The Road to Sélestat – Driving the BMW 520d Sedan – Review and Test Drive – The Diesel Driver

DRIVING THE ALSACE HIGHWAY

After a small break and refuel at a French gas station it was time to switch seats with Jonathan. As mentioned, it was my first time in France and time to get to know the French roads. The first thing I noticed is that the roads were much bumpier than in Germany! But thanks to the Dynamic Damper Control feature in the BMW 520d, I was able to select the comfort setting for the suspension, which absorbed nearly all of the bumps and potholes

I then followed the French autoroute A35 (known to Germans as the Elsässer Autobahn or  Alsace highway). The A35 starts at Lauterbourg, where we had crossed the border into France. It has a total length of 190 km (118 miles) and terminates at the Swiss border near Basel via Strasbourg. Along this part of  our drive, we passed several small French cities that still had their German names (for example Innenheim and Ebersheim) after the allocation of the Alsace-Lorraine area to France.

We passed Strasbourg, the capital city of Alsace-Lorraine, exactly 60 km (37.2 miles) after entering France. At the interchange 17 we left the A35 and continued for the last stretch of the trip on the D424 and D1059, which, after another 56 km (34.8 miles) lead us directly into the city of Sélestat.

While the handling of the 520d was excellent and the performance was more than acceptable given the relatively small displacement (2-liter) four cylinder diesel, it was disappointing to see the final fuel economy numbers.   Compared to the drive from Munich to Frankfurt, where the 520d used 6.2 l/100 km (38 mpg), the fuel economy on the drive to Sélestat was 7.3 l/100 km (32.22 mpg), an 18% increase in fuel usage. Our average speed was 117.6 km/h (73 mph) on a total distance of 266 km (165.2 miles).

Compare this to the following numbers we’ve seen on previous trips.  In 2009, Jonathan Spira achieved the same fuel economy in the larger and heavier BMW 730d on a drive to Portorož.  His average speed on that trip was 113 km/h (70 mph).  Earlier this year, Jonathan and I drove the far more powerful BMW 535d to Bratislava and, with an average speed of 111 km/h (69 mph), it used  three percent less fuel (7.1 l/100 km or 34 mpg) than the BMW 520d!

VIRTUAL DRIVES

THE DRIVE TO SÉLESTAT – PART I

THE DRIVE TO SÉLESTAT – PART II

THE DRIVE FROM SÉLESTAT TO FRANKFURT

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