EPA Downgrades BMW 328I Mph

By Ingrid Johnson





Earlier this week, the EPA decided to lower the fuel-economy mpg rating for the 2012 BMW 328i eight-speed automatic. BMW is not terribly happy that the regulator decreased the grade after performing its own battery of tests..



Anticipated small drop



According to a BMW spokesman, the automaker has been ordered by the EPA to lower the miles per gallon numbers for the 2012 BMW 328i automatic. Only last week, the sedan commanded 24 mpg in town and 36 mpg on the highway. Today, it can only achieve 23 and 33.



Agency ran its own test



The BMW gas mileage decrease occurred after the EPA did its own tests on the car. Every automaker does a bunch of tests and reports the findings to the EPA. Occasionally, the EPA will just accept the results while other times it runs its own test to figure out if the numbers are really accurate.



EPA tests only a handful



Only about 15 percent of all United States automobile models actually get a special test done by the EPA, according to Car and Driver magazine.



Bigger drop than expected



BMW said it was "surprised" at how low the rating was after the EPA did its own test. Normally, the EPA will only drop a rating just a little bit. It is not typically as severe as BMW's drop was.



Learn about BMW 328i



A 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder 240 horsepower engine can be found in the 2012 BMW 328i with 260 lb-ft of torque. There are paddle shifters on the steering wheel to operate the eight speed transmission.



Standards for the EPA



The car was initially analyzed by BMW in Munich. An EPA fuel-economy test has to be done on an indoor track, under controlled conditions. The type of fuel is even specified, so that all variables remain constant. The vehicle is attached to a dynamometer and is put through five different test cycles: city, hot city, cold city, highway and aggressive highway.



Lower rating to stay



The six-speed manual shift version of the 328i kept its 23/24 rating despite the change for the automatic version. BMW cannot ever change this since it will be unable to retest until it has the 2013 design to use.









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