Audi BMW

Looking at the December sales numbers for BMW, we can clearly see an ascending trend of diesel vehicles sold in the United States. Official numbers showed that one out of three X5s sold were represented by the xDrive35d model. Last summer, the $4,500 Eco-Credit has also helped boost the sales for the two diesel offerings with most of the dealers running out of 3 Series diesel sedans.

Back in September, in an interview with Automotive News, Jim O’Donnell, CEO of BMW North America, has reiterated that BMW remains committed to its diesel strategy in the U.S. even if more hybrid vehicles will emerge in the near future. As far as future plans, BMW is hoping for 10%-20% diesel penetration in U.S and also the introduction of new diesel vehicles on the market. The one mentioned by Mr. O’Donnell was a diesel variant of the next generation 5 Series, but unfortunately, no other news along that line have been released since.

In the mean time, those of us looking for a sporty luxury sedan, we will have to settle for the 335d model. The fellows at MotorTrend are enjoying their long-term loaner and decided to check in with their readers at 1,300 miles. Let’s find out their impressions….

“So what are you doing here?” says the polite Border Patrol officer after he’s checked our Green Cards, and had a look in the 335d’s trunk to make sure we weren’t transporting illegal immigrants. “We’re on vacation,” I reply. His eyebrows arch: “In Yuma?!” Yeah, yeah, we know…

The 358 mile Tucson to Yuma leg has returned our best mileage so far — an average of 34.1 mpg. Yuma also proved diesel fuel is more consistently priced in Arizona than gas. We’ve paid $2.69 a gallon for each of the last three tanks, while regular gas has varied from $2.23 to $2.49 a gallon and premium from $2.53 to $2.75 a gallon. (Back in LA our initial $2.99 a gallon tank of diesel cost 20c a gallon less than regular and 38c a gallon less than premium.)
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We make LA later that afternoon. After four days and 1304miles on the road, the BMW 335d has averaged 32mpg without any special eco-driving. It grunts like a V-8 — shrugging off steep climbs and surging past slow-moving traffic with the merest wriggle of your right foot — yet it sips fuel almost like a four. This might be a compact car, but it’s capable of crossing a continent in giant leaps — based on our experience the 335d will easily go 515 miles between fuel stops. Driver and passenger are likely to need refueling first.

Full review continued

P.S. We can only speculate at the moment, but we feel confident that a 5 Series diesel will make it to the U.S. market the latest next year.

The BMW 335d, one of the two bimmer diesels available in the U.S. makes the Automobile Magazine list of All-Stars vehicles in 2010. One of the highest rated diesel sedans, the 335d has been praised many times by automotive journalists around the world due to its combination of a sport luxury sedan and fuel efficiency.

Automobile Magazine is the last in line to praise the 335 diesel by adding it to their 2010 Automobile All-Stars list. Here is an excerpt from their article:

“Can we have a bit of fanfare, please? The BMW 335d is the most important car this year to get lost in the crowd. While the 335i and the M3 always show up in comparison tests, the 335d is an outlier – because, really, what would you compare it with? There’s no other car that combines performance and fuel economy at this level. Sure, there are many cars that do 0 to 60 mph in six seconds, but they don’t get 36 mpg on the highway.

There are cars that match the 335d’s fuel economy, but they don’t top out at 149 mph. From behind the wheel, the 335d feels even faster than its numbers suggest, because the diesel six cranks out more torque than a 6.2-liter Corvette – 425 lb-ft. And despite the diesel’s weight penalty (220 pounds more than a 335i automatic), the car maintains a 51/49 front/rear weight distribution, which means that the 3-series’ sweet rear-wheel-drive handling survives intact.”

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