Driving the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition – The Road to Hamburg – Review
With a total length of 963.6 km (598.75 miles), the A7 is the longest Autobahn in Germany. The A7 starts at the border of Denmark near Ellund and ends at the German border to Austria near Füssen. 
After a few kilometers on the A7, the navi reported roadwork plus a traffic jam ahead, so I decided to stop for our first break. As we pulled into an Autobahn Rasthof, we had already driven a total of 297 km (184.5 miles), since leaving the Ostbahnhof.
We had used 4.3 l/100 km (54.7 mpg) during the 297 km drive and from the Rasthof Gramschatzer Wald we had exactly 500 km (311 miles) until we would reach our final destination in Hamburg.
After the break, we continued on the A7. After passing the first of three construction sites, we reached Schweinfurt and soon left the Free State of Bavaria (Freistaat Bayern).
While driving in construction areas on the German Autobahn, the speed limit is limited to 80 km/h (50 mph). This speed may also explain the slight improvement in our fuel consumption, which we noticed at our next stop in Göttingen. The 320d’s trip computer reported a drop to 4.2 l/100 km (56 mpg).
There were two more sections of Autobahn with road work on the way to Göttingen, each lasting between 10 – 12 km. With 250 km to go, we decided to stop in Göttingen for lunch. From Göttingen to Hamburg, we still had a distance of 250 km (155 miles) on the A7 to cover.
The next big city we passed was Hannover.Given the light traffic and absence of a speed limit, it was time to push the BMW 320d to its maximum speed of 228 km/h (142 mph). 
Unfortunately, we were only able to drive at this speed for a few minutes before traffic slowed us down.
A few minutes before five o’clock, the first columns of smoke from industrial buildings appeared in the sky. We switched to the Autobahn A255, a short motorway in Hamburg that connects the A1 with the B75 and B4 at the Neue Elbebrücken (new Elbe bridges).
We exited onto the Bundesstraße 4 and crossed the Elbe River via the Nordelbbrücke (Northern-Elb-Bridge).The B4 led us directly into the center of Hamburg and its after-work rush-hour traffic. About 20 minutes later, we reached our final destination, Gottschedstraße 8 in Hamburg, 
in the local district of Barmbek.
The entire drive from Munich to Hamburg took us about eight hours (including breaks) and we drove a total distance of 797 km (495 miles). The trip computer reported that our average fuel consumption was 4.2 l/100 km (56 mpg), despite our high-speed driving after Göttingen and the rush-hour driving in Hamburg.. Our average speed was 102.3 km/h (63.5 mph). Most importantly, the car calculated that we could drive another 780 kilometers (484.6 miles) with the fuel that remained in the tank.of the BMW. The 320d’s fuel gauge showed half full.
THE ROAD TO HAMBURG
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[...] TheDieselDriver has recently spent some time with the highly super efficient BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition model. The same very model has been the star of another review conducted by the UK newspaper Sunday Times in which the car scored a record-breaking journey from the UK to Munich and almost back to Britain with a BMW 320d EfficientDynamics saloon on a single tank of fuel. [...]
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[...] [...]
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[...] the drive from Munich to Hamburg, the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition only used 4.2 l/100 km (56 mpg). As we reached our final [...]
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[...] a drive from Munich to Hamburg with the BMW 320d Sedan, we saw fuel usage of 4.2 l/100 km (56 mpg). Thanks to the 320d EDE’s [...]
Performance
Prius: 0-60 10.1sec
320d: 0-60 8.2 sec
Fuel Efficiency
Prius: 50mpg
320d: 56mpg
Torque: No comparison
Driving experience: Ditto
Sales in US:
Prius: 50% of overall sales
320d: 0%
30% of Golfs sold in the US will be TDI’s. The 335d is a bit too expensive for the common folks. The 320d could see a lot of converts from the Golf TDI/GTI camp
My BMW 320D (Coupe), 163 HP, built 2009, consumes 5.9 l/100 km, at an average speed of 85 km/h. What may cause that difference ?
Hi Eddy,
our BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition got several additional fuel saving options.. such as special tires, a chassis drop of 15mm, active ventilation flaps etc. Also take a look at our first look report of the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition
Thank you Christian. I’m aware of that, but still … kind of disapointed. So much more is possible, especially with such a technically advanced juwel as the 320d. My former car, a Saab, with the 1.9l Alfa engine, did it with only 4.9 l/100km, weighing 200 kg more, and with a outdated powertrain from GM. What I did, was having chip-tuned the engine up to 180 hp, offering great driving fun with 400 Nm … until the exhaust system got plugged with soot Trauriges Smiley ..
Pat-I drive a 2010 Golf with a 6 speed manual and can tell you the economy is mind blowing if you know how to drive to optimize mileage. It’s not that hard to get it into the high 40′s in edge of city Chicago driving, and even better on highway. My best so far (only had car since March) was over Labor Day, when I drove from Chicago to Cincinnati at 65 MPH, no AC, and got the car up to 55.3 for the highway part of the trip. After a bunch of city running I filled up and verified reported mileage of 54.0 for the day was dead on.
DRL’s have been disable to reduce alternator drag.
Hi Thunderstruck,
I agree! I love the Golf TDI. I recently drove one to Omaha and the mileage was crazy good (40s) in spite of some aggressive driving. But I finally got a GTI last month because I like the red stripes, the interior and more importantly, I will not be driving it a lot.
Sometimes, I just wish my garage and my bank account were more flexible. So many cars!