BMW 330e ordered...

[jason61c]

When I had a drive I was told that it'd be about 9months. It was a lovely car to drive, just didn't tick as many boxes as the c350e.

[Daniel-mhp0p]

The Beaver King said:

Daniel-mhp0p said:

I wasn't planning on charging my car up very often as I purchased the car for the saving in BIK however by achieving only 35.2mpg then I feel i need to do something about this.

You're driving a 1.7 ton car with a 2.0 litre turbo petrol engine; it will never be fuel efficient unless you charge it or drive it in a way that claws back as much regen energy as possible.

Thanks Beaver King. After achieving 35.2mpg I now understand that. I naively assumed that it would still be around the 45mpg just driving it in Petrol.

So Can anyone still answer my questions?

1) What average MPG is everyone else getting?
2) What is the best/most economical mode to drive the car in?

[ArmandTamzarian]

phildamonkey said:

Mines with Lex as well. Not sure why your proposed date is so much sooner than mine

I think mine is sooner as I work for Lloyds - who own Lex!

[headjog]

Hi All,

Another newbie to the forum - loving the feedback from fellow 330e' ers!!

I ordered my m sport (sadly not plus pack) in white on Jan 21st with an initial delivery date of late May/early June ......have been told it's due in to the dealer w/c May 16th!!

So excited!

Paying £225 inclusive of maintenance with 9 up front



1 question I have ...does anyone know how much it actually costs to charge on electric assuming it needs a full 3.5 hour charge?

[Harris.A.K]

I thinks it's between 60p - £1 depending on your tariff and when you charge (i.e. off peak).

[Happy_Harris1431]

Daniel-mhp0p said:

Thanks Beaver King. After achieving 35.2mpg I now understand that. I naively assumed that it would still be around the 45mpg just driving it in Petrol.

So Can anyone still answer my questions?

1) What average MPG is everyone else getting?
2) What is the best/most economical mode to drive the car in?

HI Daniel, yes without charging it I get around 35mpg.

I charge every day for my 20 mile commute, I always achieve over 100mpg in my commute and up to 150mpg if I drive in Ecopro mode, if you want economy you must use the Sat Nav as it makes a considerable difference. The car knows where you are going so uses the electric when most efficient and ensures that battery is fully depleted at your destination.

Sounds nonsense but really works in practice

[headjog]

Harris.A.K said:

I thinks it's between 60p - £1 depending on your tariff and when you charge (i.e. off peak).

thanks Harris

so roughly speaking.... to drive the petrol engine only, 7 miles would cost around £1 (35 mpg) but additionally charges the batteries for free

Driving in pure electric would yield around 15 miles for £1

[Daniel-mhp0p]

Happy_Harris1431 said:

Daniel-mhp0p said:

Thanks Beaver King. After achieving 35.2mpg I now understand that. I naively assumed that it would still be around the 45mpg just driving it in Petrol.

So Can anyone still answer my questions?

1) What average MPG is everyone else getting?
2) What is the best/most economical mode to drive the car in?

HI Daniel, yes without charging it I get around 35mpg.

I charge every day for my 20 mile commute, I always achieve over 100mpg in my commute and up to 150mpg if I drive in Ecopro mode, if you want economy you must use the Sat Nav as it makes a considerable difference. The car knows where you are going so uses the electric when most efficient and ensures that battery is fully depleted at your destination.

Sounds nonsense but really works in practice

Many thanks. This is a great help. I understand for short journeys I can get 100-150mpg. For a longer journey around 200-400 miles with 1 full charge what would you expect to get? A lot of my travel is motorway driving seeing customers.

Also I have heard that the government give a grant for home charging and local authorities give out free charging? Has anyone else heard this?

[MrGaz1]

Just found out today my car will be ready to pick up on Saturday, 4 months of looking at a picture of it and building it on bmw's website has really done my head in! So so looking forward to the collection day thrashing round the Lake District, think it will be just a little bit better than my last 2 120d m sports lol

[Legacywr]

jason61c said:

When I had a drive I was told that it'd be about 9months. It was a lovely car to drive, just didn't tick as many boxes as the c350e.

How did they compare performance wise? And, what made you chose the C350e?

[jason61c]

Legacywr said:

How did they compare performance wise? And, what made you chose the C350e?

I think if really really hooning it, the bmw was the better steer, actually at 8/10th's it was better, it also seemed to have a better electric range however the 350 was a nicer place to sit and the whole drivetrain seemed to work together a little smoother. the 350 was a little better on the motorway with the adjustable air suspension. More toys as standard.

[SteveJJ]

Daniel-mhp0p said:

Hi All,

my questions are:-

1) What average MPG is everyone else getting?
2) What is the best/most economical mode to drive the car in?

1) Have driven 1,500 miles and averaging 51mpg. Filling up every 420 miles or so. Furthest driven in one go, starting with full charge, was 110 miles and averaged 49mpg. Furthest driven starting empty was 80miles, achieved 47mpg. Worst I have achieved over 80miles not charged was 42mpg, country lanes and sport mode.
2) EcoPro, AutoHybrid, Sat Nav, Cruise control and a healthy dose of anticipation, and mechanical sympathy.

[JonV8V]

SteveJJ said:

1) Have driven 1,500 miles and averaging 51mpg. Filling up every 420 miles or so. Furthest driven in one go, starting with full charge, was 110 miles and averaged 49mpg. Furthest driven starting empty was 80miles, achieved 47mpg. Worst I have achieved over 80miles not charged was 42mpg, country lanes and sport mode.
2) EcoPro, AutoHybrid, Sat Nav, Cruise control and a healthy dose of anticipation, and mechanical sympathy.

They're good figures.

I posted this on the merc thread but I think the best way to work out a figure is cost per mile. Those doing 20 miles and getting say 100mpg but also using a full charge have costs of 1/5 gallon of fuel (say £1) and £1 of electricity.. £2 total for 20 miles is 10p a mile. The figures quotes previously were better than this (I imagine the costs may be nearer 8p a mile) but I can't think of a better way to truly express the economy as electricity isn't free at home. People think my tesla is free to drive, but charge that at home regularity and you'll soon notice it on your electricity bill.

[bigphil47]

Hi, another question from a newbie. Does anyone know if the BMW SatNav can 'learn' your favourite routes? The reason I ask that my morning commute is about 16 miles and at the time of day I leave home I can go in the most direct route (stopping off at an early morning Post Office). The issue is that to drive on the same route is a nightmare with at least 4 major traffic hot spots, therefore the route I usually take home is more of a circuit taking about 22 miles with the first 4 or so being in stop / start traffic. As I don't the ability to charge the car at work I am wondering if I will be able to programme the satnav for both legs of the commute, use Maxedrive (as suggested) so that I have some charge left to get out of the city centre on electric in the evening? Thank you

[The Beaver King]

JonV8V said:

They're good figures.

I posted this on the merc thread but I think the best way to work out a figure is cost per mile. Those doing 20 miles and getting say 100mpg but also using a full charge have costs of 1/5 gallon of fuel (say £1) and £1 of electricity.. £2 total for 20 miles is 10p a mile. The figures quotes previously were better than this (I imagine the costs may be nearer 8p a mile) but I can't think of a better way to truly express the economy as electricity isn't free at home. People think my tesla is free to drive, but charge that at home regularity and you'll soon notice it on your electricity bill.

Yeah, the easiest way to think about economy in a hybrid is definitely '£'. My morning commute in the C350e was yielding around 70mpg; which would equate to £1.29. Then you need to add on the cost of charging, circa £1, which gives a total cost of £2.29.

Completely agree about the knock-on effect to the electricity bill, but I doubt it is something that most PHEV drivers will notice. It's a different story in your Tesla though, what with the pure electric drive and large batteries. Still, cheaper than fuel, right?




Just as an aside; I have a C350e on order which I'm due in a few weeks. I placed the order before the 330e was available to demo; for people that have driven both, any major differences?

The basic trim level on the C350e is pretty impressive and the performance is bonkers considering the 'eco' nature of the car. How does the 330e compare? Better or just different?

[hugo_phev]

bigphil47 said:

Hi, another question from a newbie. Does anyone know if the BMW SatNav can 'learn' your favourite routes? The reason I ask that my morning commute is about 16 miles and at the time of day I leave home I can go in the most direct route (stopping off at an early morning Post Office). The issue is that to drive on the same route is a nightmare with at least 4 major traffic hot spots, therefore the route I usually take home is more of a circuit taking about 22 miles with the first 4 or so being in stop / start traffic. As I don't the ability to charge the car at work I am wondering if I will be able to programme the satnav for both legs of the commute, use Maxedrive (as suggested) so that I have some charge left to get out of the city centre on electric in the evening? Thank you

This forum has been very interesting reading, I have my 330e for about a month now and very happy with it. In the beginning I think you'll try all sort of combinations but eventually it's gotta be just get in and go for the morning commute, I can't imagine continuing to select a destination, setting a driving mode, selecting the eDrive every time I go to work. I can't charge at my work either and the distance to and back is about 100km depending on traffic, I don't mess with the nav anymore, usually leave the settings in Comfort and Efficient and am getting the same results as the first week, going to work starting with a full battery (50km) consumption around 4l/100km usually this is with heavy traffic, that 50km is done in 1 to 1.5 hours, never a chance to go over 120kph, coming back (empty battery) 7l/100km lighter traffic, usually takes about 50min, on some stretches I can press the gas.
This comes to a 252hp car that's fun and no compromise to drive with a consumption of a little less than 6l/100km with some electricity, I'm very happy with that. You'll have fun finding all the options and settings but in the end you'll have fun just driving it! :-)
(sorry about the kph metric is just so much easier :-P I assume the consumption figures in this thread are UK mpg, not US?)

ps Happy_Harris1431 did you get your car back? let us know what it was.

Edited by hugo_phev on Tuesday 19th April 08:02

[dward32]

Hi All..

I've been waiting since January for my 330e Msport. Estoril Blue only real extra being reversing camera.

I've been given a production week of .. THIS WEEK yay! and delivery 19th May.

Using the Vin checker i have spent the last 2 days monitoring how fast they are making these things and its quite impressive.

I reckon they are doing about 30 cars every 24hrs, based on that theory my one should be built tomorrow... so wish there was a web cam in the plant!

I an getting addicted to the whole order tracking thing and looking foward to tracking the ship across to Southampton soon

[johnduq]

Have you got the link for this VIN tracker thingy mine due for build Wk 18
Has anyone used the Stop Start Speed control is it worth the extra £600???

[dward32]

Now its 5100 Body shop start!!! the excitement is immense

[JonV8V]

The Beaver King said:

Yeah, the easiest way to think about economy in a hybrid is definitely '£'. My morning commute in the C350e was yielding around 70mpg; which would equate to £1.29. Then you need to add on the cost of charging, circa £1, which gives a total cost of £2.29.

Completely agree about the knock-on effect to the electricity bill, but I doubt it is something that most PHEV drivers will notice. It's a different story in your Tesla though, what with the pure electric drive and large batteries. Still, cheaper than fuel, right?




Just as an aside; I have a C350e on order which I'm due in a few weeks. I placed the order before the 330e was available to demo; for people that have driven both, any major differences?

The basic trim level on the C350e is pretty impressive and the performance is bonkers considering the 'eco' nature of the car. How does the 330e compare? Better or just different?

Luckily public charging and a long range means I don't need to charge at home too much but it's still noticeable. I'm just a little concerned if people make buying decisions based on 70 mpg (which would equate to maybe 7ppm) when we th electricity costs factored it's nearer 10p which is 320d territory. There are other reasons why you'd want one, low BIK, better drive, greener if that matters to you, but the 'free driving round town' I think is a misnomer unless they can charge for free.