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So just how many miles per gallon canyou extract from a 520d? This was aquestion I asked myself earlier thismonth when I found myself on themotorway with a miniscule rangeshowing on the OBC.

I’d been to a meeting in northLondon and was happily trudgingaround the North Circular on my wayback to the office when the dot matrixsigns started flashing about an accidentand a road blockage up ahead. Bugger.Fortunately I was literally about 100yards from the M11 turn off and Idived off the A406 and on to themotorway with the intention ofpopping up the M11 and round theM25, over the QE2 bridge and on toSevenoaks. Nanoseconds after makingmy decision I realised that I had beenplanning to stop for fuel about twomiles further round the North Circularand that a range showing 14 mileswas unlikely to get me up the M11and round the M25 to the ThurrockServices. Enter economy mode.

I reset the OBC and diced with thejuggernauts in the slow lane for thenext 25 miles while resolutely refusingto look at either the MPG or rangereadouts and it was with a huge sighof relief when I wafted into Thurrockservices to replenish the tanks.Unbelievably the economy readoutwas a staggering 64.2mpg and therange had swelled to 26 miles – I couldhave made it all the way to the office!

While the excellent economy was abit of an eye-opener I think if I had to

drive that way the whole time I’drather take the bus. The 520d doesn’tgenerally achieve much more than halfthat economy, especially as I usuallyhave my foot welded to the bulkheadin the hope that I might find somemore horses or torques hidden awayat the end of the pedal’s travel. Afterextensive testing I’ve come to therealisation that there aren’t any. Orshould I say weren’t?

Yes, I’ve taken the plunge and hadthe Touring remapped by ECUremapping wizards, Evolve(www.evolveautomotive.com). We’vebeen hugely impressed with thevarious features cars we’ve driven thathave been ‘breathed on’ by Evolve –320d, 123d, 335d, 335i to mentionjust a few – so it seemed like a naturalchoice to have the 520d tuned bythem. To say I’m delighted with theresults would be putting it mildly – it’sfan-blinking-tastic! Driving away fromEvolve’s Luton HQ was like falling inlove again and I think I can safely saythat the nagging doubts that I’ve beenhaving that the 520d really was justtoo slow have all but evaporated.

Evolve offers two different ways ofextracting more performance fromyour BMW, one where you travel tothem to have a new map uploaded viathe diagnostic port, and the otherwhere you buy an Evolve Switch unitwhich allows you to carry out theupgrade yourself. I went for the latteroption, although as I was up at thecompany’s Luton HQ photographing

one of its mouth-watering creationsthat you’ll be able to read about nextmonth I actually had the remap carriedout there.

To see how exactly how healthy (ornot) the 520d was we strapped it toEvolve’s state of the art DynoDynamics rolling road and a powerreadout of 157.8hp and a torquefigure of 255lb ft were more or less inline with the factory’s claimed figuresof 163hp and 251lb ft. Interestinglythough the peak torque was a good500rpm further up the rev range thanBMW’s figures would suggest.

The actual remapping process ispretty straightforward. Once you’vepurchased the Evolve Switch, thecompany sends the unit to you alongwith cables to attach it to your car’sOBD port and your PC, and somesoftware to install on your PC. Youthen plug the Switch unit into the carand follow the simple on-screen instructions to load the car’s standardECU map to the Switch unit. This isthen transferred to your PC and youemail the map to back Evolve. OnceEvolve has received the map its boffinscarry out some clever jiggery-pokerywith your car’s map and then email itback to you. You then upload this mapfrom your PC into the Switch unit, plugit into the car and upload the newmap on to the car’s ECU. Once thishad been done we ran the Touring onthe rolling road again and the gainswere certainly impressive with powerand torque peaks up by 42hp and

E61 520d SE Touring

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The 520d finds some much needed grunt thanks to anEvolve remap, the 328i is treated to some long-awaited

body repairs and Seb finally gets his 840Ci back

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NOVEMBER 2009 71

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63lb ft respectively. However,impressive as these figures are theydon’t tell the whole story as at variouspoints through the rev range theEvolve map gives even greater gains,and, by comparing the before and aftergraphs, power is up by 50hp at the topend and torque by 72lb ft at 3250rpm.

The advantage of the Switch unit isthat it literally takes five minutes toswap from the standard to modifiedmap, so should you wish to detunethe car when you’re about to teachyour offspring to drive, it’s easily done.You can also reflash your ECU with thestandard map when the car goes in forservicing, should you so desire.

As well as offering impressive powerand torque gains Evolve has spent alot of time ensuring that its softwaregives improved throttle response butalso a progressive power delivery. Andnow I’ve lived with the 520d for a fewdays I have to say that it looks like

they’ve come up trumps on allparameters. It feels significantly quickerthroughout the rev range, but it’s themid-range torque that’s so impressive.It offers a thoroughly rewarding shoveright where you need it, especiallywhen overtaking or climbing hills. Italso seems much more eager to rev –pre-remap there really wasn’t any pointin holding on to each gear as thefurther you travelled up the rev range itfelt more and more asthmatic. Now it’shappy to keep going above 3500rpm.

Evolve’s remap is also claimed toimprove economy, but I have to saythat it’s early days yet and as I can’thelp but put my foot down to revel inthe impressive grunt I’ve not yetnoticed a significant improvement.Having said that, given I’m travellingfaster and economy definitely hasn’tsuffered it looks like I will be able tohave my cake and eat it! I’ll report backnext month when I’ve lived with the

car for a month in its remapped state.I’m also planning to put our timinggear on the car next time I’m up atBruntingthorpe as I think the gains overthe standard acceleration will be prettyimpressive, especially the in-gear times.And as it’s child play to swap from onemap to the other I should be able toget some meaningful comparisons.

Overall I’m hugely impressed withthe Evolve remap and have to say thaton a pound for pound basis it’sprobably the best modification I’veever carried out on a car. On thethorny subject of money, the Evolveremap costs £499 and the Switch unititself is another £199 (both pricesinclusive of VAT), and should youdecide you want the upgrade Evolve isoffering a 15 per cent discount toBMW Car readers. The vast majority ofdiesel BMWs can be remapped withan Evolve Switch unit, even the latestgeneration machines. To find out more

give Evolve a call or have a look at it’swebsite for more information, youhonestly won’t regret it!

Bob Harper

I was searching around for places tostash the M5 recently, in advance ofthe winter months, and I stumbledacross a place located only fiveminutes drive from chez Wood. It’snot your usual kind of lock-up either,rather more a classic car emporiumthat also happens to look after otherpeoples’ pride and joy. I got veryexcited at this discovery for a coupleof reasons; first, because I have no-where to park at home other than in alane, which is relatively quiet but open

to the elements. Last winter I left theM5 parked up outside and not onlydid the bad weather and lack of useknacker the battery but it didn’t do theAP Racing brakes much good either,so I’m keen to make sure it’s tuckedaway this year to avoid the stress ofthawing it out in March.

Second, the idea of the M5 beingstored professionally rather appeals.The company in question will keepthe car indoors and under cover, willclean it for you and will perform

regular checks on fluids and battery toensure that when you want to comeand collect it, everything worksproperly. You have to give them acouple of days notice but that’s justfine. “Ah yes, hello, it’s Mr Wood here.Would you mind awfully getting theM5 ready for me? I’ll be comingdown on Saturday morning. Thanksever so much.”

The best thing is that after aweekend’s driving pleasure you canjust hand it back to them, they clean it

for you, and you don’t have to worryabout doing anything else until youfancy going for a quick spin again.

In fact I got so excited about this,that I decided to fire up the old busand booked it in for the service andrepairs that I’ve been promising it forthe last couple of months. I’ve alsopencilled in a session at a wheelrefurbisher to have the front ThrowingStars spruced up as they’ve started tolook a bit shabby again since I lasthad them done.

E34 M5 3.8

YEAR: 2005

MILEAGE THIS MONTH: 623

TOTAL MILEAGE: 67,742

MPG THIS MONTH: 38.2

COST THIS MONTH: £698

E61 520d SE Touring

Contact:EvolveTel: 0871 231 1001Web: www.evolveautomotive.comEmail: sales@evo-s.co.uk

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