On the way home from work last night I was being tailgated by an E60, anyway at the next roundabout I exited in the inside lane and let the E60 past, i then pulled out behind him. We both got caught in traffic but as the dual carridge way cleared the E60 in front of me accelerated, lets just say that no matter what he did I sat with him (at a safe distance of course), on the straights and over a few more roundabouts, and few standanding starts the cars were both evenly matched.
The other E60 was a 54plate 525d, mine is a 55plate 520d.
I know that the 525d is probably a lot smoother, nice 6 cylinder noise etc etc,but for value for money I do not think you can beat the 520d, its economical, quiet, smooth and has adequate performance as not to get embarrassed.
Mind you, I would still love a 530d or a 535d

 

Well you've got a TVR for the weekend so a 520d is fine the rest of the time

Seriously though the 520d isn't a slow car it's just that BMW make faster ones. But, on the road there comes a point where you can't do that much more with the extra power.

For the most part I don't think I can drive that much quicker in my 530d than I could in my last car (320cd) - although the 530d does push me back in my seat very convincingly - it's just that traffic and roundabouts and bends and things get in the way (and in the 530d they come up much more quickly).

I saw a 525d absolutely tanking it the other day and that didn't seem in the least bit slow.

It's not the power - it's what you do with it

 

The 520d is a wise choice!