I was looking at the 5er technical data page( http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/5ser...ngine_data.html ). The 0-1,000m of the 530i is 25.9 while the 535d's is 25.6. I know it is just a small difference but when I saw the 530d's 80-120 km/h, it said 5.1secs while the 530i's is 6.6secs!. If a 530d overtakes faster than a 530i, how much faster will the 535d be?

Are modern diesels really as fast or even faster than petrol cars ??!! I have a BMW X5 3.0L diesel and on paper it says it has the same 0-100km/h as the 3.0L petrol but the top speed is higher in the petrol. I have never driven the 3.0L petrol X5 yet but my X5 diesel doesn't feel like it wants to rev as much as my old e39 530i or my Audi TT .

Anyone have any modern BMW diesel? Please tell me how it feels...

 

535d = Fast! With loads of, 'shove you in the back of the seat' torque

 

I have a 530d and I can tell you that it feels bloody quick on the move. It comes down to the oodles of torque that the diesels have, and the fact that most of that torque is available low down the rev range.

I had a great experience about a year ago on a Munich-to-Salzburg autobahn run on which I managed to keep pace with a guy in a Cayenne S. Granted it was not an open run (on which he would have smoked me) - we were constantly having to run up and down between about 100km/h and 170km/h due to traffic. I managed to keep up with him sufficiently well that he eventually yielded and let me pass. I could see the pissed off look on his face when I passed him and, presumably, he saw the "d" designation on my car, and he actually did some illegal inside-lane overtaking to get back in front of me. I kept up with him for the next 40km or so until the Austrian border, at which I eased off.

 

hell yeah, its almost stomach churning when the turbo is at full boost , makes me grin every time

 

I have a 535d and it's mighty fast. I've ran some 0-100 times with a GPS a few nights ago. Factory sais 6.5s, that's true and very repeatable in DS (runs between 6.3 and 6.7, depending on how fast you go off the brake and into the acceleration).
Best way to take off is in M2, foot on the brake, accelerate to about 2000rpm, then take your foot off the brake and plant the accelerator in the floor, I've had a run of 5.5s (with DSC on). With a modern diesel I believe you have to choose your tires carefully, the power delivery is not as smooth as in a gasoline car. The diesel will create mountains of torque once the turbos spool up and will create uncontrollable wheel spin. When I had Good Year Eagle F1 GS-D3 275/30/19 in the rear, I used to accelerate hard and the DSC would constantly light up until 120-130 km/h.
Now I have Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 285/30/19 and it's much better. I get no unwanted slip over 70 km/h and the car pulls much better.

 

I have had 0-60 with my car in 6.3 and standing quarters in 14.7 with hardly optimal launches (cold winter road surfaces and RFT's), this was in DS mode and DSC fully disabled, measured using a G-Tech Pro RR, the car was fitted with a tuning box at the time

 

Which would be faster a 535i or 535d?

 

hmmmm I reckon without searching for the specs they would actually be pretty similar, with maybe the 535d having the edge on ingear acceleration from maybe 50-70 for example, purely because of the huge torque, I could be talking out my hoop tho as I have not looked up the specs to compare, just gut feeling

 

Well I've read 0-60 from 5.1 seconds to 5.6 seconds for the 535i.
I'm not so sure on the 535d though.

 

I'd seriously consider the 535d if they ever offer it in the US market...