A manual 530d will likely better an auto 520d for overall economy, even if you are doing alot of mway miles. It will destroy it for outright performance (especially with a map) and refinement. I'd buy a cheaper e60 530d manual.
I averaged a combined 58mpg to milton keynes the other day doing nsl. If i hammer it to xxx leptons and drive like your typical bmw driver around town, id still be above 40mpg combined, easy.
My dads 530d auto e60 is a joke. It just drinks diesel. But he loves the lazy slushbox. So relaxing. If you can afford to pay so much for the car to begin with, bare in mind its going to depreciate like a stone. I dont get why people then buy a smaller engine to save money?! Buy a slightly older 530d thats done more of its depreciating and enjoy it! Have you even worked out the total fuel cost differences in a year between a 520d/530d auto. Probably not much in it at all.
The older e39 and pre 2003 e46s came with the older m57 2.9d's. They dont compare to the newer 3.0d m57ns as found in the newer e46s/e60s. 300bhp and mongifying torque levels are quite reachable with a few select mods.
Also, bare in mind the sport models ride quite hard. Not quite as comfortable as you might think for the mways. Mine tramlines like a BITCH in comparison to my dturb. Mind you, the e60s dont have staggered mv2 rims like mine has, which makes it better. Never tried the audis mentioned above, but from having owned a tt and an s4 b5, i can only imagine they have similiarhorrible, audi wooden steering. The bmws, even in SE spec dont. Try them before hand!
I averaged a combined 58mpg to milton keynes the other day doing nsl. If i hammer it to xxx leptons and drive like your typical bmw driver around town, id still be above 40mpg combined, easy.
My dads 530d auto e60 is a joke. It just drinks diesel. But he loves the lazy slushbox. So relaxing. If you can afford to pay so much for the car to begin with, bare in mind its going to depreciate like a stone. I dont get why people then buy a smaller engine to save money?! Buy a slightly older 530d thats done more of its depreciating and enjoy it! Have you even worked out the total fuel cost differences in a year between a 520d/530d auto. Probably not much in it at all.
The older e39 and pre 2003 e46s came with the older m57 2.9d's. They dont compare to the newer 3.0d m57ns as found in the newer e46s/e60s. 300bhp and mongifying torque levels are quite reachable with a few select mods.
Also, bare in mind the sport models ride quite hard. Not quite as comfortable as you might think for the mways. Mine tramlines like a BITCH in comparison to my dturb. Mind you, the e60s dont have staggered mv2 rims like mine has, which makes it better. Never tried the audis mentioned above, but from having owned a tt and an s4 b5, i can only imagine they have similiarhorrible, audi wooden steering. The bmws, even in SE spec dont. Try them before hand!
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Dturbo GT2259s build thread;
http://306oc.co.uk/forum/thread-3692.html
Daily driver; 330d Msport (doesn't blow up!)