colejl

If you drive on an artificial road with no real-world conditions (i.e. a lab) then you may just reach that. Most 'official' figures are never reached, usually somewhere upto 20% worse than claimed... However, I can easily get over 40mpg with a reasonable run (530d+auto) so getting that in a 520d is probably a bit disappointing...

Nevermind

Mine's a 520d Manual. On a run I can achieve over 50mpg. In reality it is a big car and any acceleration kills the fuel economy. According to the on-board computer I average about 33mpg. Although I am disappointed with this my previous car averaged about 26mpg and was a lot smaller, but petrol and substantially faster, it is a realistic figure. My wife's A4 Tdi, which is on paper substantially slower, but with similar fuel economy will easily average 45mpg on the same run whilst feeling at least as fast!

I actually know of people that have serious complaints about fuel economy with diesel 5-Series. In particular 525d Autos where mid 20s mpg is common!

colejl

But let's be honest... The biggest cost is going to be the depreciation, servicing and tyres... Whether you get 35mpg or 45mpg!

I personally think the 520d is probably a bit underpowered and this in itself can harm economy...

djone101

I've had my 525d Auto for 16 months now and get a consistent 32.4 mpg with a reasonable mix of A and M road use.
I was disappointed with this at first (having come from a 320d Manual with high 40s mpg) but I've become accustomed to it now....

Dave

frank520

I've only had my 520D SE (six-speed manual) for a couple of weeks but on mainly motorway getting 44mpg (computer says 49). On journey to work 6 miles stop start and 6 miles @40mph I'm getting about 42mpg (computer says 46). Hoping to do even better when the car has a few thousand on the clock. I think I would be dissaointed with anything below 40mpg unless I was really thrashing it. Be very interested to know how to recalibrate the on board computer if anyone has a link to the post.

fox72

I've had my E60 520d 6-speed manual for two weeks and 2000 km now. Average consumption according to the trip computer is 6,1 liter/100 km, which turns out to be slightly optimistic Mostly motorway from home to work (110-160 km/h) including many traffic jams. At the petrol station I filled the tank with 65 litres and it reached 1000 km before the computer let me know the tank was completely empty. Very satisfied with this result,l although my Golf tdi was happy with 5.4l/100km. Not entirely happy with the power though - 150hp for such a heavy car leaves me somewhat frustrated, e.g. at traffic lights and when accelerating from 110km/h to 140km/h in fifth gear. Hopefully the remap to 200hp and 420 Nm (on 27th June) will solve this to some extent.

5slices

Just clocked 1500 miles and averaged 43.9 mpg but since the 1000 miles mark have increased aggression

boukehj

Please let us know whether the remapping makes a lot of difference. I have the 520d 163hp version with 3500 on it & am not very impressed by the acceleration either. unrelated and unimportant: I also live in the Brussels area.

fox72

Boukehj,

I went to Heinz in Aalst (Belgium) for a remap yesterday. In fact they reprogrammed the engine to the extent that the increase in power and torque are impressive. At first the "standard" output of the car was assessed, which gave values of 145 hp at 3840 rpm and 325 Nm between 2100 and 3000 rpm. Then I was offered a cup of coffee and I had to sit down in the waiting area. When they called me back in, the car's output was 195 hp at 3950 rpm and 405 Nm between 2400 and 3000 Nm. On the road it feels as if I am driving a petrol car, with no difference when touching the throttle as before, but when I push the throttle harder, there is a metamorphosis: no improvement below 2000 rpm (after al it is still a 2.0 litres 4 cyl engine), but between 2500 rpm and 4000 rpm the acceleration has significantly improved. Very useful power, especially on busy roads/motorways, where you want to have comfortable accelerations when changing lanes. Highly recommended. Also, whenever the BMW dealer changes or updates the engine program in the future, Heinz adds the extra power for free.

colejl

That's more to due with the turbo than the capacity/cylinders... Bring on the twin-turbo engine