Just had an hour in a new E60 530d...

OllyM

OllyM

OllyM

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Joined
16 Aug 2004
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New Jersey, USA
As part of the EfficientDynamics open weekend, I booked a free check for my car and chose a test drive in an E60 530d. I thought it'd be interesting to see what a modern BMW diesel was like.

I arrived at reception, they took my car keys off of me and introduced me to a salesman who would be doing my test drive. We quickly sat down so he could take a few details from me, and we then proceeded to the test drive.

It was a 530d M Sport automatic that I drove, and in general I was very impressed with the car. I liked the new interior, and iDrive - it felt easy and intuitive to use. The seats were comfortable too. I'd be quite happy with an E60 as my next car.

However, the engine was (in my opinion) pretty awful. I know a lot of people like diesel power delivery, but I hated it. All the power seemed to come in one big lump, and considering it had 231bhp (identical to my 530i), it didn't actually give a sensation of speed - I guess because it doesn't really rev. It was quick, but it didn't feel it. It was fairly quiet in the cabin, but you could still hear diesel rattle when going slowly.

To sum up, I came away disappointed - regardless of how far they've come in the past few years, they haven't advanced enough. I can't bring myself to get a diesel after that. No way.
 
Diesels have 2 things going for them

a) economy / co2 (thus company car tax)

b) relatively high torque for their displacement compared to petrols - a 2.0l diesel being better than a 2.0l petrol for towing a caravan, for instance

Those things aside, get a petrol every time. As an 18 month diesel veteran I can honestly say that I don't understand how anyone could prefer the power delivery of a diesel in anything other than a van!

Edit: And I don't see how a manual 'box would help. You soon get tired of stirring it to try to wring the power out.
 
Adz said:
Diesels have 2 things going for them

a) economy / co2 (thus company car tax)

b) relatively high torque for their displacement compared to petrols - a 2.0l diesel being better than a 2.0l petrol for towing a caravan, for instance

Those things aside, get a petrol every time. As an 18 month diesel veteran I can honestly say that I don't understand how anyone could prefer the power delivery of a diesel in anything other than a van!
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I'll give you the torque thing, but with Efficient Dynamics the 530i would actually cost you less in company car tax than the 530d - BIK percentage for the 530i is 23% vs 26% for the 530d (or 24% for the manual 530i and 25% for the manual 530d). That, coupled with the lower list P11D price means you actually pay less company car tax on a petrol!
 
A remap should solve all of the problems with the car, also I never found the interior as inviting as the e39, it's more like sitting on a dinner table chair than reclining in a lazy boy sofa.

I distract is a pain the first time you have it too.


What did the efficicy dynamics people check on your car?
 
well my uncle has a diesel x5 and rr sport, they both seem to be really fast, he easily overtakes small petrol cars on the country roads

if your going for speed then obviously you wanna go petrol, if you wanna go economy then diesel, its simple

theres no point slating diesels for speed when they arent built for that reason, but some diesels do give out a great combo of speed and economy

Golf GT TDi, rr sport and the x5
 
jamoor said:
A remap should solve all of the problems with the car, also I never found the interior as inviting as the e39, it's more like sitting on a dinner table chair than reclining in a lazy boy sofa.
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So it'll raise the rev limiter to 7000rpm will it, and stop the power arriving in a lump with absolutely nothing below about 2000rpm when the turbo spools up? ;)

Perhaps the 535d is better in that regard?

I distract is a pain the first time you have it too.
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I found it quite good :)

What did the efficicy dynamics people check on your car?
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Not much really, I'll post the bit of paper in a minute.
 
aye i remebmer taking a mondeo tdci 2.0 140 odd ps 6speed out for a spin, came back VERY disapointed i even told the dealer how crap it was
 
OllyM said:
So it'll raise the rev limiter to 7000rpm will it, and stop the power arriving in a lump with absolutely nothing below about 2000rpm when the turbo spools up? ;)

Perhaps the 535d is better in that regard?



I found it quite good :)



Not much really, I'll post the bit of paper in a minute.
Click to expand...


Should make it more active below 2k, although to be fair, I hate having to rev like crazy to go anywhere in a car like that.
 
OllyM said:
I'll give you the torque thing, but with Efficient Dynamics the 530i would actually cost you less in company car tax than the 530d - BIK percentage for the 530i is 23% vs 26% for the 530d (or 24% for the manual 530i and 25% for the manual 530d). That, coupled with the lower list P11D price means you actually pay less company car tax on a petrol!
Click to expand...

I must admit I'm not familiar with Efficient Dynamics but it seems to be mentioned more and more on this forum and I've seen the TV ads. Time to do some reading I think.

I'll be needing a new car in January and there's more chance of it being a horse and cart than another diesel ;).
 
Adz said:
I must admit I'm not familiar with Efficient Dynamics but it seems to be mentioned more and more on this forum and I've seen the TV ads. Time to do some reading I think.

I'll be needing a new car in January and there's more chance of it being a horse and cart than another diesel ;).
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It sounds like a fancy name for a car designed to perform well in fuel economy tests and shut off at the traffic lights.
 
They washed and vaccumed my car actually which was quite nice, and told me that the fog lights were cracked (duh!).

ed-1.jpg


ed-2.jpg
 
jamoor said:
It sounds like a fancy name for a car designed to perform well in fuel economy tests and shut off at the traffic lights.
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And make company car drivers and fleet buyers (quite possibly their most important market) very happy ;).
 
Psycho Sonny said:
automatic diesels for the loss

thats your problem right there - if it had been manual the sensation of speed,etc would have been double
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nonsense, my dad's E60 diesel auto gives a sensation of speed
probably more so than the manual, as the torque converter lets it hang at optimum RPM
 
mjt said:
nonsense, my dad's E60 diesel auto gives a sensation of speed
probably more so than the manual, as the torque converter lets it hang at optimum RPM
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If you haven't noticed this car is designed to hide the sensation of speed, which it does in a perfect manner.
 
The ED 530d is 235bhp(4 up on the older version). You may find that the engine was a bit tight in the car you drove mine is still tight with 7k miles on it and the fuel economy is rising all the time at the moment as its loosening off. I don't have a problem with the power delivery on mine(it pulls really hard from tickover) its just different from a petrol engine as the revs arent waking around the gearbox is doing more of the work to give you the acceleration. My car feels like its really shifting when you put your foot down and the new auto boxes change gear really nicely to keep you in the right gear all the time. It could be that as lots of people are driving the car the gearbox is unable to learn a driving style so is trying to deliver more comfort with a slight loss in speed in the process.
 
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