1968-1976 BMW 2002 — MPG & Fuel Facts NO OFFICIAL EPA RATING

The EPA's public fuel-economy dataset only goes back to 1984 — the 1968-1976 BMW 2002 predates it, so there is no government-rated MPG number for this car anywhere, including here.

Estimated 20–27 MPG combined.

Period road tests and modern owner-logged data agree on roughly 20-27 US mpg, with the spread driven by carburetion vs. Kugelfischer injection (tii), 4-speed vs. automatic, and how hard the willing 2.0-liter four is driven.

This is our estimate, not an EPA rating — built from the period road tests, marque-specialist guides and corroborated owner reports cited below, hedged where sources vary. Treat it as a ballpark for planning, not a spec to rely on.

The 2002 ran BMW's M10 2.0-liter SOHC four for its whole 1968-76 US life: the single-carb 2002 (~100 hp), the injected 2002tii (1972-74), and the emissions-equipped square-taillight cars of 1974-76. Transmissions were a 4-speed manual or optional 3-speed automatic.

Road & Track's May 1968 road test data panel lists 'Fuel consumption, normal driving: 22-27 mpg; cruising range 265-325 mi' on the 12.1-gallon tank — a genuine period-measured range for the early round-taillight car.

The US government's own 1976 Gas Mileage Guide rates the final-year 2002 (121 CID four, 2-barrel) at 18 city / 25 highway / 21 combined with the manual (19/26/22 automatic). Those are pre-1985 test-method numbers, which ran optimistic.

Fuelly's owner-logged aggregate (32 cars, roughly 150,000 tracked miles) shows per-model-year averages of 19.6-23.4 US mpg — 1976 cars average 22.8 over 104,000 miles — bracketing the EPA figure and sitting just under R&T's period range.

Sources: Road & Track, May 1968 road test (full reprint with data panel at Curbside Classic) · EPA 1976 Gas Mileage Guide (BMW row, read from scanned government booklet) · Fuelly — BMW 2002 owner logs (32 vehicles)

All classics Search BMW 2002 on FuelFacts (in case a later model year is in our 1984+ EPA data)