Did BMW Overstate 328i's Exceptional Fuel Economy?

Still a good student, but got caught cheating.

I still want one. I don't know, I have taken a couple of extended test drives in a 328i, and based on what I saw on the mileage from the drive, I believe the estimates

What good is fuel economy if the car is in the dealership getting repairs 24/7? (My Lexus fan imitation)

Dumb? That is exactly how I would expect an insecure ToyLex fan to respond. And I wouldn't expect Toyota/Lexus fans to find it funny. But you are right. It isn't original. Toyota/Lexus fans say crap like that all the time.

"adjust the 328i auto ratings to a more believable 23 city and 33 highway. Numbers that are still very good but not nearly as magical."

Really? Not nearly as magical? I think being off by 1 in each is still "NEARLY" as magical. Being off by 5, ok, not NEARLY, but 1, I think by most definition, would qualify as "NEARLY"...

if you'd step down off your soapbox for a second, did you happen to notice that every car in that comparison test was below the EPA claims? Do you think maybe it had to do with the fact that they were reporting observed fuel economy from a day of flogging the cars in a performance evaluation, versus reporting normal day to day driving like the EPA estimates?

I don't frequent the BMW Website or any BMW Forums but I do check this website everday as well as a few other Auto news sites and the Spies had the highest praises for the 328 and its estimated mpg of all the sites I have been too.

So BMW did provide the baton, but you guys were the ones that ran with it.

for some reason the new 3 series look is beginning to age premmaturely to me

Darn, I was looking forward to 22/34 on the Z4 I ordered... Guess I will wait to see what the adjusted numbers are, still think it will be worth it and will save me a tank of gas a month versus the 3.0 I-6.

I hate to ruin a good rant with logic, but they're called "preliminary ratings" for a reason, people. It's routine for them to be adjusted. Before we storm Munich with pitchforks, it should also be noted that those revised ratings also happen to still be significantly better than ANY competitor vehicle, despite offering better better performance (in fact, not only are the 328's ratings the highest in the class, but the 335i's ratings are higher than the BASE engine in EVERY competitor).

So relax. When your brand of choice comes out with their new competitor model, they'll be releasing preliminary figures too that are just as likely to be adjusted. And likely to still be lower. And I'm going to ignore how dumb it is to bring up the observed fuel economy from a magazine comparison where they were driving at full throttle the whole time as evidence of anything to do with EPA claims for normal day to day driving. Because, really, it's that dumb.

Read the BMW press release regarding this, the word validate is mentioned. I would say the revised ratings are not miles ahead anymore but rather 1 or 2 mpg better (closer to 1 in the combined ratings) when compared to competiton that is not brand new. This has happened in the past to other manufacturers and if you look around the EPA ratings do bounce up and down from year to year without anyone noticing. A change in the first model year on a brand new model that had eye catching fuel economy does get noticed.

Some early 2012 3 series reviews have claimed the test car returned exceptional MPG of around 33.

That is quite remarkable for such a stout luxury car. Leave it to BMW to pull off another minor miracle.