bmw 530D touring

[alan_5039782]

Just to say a big thanks to you kind folk who replied to my questioning whether above would make a good tow car for my caravan,1530 kg fully laden,first weekend just back,only went about 80 miles,towed with ease,1999 model,58,000 miles on clock,...only concern was detachable tow bar,a bit scary,had visions of caravn at bottom of hill with tow bar attached but was ok,once again thanks for your advice...wee question what sort of mpg would I expect when towing

 

[BeemerMal]

alan...I understand your concerns about a detachable tow ball, I felt the same first time out. I did'nt give it a thought after the first trip and now towed over 18,000 miles with it.

I run an X5 3.0d Auto which is primarily the same common rail diesel engine as in the 530d although they do have different gearing set up. On a run I get around 24/25 towing a twin axle van so I would think you should get into the high twenties from your 530d. Mal

 

[cooky1]

I tow with a 2000 530D Touring and get about 30mpg towing an Abbey with MTPLM of 1300kg. To check the mpg make sure you reset the computer before each journey or it will always show about 33mpg solo or when towing!

I have a Bosal detachable towball and have no problems at all.

Graeme.

 

[Garfield]

Your mpg figures are interesting, we never got more than 30 mpg from our 1.9tdi Sharan with our 20'ta caravan on the back, 26 was the norm but solo at caravanning speeds 50+ mpg was possible, it shows that a heavily loaded small engine is no more efficient than a lightly loaded larger engine so if you do a lot of towing you may as well have a large engine.

 

[ian_374294599]

are you talking about 530d auto or manual g/box?

mines an auto and on a motorway run doing a straight 90 mph i get an indicated 48 mpg.. however round town its down to 30mpg because of going up and down the g/box

i`m about to have it towbared for towing a 1.5ton caravan.. will it be ok with the autobox?.. what sort of mpg would i expect?

thanks if anyone has experience of towing with one of these as an auto

 

[cooky1]

Ian. I tow a 1300kg caravan with a 2000 530d auto. No problems with the auto box, just put it in D and it does everything itself. You can use cruise on motorways and the box just changes up and down as it needs to. I think you can expect late 20's for mpg when towing a 1500kg van. I think the max van noseweight on the tourer is 100kg, because it has self-leveling suspension.

I have a Bosal detachable towbar fitted and when it is removed the back of the car looks like normal, no cuts in the rear bumper that are visible.

Graeme.

 

[Mike_5041089]

Interesting MPG you're all getting. I tow a 1300 kg van with my new '56 525d Auto touring, and rarely achieve more than 22-24mpg using the cruise control to maintain a steady 60mph from the sat-nav (63mph on the speedo) Perhaps the 3.0's greater torque can provide better economy? Solo, on a return trip to Coventry today (500 miles) cruising at more or less legal limits the car did 37.1 mpg, this drops rapidly when climbing long hills though. Perhaps MPG will improve once the engine's loosened up, as it's only done about 12,000 miles so far.

 

[jonathan_374297511]

I tow our abi award twin axle max laden 1450kg with a 2001 330d touring. Its the same engine as the 530d but mines a manual. I have to say I have had various diesel towcars over the years but nothing comes even close to it. Once in top gear, set the cruise control at 60mph and it will stay at that all day long, changing down gears for hills are a thing of the past, you just get a small note from the engine that its using its pure grunt to pull up the hills with no fuss at all. Our most recent trip on a 240 mile run it returned 30mpg. Amazing.

 

[ian_374294599]

I tow our abi award twin axle max laden 1450kg with a 2001 330d touring. Its the same engine as the 530d but mines a manual. I have to say I have had various diesel towcars over the years but nothing comes even close to it. Once in top gear, set the cruise control at 60mph and it will stay at that all day long, changing down gears for hills are a thing of the past, you just get a small note from the engine that its using its pure grunt to pull up the hills with no fuss at all. Our most recent trip on a 240 mile run it returned 30mpg. Amazing.

well i have tried out the 530D auto on a round 180 mile trip mixed half motorway and half A-roads towing the 1500kg caravan and aiming for 60 to 65 mph on m-ways and about 55 on A-roads and i am getting around 24 mpg

must say hill starts are great with the autobox although it does sometimes stay in 4th gear on motorway inclines which is when the mpg drops visibly on the indicator

all-in-all i`m impressed with it and the handling dynamics are good too