[Tengocity]

Just heard my order is now expected to be delivered at the end of June, instead of November when I last had an update.

So was thinking that I hadn't heard any further updates from those who got theirs a few months back. Would love to hear how folk are liking them and what real world mpg they're getting on longer journeys, especially anything over 200 miles in one go.

[jeeves2016]

Just had mine delivered today. So far only driven on electric. Strange feeling as theres no engine noise, especially coming from a Golf R!.
here's a few images:
http://postimg.org/gallery/6aq6k8ho/
ordered end of January and it's a lease car

[Tengocity]

Nice!

Most people on this forum seem to want to compare the Golf R to the 335d, so a 330e is an interesting change.. so what do you make of it?

I've driven the Tesla and i3 a bit so had the freaky first drive on electric power already, so know exactly what you mean.

[davyk31]

Don't like the extra flap on the side for the plug. Would have thought they could have come up with a neater solution. VW have it nailed on the GTE where the VW badge on the front opens to let the plug connect in.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by davyk31

Don't like the extra flap on the side for the plug. Would have thought they could have come up with a neater solution. VW have it nailed on the GTE where the VW badge on the front opens to let the plug connect in.

Yeah, those pesky flaps. Who'd have one on their car!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Lobb

Tesla and I3 are true electric vehicles (ie no internal combustion engine drives the wheels).

Is not the 330e a petrol / electric hybrid?

I drove the I3 and I8 recently. Absolutely loved the I3.

It is, but can drive on pure electric power up to 75mph and a theoretical range of 20 miles, so can happily be used around towns and cities like an i3.

We liked the i3 very much but at the time the range was too low for my wife's commute, whereas the new battery pack version would have been perfect actually. What I really liked was how completely responsive and smooth it was, and eminently throttle adjustable the handling is, even if it is just degrees of understeer!

[sdb123]

Originally Posted by davyk31

VW have it nailed on the GTE where the VW badge on the front opens to let the plug connect in.

Shame they didn't follow the same design principle with the Passat GTE - that's behind the front grille, to the side of the badge.

[tbenn1]

Passat is also available in a estate, I'd be very interested in trading the 335d in for a hybrid estate

[Chris1712]

Mine is patiently waiting at the port (presumably Southampton?) and has been since Tuesday. Amazingly it's gonna sit there for a whole week before getting to the dealer, who then need another week to prep it!

Bit of a bummer really, but excited nevertheless. It went from a pile of components to be being built, painted and shipped all the way to the UK in less time than it will take to get to me from Southampton .

[Nickc1982]

Originally Posted by Chris1712

Mine is patiently waiting at the port (presumably Southampton?) and has been since Tuesday. Amazingly it's gonna sit there for a whole week before getting to the dealer, who then need another week to prep it!

Bit of a bummer really, but excited nevertheless. It went from a pile of components to be being built, painted and shipped all the way to the UK in less time than it will take to get to me from Southampton .

Which dealer did you buy from, my 340 must have come on the same boat and is due at Swindon next week.

Nick

[TimMcC]

Originally Posted by tbenn1

Passat is also available in a estate, I'd be very interested in trading the 335d in for a hybrid estate

Mercedes do the c300h on estate, we have one. C350e also available in estate. The e is a plug in and petrol based, the h isn't and is diesel based. Better for our intended use (town driving and motorways).

[tbenn1]

Originally Posted by TimMcC

Mercedes do the c300h on estate, we have one. C350e also available in estate. The e is a plug in and petrol based, the h isn't and is diesel based. Better for our intended use (town driving and motorways).

What sort of mpg are you getting?
I wouldn't be looking to change for 1-2 years, not long got the 335d.

[Andydf]

First post, so be gentle

Had mine for about a month, covered about 2k miles so far and love it. I've come from a 120d and three other derv engined cars, so the petrol/hybrid is sooo much quieter (obviously more so in electric ).

I drove 293 miles yesterday. Started on a full tank and about 80% charge. I filled up when I got back and it returned a fraction under 42mpg. This was mainly motorway driving keeping it to about 75 ish. The charge doesn't last too long and you need to charge it every night to make the most of the economy it can deliver.

I have a meter in the house which gives me a cost per hour. When plugged in, it costs about 27p/h to charge. Charge time is approx 3 1/2 hours from empty through a standard 3 pin socket. My last charge showed 19 miles full electric, but you will be lucky get this in real world driving, especially at 70mph.

Top tip is the fuel tank pressure release button. Make sure it's pressed before trying to open the flap, it's a pain if you don't

Pictures below

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Andydf

I drove 293 miles yesterday. Started on a full tank and about 80% charge. I filled up when I got back and it returned a fraction under 42mpg. This was mainly motorway driving keeping it to about 75 ish. The charge doesn't last too long and you need to charge it every night to make the most of the economy it can deliver.

I have a meter in the house which gives me a cost per hour. When plugged in, it costs about 27p/h to charge. Charge time is approx 3 1/2 hours from empty through a standard 3 pin socket. My last charge showed 19 miles full electric, but you will be lucky get this in real world driving, especially at 70mph.

42mpg over 293 miles sounds ok and about what I'd get from the 335d at similar speeds I think, but I can claim more pence per mile from work so it still works better financially.

Doing shorter journeys 50-100 miles will be where it really makes sense I imagine.

However at 27p per hour to recharge, and 3.5 hours it's not far off £1 to get not even 20 miles, which isn't exactly spectacular is it?

And how are you finding the handling and fun factor?

[Andydf]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

42mpg over 293 miles sounds ok and about what I'd get from the 335d at similar speeds I think, but I can claim more pence per mile from work so it still works better financially.

Doing shorter journeys 50-100 miles will be where it really makes sense I imagine.

However at 27p per hour to recharge, and 3.5 hours it's not far off £1 to get not even 20 miles, which isn't exactly spectacular is it?

And how are you finding the handling and fun factor?

The charge cost to actual miles isn't great, however if you use the satnav for all journeys, it decides when to use leccy or petrol and ensures the best results/mpg. Stick in save mode and it will put about 50% back in but mpg suffers slightly.

With the 'kick' the electric motors give when needed, it's pretty quick. The car always keeps a minimum amount of charge for such occasions, which I find being used far too often

[Chris1712]

It's really designed for journeys 0-30 miles. I used a demo for my 27 mile mixed commute (A roads, B roads and Bath city traffic) and achieved 120mpg. No diesel will come close to that even if you account for the £1 or so it cost to charge.

£1 for 20 miles seems pretty good to me as well? That's what 80mpg? And in conditions that would return barely half that even with a dagdag.

[Jack_is_Back]

Originally Posted by Andydf

With the 'kick' the electric motors give when needed, it's pretty quick. The car always keeps a minimum amount of charge for such occasions, which I find being used far too often

I would probably spend hours eking out the maximum efficiency to then go and and ruin it in 5 minutes 'whirring' about about like a loon laughing hysterically.

[Andydf]

Originally Posted by Jack_is_Back

I would probably spend hours eking out the maximum efficiency to then go and and ruin it in 5 minutes 'whirring' about about like a loon laughing hysterically.

Have you been hiding in my car

My usual commute is 11m each way, so the hybrid works well for me.

[TimMcC]

Originally Posted by tbenn1

What sort of mpg are you getting?
I wouldn't be looking to change for 1-2 years, not long got the 335d.

55mpg from most runs. Decent turn of speed, but handling isn't great compared to my 430d. Nice car overall. Prefer the BMW, but the Merc is also a great car and a better cruiser than my 4.

[magic77]

interesting comments on these, we now have had an i3 for around a year. Covered around 8000 miles and its not a bad car. Ok few niggles as you do but all covered and fixed. Unlike my F30. The bigger battery will be a welcomed upgrade when we swap cars at the end of the lease in year and half. Saying that its abotu being smart. With the warmer weather we are easily seeing around 100 miles on pure electric and worse case the REX is there to back it up. At same time woudl be hard pushed right now to change to a 330e from a 335i. If only they made a plugin with a 6pot

[dc_bmw]

I got mine a few days ago, coming from a 2012 320i.
Noticeable differences aside from the hybrid stuff are:
- better road noise isolation
- engine is quieter, and has sportier sound when revving it
- 8 gear is longer (around 1800rpm at 120kph instead of 2100)
- brighter control display with higher contrast
- doors and trunk shut with sterdier sound (better)
- fuel cap release button
- some options disappeared from the extended info display screen (current fuel consumption 'graph', eco pro gas pedal position...or couldn't find it yet)
- LIM button on the steering wheel instead of SET button..doesn't feel as an improvement
- seems that the lumber support in the sport seats is softer (good news). The leather stitching area in the lower bag area was very hard on my previous seats, taking very long to fit my bag.
- clock is now displayed on the far right of the extended info display, instead of between the gauges
- iDrive is must faster. Zooming in nav is now 'animated', instead of waiting, waiting waiting, there it is!
- iDrive touch controller (works great. typing is faster than turning)
- touch is also great for the interactive map view.
- GPS tracking option (to find the car back)
- and maybe due to it being a hybrid, when you turn it off it immediately shows the conditioning options in the control display so you can set the preconditioning immediately. Very handy.
- the standard springs and dampers are much stiffer than the previous standard. But i had the sport suspension. During test driving it thought the new standard was good enough for me, but after some playing it think: the softer inbound damping is great for commuting, more comfort, but it is not stiff enough for spirited driving on moderate roads. The car starts to dance around on rougher surfaces. On perfects roads, it is a more comfortable spirited experience (fine, but not 'on rails').
You can also feel the difference when you go from hard braking to cornering. With the softer springs / softer dampening the car rolls a bit more and you can feel that the inner rear wheel has less grip than with the sports suspension i had. I'm gonna see how this works out for me. Perhaps some new dampers in the future (i think a stiffer inbound damping can solve it for 80%).
- manual gear shifts appear faster and are smoother. Might be because i did not have the steering wheel paddles before.
- servotronic is nice, but a little to soft when driving sporty in the city, especially since i no longer have the sports suspension. In sport mode it is stiffer, and more natural.
- no steering wheels vibrations

On to the hybrid stuff:
- the blue ambient lighting is great for youngsters...but i (38) switched back to Amber and very much miss my Luxury white welcome lights
- the delay between 'release brake' and 'start responding to accelerator input' seems a bit longer
- the non-elegant stop (automatic) is pretty much gone. The engine is cut during deceleration and so is the drive-chain in eco mode. The stop at the traffic light now feels more like a manual, where you can gentle control it by reducing the braking input.
- the petrol engine start is more fluent, but still noticeable if you focus on it
- pre-conditioning! Yeah, this is superb. Cool in the summer, warm in the winter. Works through key FOB and remote app, and can be scheduled. Very luxury.
- the electric drive is very silent. It is addictive. Thankfully the engine is quieter too, contributing to the overal experience.
- 0 to 50 feels reasonable speed wise. After that it becomes a 0 to 100kph of 13+ seconds car. However, it is sufficient for city driving with other cars around. And the upside is that it is easier to respect speed limits (German cleverness?). Due to the torque it doesn't feel that slow, unless you are feeling sporty
- acceleration from a corner below 50 feels faster due to the electric engine. You are still waiting for the automatic downshift (shifting program is not configured for racers), but the response is better. When driving in sport and downshifting manually, the acceleration is far better due to the eBoost function.
- charging with the Wallbox Pure is easy, and not a time consuming process. Just plug it in, lock the car and walk away. Charging can be monitored via the remote app. Unfortunately, the app does not predict the full-charge-time, while the car shows that in the info display.
- acceleration with the full 252hp is great. Feels fast, responsive and starting at the low revs. Once the car is rolling the response is very good, very smooth, controlled and just great.
- another great thing about the combined power supply, is that sporty driving has become cheaper. Fuel consumption is much lower.
- on normal commuting, you can greatly benefit from the price of current. Purely electric, 'price per kilometer' can be half that of petrol only (current price at home around EUR 0,18 and petrol around EUR 1,60). You loose this advantage once the battery is down to the minimum of 8%. So, charge when possible.
With the current petrol price, charging on public charging stations is still beneficial even while it is about twice as costly as at home.
- as soon as the car starts recharging during highway driving, it becomes expensive. Driving at 120 normally costs about 6 L/100km, but while charing it is around 11. Overall, it is still a smart strategy if you drive electric in the city / traffic jam.
- the automatic eDrive mode, combined with the nav system, is very smart. Even with an empty battery, i noticed it saving charge in the last kilometers to my home, by using petrol during acceleration, so it could drive purely electric down my home street, the last 200m of my trip.
- on longer trips i expect the car to be less fuel efficient than the 320i. At 100 kph it consumes around 5 L/100km, which could be around 4/4.5 with the 320i. At 120, the difference seems smaller (to be continued).
- up until now i consumed less than 5 L/100 km in every trip shorter dan 60 km, and about 8 kWh/100 km, resulting in a 15-20% cheaper drive. Combined with lower road tax and lower maintenance cost this car should be cheaper to run. (maintenance: the 5yr plan was rated at EUR 2500 before, and is now rated at EUR 600). And more fun (both because it has more power to play with, and driving economical on the daily commute is also kind of funny challenge....and when you hit the gas, it is cheaper than before).

[Tengocity]

Thanks, that's a lot of feedback! You've got me slightly worried about the handling, and that will be worsened coming from about the most modified and best handling 335d around.... I will just need to remember it's a daily drive work tool.

What is really like to know from people of what mpg and tank range they're getting on a 200+ motorway journey cruising at 80ish.