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BMW 520d xDrive: 1,000 miles with One Tank

In a daring attempt to raise awareness towards CO2 emissions and the increased efficiency of diesel engines, the BMW people from Romania set out on a 1,000 mile road trip that was supposed to be done with only one tank of fuel.
BMW F10 520d xDrive LCI 7 photos
Photo: BMW
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The car they chose was a 2014 BMW F10 520d xDrive, handed over to two BMW Driving Experience instructors that set out to cross the European country twice, with only 70 liters of diesel (18.4 gallons).

The car had the majestic ZF 8-speed automatic gearbox onboard and was riding on 225/55 R17 Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance tires. The course covered around 700 km (437.5 miles) of highways and 800 km (500 miles) of European roads. At the end of the 28-hour drive, the car had 1,550 km (968.75 miles) on its trip computer and the gas tank still had enough fuel for about 160 km (100 miles).

Doing the math, it turns out that the BMW posted a fuel consumption of 4 l/100 km (58.8 mpg) even less than the official numbers claimed by the Bavarians of 4.9 l/100km (48 mpg). Furthermore, the CO2 emissions added up to around 105 g/km, less than the official number of 129.

In case you were wondering, the average speed of the round-trip was of 70 km/h (44 mph) and, most of the way, the ECO PRO driving mode was used, saving fuel for about 166 km (104 miles), thus proving that with BMW's xDrive intelligent all-wheel-drive system, fuel consumption is not a problem.
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