Long-term Test
Model: BMW 530d Touring
RRP: (see text)
Price as tested: not applicable (see text)
Road tester: Mike Sinclair
Date tested: July, 2005
Distance covered: 3950km
The fact that they are the stats yielded by a full-size wagon lugging four adults and their luggage and three weeks of fashion and souvenir shopping the length of Italy and back, speaks volumes for the pace and efficiency of the modern performance diesel.
With petrol prices predicted to top the $1.30/lt mark Down Under it's little wonder every manufacturer who can is reviewing its diesel options. Promising (and delivering) 50-100 per cent improvements in fuel economy compared to petrol, the current crop of diesels are starting to make serious sense from a dollar and cents viewpoint. However, to be lumping the attraction of these powerplants solely into the economy sack is selling the modern turbo-diesel short... Way short.
Europeans long ago moved to diesels because of the economy they offered. Such was the exorbitant price of fuel that at first the masses were happy to put up with the sluggard performance, sooty visage and aural agriculturalness. Not to mention the less than alluring aroma.
Then as manufacturers came to improve their offerings, the buyers voted with their feet -- and liras, francs and marks et al. Performance was the first to improve, via the adoption of turbo-diesels. Then came refinement, then more performance, more refinement and more recently pressure to clean up the emissions -- both gaseous and aural. Diesels were no longer just for wagons and taxis. Indeed, in a relatively short space of time Euro-wielding consumers have come accept and expect smart coupes and cabrios and performance saloons, small and large, being delivered with compression ignition engines with real get up and go.
Large SUVs aside, we remain behind the curve -- partly because of the artificially high price of distillate Down Under - but the cars that will change this state of affairs are now arriving. While Mercedes has quietly offered conventional oilers in its sedan and estates for some time, the French marques kicked off the current round of 'high profile' high-performance arrivals and announcements followed by VW and Audi. The latest to jump on the direct-injection turbo-intercooled train is BMW with the announcement that it will now offer its 5 Series saloon with a 3.0lt diesel.
Our chariot for the abovementioned Roman holiday was so-equipped. Serendipitous? Hardly, more than 80 per cent of the Tourings sold in Italy and more than half worldwide are diesel. Though delivered via a Touring body, our 530d gave us a real taste of what diesel 5 Series buyers will get when the car arrives later this year. And in our humble, it's all good.
The stats quoted above are real world -- albeit on fast forward when it came to the, er, creatively, policed Autostrade. Our journey took us north from Milan to Lake Como before heading south to Rome, Naples, Reggio and across the Straits of Messina by ferry (diesel, of course!) to Sicily. Then it was time to back track via Italy's best kept secret, the Basilcata coast, then Tuscany, Firenza and finally back to Milan -- the sales were on, dontchaknow… The roads ranged from the impossibly narrow city centres of Sorrento and Cefalu that had us folding the mirrors for steerage, to the challenging coastal and lakeside switchbacks near Sapri in the south and Varenna up north. And then there were the racetr... er, autostrade.
Much of our time was on rolling two-laners -- surprisingly representative of the roads we strike in Oz, albeit complete with impossibly picturesque villages and much, much better roadside cuisine. While the average speed we logged might be hard to match in over-policed Oz, the fuel economy figures won't be.
That said, it's not the trip computer numbers that are the story of 530d, rather the quality of the drive. Far from being a dull-witted, lugging oiler, this is a powerplant that's lusty and on its toes, ready for flight.
For the record, the 530d's peak power is 30kW's short of its petrol equivalent at 160kW. But while you may not have the 3.0i N52 petrol's 7000rpm or 190kW to play with (the 3.0d is redlined at 5000rpm) well-chosen gearing and more torque than a 545i -- or for that matter a Gen 2 5.7lt Holden V8 -- (try 480Nm at 2000rpm!), mean that urge both off the line and in the gears is immediate. Literally just a tweak of the right foot away.
Yep, BMW's 3.0lt petrol engine is a free-spinning wundermill but the 3.0d's better by almost any real world measure. Muscular flexibility should be its catchcry. Whether we needed to use a spilt-second opportunity a pass a tomato-laden Piaggio Ape three-wheeler (Italian for bee) on the tight Sicilian mountain roads or play with the big-boys (read: M6, A8, S600 and implausibly quick government-plated Lancia Themas) at 200km/h plus on the A1, it delivered in spades. Even in this going, 600km to a tank was a doddle.
There's a rich baritone note to the mill that's part race engine, part high-tech marine diesel. Think offshore racer, not ferry! Thde timbre's there for the driver to savour but never obtrusive. And any diesel rattle is isolated from the cabin. Indeed, it was almost a shock to realize on winding down my window to ask directions (in very, very bad Italian) that the noise reflecting from the walls in the narrow cobbled street was in fact coming from 'our' Beemer. One wag has already suggested the M5 sounds more like a diesel at start-up than the 530d!
And the only diesel smell you're likely to strike is at the service station. Italian diesel pumps are as grubby as their Aussie equivalents it seems. At least they offer throwaway plastic gloves. We paid an extra 10 Euro cents a litre and went to the full-service pumps! Remember them...
The 530d Touring swallowed our party of four adults with four bulging bags and then some, in comfort. A mid-spec model it was lacking some of the extra creature comforts Aussie 5 buyers get as standard equipment (electric seats, tailgate, high-spec stereo and nav) but none of the must haves. On Sport suspension, with wide alloys and with tinted windows it looked the part. We had no trouble getting road room in Sicily.
Four was comfortable though given the amount of miles we were doing five might have been tight. If pressed, after one 720km day (Maratea to Mannaioni) I'd say the rear seats could use a little more under-tush padding for all day comfort.
The luggage blind gave us some security, initially, and once the shoe boxes and designer bags began to mount up the full height, the luggage net some piece of mind. There's nothing worse than copping a Ferragamo in the back of the scone when braking hard for the inevitable autostrade roadworks.
Given the natural pairing of the diesel's mile munching abilities and the Touring's versatility -- it's definitely a match for the saloon in dynamics, yet gives you more usage options -- it's puzzling that BMW has chosen the 5 Series sedan alone to spearhead its diesel endeavours. Scared of the 530d Touring eating into lucrative X5 3.0d sales perhaps? More likely a case of not want to mix messages -- this engine deserves to be sampled in a proper sporting saloon.
Yet I'm still hopeful the lacking of Touring d is for another reason altogether. Could it be the boys and girls at BMW Oz are saving the wagon's engine bay for the marque's diesel performance flagship - the twin sequential turbo 535d. With more torque and faster in-gear acceleration than an M5, 14sec quarter mile and better than 35mpg, could we witness the arrival Down Under of the world's most practical supercar...