535d - fuel consumption

[Redeem]

I have been test driving a 2009 535d today to replace my wife's car (a 2004 530i SE). The 535d drives very well but I was wondering about the fuel consumption ie is there a bit difference with the fuel consumption of a 530i ? Many thanks

[daemon]

Redeem said:

I have been test driving a 2009 535d today to replace my wife's car (a 2004 530i SE). The 535d drives very well but I was wondering about the fuel consumption ie is there a bit difference with the fuel consumption of a 530i ? Many thanks

As its a LCI car, you should get around 35-38mpg on average. Long runs 42mpg.

[Neil.D]

About right,

My Pre LCI does 29 average - commuting, town, back road overtaking etc.

Will do 40mpg at 70 all day.

At 60mph - 45mpg.

A LCI will do 2-3 mpg more in those scenarios.

[Deva Link]

Redeem said:

... my wife's car..

What kind of journeys does she typically do? Diesel autos take quite a bit of warming up and they don't come into their own on MPG unless they're on a decent run.

[Redeem]

She drives approximately 30 miles a day. Sorry to ask but what is a LCI car ?
I did a short test drive with the 535d today (approximately 2 miles in central london) and the odometer indicated 23mpg which is only slightly better than my 530i (approximately 19mpg). Hence my question on this forum.

My 2004 530i is a very competent car which unfortunately is not worth very much now. As a part exchange, the BMW dealer said that it will fetch around £6K to £7K although it is fully loaded and has only 40K miles. If I buy the 535d I will keep the 530i as a second car.

[daemon]

Neil.D said:

About right,

My Pre LCI does 29 average - commuting, town, back road overtaking etc.

Will do 40mpg at 70 all day.

At 60mph - 45mpg.

A LCI will do 2-3 mpg more in those scenarios.

I've had both pre and post LCI cars, i was getting and easy 5mpg more out the the LCI car over the same driving conditions.

[daemon]

Redeem said:

She drives approximately 30 miles a day. Sorry to ask but what is a LCI car ?
I did a short test drive with the 535d today (approximately 2 miles in central london) and the odometer indicated 23mpg which is only slightly better than my 530i (approximately 19mpg). Hence my question on this forum.

My 2004 530i is a very competent car which unfortunately is not worth very much now. As a part exchange, the BMW dealer said that it will fetch around £6K to £7K although it is fully loaded and has only 40K miles. If I buy the 535d I will keep the 530i as a second car.

'Life Cycle Impulse' - its BMWs way of saying 'facelifted model'. It refers to cars with a build date (NOT registration date) of 24th March 2007 onwards. It will have the 'joystick' gear stick, revised dash and door cards, revised rear suspension, revised front and rear lights, and the two most important changes - the 286BHP lighter engine (instead of 272BHP cast iron one), and a much improved and more efficient auto gearbox.

Sadly, 23mpg sounds about right over a short run from cold in central london traffic.

Edited by daemon on Sunday 24th July 12:48

[turboman786]

My 2007 LCI 535d returns 23mpg in short trips/local driving.....

32mpg on Motorway

Not the greatest on fuel , but very good considering the performance

[JNW1]

Redeem said:

She drives approximately 30 miles a day. Sorry to ask but what is a LCI car ?
I did a short test drive with the 535d today (approximately 2 miles in central london) and the odometer indicated 23mpg which is only slightly better than my 530i (approximately 19mpg). Hence my question on this forum.

My 2004 530i is a very competent car which unfortunately is not worth very much now. As a part exchange, the BMW dealer said that it will fetch around £6K to £7K although it is fully loaded and has only 40K miles. If I buy the 535d I will keep the 530i as a second car.

If 30 miles a day is in total (as opposed to 30 miles each way) I'd say forget the diesel because, as has been pointed out already, diesels take longer to warm-up and you only see anywhere near the claimed combined mpg figures on longer runs. Even then, my personal experience is that a diesel will still struggle to match the combined figure unless you're taking it easy whereas on longer runs a petrol will often beat the combined figure quite easily. Maybe it's just a reflection on my driving style but I've been disappointed with the fuel consumption on most diesels I've driven whereas I've often been pleasantly surprised with petrols!

[daemon]

JNW1 said:

Redeem said:

She drives approximately 30 miles a day. Sorry to ask but what is a LCI car ?
I did a short test drive with the 535d today (approximately 2 miles in central london) and the odometer indicated 23mpg which is only slightly better than my 530i (approximately 19mpg). Hence my question on this forum.

My 2004 530i is a very competent car which unfortunately is not worth very much now. As a part exchange, the BMW dealer said that it will fetch around £6K to £7K although it is fully loaded and has only 40K miles. If I buy the 535d I will keep the 530i as a second car.

If 30 miles a day is in total (as opposed to 30 miles each way) I'd say forget the diesel because, as has been pointed out already, diesels take longer to warm-up and you only see anywhere near the claimed combined mpg figures on longer runs. Even then, my personal experience is that a diesel will still struggle to match the combined figure unless you're taking it easy whereas on longer runs a petrol will often beat the combined figure quite easily. Maybe it's just a reflection on my driving style but I've been disappointed with the fuel consumption on most diesels I've driven whereas I've often been pleasantly surprised with petrols!

Without (re)opening the petrol v diesel debate, the 535d is an exceptional car that could easily be bought on its many merits, without even considering relative economy.

Also, even IF the O/P decided on say a 2009 530i M Sport instead, so small have been sales that there are none in the AUC network. In fact there are only three 530is and two 550is on AUC across the whole of the UK

Edited by daemon on Sunday 24th July 18:57

Edited by daemon on Sunday 24th July 18:57

Edited by daemon on Sunday 24th July 18:58

[Redeem]

Thank you for the replies - yes the 535 d is indeed a fantastic car although I only test drove for only a few miles. What are the must have options ? The one I drove had pretty much all the options including the head up option etc

[daemon]

Redeem said:

Thank you for the replies - yes the 535 d is indeed a fantastic car although I only test drove for only a few miles. What are the must have options ? The one I drove had pretty much all the options including the head up option etc

Leather, Media Pack (NAV and bluetooth) and thats probably the 'essentials' - they are otherwise well spec'd anyway.

No doubt there will be a thread of 'oh i simply couldnt live without....' type responses now

[JNW1]

daemon said:

Without (re)opening the petrol v diesel debate, the 535d is an exceptional car that could easily be bought on its many merits, without even considering relative economy.

Also, even IF the O/P decided on say a 2009 530i M Sport instead, so small have been sales that there are none in the AUC network. In fact there are only three 530is and two 550is on AUC across the whole of the UK

Don't disagree with anything you've said but the OP asked specifically about relative fuel consumption and all I was suggesting was that in that respect a diesel may not prove to have quite the advantage the published figures would have you believe. I'm not anti-diesel (currently have a 123d as my daily driver) but to illustrate my point that car's over 10% down on the published combined figure whereas my M3 CS is consistently 10% better in the same driving conditions. The 123 is obviously still far better in absolute terms (which is why I bought it!) but the gap isn't as big as you might expect; the published figures would suggest over 30mpg but I'd say 20mpg is nearer the mark!

[NickXX]

There was an LCI 535d review on here a few months ago:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

The guy's previous car was an e39 530i.

Edited by NickXX on Sunday 24th July 22:19

[thegreatdogwood]

I have gone from a 650 cab to X5 with the 35LCI engine. Generally motorway driving 100 miles a day going 70 ish and modest consumption improvement from 23 to 26 mpg

As others have said, the real world difference can be smaller than you expect and the 650 cab is not a light car either

[daemon]

thegreatdogwood said:

I have gone from a 650 cab to X5 with the 35LCI engine. Generally motorway driving 100 miles a day going 70 ish and modest consumption improvement from 23 to 26 mpg

As others have said, the real world difference can be smaller than you expect and the 650 cab is not a light car either

Not comparing apples with apples i'm afraid. The x5 has a four wheel drive system to lug about and is a very heavy car.

The same engine in a 5 series will get an easy 10mpg more. I had an LCI 535d getting 38MPG and went to an e70 X5 3.0d and was only getting 28mpg.

[jjr1]

I had a 535D 05 plate and never got better than 28mpg and mainly around 24mpg as I used it in town a lot. My wife has an 09 X5 and gets the same 24mpg on the same start stop short trips. My Lexus ISF (5 litre V8) does 30mpg on motorways and 22mpg everywhere else, whilst going faster than both diesels everywhere.

Don't get hung up on mpg on these cars. If you want a well specced, torquey car then a 535d is a great choice but don't buy one for mpg.

ps a 520d and a 320d efficiency dynamic I passenger in, get driven weekly with 40mpg and 50mpg respectively. Both are manual and not driven frugally.

[JNW1]

daemon said:

thegreatdogwood said:

I have gone from a 650 cab to X5 with the 35LCI engine. Generally motorway driving 100 miles a day going 70 ish and modest consumption improvement from 23 to 26 mpg

As others have said, the real world difference can be smaller than you expect and the 650 cab is not a light car either

Not comparing apples with apples i'm afraid. The x5 has a four wheel drive system to lug about and is a very heavy car.

The same engine in a 5 series will get an easy 10mpg more. I had an LCI 535d getting 38MPG and went to an e70 X5 3.0d and was only getting 28mpg.

With respect I think you've missed the point dogwood was making! The official figures would suggest you'd see a fuel consumption improvement of over 30% by moving from a 650i cab to an X5 35d whereas in reality he saw an improvement of less than half that. Therefore, I think what he was saying was that in the real world the diesel doesn't have quite the advantage over a petrol that you might expect; still better than a petrol in absolute terms but if you think you're going to see the combined figure in the diesel you may be disappointed unless you're going to drive like a granny (in which case why bother with the twin-turbo six?!).

[k15tox]

they seem not very economical at all judging by real owners experiences.

my monaro does 22mpg and 30 on a run.

with the higher price of diesel it seems false economy to run one! unless you like the sound of a tractor

to hell with it buy a gas guzzling v8!!

Edited by k15tox on Wednesday 27th July 21:29

[JNW1]

k15tox said:

they seem not very economical at all judging by real owners experiences.

my monaro does 22mpg and 30 on a run.

with the higher price of diesel it seems false economy to run one! unless you like the sound of a tractor

to hell with it buy a gas guzzling v8!!

Edited by k15tox on Wednesday 27th July 21:29

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