BMW 330e ordered...
Discussion
Like you, I never believed the fantastic quoted MPG's, who does? My Jag I think was quoted to do 58MPG, I get about 42 real world, I always knock off at least 20% of the manufacturer quoted figure. PHEV's are more like 50-60% less it seems, and then only if you can charge regularly. For me the BIK saving alone is reason to have the 330e as my next company car.
[/quote]
Had mine since March, I have a 20 mile commute with charging at both ends and regularly return 148mpg. Plus i save £250 per month in tax so for me this car works brilliantly, but its not for everyone.
I think if your commute is over 30,40 miles and you do regular long journeys then go for the deisel.
For me this was pretty clear when making the decision.
[/quote]
Had mine since March, I have a 20 mile commute with charging at both ends and regularly return 148mpg. Plus i save £250 per month in tax so for me this car works brilliantly, but its not for everyone.
I think if your commute is over 30,40 miles and you do regular long journeys then go for the deisel.
For me this was pretty clear when making the decision.
Something positive to say about my 330e.
I have found the gear change on the auto box lacking, especially trying to use it in manual i.e.
Further reading, and after purchasing a cable for £10 I have now changed the software setting on the car so I now have the 'sport' autobox. Just google BMW F30 coding for more info (lots of interesting stuff you can do). I'm happy to provide links, just not sure if you are allowed to link to other forums here?
The results are:
Of course this is all only for info, any changes you make are at your own risk, and I wouldn't want to comment on the impact of warranty etc.
I have found the gear change on the auto box lacking, especially trying to use it in manual i.e.
- Delay in gear change from pressing the paddle to gear change
- Auto kick down (without pressing in to kick down on the pedal)
Further reading, and after purchasing a cable for £10 I have now changed the software setting on the car so I now have the 'sport' autobox. Just google BMW F30 coding for more info (lots of interesting stuff you can do). I'm happy to provide links, just not sure if you are allowed to link to other forums here?
The results are:
- In Auto and Eco Pro/Comfort on E power (driving very conservatively) it almost feels very slightly smoother.
- In sport/+ modes and manual it is much better. It stays in the gear you select rather than changing down automatically (the biggest problem I had).
- Gear changes although not instant are just a bit crisper. You just feel that you are in charge of the gear selection where as previously it was just disconnected.
Of course this is all only for info, any changes you make are at your own risk, and I wouldn't want to comment on the impact of warranty etc.
Edited by Funkydunc on Saturday 10th December 11:21
Pjohnsp0407 said:
A lot of it depends on driving style and length of commute, along with are you going to choose it.
BMW do state on their website that for longer journeys you will get 20-34 mpg I'm sure.
Plus. Early every reciew on you tube points this out, real world figures of 30-40mpg
Driving style aside the mileage is based on 10k + conditions all types of driving and charging BMW do state on their website that for longer journeys you will get 20-34 mpg I'm sure.
Plus. Early every reciew on you tube points this out, real world figures of 30-40mpg
Love to see the link wher BMW state this - I will need and use this to claim petrol costs back
At the time of ordering - there were no you tube clips for this car - even the dealers did not have any info - invisited 6 dealers all over country and they were surprised I had even ordered one
If you read early on on the thread you can see the info for these car were minimal - if they are on your company car list - and figures are, as we seem to be in agreement sketchy at best of times, what chance is there it's sell sell sell get away with what they can until they are told to change it - all do it, is marketing,
Tbf the BMW website from day1 has quoted a max range of 370 miles which includes a full battery and I've found it not far off.
I charge probably once a week (twice if I can be bothered) and have an average mpg of 41.
Long journeys vary.. 4 hour trip to Manchester saw 50mpg and had been charged (230miles) and I finished the journey on half tank. On the return journey I hadn't charged it and saw 41mpg.
I regularly get the same on the 4 similar trips I've had so charging for a long journey does make quite a difference. I guess if you're not charging the car then you'll always see a fairly low mpg as the cars not being used as intended. A lot of people did the same thing it seems.. car got released with tiny BIK and a government grant making it very cheap and everyone jumped At the opportunity
Personally I find the car great. When the battery is very low it becomes a bit of a hassle when reversing and parking at low speeds but when charged it's so easy to manoeuvre.
Eco pro makes a big difference to journeys too i find. Biggest issue is just finding the right balance as the car will happily use any battery available at unnecessary moments
In regards to quoted figures.. all manufacturers are the same. The outlander PHEV also claims 150mpg as do many more. But then they also quote full range.. and obviously 370 miles is 2 1/2 gallons fuel based on that, which clearly doesn't add up.
The way figures are quoted however is changing next year I think which will see all manufacturers having to quote real world mpg figures
Part is also about balancing your decision.. when the original orders saw a £5k govt grant and 5% BIK it meant even at a lowish mpg a lot of people save money.. i originally ordered a 420d which would have been about £350pm (trade up and BIK).. I pay about £90 in total for this and it has a higher list price
I charge probably once a week (twice if I can be bothered) and have an average mpg of 41.
Long journeys vary.. 4 hour trip to Manchester saw 50mpg and had been charged (230miles) and I finished the journey on half tank. On the return journey I hadn't charged it and saw 41mpg.
I regularly get the same on the 4 similar trips I've had so charging for a long journey does make quite a difference. I guess if you're not charging the car then you'll always see a fairly low mpg as the cars not being used as intended. A lot of people did the same thing it seems.. car got released with tiny BIK and a government grant making it very cheap and everyone jumped At the opportunity
Personally I find the car great. When the battery is very low it becomes a bit of a hassle when reversing and parking at low speeds but when charged it's so easy to manoeuvre.
Eco pro makes a big difference to journeys too i find. Biggest issue is just finding the right balance as the car will happily use any battery available at unnecessary moments
In regards to quoted figures.. all manufacturers are the same. The outlander PHEV also claims 150mpg as do many more. But then they also quote full range.. and obviously 370 miles is 2 1/2 gallons fuel based on that, which clearly doesn't add up.
The way figures are quoted however is changing next year I think which will see all manufacturers having to quote real world mpg figures
Part is also about balancing your decision.. when the original orders saw a £5k govt grant and 5% BIK it meant even at a lowish mpg a lot of people save money.. i originally ordered a 420d which would have been about £350pm (trade up and BIK).. I pay about £90 in total for this and it has a higher list price
Edited by Mcpaynter on Saturday 10th December 14:36
Edited by Mcpaynter on Saturday 10th December 14:36
Just been keeping up with everyone's mpg and electric range.
Like to know if anyone thinks I have made the right decision when I do finally get mine. It will be on a salary sacrifice which means the government has given it the thumbs up so I get the tax/NI saving. I don't get any fuel allowance to work/back or pleasure but get 45p a mile if I do any work related journeys which only accounts to about 300 miles a year.
I only do about 9-10k a year overall.
I do most week days about 10-15 miles, this consists of short journeys of 10 miles to work and back (into city traffic never doing more than 30mph) and taking and picking the Mrs up from work about 4 miles a day.
Weekends can be journeys to family, 20 miles there and back a couple of times and some short journeys here and there being no more than 5-10 miles.
Am I right or should I say hope in saying that all the above journeys could potentially be in electric only mode costing me around 70p to £1 a charge for about 15 to 20 miles.
So for example, if I did a trip of say 50 miles of 80% motorway (at 65 - 70mph). I'm guessing at the end of the journey, the battery would be zero and you would have used petrol for about 30 miles of the journey? Cost maybe £1 for charge (20miles) and £3 (30 miles) for petrol at average 50mpg.
So what is the real average MPG doing a motorway trip (say cruise control 65-70mph) on only petrol? Also real MPG (petrol only) doing A roads at 50-60mph.
I ask this because I only have a Renault captur 1.5 diesel ATM and longer journeys with motorway cruise control doing 70 mph gives me around the 60mpg. ATM I'm getting 40- 50mpg for my small mid week journeys to work depending on how cold it is and traffic and really only averaging 50mpg over any week at best.
I'm hoping with me predominantly using electric that my £25-£30 week fuel cost may be halved as long as I charge it everyday.
Like to know if anyone thinks I have made the right decision when I do finally get mine. It will be on a salary sacrifice which means the government has given it the thumbs up so I get the tax/NI saving. I don't get any fuel allowance to work/back or pleasure but get 45p a mile if I do any work related journeys which only accounts to about 300 miles a year.
I only do about 9-10k a year overall.
I do most week days about 10-15 miles, this consists of short journeys of 10 miles to work and back (into city traffic never doing more than 30mph) and taking and picking the Mrs up from work about 4 miles a day.
Weekends can be journeys to family, 20 miles there and back a couple of times and some short journeys here and there being no more than 5-10 miles.
Am I right or should I say hope in saying that all the above journeys could potentially be in electric only mode costing me around 70p to £1 a charge for about 15 to 20 miles.
So for example, if I did a trip of say 50 miles of 80% motorway (at 65 - 70mph). I'm guessing at the end of the journey, the battery would be zero and you would have used petrol for about 30 miles of the journey? Cost maybe £1 for charge (20miles) and £3 (30 miles) for petrol at average 50mpg.
So what is the real average MPG doing a motorway trip (say cruise control 65-70mph) on only petrol? Also real MPG (petrol only) doing A roads at 50-60mph.
I ask this because I only have a Renault captur 1.5 diesel ATM and longer journeys with motorway cruise control doing 70 mph gives me around the 60mpg. ATM I'm getting 40- 50mpg for my small mid week journeys to work depending on how cold it is and traffic and really only averaging 50mpg over any week at best.
I'm hoping with me predominantly using electric that my £25-£30 week fuel cost may be halved as long as I charge it everyday.
Happy_Harris1431 said:
Had mine since March, I have a 20 mile commute with charging at both ends and regularly return 148mpg. Plus i save £250 per month in tax so for me this car works brilliantly, but its not for everyone.
I think if your commute is over 30,40 miles and you do regular long journeys then go for the deisel.
For me this was pretty clear when making the decision.
That just about covers it as a company car. And if you do a reasonable mileage but get all your fuel paid as well, the increased bik saving it makes it a total no brainer. I had a 328i prior to my 330e, both company cars with private fuel. If I did not have that I would probably be driving a 330d but not a 330e. I think if your commute is over 30,40 miles and you do regular long journeys then go for the deisel.
For me this was pretty clear when making the decision.
The 330e is certainly not for everyone as you say and I find it hard to believe some people, particularly with a decent commute, have a 330e as a private car or even a company car if an even higher private mileage and paying their own fuel. Your advice re a diesel for that situation is spot on.
Giz1972 said:
I'm hoping with me predominantly using electric that my £25-£30 week fuel cost may be halved as long as I charge it everyday.
My commute is a bit longer than yours so you should do better than me and does sound like it will run mostly on electric in your situation, as long as you put it in ecopro every time drive it (why cant I have this as the default BMW ?????). Also maybe use max e drive. Mine's an M-Sport on 18s, I've had the car 3 weeks and done 606 miles, it had half a tank from the dealer and I've filled it once and have half a tank left, so have done 606 miles on one tank. I think its a 41 litre tank so thats 67.19 mpg, you should do better as my commute is 40 miles round trip incuding motorway and no ability to charge for the return journey. It took me a few days with the car to figure out ecopro and pre-conditioning especially in the cold snap, so think my MPG will get betterIt's lovely to drive on electric, addictively smooth and I can't see myself goingback to a normal car - imagine getting into a cold car in the morning and having to scrape the ice off in winter !!! So after a week decided to get a type 2 charger fitted (32amp for a bit of future proofing) and bought a lead that hopefully will be OK for future cars if type 2 is the standard. 2 hours to max charge means I don't use petrol at all at weekends now, even if I'm doing lots of trips.
Re motorway mpg - on my return commute of 20 miles with less than 20% battery I'm getting about 40mpg, and its about 14 miles of motorway. On ecopro ICE cuts in at approx 50mph
Edited by Tonycv51 on Sunday 11th December 11:11
Mine is being delivered on Friday. I do a mixed bag of driving some 6 mile each way commutes and some 80 mile each way trips to visit sites so I'm not sure how it's going to work out against the 13.5p a mile my company pays me for business miles.
As others have said the BIK savings should off set it if I don't break even.
No doubt I'll have to drive sensible to stand a chance, active cruise control on and relax 😀
As others have said the BIK savings should off set it if I don't break even.
No doubt I'll have to drive sensible to stand a chance, active cruise control on and relax 😀
For anyone thinking of getting one and reading the doom and gloom re mpg here's my experience!
Had mine just over 3 months and I've covered about 3500 miles.
Average mpg in that time is 62.
Really don't know how anyone can get 30-odd mpg?
Took the car to the highlands on holiday with a roof box and still got over 40mpg!
Couple of other thoughts:
1. If it costs you £1 to charge you need to change your electricity supplier! At about 6kWh a full charge should be about 50p.
2. This car is a hoot! Silent in electric and quick when you want it to be. Yes a small diesel will be better for long journeys, but this is a petrol with 250bhp. They are not the same thing!
Had mine just over 3 months and I've covered about 3500 miles.
Average mpg in that time is 62.
Really don't know how anyone can get 30-odd mpg?
Took the car to the highlands on holiday with a roof box and still got over 40mpg!
Couple of other thoughts:
1. If it costs you £1 to charge you need to change your electricity supplier! At about 6kWh a full charge should be about 50p.
2. This car is a hoot! Silent in electric and quick when you want it to be. Yes a small diesel will be better for long journeys, but this is a petrol with 250bhp. They are not the same thing!
MrT330e said:
Really don't know how anyone can get 30-odd mpg?
I drive everywhere in Eco. and get about 340 miles to the tank. The problems for me are.
1. The business nav is useless and can not be used with the 330e to use battery efficiently (BMW have confirmed there is no point using the Business Nav for routing).
2. Because of 1 it uses all the battery straight away.
3. Because there is no battery left on the return journey from work it uses the engine + recharges the battery to 90% (which is bloody stupid). Whilst charging you only get about 20mpg. The petrol engine will do about 40mpg whilst not charging.
4. Its hilly where I live and my commute is B roads and towns.
Re starting the car in Eco Pro Mode. It does appear odd it isn't the default option. My old 320d ED started in Eco. You can change the coding on the vehicle though so that it will do this. No harm in asking a dealer next time the car is in I guess? Or you could buy a cable and change the coding yourself....
Edited by Funkydunc on Monday 12th December 12:15
Quite funny reading this as it seems the C350e and 330e have quite a few issues in common.
The Sat Nav in the merc is pretty crap. It was sold on the fact that the Sat Nav would link to the car and change your battery usage to maximise effiency across the entire journey. After 10,000 miles in mine, I haven't seen that.
The car always starts in 'Comfort' mode, not 'Economy'. Seems odd.
Real life battery range is maximum 14-15 miles, not the 20 miles advertised.
Petrol engine with no charge is 37-40 mpg; range is circa 500 miles, but the merc has a 50 litre tank.
On the flip side, with my commute and general driving I've managed to average 57 mpg over 10,000 miles. Not too bad and couples nicely with the BiK saving. That is charging at home and work though.
The Sat Nav in the merc is pretty crap. It was sold on the fact that the Sat Nav would link to the car and change your battery usage to maximise effiency across the entire journey. After 10,000 miles in mine, I haven't seen that.
The car always starts in 'Comfort' mode, not 'Economy'. Seems odd.
Real life battery range is maximum 14-15 miles, not the 20 miles advertised.
Petrol engine with no charge is 37-40 mpg; range is circa 500 miles, but the merc has a 50 litre tank.
On the flip side, with my commute and general driving I've managed to average 57 mpg over 10,000 miles. Not too bad and couples nicely with the BiK saving. That is charging at home and work though.
Also important to note the bad press that deisel is getting, your brave if your signing up to a 3/4 year deal on a deisel:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-382747...
There's already inflated parking charges in some areas for deisels and congestion charges and/or complete bans will soon be coming to many cities!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-382747...
There's already inflated parking charges in some areas for deisels and congestion charges and/or complete bans will soon be coming to many cities!
MrT330e said:
This car is a hoot!
Also love the car - thinking about it my niggles/wants are minor and all software based i.e. :-- want to be able to change start mode and be remembered but as a minimum should be defaulted to ecopro (will ask the dealer as sounds like the default can be changed)
- would like to be able to set target battery percentage for an individual trip e.g. 60% on arrival. For me I think this would be better than the missing "round trip" functionality on business nav
- more functionality on pre-conditioning timers - I happen to work M-F but it should have a 7 day timer with the ability the ability to set pre-conditioning on/off by day and to be able to set 2 different times each day (e.g. morning 7.00 am Mon-Thu, off Friday, 10.00 am Sat, Off Sunday etc.)
- door mirrors should pre-condition
- want the BMW Connect app to remember (many) more journey details rather than just the last one
I'm on a 2 year lease and looking forward to how these cars evolve next time round
Funkydunc said:
I drive everywhere in Eco. and get about 340 miles to the tank.
The problems for me are.
3. Because there is no battery left on the return journey from work it uses the engine + recharges the battery to 90% (which is bloody stupid). Whilst charging you only get about 20mpg. The petrol engine will do about 40mpg whilst not charging.
Mine doesn't do this. If I leave it in auto edrive, it goes down to 4 miles battery range & stays there on the motorway, then uses it all up in town. It will go down to 0 without recharging itself again. I never use eco pro, mainly comfort with occasional sport on a back road.The problems for me are.
3. Because there is no battery left on the return journey from work it uses the engine + recharges the battery to 90% (which is bloody stupid). Whilst charging you only get about 20mpg. The petrol engine will do about 40mpg whilst not charging.
My commute is 34 miles round trip, always starting fully charged, no charging at work. 6 miles town, 8 DC (both hilly), the rest motorway. I don't drive for economy & have averaged 59mpg over the last 2000 miles.
I don't use the satnav, changing drive modes manually but mostly using auto edrive.
I'm getting around 500 to a tank.
Local trips are mostly electric only & the battery is used up in 12 ish miles (hilly).
I think most of the mpg complainers either didn't research the car very well or couldn't see past the attractive lease prices.
It's a great car, just not for everyone.
Have to say I'm surprised by some of low mpg figures. I would suspect a fair amount of comfort/sport driving and potentially some heavy accelerator feet, which is not surprising because it's a fun car when you push it.
In terms of what BMW claim, I find the range to be pretty accurate anywhere from 300-400 miles assuming you do mostly petrol driving and little charging. But short commutes and regular charging can get you 1500-2000 miles per tank (think I did 1600 before filling up when I first got the car). Claimed mpg figures are also pretty meaningless for this one because it is completely dependent on how much electric driving you do on your journeys.
In 5k miles I'm not sure what my overall mpg is because it just says 99.9 on the computer but I do a mix of 20 mile each way commute (charging at both ends), 10 mile each way commute with no charging and the odd long journey. The long journeys will tend to be 55-65 mpg if starting with a full battery in eco pro and 45-50 mpg with empty battery. I reset the trip computer the other day after 2k miles that included quite a few long journeys, and it was 76 mpg. So I think even a long distance company car driver should get pretty good economy out of it. If I did long journeys every day I think the small tank would annoy me though vs a diesel.
For electric range, I have managed my 20 mile commute on e-drive only a few times but that's most likely in the summer. I find I'm getting 15-17 miles in these cold times. What I have noticed is that if you think you are going to be on the edge of making it or not on e-drive only, put it in max e-drive and don't let the sat nav decide. If you use auto and the car thinks you might not get there without petrol, it will kick it on at the first sight of a dual carriageway or if you go over 52 mph, etc. In the summer, if using auto I would get 85% electric out of my commute but on max e-drive I would get 90-100%.
In terms of what BMW claim, I find the range to be pretty accurate anywhere from 300-400 miles assuming you do mostly petrol driving and little charging. But short commutes and regular charging can get you 1500-2000 miles per tank (think I did 1600 before filling up when I first got the car). Claimed mpg figures are also pretty meaningless for this one because it is completely dependent on how much electric driving you do on your journeys.
In 5k miles I'm not sure what my overall mpg is because it just says 99.9 on the computer but I do a mix of 20 mile each way commute (charging at both ends), 10 mile each way commute with no charging and the odd long journey. The long journeys will tend to be 55-65 mpg if starting with a full battery in eco pro and 45-50 mpg with empty battery. I reset the trip computer the other day after 2k miles that included quite a few long journeys, and it was 76 mpg. So I think even a long distance company car driver should get pretty good economy out of it. If I did long journeys every day I think the small tank would annoy me though vs a diesel.
For electric range, I have managed my 20 mile commute on e-drive only a few times but that's most likely in the summer. I find I'm getting 15-17 miles in these cold times. What I have noticed is that if you think you are going to be on the edge of making it or not on e-drive only, put it in max e-drive and don't let the sat nav decide. If you use auto and the car thinks you might not get there without petrol, it will kick it on at the first sight of a dual carriageway or if you go over 52 mph, etc. In the summer, if using auto I would get 85% electric out of my commute but on max e-drive I would get 90-100%.
Funkydunc said:
I drive everywhere in Eco. and get about 340 miles to the tank.
The problems for me are.
3. Because there is no battery left on the return journey from work it uses the engine + recharges the battery to 90% (which is bloody stupid). Whilst charging you only get about 20mpg. The petrol engine will do about 40mpg whilst not charging
This doesn't sound right. If left in auto edrive it should charge to 10% and stop. It should only be charging to 90% if you have it in save mode. At least that's how mine works. The problems for me are.
3. Because there is no battery left on the return journey from work it uses the engine + recharges the battery to 90% (which is bloody stupid). Whilst charging you only get about 20mpg. The petrol engine will do about 40mpg whilst not charging
MrT330e said:
This doesn't sound right. If left in auto edrive it should charge to 10% and stop. It should only be charging to 90% if you have it in save mode. At least that's how mine works.
Mine does the same and sits around 12% as a rule - unless I put it in save mode. I would be royally pissed off if it went on full recharge in auto e mode when you don't want it. I did a fairly unscientific test on the way home looking at the instant mpg reading on a level flowing motorway in cruise control at aprox 65mph :-
- save mode - 25-30mpg
- auto e drive - 50-57mpg
Didn't notice much difference between comfort and eco pro but car and cabin were already warmed up
So not sure of the point of save mode (not what it does but why you would use it)
- save mode - 25-30mpg
- auto e drive - 50-57mpg
Didn't notice much difference between comfort and eco pro but car and cabin were already warmed up
So not sure of the point of save mode (not what it does but why you would use it)
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff