My last E60 was a 535d bought new in 2005. I had it for 3 years and averaged 33.2mpg in that time, with about 60% of my driving being urban. The LCI models brought slightly more power and notably better fuel consumption. If someone was doing even 50% open road driving in a LCI 535d I'd believe an average of just under 40mpg. The thing about the monstrous torque is that overtaking is often done in a high gear with no downshift, so the revs needn't be high. I therefore didn't use as much fuel as I might have. It really is extremely lazy motoring. The worst consumption figure I ever saw ( on short very aggressive drives) were never as bad as the best I've ever had out of my M5!

As for repairs, in 3 years I spent nothing on the car except for installation of an AUX interface and two rear tyres, everything else (not much) was under warranty. If you are going to shift the car at the end of the warranty period there is no advantage to having any of these models ahead of any other. At resale the difference is pretty dramatic, at least here in the UK. Dealers can't shift the V8s at all second hand. In October one of my work colleagues was looking to sell his 550 ( year and a half old, 32,000 miles) against a 330i and was offered ?16,000. I thought he was going to have a heart attack, poor guy. As a comparison, my 3 year old 535d got me 23,000 when it left me in May.

 

nope...its a 2004 530d that has been re-mapped twice.

i get 40 mpg overall, it can go to 45mpg on a motorway run at 70 mph (2,000 rpm)

mapping always gives you more mpg (if mapping is not on the limit)

 

Wow! I really must have been pushing hard in that 535d then to only manage 20mpg I guess I was on full boost a LOT of the time.

 

The 535d engine is absolutely fantastic, and such fun to drive with all that torque!!... I'm only getting about 29 mpg, with mainly urban driving... not tooooo bad I supose.

My only gripe is the way it eats the rear tyres.... Maybe I shouldn't use all that torque quite so much...

 

Ok, enough already about the diesels.
You guys keep us with the great performance and economy
the BMW diesels get when we have to wait and see if any 5 series will
come to the states.

I've wanted a 5 series diesel for over two years and if it wasn't so cost
prohibitive to import and convert it to meet US specs I would have bought one.

At least it only cost me 2.45 a gallon for 93 octane when filling up the 545i.

Yes, wake up America and contact BMW NA and demand they import more
diesels. http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/ContactUs/

 

do you mean by that statement that there are not any E60 diesels in the USA?
i find that amazing.......
i have always had large capasity petrol cars
brabus
range rover
and from you guys my favourate toy..a skyline gtr 35 (i think you call it infinity G35 or similar) "mine is heavely modified even for you guys..and was at one point the only one in england" my diesel BMW is faster than my skyline honistly

i cant beleive how far the diesel has come, my car is as fast as any of the big petrol engine BMW's (M5 is an exception)

would not go back (our tax laws are bananas now about large petrol engined cars/4x4's)

 

No, there are 5 series diesels in the US. I just don't want a 1985 524 td even
though I have never driven one. The guidelines for importing a diesel to meet
DOT standards is a time consuming some what painful process.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/...elig050108.pdf

I guess unless I get a Merc Bluetec (still not confident in the reliability)
or VW Jetta which isn't a bad choice but it's no BMW we have a very limited
selection of diesels in the states.

 

i honistly did not know that?
i appreceate you guys dont have the costly fuel we do, and your roads are far better than ours, and your country is physically huge in comparison (hence big lazy V8's)
but with the technical advances in diesels i thought you guys would be way up there with diesels
on the motorways here its all
BMW / AUDI / MERC diesels leading the way, and out in the "fast lane"
large petrol luxury cars like 545 BMW's are not selling at all, because of our tax laws and the cost of fuel/mpg.

i sold my range rover last month, and lost over ?20k of the price (14 months old) due to fuel prices and this recession (depression)
the only thing selling here are small cars and diesels.

 

OMG

I'm guessing you haven't driven in America

 

In US the gasoline is now once again almost free of charge.

But dudes, this will not hold in for long!

Think a bit more and longer into the future...

- please -