[carlos50]

I can't believe how poor the X6 35d is when I think my Range Rover 3.6 TDV8 did 24mpg and is a bigger car with V8 engine.

Have to say I'm not impressed so far

[Ian J]

[quote=""carlos50""]Have to say I'm not impressed so far[/quote]

Me neither and it should teach me a lesson as having decided a year before hand that my next car would be a Range Rover I bought the X6 on impulse.

Whilst it does many things very well the ride on anything but the very best surfaces is very jittery ( 20" wheels and runflats ) and the standard equipment levels are very poor for that price range of car.

I would never knowingly buy a car with leather seats that didn't have them heated but didn't think to check as I wrongly assumed that they would be standard.

I also don't know why BMW don't think that a rear wiper is necessary as when it's been raining or snowing overnight the rear screen needs to be cleared and only people over 7' tall can wipe it without getting their clothes wet

[535dboy]

http://www.porsche.com/uk/models/cayenne/

[X5Sport]

One of BMWs worst traits is that the base spec of what should be a luxury car is lower than a number of people expect, but they aren't the only 'offenders' by any means. Some Dealers only run base spec, or near base spec demo cars in these models as they can't afford anything else given the low sales volumes compared to the 1, 3 and 5 series sales. The Demo X6 I drove when ordering mine in 2010 wasn't particularly loade up. But then I was only interested in how it drove. I do remember thinking at the time that the mpg was better than I was seeing on my E53 30d though.

There are also those who really want a BMW (or a Merc, Porche, Audi etc) but can't afford to spec it up so they 'go cheap'. Some have somewhat cynically said that the only reason Range Rover can sell as many as they do is because of the spec. If they used the German Motor Industry business model then they would not do quite as well.

Missing seat heating is an unusual one though, and cannot be retrofitted either to the same seats..

When looking through the brochure I specced 4-zone climate control and the images all showed rear seat heating as part of it, but when the car arrived it wasn't so. I was surprised and a little annoyed but that's the way the brochure is put together and I had made an incorrect assumption and then not double checked.

[535dboy]

[quote=""X5Sport""]

Missing seat heating is an unusual one though, and cannot be retrofitted either to the same seats..

[/quote]

We actually forgot this on the Mrs' previous car (Audi A4 3.0Q Cab).

I partly blame the dealer for not pointing this out, particularly given that it had leather and was an open top !

I have had the same problem with the Porsche garage - asked for advice on spec and had conflicting answers between what he said and what the people/owners on PH said. Luckily I was still able to amend the spec.

I have very little time for car salesmen. It is not that Porsche are like Vauxhall and have lots of models and trim levels. HE should know this stuff. His defence was that it was a brand new model!

[X5Sport]

[quote=""535dboy""]HE should know this stuff. His defence was that it was a brand new model![/quote]

Well, well. Ain't that a coincidence! That's exactly what my salesman said! Must be the same training school, or excuses manual..... Mine had not gone into production, but I felt that they really should have known more about the products they were selling.

It really does suggest that Dealers now ought to have 'model experts' to handle the specific cars in the range so that there is improved knowledge of the vast range of models, options and annual revisions.

[535dboy]

I thought many of the guys went to the foreign launch events and therefore maybe they should spend more time listening instead of nursing a hangover!

Audi used to have dedicated sale people for the A8

[Chompers]

Having benn in the industry for many years I can say that when I was selling Vauxhalls we were some of the best train sales people in the country. Vauxhall has/had a fantastic facility at Luton and hands on training for new models. BMW also have a very good training centre in Bracknell but it only works when you send people to it!!! Yesit would make a great deal of sence for sales people to specialist in a particular model (was tried at the launch of the previous 7 series) but if the volumes are low then tring to get a person to wait for the odd customer to come through door is going to be hard on the commission.

With BMW, it is only going to get worse. There are so many varients available now with even more to come over the next few years. Couple this with BMW wanting Vauxhall/Ford sales volumes its all going to end in a mess somewhere along the line. Would love to know thye number of cars that get rejected due to incorrect spec?

All I can say is buyer beware and do your homework!!!

[X5Sport]

Didn't VW decide to reduce the options available on its cars a few years back? If memory serves, there were more than 20 variants possible for each model and they decided to drop it to about 6 with very limited options that could be added.

Perhaps BMW could learn and rather than having a shop full of toys, they lock it down to packs - as they do for some options - and remove any other choices, or fit them as a standard part of that trim level., and improve the standard options fitted at the same time of course.

And as usual in times of 'limited funding', training is usually amongst the first budget area to be cut. Last year my 'in working time' training budget was 3 days. Of course I could do as much as I wanted in my own time - the preferred option!

Getting back on subject though, is it the 35d X6 specifically with this fuel problem, or do other 35d variants like the E70 from the sane period also have an issue?

[535dboy]

[quote=""X5Sport""]Getting back on subject though, is it the 35d X6 specifically with this fuel problem, or do other 35d variants like the E70 from the sane period also have an issue?[/quote]

Why should we, I love slagging off BMWs !

My old 535 was worse than my x5 !

[X5Sport]

Oh, alright then.......slag away.....

[535dboy]

[quote=""X5Sport""]Oh, alright then.......slag away..... [/quote]


Haven't got enough time

The comment about 535 being worse than X5 was regarding economy, other than that it was a far better car than the X5!

[shadrack]

today someone i know was looking at a 1 series for the misses and the garage was adament he needed a diesel which had a 5k premium over the petrol, now going on the figures quoted by bmw and only a 2 minute in head calculation we seemed to think it would take 160,000miles to recoupe the cost, this may be wrong but they wasnt much diffence in mpg