BMW 330e ordered...

[Funkydunc]

humpy999 said:

For all of you regretting not getting the HK sound, I only went for the Advanced sound and missed the deadline to get in a change. Instead I went for the Bavsound upgrade including subs and I have to say that it is a fantastic upgrade. I'm ecstatic with the difference to the audio...

How much did it cost?

[Gb908010]

The only item that is concerning me is overall fuel consumption.
I have to pay for my fuel and then claim it back at the hmrc 12p per mile. Reading the quoted figures I will struggle to break even as I drive ALOT of motorway miles.
This week I have covered 500 Monday,450 Tuesday and 250 today,how do people think I'll get on,I am a cautious driver sitting around 70-75 on motorway.
Just had 790 miles out of my v60

[RicksAlfas]

Gb908010 said:

The only item that is concerning me is overall fuel consumption.
I have to pay for my fuel and then claim it back at the hmrc 12p per mile. Reading the quoted figures I will struggle to break even as I drive ALOT of motorway miles.
This week I have covered 500 Monday,450 Tuesday and 250 today,how do people think I'll get on,I am a cautious driver sitting around 70-75 on motorway.
Just had 790 miles out of my v60

I think you'll wish you got a diesel I'm afraid.
I would imagine you'll get mid 40s mpg and with a small petrol tank you'll be stopping every verse end.

These kind of cars are fantastic on paper and for certain types of driving, but steaming up and down the motorway you are driving a 2.0 turbo petrol automatic with a dead weight of batteries in the boot, and fuel consumption to match.
Sorry.

[jason61c]

Gb908010 said:

The only item that is concerning me is overall fuel consumption.
I have to pay for my fuel and then claim it back at the hmrc 12p per mile. Reading the quoted figures I will struggle to break even as I drive ALOT of motorway miles.
This week I have covered 500 Monday,450 Tuesday and 250 today,how do people think I'll get on,I am a cautious driver sitting around 70-75 on motorway.
Just had 790 miles out of my v60

you might break even.

V60 D5 twin engine?

[Gb908010]

What I thought,thanks for the reply. The phev volvo isn't on our fleet list but a bloody rs focus or scooby sti is?!

Don't know whether to cancel the test drive now and have a drive in a4 3.0tdi s tronic.

So frustrating

[bigphil47]

Gb908010 said:

The only item that is concerning me is overall fuel consumption.
I have to pay for my fuel and then claim it back at the hmrc 12p per mile. Reading the quoted figures I will struggle to break even as I drive ALOT of motorway miles.
This week I have covered 500 Monday,450 Tuesday and 250 today,how do people think I'll get on,I am a cautious driver sitting around 70-75 on motorway.
Just had 790 miles out of my v60

I have just driven back home to Bradford from Heathrow and started with about 10% battery (nowhere to charge last night) and have averaged just over 46mpg with some bursts upto 90mph although the majority around the 75mph figure. On the round trip I managed to get to 380 miles (via the NEC on the outward leg starting with 100% charge) before filling up at Mansfield, although the computer did say I still had 62 miles of range left - however it was falling fast! The majority of my journeys are a lot shorter and I have been able to get to 440 miles on a tank with daily charging. I assume that this is a company car, if so you will also need to factor in the tax savings - this is what swung it for me. That said I haven't had an electricity bill yet but I believe it costs about 65 - 70 pence per charge. Hope that doesn't confuse you further!!

[Mcpaynter]

Fuel tank is the annoying thing about the car. Filled up yesterday with 99.. £42 which was full to the brim from 30mile range to full.

I only charge when I can be bothered (last was probably Friday) and average 41 overall according to trip computer.

Just wish the fuel tank was bigger tho! It drops very quickly

[Gb908010]

Thanks for the feedback,
As long as I don't loose everytime I fill up then ill be ok,main attraction for me is the bik as I am company car driver.
Got a car next weekend to test drive so going to Whitby for the day to give a good mixture of roads to see how it performs.
If I can squeeze 400 miles out of a tank then ill be fine.

[bigphil47]

Gb908010 said:

Thanks for the feedback,
As long as I don't loose everytime I fill up then ill be ok,main attraction for me is the bik as I am company car driver.
Got a car next weekend to test drive so going to Whitby for the day to give a good mixture of roads to see how it performs.
If I can squeeze 400 miles out of a tank then ill be fine.

I think that you will absolutely love the car - it's the matter of the more frequent fuelling given the mileage you drive that you will have to decide over - good luck and I for one am interested in how you get on.

[Rob-kqpsf]

Gb908010 said:

The only item that is concerning me is overall fuel consumption.
I have to pay for my fuel and then claim it back at the hmrc 12p per mile.

You can claim 13ppm now
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advisor...

[peklim]

Junior Bianno said:

Anyone else thinking of doubling down on these? I love my 330e - so much so I'm just about to order an X5 40e. Anything to look out for on these?

I know the BiK isn't as attractive but it works for me. We live in the Glasgow suburbs so pretty much all our driving is around town. I almost never visit a petrol station which is the attraction with the X5. My Discovery knows the local petrol stations a bit too well!

I've owned an hybrid x5 for about 6 months & it has been great. I now visit the petrol station about once a month,unlike weekly with my previous car,although that was a M5.The X5 did have teething problems though;it broke down after 10 miles & was off the road for a month being fixed.I was give a new 7 series as a courtesy car & a months payment waiver to compensate.Also the park assist option has never worked,despite 2 attempts to fix it.The internet option is difficult to use,although I understand that it is no longer available.Despite all that ,it is ideal for my use,which is mainly short journeys & the occasional longer trip.I charge it at home 3 times a week.

[Junior Bianno]

peklim said:

I've owned an hybrid x5 for about 6 months & it has been great. I now visit the petrol station about once a month,unlike weekly with my previous car,although that was a M5.The X5 did have teething problems though;it broke down after 10 miles & was off the road for a month being fixed.I was give a new 7 series as a courtesy car & a months payment waiver to compensate.Also the park assist option has never worked,despite 2 attempts to fix it.The internet option is difficult to use,although I understand that it is no longer available.Despite all that ,it is ideal for my use,which is mainly short journeys & the occasional longer trip.I charge it at home 3 times a week.

Brilliant thanks - very helpful. Quick question - when you charge it, what is the displayed range on electric? I get 15 miles coming up on the 330e after a full charge and that seems fairly accurate.

Sorry for going off the 330e topic - still BMW hybrid though!

[peklim]

Junior Bianno said:

Brilliant thanks - very helpful. Quick question - when you charge it, what is the displayed range on electric? I get 15 miles coming up on the 330e after a full charge and that seems fairly accurate.

Sorry for going off the 330e topic - still BMW hybrid though!

Thanks;the displayed range on a full charge shows 20 miles;whether I achieve that depends on how hard I accelerate & traffic conditions. I spend a lot of time in it waiting for the wife,with the a/c.& tv on,& I think that the former uses up quite a lot of charge.

[bigphil47]

peklim said:

Thanks;the displayed range on a full charge shows 20 miles;whether I achieve that depends on how hard I accelerate & traffic conditions. I spend a lot of time in it waiting for the wife,with the a/c.& tv on,& I think that the former uses up quite a lot of charge.

The terrain also makes a big difference - I use 10% of the battery in the first mile of my commute (uphill) but can get most of it back on the next 2 miles which are mainly downhill - I suppose everyone's experience will be different due to their own individual circumstances.

[beardman]

35mpg here.

although I rarely charge it.

..I have no idea how people drive.

[Tony Angelino]

Found out I'm just about within budget for my new company car and want to organise a test drive. What's the best thing to tell the garage please when arranging one given that it would be leased by my company? Presumably they won't want to know if they work out it's going to be a lease via somebody like Lex and theres nothing in it for them.

Edit.

Decided just to be straight with them, they sent me out with a 'Genius' - a non salesman who just gave me bits and pieces of information about the car, was a nice lad.

Really, really enjoyed the car - thought it was fantastic. Only slight thing I noticed that wasn't perfect was the slight delay between putting my foot to the floor and the power coming through but I think that's more to do with it being an automatic than anything else. One other slight thing was that I would need to change my hand position on the wheel from 10 to 2 to quarter to 3 as I though the paddle's where a touch awkward, particularly when steering,

Been given a guide 'list price' budget from work of £36, so assuming the £2.5k Government grant is to come off the list price shown on the configurator website then an M sport in white with red interior and M Sport + package and 19" M star spoke wheels should just about see me scraping home. It's a toss up between that and the estuarial blue and innovation package, but I think I will go for the Msport+.

Edited by Tony Angelino on Saturday 10th September 16:12

[simonss]

Better view of the blue grill here. Not too sure about it. Changed my grill and wing mirrors to black, think it looks good but each to their own!!

I saw someone recommending to delete the M Sport suspension when specing the car. It was something I was concerned about but im glad I didnt delete it.I haven't drive the 3 series on the standard suspension but the 330e rides perfect for my tastes with the MSport suspension on the 19s, even on rough back roads.

Also after 3700 miles im averaging about 39mpg, I charge it at work most days and have a round trip of about 25 miles of mainly town driving but i do plenty of motorway miles at weekends and on business also. I wouldnt say im a conservative driver, the car is too much fun to be worrying about mpg, stick it in sport, flick the transmission into sport and just enjoy, and it also helps that im covered for personal fuel on the car!!

One thing to note for anyone ordering. The fuel tank is tiny! About £55-60 will fill the car with a range of 300/350 miles depending on how you drive it. Its not a problem really, you are just going see the petrol station a bit more often.

For options i speced the Pro Media pack, worth it for the screen and i used the touch pad scroll wheel to input postcodes all the time, works well. The Connected Drive app thing is rubbish though, at least on Android anyway, Spotify doesnt work at all, only on the 7-series apparently. The adjustable armrest is good. The adaptive headlights are awesome, although I feel my dipped beams are to low and you cant adjust yourself, need to drop it into the dealer. I hindsight I wish I had speced the reversing camera and the heads up display, and I hadnt noticed that lumbar support was an option at the time.

Overall though I dont think i could be happier with the car; white is a bit of pain in the arse to keep clean though!!


Hi - is the grille and mirrors easy to do yourself? Mine's a company so probably won't get done by my local dealer

Cheers - Simon

[Bumferrets7]

Got mine Friday really pleased with the mineral white in the sun is the best colour

[Gb908010]

Very nice,only 5 sleeps till I get one for the weekend

[MrMarvin]

Rob-kqpsf said:

The App is accessed via a Pin number. There are 4 main screens, these being Status, Remote, Maps and Efficiency. There's also a menu for settings and Licence Information.
Settings simply tells you the charge status of the vehicle battery plus the Electric and Total range. Also the Next Preconditioning Departure Time. If the vehicle is currently on charge, it will give an estimated Full Charge Completion Time.
Remote lets you change the Preconditioning Departure Time, Activate the Heating/Cooling function immediately, Lock and Unlock the vehicle plus Flash the Headlights.
Maps shows the location of the vehicle, the location of the device running the App, any nearby charge points with details and also allows a Google Maps search.
Efficiency details the Total Distance Travelled, the Electric Distance driven, Fuel Consumption and Duration of your last journey.

Unfortunately the App has a security limitation and won't allow Screenshots but if you search Google Images for "bmw connecteddrive app" you'll get the idea.

Personally, I'd like to see more functionality but it's a start. Hope this helps.

Awesome Rob, really good write up. Thanks!

Regarding the heating function, how powerful is it? I live in Sweden and we sometimes have -20 celsius here, will it still be able to heat up the car sufficiently? I'm asking because my mother and her husband recently purchased a Golf GTE which came with a fuel heater on top of the standard electric one, the reason claimed by VW was that the electric one simply wasn't powerful enough for the climate up here.