Pros and cons of buying a e60 520d

[dergside]

Is the petrol actually a runner for anyone?

......Slightly off topic there was an e60 523i in the garage for a while and it sounded fantastic, was bought for penny's and was a bit of a rare beast. I haven't seen too many around. Completely underrated but a complete alcoholic.

Yep, me. Case in point is the e60 530i. I deliberately went to the UK for a petrol and a particular spec that would have been hard to find here, and probably paid over the odds for the privilege. Sure, it might be a "keeper" (or make the return journey to the UK when the time comes - pre-Brexit), but the bigger engine diesels don't have queues forming around the block when for sale because of the perception of cost with it too.

I don't have experience of the 523i, but the 530i with auto is returning a real world 33-34mpg for me (over the past 25k miles). A diesel might get me a few more MPG but since the F10 520d auto I had before it struggled to get past 43-44 in the same usage I'd only expect to see mid/high 30's from an e60 530d. While HPFP's and injectors are a concern on the petrol, it doesn't have a turbo, DPF, etc. to hand me a big bill, and one of those will soon see the economy saving eaten up. Biggest plus of the petrol? Its a 6 and it'll rev past 4k...... I'll pay the extra cent or two a mile in TCO for that. Even on the 20-25k miles I do a year the difference is a few euro a week.