[JSpira]

Recently took a day and drove up and back to Bear Mountain, giving me the opportunity to visit some of my favorite driving roads close to New York City including Seven Lakes Drive and the Bear Mountain Bridge Road, not to mention the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

The 535d was pretty much on spec for at least half the drive with 38 mpg and didn't go much below that overall (there was some non-highway driving mixed in, to be honest).

Full report with photos here:

BMW 535d Review: The Road to Bear Mountain
Fuel Economy Figures Say Prius, Performance and Handling Say M

Bear Mountain, located in Orange County, New York on the bank of the Hudson River, is the best known of New York’s Hudson Highlands, a series of mountains flanking the Hudson River. At the mountain’s peak, the Perkins Memorial Tower affords visitors spectacular views as far south as the Manhattan skyline. Along with Seven Lakes Drive and the Bear Mountain Bridge, it is home to some of the most scenic vistas within an easy drive of New York City.

On a hot and sunny Saturday in July, I plotted a route for The Diesel Driver’s long-term 2014 BMW 535d that took me first from Long Island to BMW of Tenafly, where a BMW 428i Cabriolet was waiting to be reunited with my friend who had picked it up in Munich at the BMW Welt some five weeks earlier. BMW of Tenafly is in northern New Jersey, and after dropping off my passenger, I would continue in the 535d to Bear Mountain via the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

The initial drive was 27.6 miles (44.4 kilometers), winding our way through the NYC borough of Queens on its various expressways and parkways. After crossing the East River into Manhattan and zipping up the Harlem River Drive to the George Washington Bridge, we soon found ourselves on the Jersey side of the Hudson River and on the Palisades Interstate Parkway....

<SNIP>

[gspannu]

Good write up, Nice looking car....

[robbieracer]

That's great! Sounds like a nice trip.
Our 535d gets awesome MPG's too, we really like the car...

[JesseIan]

Gahh I want the D so bad...

Well that doesn't sound right. I want the Diesel model so bad.

[The Beast]

Drove cira 80 miles to the airport in order to jet off to Turkey for our holiday the other day, had family in the car and motorway was pretty clear with some 50 mph speed restrictions. Had car on cruise at 80 for the rest of the journey, got 46 mpg!

It's a 530d, US 535d... amazing my previous X5 would have got 28-30 max

[NewM3driver]

Beautiful car, awesome engine!