[Hasser]

seems a step in the right direction onwards from the Activehybrids 3, 5 and 7 series that were produced.

i have an activehybrid 5 and electric only range is good for about 2 miles!!

[Diver]

Originally Posted by HFW003

Generally people who purchase these cars are not concerned with maximum range but rather maximum performance. Good for you though

Actually, I believe buyers are interested in making a statement about how green they are. With cheap oil there is no financial benefit to hybrid and electric cars. Some of the very expensive ones do have outstanding performance.

[hoyasaxa]

Originally Posted by Mr iPerformance

Hello everyone,

I did a test on the new 2016 BMW 330e last weekend with the "MAX eDRIVE" and "ECO PRO" -settings turned on. It was under BMW's claim of 40km / 25mi, but I still managed a pretty good result.

Conditions:

The range achieved was 17.02 miles / 27.4 km

That's pretty terrible. Driving extremely reasonably he achieved only 68.5% of BMW's claimed range. Not awesome.

[raysspl]

Looks like I'll be test driving this soon. Thank you for the rec!

PS.: I was debating about this or the 328d (diesel)

[PennSt8]

Originally Posted by hoyasaxa

That's pretty terrible. Driving extremely reasonably he achieved only 68.5% of BMW's claimed range. Not awesome.

I thought the 330e was rated at 14 miles on a full charge, as per the EPA.

[hoyasaxa]

Originally Posted by PennSt8

I thought the 330e was rated at 14 miles on a full charge, as per the EPA.

Ah. Well if he is just using the wrong numbers then this isn't very remarkable at all. Would make more sense.

[antzcrashing]

Originally Posted by HFW003

Generally people who purchase these cars are not concerned with maximum range but rather maximum performance. Good for you though

Only a fool would not be concerned with range

[rodness]

Am I reading this right? Did you drive all of 17 miles on a charge?? If that's correct, how is this car just not utterly worthless?

I mean, ok so I get crap mileage in my 335i because now I work at home and largely just run the kids to school and go to the grocery store, but still I'm getting 150+ to a tank. With a 17mi range I wouldn't even want to get on the freeway.

[sjpaul]

Originally Posted by rodness

Am I reading this right? Did you drive all of 17 miles on a charge?? If that's correct, how is this car just not utterly worthless?

I mean, ok so I get crap mileage in my 335i because now I work at home and largely just run the kids to school and go to the grocery store, but still I'm getting 150+ to a tank. With a 17mi range I wouldn't even want to get on the freeway.

You realize its a plug-in hybrid, right? Its got a gas engine and a 14 gallon tank. 17miles is the all-electric range. I'm sure the car can eek out some more miles on 14 gallons of 93 octane...

[SMC23]

OP, how are you finding the handling with the added weight?

[Mr iPerformance]

Originally Posted by rodness

Am I reading this right? Did you drive all of 17 miles on a charge?? If that's correct, how is this car just not utterly worthless?

BMW has designed the car so that it is suitable for people living in large cities and metropolitan areas where there is a lot of stop and go traffic and where the daily commute is about 15-20 miles. For other times there is the petrol engine that can take you as long as you want.

If your commute is much longer than 20 miles and you do a lot of freeway driving, a PHEV might not be for you.

I really feel that BMW has designed for me. For my use the car is perfect.

[Mr iPerformance]

Originally Posted by scanido

OP, how are you finding the handling with the added weight?

My own 330e is being delivered in about 3 weeks and I put about 250 miles to the dealer demo 330e. The car didn't feel heavy at all and I think BMW was smart not to put more battery cells to the car. Also the 420nm torque helps a lot to make the car feel nimble.

In the corners there is a bit more weight, but you really don't notice it. It kind of feels like driving an xDrive alone or a lighter rwd car with one passenger. Sooo, if you aren't a hardcore enthusiast, you couldn't honestly tell that there is extra weight.

[hotrod182]

Originally Posted by rodness

Am I reading this right? Did you drive all of 17 miles on a charge?? If that's correct, how is this car just not utterly worthless?

I mean, ok so I get crap mileage in my 335i because now I work at home and largely just run the kids to school and go to the grocery store, but still I'm getting 150+ to a tank. With a 17mi range I wouldn't even want to get on the freeway.

The beauty of the 330e is you can cruise pretty much unlimited on the HWY with good MPG, and cover much of your city driving (where gas MPG is horrible) on battery. On my 335i BMWs in town I was lucky to get 14mpg. So the city driving efficiency on BATT and hybrid drive would be huge.

[MilehighM3]

Originally Posted by Mr iPerformance

Thanks! I most definitely will. I have a few new videos coming in the next 1-2 weeks, so stay tuned for those.

I'll also do a repeat of the test during winter, at about -20c (-5c). I'd be surprised if I'd get more than 8-9 miles of range then.

Be sure to precondition the battery, it will definitely extend your range.

[PennSt8]

Originally Posted by hotrod182

The beauty of the 330e is you can cruise pretty much unlimited on the HWY with good MPG, and cover much of your city driving (where gas MPG is horrible) on battery. On my 335i BMWs in town I was lucky to get 14mpg. So the city driving efficiency on BATT and hybrid drive would be huge.

This is exactly where this type of vehicle shines.

[stubbsy74]

Hi there, i currently have my 330 performance m sport on order and i have to say love your video tests! Please feel free to post others about the usability of the iperformance, idrive controller and other interior gadgets. Thanks.

[Mr iPerformance]

Originally Posted by stubbsy74

Hi there, i currently have my 330 performance m sport on order and i have to say love your video tests! Please feel free to post others about the usability of the iperformance, idrive controller and other interior gadgets. Thanks.

Thanks! There's been quite a few requests to do a full demo on my 330e, which I'll post in about two weeks. I just got confirmation that the car will be delivered to me next Tuesday, the 7th of June at 10am. Stay tuned!

[SMC23]

Wonder if the battery cells are designed to be modular and replaceable like how it is in the i3?

[Mr iPerformance]

Originally Posted by scanido

Wonder if the battery cells are designed to be modular and replaceable like how it is in the i3?

Yup, it is. The battery is underneath the boot floor and very easily accessible. The battery pack lasts for about 200 000 miles, so I wouldn't worry about it too much :-)

[Kiwi]

I've enjoyed the read.

My 225xe M Sport arrives in 3-4 weeks and I'm looking forward to it's arrival.

I did consider a i3 but to many things I wasn't happy with like poor cornering, horrible drivers seat and only a battery. I like the security of having a petrol engine up front when the power goes down.

One of the reasons I've purchased a hybrid is being able to drive in all types of bus only lanes and carpool lanes by myself. The fuel saving is good but very minimal to me plus I like BMW's new technology. My 225xe will be BMW's first private owner on the road. I purchased one of BMW's demo's still traveling to New Zealand on a Ship called Carmen so these one 225xe less for car reviewers to test.

New Zealand does not subsides EV's purchase so we pay top dollar. These only about 1'100 battery anything here driving on our roads.

[stubbsy74]

Can anyone tell me? On the sat nav there is an option to send the destination to your car from your phone. This is then supposed to work out the best times on the journey to use the battery and the engine. As such my daily commute has two options (motorway and city roads). I wondered if when you put in the destination does it offer various routes to drive so that i can let 'auto edrive' do its job?? I would obviously mainly choose the inner city route as petrol is a lot more expensive in the UK and i would therefore save a lot on my daily commute. Thanks!

[ted8715]

Originally Posted by stubbsy74

Can anyone tell me? On the sat nav there is an option to send the destination to your car from your phone. This is then supposed to work out the best times on the journey to use the battery and the engine. As such my daily commute has two options (motorway and city roads). I wondered if when you put in the destination does it offer various routes to drive so that i can let 'auto edrive' do its job?? I would obviously mainly choose the inner city route as petrol is a lot more expensive in the UK and i would therefore save a lot on my daily commute. Thanks!

Maybe this will help:
Today I was driving to work in Auto eDrive and Eco Pro. Had driven on battery the whole way so far... Probably annoyed a few drivers accelerating slowly to not kick in the ICE (I know BMW drivers have a reputation and slow isn't one of them. Maybe I can give us a new impression )The Nav was set to Fastest Route. Halfway through my drive I switched the Nav route preference to EcoPro and the ICE fired right up as I was on the highway going about 60mph. I had plenty of battery range left. It must have thought the ICE was more efficient for the highway and it wanted to save the battery for slower off highway driving in traffic later on my route.