V8 540I VS 525I SPORT E34 MPG WAR!

[320ise]

is it worth having the power? allso what will it cost i get 450 miles a tank from my 525i m50 non vanos what would a v8 give mixed driving (i get 40-60 miles per £10)

[DieselMeister]

If you're refuelling every £10 I'm not sure a 4.0 is a good bet That said, if you're going for an E34 on a budget, the 525 is probably the best candidate. No limits, then get an M5. The 540s I've been in have been around 19mpg average, which is the same as the 530 V8, so defo on the forty if bent eights are your thing ( I like them). Bargainous to buy, potentially a tad spendy to run - if that sounds like a fair trade, do it

[Turbo-Brown]

Guess you could argue that there's no point in having a 4 litre V8 if you drive like this, but with my E32 740i I get about 22mpg around town believe it or not and a fair amount more on the motorway

Would imagine the 5 being a little lighter and so capable of better economy myself

[oze30]

In my e30 touring I get, depending on the diff (atm a 3.15), 140m to the half mark. thats mixed short journey and a serious blat at aces!

It all goes down to how you drive it.

[Pete-M]

If you're refuelling every £10 I'm not sure a 4.0 is a good bet That said, if you're going for an E34 on a budget, the 525 is probably the best candidate. No limits, then get an M5. The 540s I've been in have been around 19mpg average, which is the same as the 530 V8, so defo on the forty if bent eights are your thing ( I like them). Bargainous to buy, potentially a tad spendy to run - if that sounds like a fair trade, do it

I had an E39 540i (The M62 4.4 one) and that could easily do 32 mpg on a long, fast run.

Using it in town meant entering a whole world of fuel bill pain. Having said that, it was a dainty little fuel sipper compared to my turbo'd Range Rover - I've yet to coerce that over 15mpg.

[320ise]

well i have a 70 mile round trip 10 times a month, 97% of this will be on the motorway, if i got one it would be a manual so with six cogs at 60mph on the motorway would i get what i get out of my 525i sport m50? allso does a 540i have a l.s.d as standard? if not what diff will fit?

[Morat]

We had an E39 540i Touring manual and it averaged 24mpg over the roughly 10,000 miles that we owned it. Not much urban driving, but lots of back roads and a few motorway trips from Yorkshire to Devon and back. So, about the same as an E30 325 but twice the size, comfort and straight line speed
(no, not as fun on twisties)

[DieselMeister]

Oh, it's definitely possible to beat 19mpg in the E34s and the E39s - the guys I knew that had them (both E34s)were doing mixed driving at a uniformly rapid pace I've never driven the E39 540 but even the M5 will do low 20s on a run. Depends on how you drive and what type of miles you're doing.

All that said, if fuel is a concern I'd stick to the 2.5. Even if you canget comparable mileage from a forty, you'd be dirving it either exclusively o nthe motorway or never using all the performance, which seems a waste. The E39 is probably less juicy for the same performance though.

[casper8r]

In my e30 touring I get, depending on the diff (atm a 3.15), 140m to the half mark. thats mixed short journey and a serious blat at aces!

It all goes down to how you drive it.

Is that 140 miles to half a tank of petrol (not LPG)? Blimey, either you're a driving god or that V8 is _seriously_ unstressed! What RPM you're sitting on at 70mph with the current diff?

[toby]

We had an E39 540i Touring manual and it averaged 24mpg over the roughly 10,000 miles that we owned it. Not much urban driving, but lots of back roads and a few motorway trips from Yorkshire to Devon and back. So, about the same as an E30 325 but twice the size, comfort and straight line speed
(no, not as fun on twisties)

Very interesting point Morat.

[fingerman]

I've had 2 * 525's (vanos) auto and manual and both were very good - performance wise and economy but I've also had a 530 V8 which, driven sensibly is very good - I've had 466 miles out of a tank and the auto box was stuck in sport mode

Apparently the 540 is very similar in economy to the 530 but has more power, if you ventue over to some 5 Series forums you'll see that a lot of them own 540's - the closest thing to owning an M5

The 525 is a good motor and the M50 vanos is a peach of an engine but once you've drivin it to it's limits you always want more I'd say go for it

[oze30]

In my e30 touring I get, depending on the diff (atm a 3.15), 140m to the half mark. thats mixed short journey and a serious blat at aces!

It all goes down to how you drive it.

Is that 140 miles to half a tank of petrol (not LPG)? Blimey, either you're a driving god or that V8 is _seriously_ unstressed! What RPM you're sitting on at 70mph with the current diff?

no idea! the tacho points due south when i give it some beans!! Im almost at the 3/4 mark with 180 I think on this tank.so a 200 isn't too far out of reach considering it's been driven hard this tank (again!!)

[Simon13]

well i have a 70 mile round trip 10 times a month, 97% of this will be on the motorway, if i got one it would be a manual so with six cogs at 60mph on the motorway would i get what i get out of my 525i sport m50? allso does a 540i have a l.s.d as standard? if not what diff will fit?

E34 540's only had an LSD if Traction control wasn't fitted which is sadly rare! even rarer is a 6 speed manual, only 35 tourings came over so a very slim chance here

Only possible good thing is cruise control was standard

guys £1.20 a litre means no V8's surely!

[320ise]

theres allways v8`s lol just hear that noise and the 120 disapears!

[oze30]

tell me about it! That blat at aces made my gauge move from just before the 2nd line to just after the 2nd line! It was worse with the 3.9. You could see the needle move when you drove it on the motorway!

Si, That's why I'm trying to find a place to fit my LPG! 200miles to 60p a litre!! Oh Yeah!!

[blue30]

I had no problem averaging 25+ mpg in my e34 540 manual, I tend to just cruise it most of the time and keep it in 6th where I can. If you're booting it up and getting on the brakes all the time then yeah... cha-ching!!