Fifth Gear Web TV - BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics Road Test

[@RussellCatchpole]

I've had a 2011 version for 3 weeks now & covered about 1200 miles with a mix of town, long journeys, stuck in crawling queues. ... 64MPG average - measuring miles & brim to brim fuelling. I even managed 80.7MPG on the computer on one very, very careful 28 mile journey! You just have to be a bit sensible & only really use the power when you need it. But best of all is the great acceleration away from a junction in the wet with traction control & rear wheel drive. I haven't loved a car this much since my first banger 36 years ago :-)

[@RussellCatchpole]

Those are Imperial gallons not US ones.

[@borisjohnson7553]

Have you still got the car? If you haven’t what car are you driving now!

[@RussellCatchpole]

@@borisjohnson7553 yes actually! I had it remapped ages ago right up to 225hp & 443nm torque. That was 3 years & 44,000 miles ago. Everyone said it would kill the car but it didn't. Now with 178k on the clock it has been just as economical, but just in the last couple of months the economy has dropped a lot so I need to take it in for a checkup. Might be a sicky brake or something. Otherwise it's running beautifully and with £20 road tax, 60+ mpg and 0-60 in 6 seconds I have no desire to replace it 😁

[@Ethankeenan02]

@Alessandro Nesta yes deffo bmw diesels are much better

[@OutlawMediaAus]

In Australia, but yep, I concur. Very similar readings to what I get. Love this car.

[@HB45175]

"Centrifugal pendelum absorbers" is the longest euhphemism for dual mass flywheel I've ever seen.

[@AlexPriceAP]

I've also got a white 2010 E90 320d EffiicientDynamics I got at 119,786 miles, and 6 months later I'm now past 133,000. 5,500~ miles of that I've had it on a stage 1 map (DPF/EGR still in place) - stock it was showing 163hp/290lb-ft and mapped it's 221hp/348lb-ft. No decrease or increase to the MPG, I've always averaged 58MPG (UK) with proper calculations --- Overall it's a great car I'd recommend, good to drive, nice internal space, punchy when you need it to be and cheap to run :)

[@turbofistarn3854]

Thinking of getting that exact model at the moment and highly consider tuning it to a stage 1 but haven't seen many people do it so if you know any down sides and if there is a big difference when tuned I'd love to hear it :).

[@inamhassan2694]

@@turbofistarn3854 hello. Yes I'm thinking of doing the exact same. 35yr old dinasour here not on anyother social media...so if u hear or know owt please do let us know aswel.thanks in advance Iv got a 2010 320ed bought for 6k bang on in aug 2015 at 118000 miles 1 previous owner. Its now on 188000 and honestly never ever put a foot wrong. Real gem of a car. All I do is service once a year, fuel n drive it. My other car is a 981 cayman and believe me when I'm not driving that th 3 series, for what it is, is the perfect back up car

[@richieasian]

I wish they sold more diesels here in the USA. I'm very impressed by the 52 mpg that the video showed.. I get 23.6 mpg in my 335i and I thought that was impressive! Of course, gas here is cheaper so it's a different situation than the UK

[@CharlesCA]

***** Google says 56 imperial gallons to us gallons equals 67mpg!! That's insane. Why can't we get this car here in the USA?

[@darenzy]

Charles BMW always exported more powerful versions on US market, and rarely with diesel engines, as I understand. I own "regular" 320d e46 and average is between 35 and 39mpg. But, even those more powerful e90's 330d,335d are quite economical for their power.

[@richieasian]

Darko Darenzy Unbelievable.. I get 23 mpg in the f30 335i that I have. A British person would probably choke at the thought of that.. Especially because their gas prices are so high

[@darenzy]

I'm from southern parts of Europe, gas price is not that high as in UK, but not that far either considering average job pay is less then half. It's $6,4 for us gallon while diesel is 5,8 here. Yours 335i is quite thirsty but, I think it's more economical than similarly powered V8 cars, and more fun on the road, right? :)

[@link0587]

This is one of the better reviews this guy has put out

[@daviegarden2624]

I've got a 2011 BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics model and regarding the MPG in this video commentary, I very recently got 64.1 MPG on a 12 mile motorway run.

[@JackKello]

Really good videoclip. I love the bmw 320ed drove one yesterday and going to buy one this week

[@saintmirrenmalky]

@puzzler1 I hope you enjoy it, and that it does the job for you. I've just ordered one myself. It'll be my first ever BMW. Looking forward to getting it. The test drive was very impressive.

[@bilalahmed2123]

No standard Xenon headlamps ? C'mon it's a bloody luxury car ! The e90 looks weird without them !

[@hungrysurfer9471]

They are like £20 to 30 on Amazon.

[@ruimpinho]

@@hungrysurfer9471 You cannot use xenons on reflector headlights though. Not only is it illegal, it blinds other drivers. You need brand new headlights with projectors to use xenons.

[@hungrysurfer9471]

@@ruimpinho ok well I upgraded my stock 100w lamps to 180 watt energy saver equivalents. Massive difference. So many extra lumins it lights up the road ahead like WRC rally 🚗. And they only cost £26 from Amazon... Before the virus shut down China.

[@Ty4ons]

@demon23ro Only if you were to floor it, most petrol engines have max torque at 3500-4500rpm, but they're alot more economical at around 2000. When rpm is lowered drag from the engine parts is also lowered reducing power needed. The turbo probably kicks in at around 1900, but that doesn't really matter because when you want to get maximum mpg you don't have a lot of throttle and therefore not enough pressure to spin the turbo.

[@CaptCamshaft]

my 320d Efficient Dynamics has done over 12000miles now, and the computer sits at 57.6mpg... on normal everyday driving. On a long journey, keeping sensible, but not crawling, you can easily achieve the manufacturer figure of 68.9mpg.... drive like a BMW driver and you will get close to 60mpg. The tester guy misses the point at the end of his clip; BMW have created a super economy car that doesn't fell sluggish, AND it retains all the sporty driving experience expected from a BMW

[@jasepaul91]

i've driven a '05 version of 1 of these and its 1 of the best cars i've ever driven ... and its a diesel. I got 150 mph out of it tho, not 142.

[@Spyster007]

@quwers actually this is a German car and yes in Germany most people do, no need to be rude. I just got back from driving one for 3 weeks and at a steady 70 mph this vehicle can still get over 50 mpg.

[@StalePhish]

My daily driver is a 2007 Pontiac G5 (same thing as a Chevy Cobalt), and I get 36 mpg (which is 43 mpg Imperial). And it only cost me $14k (11k euro, 9.5k GBP). Nice deal I must say

[@yupescumuk]

@IMB2U He said it went from 0.27 down to 0.26 which is actually a reduction of 0.01, not 0.001. It does make a difference.

[@Dr-Nike]

this clip was shot in birmingham right?

[@bg1379]

@randomdude10010 Bear in mind that the Imperial gallon is different than the American gallon. . . so this fuel economy is more along the lines of 41 mpg in our country.

[@sspope]

@esurfer26 That's the whole point. People with very powerful petrol cars don't lose their license so often, because they only floor the car occasionally, but BMW 3-series 2.0 diesel is the fastest driven most ticketed car ever. Most drivers drive it fast constantly because it always gets good fuel economy.

[@michaelmcpoet1]

I drive a black 320d efficient dynamics for business. It is very comfortable, frugal and powerful. I achieve much better combined MPG figures. If you drive efficiently the claimed MPG figures by BMW are much more achievable than the presenter thinks.

[@Spyster007]

@quwers yes they actually drive slower in britian than in germany, so you should get even better mileage.

[@SimasSid]

The best car for who can offord it and want a efficient, pretty and comfortable car.

[@dragythuno]

The thing is, BMWs have predominantly sporting characteristics, and this being a demo car, it's probably had a fair few test drives from people in the Fifth Gear office. And what would I do if I got given the keys to a brand new BMW 3 series? Take it for a foot down ride around some twisty roads. If you drove this car as a rep-mobile doing a lot of dual carriageways and motor work, I bet you could get into the 60s (mpg) easily...

[@sikandar44041]

i got bmw 3 series efficient dynamic same car of the video i get 56 mpg inside city 76 mpg on motorway thanks to the bmw to make sucha nice car

[@superchilled]

@axelloder Glad you spotted that too. 1571 is nothing on a new car. Suspect it would get a lot better over time. I think it's a good review bar the lack of miles on the clock.

[@sspope]

@FutureMarine246 Good, but does it get at least a quarter of mpgs of this one?

[@fsclips]

Ours is coming in two days time :-) Can't wait! On the testdrive we managed 57mpg (drive lastet 3 1/2 hours). Maybe the presenter needs a course in efficient driving? :-P

[@effemmelle]

I have a BMW 320d E91 (wagon) Efficient Dynamics. In the plain I can do 60mpg (uk)/50mpg (us)/21 km/l at around 65mph. the sedan is more aerodynamic and of course the E.D. is more efficient, so a sedan efficient dynamics can do even better, they say can reach 68mpg (uk)/57mpg (us)/24km/l. With mine I can do 800 miles with a sinlge 60 liters tank (15.85 us/ 13.2 uk) and anyway is a car that reach 140 mph (and I do).

[@quwers]

@Spyster007 But this is a British TV show in Britain driving on British roads at the British speed limit.

[@dekster14LP]

if they made it efficient, why did they made those mirrors rediculously large on the facelift then?

[@Spyster007]

@quwers I think most people would be driving this at 120 mph + who cares about 70, it would still be getting great mileage at 70.

[@saidahmed1028]

Just got 1 and love it

[@sspope]

This guy is complaining about fuel economy yet HIS COLLEAGUE Tom Ford just drove this car and went as far as 1013 miles in ONE TANK!!! Averaging 75.9mpg

[@bg1379]

@Amazetbm Our 335d gets 36, which isn't that far behind. . . . especially when it is MUCH faster!

[@kibcubed]

@bg1379 You do pay through the nose for a 335d, though, when compared to a 320d.

[@NotCommanderShepard]

Drag coefficient was reduced by 0.001. Why would you waste your breath on this? It is literally nothing.

[@decibeldragon1]

what about timing chain??? I have a problem with that in my April 2011 car!!!

[@dannymac23]

How many miles has it done?

[@decibeldragon1]

100k :)

[@decibeldragon1]

BMW is replacing it for free for me

[@demon23ro]

@quwers At 70 Mph, i got out of the "old" 177 Hp engine, 60 MPG, but only at a constant 70 Mph on the motorway...

[@pitbull-ws8ge]

for £27,000 you also get the worst gearbox on the market, a n47 engine which runs nicely, but all the stuff about the timing chain snapping makes you nervous after the 3 years warranty. but it drives nicely more like 48 mpg with pumped up tyres and driving it under 2000 rpm> 68 mpg in 6th gear doing 50 mph..

[@JackKello]

Why is this the worst gearbox the market?

[@RussellCatchpole]

The timing chain problems were sorted by early 2011. I'm averaging 64mpg with a mix of driving & measuring the fuel in / miles covered.

[@ayeRIGHTyaBE]

Hi Russell, what your average mpg now? Looks like a good buy, I love big mpg, my old seat Toledo 130 bhp returned 64 mpg average on long runs, moved to a new seat Exeo, best is 55mpg, was thinking of changing, most my driving is long runs about 36 miles averaging 36mph, traffic crawls the whole way.

[@RussellCatchpole]

HiAye! Well I've been pushing it (or should I say enjoying it) a bit more lately + its got a lot colder (so diesels less efficient). Still averaging 58-60MPG though. My drives are mostly motorway/dual carriageway at 70-80mph but regularly with quite long delays and some town & country driving. My average speed is usually about 35MPH too :-( I did one extremely careful 28 mile drive from Worthing to Southbourne, Hants. early on a Sunday morning - 60mph on the dual carriageways and included 14 roundabouts and several other junctions - averaged 87MPG! I absolutely love the car.

[@ayeRIGHTyaBE]

Thanks for reply, sounds a pretty good car,

[@nikhilraj418]

Thats 22 km per litre?

[@thebossisheretostay]

thats quick acceleration wise and top end wise especially as it doesnt have that much power

[@GlossaME]

Misleading information...how can you complain about MPG from a 2.0 engine premium compact sedan beeing worst then a 1.6 sub-compact hatchback? Auto jurnalism at its finest....pfff.

[@quwers]

Stick it on a motorway at 70 and then test out the mpgs.

[@amaan08051994]

But then what's the point? If they lessen driving pleasure and maximise fuel efficiency, then it won't be a BMW anymore! You don't drive a BMW to count fuel economy figures, you drive it for the sheer fun. What this provides you is pretty good mileage, along with the strong driving virtues of a Bimmer. What more do you expect?

[@JamaicanMeCrazy]

50mpg? Nothing to scoff at. Wonder how much that figure will change with some 20s

[@pudseypumper]

@Michael6609 Where is this? Can you post a link?

[@matthew1373]

@quwers if you are driving a BMW on a motorway at 70 then why are you driving a BMW?

[@samn6594]

I have the same one m sport version. It’s perfect as it should be thank you bmw.

[@veke1069]

you cant get a 320ed with msport

[@dragythuno]

Call me a liar, I had a 1996 M3 Evo Convertible and on a dual carraigeway doing 60mph, i was getting over 40mpg in 6th.

[@Amazetbm]

@bg1379 Which is still excellent for a non-hybrid car.

[@jhaazkahn9852]

hi, what about the 320i ?

[@Denisdog34]

@Boocho88 Around 3,8 litres/ 100kms

[@speedhunters9347]

This is 2009 model?

[@quwers]

@jexicon Performance, handling, buy a Caterham.

[@danked6731]

There's a special place in hell for people who use start/stop

[@1Blakparade]

@Nikolas134 and i tought portugal was a ripoff...but porsches etc you need 100.000 or more but this 50.000 and if you buy one with 1 or 2 years its 25k/30k

[@Boocho88]

how much is 52 mpg ? in Liters / 100 km ?

[@michupa2]

Qué ganas tengo de que me lo dén ya!!!! Fantastic!!!!

[@10mkamran]

BMW 3 series 320d or BMW 5 series 535d ???

[@JR19k]

535d any day

[@ps3dubbs]

@quwers wat is mpg on this car?

[@bignicky88]

@somdusazerate that's not the point. company fleets wan't lower taxes and better green credentials. the badge isn't that relevant.

[@David-pl3hf]

Think I'm gonna pass on the Efficient Dynamics simply because the 16" alloys aren't nice ☹️

[@ullaredskjell]

the normal 320d is as good

[@mazinais31]

"admittedly it would be a miracle if any car achieved it's combined economy figure" - err cars do - but not on british roads with your incredible amount of braking and starting and all the roundabouts... - i spent six months there with my car and geez the amount of brake dust that accumulates on the front rims .. never seen that before on my car.

[@Octavideoz]

if you can afford to buy this car, you probably dont give a shit about fuel consumption in my opinion. check out the golf bluemotion guys, it has 105HP but driving it on the motorway on just 3l/100km puts a huge smile on your face

[@igeekone]

Are you kidding me. 52MPG is to die for in a BMW! Yes you can get a more frugal Ford but you're getting the enjoyments of a BMW.

[@Unomasunomenos-mm4to]

Fifth Gear ; subtitulo al español, por favor, que es lo unico decente que hay.Gracias

[@T3HNZ0]

did i hear 70 mpg? or am i wrong? wow

[@MMGFit]

I get 20 mpg on a vauxhall astra h 1.6 sxi 💀

[@BlazerLT]

Engine isn't broken in, economy will rise when it does. Rating it with 1500 miles on the engine toal is BS.

[@michiel1551]

Awesome car, obvious choice for leasing drivers

[@hungrysurfer9471]

They also made ED versions of the 5 series and 1 series called 520ED and 116ED. 5 series version are used by corporate mini cab drivers. Lower tier uber taxis use Toyota Hybrids because they are half the cost to buy. But a toyota hybrid system falls apart after 100,000 miles because of limited recharging cycles. A 520 ed can reach 1 million miles if looked after. Big difference.

[@DKRaFiQ]

52 mpg?? that is awesome! aint bad for me .. idk bout others ... good car!

[@Nuk3sC]

320d !!? no no 335i thats the best 3 without the M

[@demon23ro]

@jonny5777 When they'll fire this guy (which i hope it will be soon.. like... tomorrow or something..), don't worry... i'll be the one doin' the reviews... and in a proper way... not "the dorky way" ... Thanks for the vote of confidence ! :)

[@flawns]

@wordreet nice but this is a bimmer, bonus with the women . its alot newer. and im pretty sure this looks better :]

[@ERTroadtrip]

@randomdude10010 its funny the grass is always greener on the other side. I drive an American car in the UK (Camaro) BMW 320s are just so common here they do not seem special I used to drive a 530d. Euro cars are too good they are boring I like the fact the camaro handles like a boat; its more fun :-)

[@MrRStEscort]

So funny what people will do to go 10 miles more (at the paper or perfect conditions)... are those 10 miles so important??? if you have money to buy a car who cost more than 25000€ why you care so much about those 10 miles, with one gallon you can go 50 or 60.... I really don't understand those kind of people, more and more people are obsessed with those fuel economy, mine can go 55 miles to the gallon.. haha mine is better 58 miles to the gallon... What the F**** is wrong with people today :/ I go maybe 30-35 miles to the gallon inside city, and i don't care cos when you calculate in money, you save just 2-3 € per gallon, or at 600 miles like 50-60€... Imagine how much you need to take care abot changing gears, revs, tire pressure, start and stop slowly and all rest to save those let say 1000€ a year :P what you, at the end of the year, spend on you don't even know where :D

[@RussellCatchpole]

well to answer your question, 3 years and 65,000 miles on I still love driving my 2011 model more than any car I've had for many years. It's saved me a small fortune over the dull & gutless Avensis I had before .. oh and the servicing has been far cheaper than the Avensis at around 190000 mile intervals at and independent BMW specialist.:-)

[@Sailingon]

I had one of these as a company car and if you drive it like a dick it will still do 50mpg at a constant 140mph it shows 50mpg I had a Leon FR after this that was faster top end but the acceleration was nowhere near as good as the bm and the fuel economy went to shit when you drove it hard unlike the bm which I never got below 45mpg the Leon would easily drop below 40mpg if you drove it a little bit hard. That said the Leon was more fun to drive

[@Benozurman]

4.8 l/100km, 49 mpg

[@yannymcgr6500]

Exactly..I have BMW ED and i got exactly this....even i`am not from faster drivers..But still very good.With 20 euro here in Ireland i drive between 270-310 km...I think this impressive enough :-)

[@ppaulvanschaik1]

@pkerry12 Than do not read this. What is the purpose of writing this reaction? What do you want to say?

[@jasongentle6446]

I own one of these BM great car and road tax £20 for the year in uk 👍👍🇬🇧👍

[@sylvereyes85]

@Boocho88 5.43

[@wordreet]

LOL! Same mpg as my '99 Corsa deisel when I don't drive 'frugally'! X¬D

[@OutlawMediaAus]

Yeah, but you're driving a homosexual car, not a piece of art

[@wordreet]

@@OutlawMediaAus Cheap is homosexual?????

[@OutlawMediaAus]

@@wordreet maybe lol 🤣 nah I dunno was bored lol

[@wordreet]

@@OutlawMediaAus Holy crap! I just realized how long ago it was that I owned that piece of junk!

[@OutlawMediaAus]

@@wordreet hahahahaha

[@undergroundlegend198]

I did not understand

[@Annaukhi]

awesome ..

[@quwers]

@pkerry12 They'e not trying to be.

[@somdusazerate]

>buy premium car to save money I seriously hope you guys don't do this

[@Gilbertmk2]

my 2001 buick regal has more hp than this

[@usmanmahmood9463]

#timing chain

[@Dandy1ion]

52mpg...rubbish. 57 with town driving and on a long run round the M25 (complete with "carparking" bits of the M25) 63mpg (and that includes speeds of 80-90, fast accelleration on the slip roads etc etc). He must be a tit.

[@dragythuno]

This guy has no clue. Take it on a long journey mixing in motorway, a roads and country lanes and you'll get into the 60s easily. He just probably spent three days driving around traffic to get his favourte glasses from specsavers

[@pak1ali]

Call me a liar I don't give a shit. I have a pre facelift 320d with 163Bhp and with 12000 miles I was getting 63mph at 60mph.

[@Fedotdotdot]

He can't drive economically, that's the problem

[@xxaroxx]

BMW should consider re-naming the 320d ED. it's name currently sounds like a coy advertisement for Viagra.

[@quwers]

@Hidezepickle 60 seconds in a minute. OK then...

[@sspope]

@245thegreat we care

[@jonny5777]

@demon23ro Yeah but hes actually doing it and youre just moaning about him, go get your own review show mate

[@ApachyDaro]

@sspope Tom Ford doesn't work for Fifth Gear anymore, I think he got axed as far I know. But yeah Ford did the right thing of testing its cruising because that is where it excel.

[@scarafaggionero85]

Bella macchine

[@flawns]

how the FUCK can they say it gets over 20mpgs from 50!? okay maybe 5? or 7? its do able but 20!!!?

[@IKhanNot]

Start/Stop is annoying, cranking on and off all the time.