Forget MPG ... Best Long Term Option 50i or 35d

[o-steve]

I hate to say it but I wouldn't even know where to purchase Diesel fuel. Its just not stocked at many local gas stations. The inconvenience of that in itself would be enough to run the other way...

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by o-steve

I hate to say it but I wouldn't even know where to purchase Diesel fuel. Its just not stocked at many local gas stations. The inconvenience of that in itself would be enough to run the other way...

The fact that the diesel typically can go 500-600 miles between fill-ups alleviates that concern somewhat. With the popularity of diesel pick-ups for many years, diesel is actually pretty easy to find. I've got 27,000 miles on mine, driving all over the Midwest and West, and only had a problem once, and that was only because I wanted a name-brand diesel fuel rather than using a small, independent generic station.

P.S. While far from 100% accuracy, the BMW Nav system can search for stations with diesel along your programmed route, or near your current location.

[diesaroo]

Originally Posted by radelow

Unless any of you are engineer's that work in the field of internal combustion engines everything you say is based on your best guess and has no basis in the real world.

As I am NOT an engineer I am not going to opine on cylinder pressures, engine speed, or any of the other factors that impact the longevity of an internal combustion engine. All I will say is this, I had the 4.4i V8 X5 before I have the diesel now and I much prefer the diesel for day to day driving. The torque arrives sooner, the power is more than enough and the fuel mileage is heads and tails better. BMW has been building diesel engines for almost thirty years...and have been using turbocharging since the beginning. It is a tried and tested technology and overall diesel engines have been shown to last longer than equivalent gas engines.

Well that was an entertaining rant but you forgot to neglect fuel mileage as part of the discussion as the OP had requested.

Also, before you start making assumptions about who has what education and job title, you may want to tread lightly as there are many engineers on this forum whose experience you know nothing about.

As a counterpoint, if you want to talk about years of diesel experience, they don't come any older than Mercedes. But really none of them have a lot of experience with common-rail, egr, dpf, and scr. It's such a new technology that nobody really knows how it will age.

[Fraser]

50i for mine but only because you don't get the 40d.