abcsworld

My 530xd does an average of 8.2l/100km with 50% town and 50% motorway (M4 london-cardiff). Not too bad considering the addition due to the 4wheels drive. On motorway only it does about 7.2 to 7.8l/100km. Reasonable as I do not really drive at legal pace...and did get few flashes on on French autobahn. I had a to get an upgrade on cip rev two months ago as oil level sensor was reading faulty level (see my post on this subject). I did notice a slight increase in my fuel consumption though (about 0.2 l/100km). Yet nothing I would worry about.

You might also want to compare consumption vs tyre size. I am using 245 17" alloy...RFT (eagle NCTS)...and when summer shine (unfortunately an seldom event around cardiff) I drive with panoramic roof open...and l/100km gain another few decimal points.

Cheers

gIzzE

I only ever got between 22 and 31mpg from my 535d, after a remap it went to 24 - 34mpg.

Can't see the 530d or the 525d being any different, it is the weight of the car that causes the problems not the amount of power on tap, the fact the mpg is improved after the remap shows getting the power right is more important.

The LCI cars tend to give far, far superior figures though, I can easily get 30mpg from the facelift 535d and 40mpg on a run crusing at 85mpg, I would say they are at least 25% more economical.

I have swapped to an efficient dynamics 320d sport touring auto, this is tuned to 210bhp, does 0-60mph in 7 seconds and returns 40mpg just in the city on short journeys, 46mpg it is averaging at the moment and 55mpg on a run. It really is an awesome all round car.
Only problem is we found out my wife is pregnant again a week after we got it, and we have a dog, so it may not be big enough, but I am going to try and make it work as I do prefer it to the E61 535d as an all round package, handling, comfort and definitely economy!

jonno_

Driving style/remaps etc aside, I think the importance of clear & clean air and fuel filters and correct tyre pressures are often neglected.

smarty156

Used my wifes Renault Scenic 1.9dCi (manual) yesterday to drive to work. Averaged just about 42mpg.
Reset my trip and drove to work in my car today (E61 2004 530D auto) and got just over 26mpg. The route is fairly hilly and quite a lot of traffic plus it's only 11 miles.
Now initially the comparison between the two cars doesn't look that great. However, if you consider the BMW has an engine 1.58 times as big as the Scenic then (all other things like engine efficiency being equal) you would expect the BMW to achieve about 26mpg (42/1.58). However, other things are not equal. The Renault is 120bhp and the BMW 218bhp so 1.8 times the power. So you could say, on that basis, you'd expect the BMW to achieve about 23mpg. Also, the Renault is manual and the BMW auto, the BMW is bigger and heavier and at no point did I go over 65mph, which is where the BMW would be better due to aerodynamics (the Renault is quite high).

So, my point is, overall the BMW is actually more efficient than the Scenic based on a cc for cc or bhp for bhp comparison.

So anyone who expects to do mixed cross country and town driving and achieve more than 26mpg in a 530D auto is asking too much. If you need better fuel economy buy a smaller engined less powerful car. You can't have your cake and eat it!

jer

I have an auto 530d with 40k full history and has been checked twice by and independant and a main dealer and said is perfect running order. I have tried modifying driving style, replaced runs flats, checked the UK mpg, reset the gearbox computer and had all the BMW software upgrades (gearbox and management system) in Feb 09 (think it was 32.1).

The results so far are by example : I left heathrow and reset the computer i drove as gently as possible at 70 mph on the M4 the 40 mins at night to Reading. I get 34mpg. Similar driving like I was miss Daisy's chauffeur to Oxford on B roads = 34 mpg. If I drive in Suburban driving I get 26 mpg @ best. All the updates decreased suburban consumption from 23.5 to ~26. Only my second tank but I am refilling at about 400 miles, 450 tops on a tank. I can never see it possible to get 40 mpg. As I say I cannot average 30 from a tank in mixed driving. Next thing is to try a remap but I to be honest i think people with pre line change Autos have their maths wrong when they say they average 35-40.

firestorm

530D manual 218ps
town driving 21mpg in winter, 24mpg summer
long distance 65mph in summer/winter 43mpg
long distance 90mph in summer/winter 34mpg

I can get from Gatwick to Fort William on one tank of diesel, with plenty to spare ....

Unfortunately my driving is urban 99% of the time, 80% distance wise.

have got BMW 18" alloys on Goodyear NCT5 run flats
have verified obc values with brim-to-brim measurements

firestorm

Its worth checking to see if your thermostat is working properly.

Take a look here --> http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=70669

jer

Thanks for the EGR pointer firestorm, I missed this despite searching the forum many times. certainly problem is when warming the car up, will investigate.

7Green

you're lucky guy! My weekly-checked consumption this winter (530D) was around 11.7-12.5 l/100 km . All run was inside the MOscow... Never tried yet long-way highway check. MAybe this spring will go to St.Petersburg for weekend (around 1800 km both ways + city)... MAy be I will see 6-7 l/100 km too...

Patrick E61

I recently drove 2500km in Sweden (90% on the motorway) and the consumption was 7.9l/100km with an average speed of 98.6km/h. There were some stretches of +140km/h as well.

I was hoping for lower fuel consumption! At least diesel is 0.10? cheaper there than in Finland.