E60 530d Auto pre-LCI mpg?

[CarPrintGuy]

Hi all, I recently took a 530d as part exchange when selling my E55, and expected it to be nice and frugal.

While it's great to drive, it struggles to manage 25 mpg round town and the best I've ever got out of it was 40 mpg; as soon as I use any performance it plummets to around 33 on a long run.

I've heard other getting more like 30 round town and 50 maximum on a run. Just wondering what others are getting. I'm considering either selling this, replacing with a newer gearbox and refreshing the torque converter, which could be the cause of poor mpg, or saving up for an LCI 535d.

Thermostats have been done.

[MajorBeef]

Changed the air filter recently?

For comparison my Pre LCI 535d averaged 29 ish. On a steady motorway run at 70mph it would get early 40’s. Not great really but perfectly liveable.

[Deep Thought]

CarPrintGuy said:

Hi all, I recently took a 530d as part exchange when selling my E55, and expected it to be nice and frugal.

While it's great to drive, it struggles to manage 25 mpg round town and the best I've ever got out of it was 40 mpg; as soon as I use any performance it plummets to around 33 on a long run.

I've heard other getting more like 30 round town and 50 maximum on a run. Just wondering what others are getting. I'm considering either selling this, replacing with a newer gearbox and refreshing the torque converter, which could be the cause of poor mpg, or saving up for an LCI 535d.

Thermostats have been done.

TBF that doesnt sound too far off. My pre LCI 535d (2005) would have done around 35mpg on a run and my LCI one would have done maybe 38MPG, so your 530d seems to be in the right ballpark.

I also ran 320ds of that era and only ever got around 42mpg in them overall.

I certainly wouldnt be spending £££s on it in the hope of getting a few extra mpg.

[CarPrintGuy]

MajorBeef said:

Changed the air filter recently?

For comparison my Pre LCI 535d averaged 29 ish. On a steady motorway run at 70mph it would get early 40’s. Not great really but perfectly liveable.

Not sure, will check with the previous owner. Hmm if a 535d would crack 40 on a run a 530d should crack 45.

I've looked into it and as mentioned above it probably isn't worth forking out for a few extra mpg, unless it's things like air filter/new battery/glow plugs and so on.

[CarPrintGuy]

Deep Thought said:

TBF that doesnt sound too far off. My pre LCI 535d (2005) would have done around 35mpg on a run and my LCI one would have done maybe 38MPG, so your 530d seems to be in the right ballpark.

I also ran 320ds of that era and only ever got around 42mpg in them overall.

I certainly wouldnt be spending £££s on it in the hope of getting a few extra mpg.

Music to my ears, thank you. I'll just have to get used to the mpg I guess, it isn't all that bad. Would like to drive to the Nurburgring on 1 tank as soon as we're allowed.