I have a 325ci that is only getting about 12-14mpg when driving in the city of San Francisco. I just wanted to check if this is normal against others who have an e46 and live in the hilly city. Thanks in advance.
Sounds a bit low - I get ~ 16mpg in So.Calif. with short and hilly drives with an ave. speed of ~ 23 - 25mph. Car: 2006 330cic ZHP Auto. Interesting that with my previous 2004 325cic stick I was getting ~18 - 19 mpg with similar driving.
If you drive slowly in a hill city, then you will get very bad mpg, regardless of what the mpg estimates are. As valinjev said, he drives about 25mph in a hilly area. 25mph is not enough speed to get up a hill without requiring acceleration, and since he's going so slowly, a low gear would probably be needed, meaning higher revs and therefore worse fuel economy. An average of around 15mpg I would see as normal in areas like that. Driving style is a major player in your mpg. I swear to you, you can literally get 2 mpg average better if you change you driving style just a LITTLE. I changed my style greatly and I averaged about 4 mpg better in the city than I did before. Of course I drove myself mad and couldn't stand it any longer, so I went back to the more relaxed and slightly faster paced style that keeps me sane. If you have hills around, you probably won't be breaking that 20 mpg barrier any time soon, unless you get yourself a nifty little 123d...