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Originally Posted by SamS
LOL nice. Well considering I have a heavy traffic commute, I don't really get to drive much different than I would in a Prius, at least half the time.
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I live in the Bay Area and a lot of times it's like that too. I've already noticed this car makes me much less grumpy about traffic jams. In case of standstill traffic, I just put it into Eco Pro mode and smugly look at my trip computer say "28mpg" while finding a better radio station. It's a lot less unnerving when you don't have to see your fuel economy for your whole trip drop from high-20's to low-10's when hitting a jam.
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I have told folks that.. but there seems to always be some hybrid discrimination (?). Several complaints about the extra 250lbs. But it doesn't feel like that much to me. Seems faster than a 335i to me, so I don't care that much about the weight. I did a purchase, and since 335i discounts were not rock-bottom, the AH3 was only about $1K more than a 335i spec'd out the same way.
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I test drove the GS450h and M35h and I can totally see why there's hybrid discrimination. There is really not another hybrid on the market that feels this smoothly integrated. The perception of speed is very noticeable on this car, especially in sport mode when it eBOOSTS all the time. Even though the N55 is a very low lag turbocharged engine, there still is like a 1 to 2 second period for the power to build up when you suddenly WOT while cruising. The motor does a great job of giving you a temporary boost to mask that. I don't think that it'll beat a 335i on a racetrack, but that doesn't matter to me. It's the perception of power.
And I'm glad to hear you got such a good deal on purchasing the AH3 as well. That's awesome! Yeah, back on my A4, I paid $1250 for a warranty-backed stage 1 ECU remap that claimed to be more "responsive" and "1mpg" better due to a leaner burn. That was more of a waste of money than the ActiveHybrid can ever be.
My #1 concern when considering a hybrid performance car is "what am I compromising?". And in the case of the AH3, you're really not giving up much over a 335i.