C350e 2834 miles on the clock now
Discussion
So I've basically totally given up on the train, 15 quid a day, late, overcrowded compared with driving door to door at about 3 quid a day in first class comfort really is a no brainer.
The car seems to be getting more economical. My 25-35 mile commute into London has been approaching the 99.9 max displayed MPG since I started, and this morning easily reached that figure a mile before the office, and supposedly consumed 2% of my petrol (81->79%) which is a pound.
Maybe it's the warmer weather I don't know, but I basically drive from home to a couple of miles up to the motorway on leccy, then switch mode to "E-SAVE" and cruise in the traffic at about 60 for a few miles before I hit the outskirts of London ~8 miles from destination switching to E-MODE. All this in the comfort setting.
Anyhow, plenty of electric to waft from red light to red light silently and park at the electric point outside my office near Oxford Street.
Out of town on 100+ mile journeys it's still fairly poor if you tank it, 35-40 maybe a normal/slightly above average motorway speeds, but 60 possible if you don't mind taking your time and doing 65-70.
Oh, and as predicted someone knocked off the electric flap -- I feel sorry for the chap because it's in exactly the wrong place and I felt sure someone would clip it. He was decent enough to leave his details but Merc have quoted an astonishing 1200 quid to paint in the little scratch made on the bumper and perform a load of tests and diagnostics etc. Hopefully he'll be letting me know his insurance details although unsurprisingly since I emailed him the quote he's gone quiet. I'm tempted to forget the bumper in the interests of keeping the costs down, but not knowing if the charging plug has been tweaked, I need to have that lot looked at during the strip down as I'm relying on my 6 year electrical warranty from Merc and I don't want to jeopardise that.
A big design flaw here from Merc (low down, offside) and I expect they'll be getting these fixed hand over fist.
Anyway, the car is superb, and anyone looking forward to getting one should definitely look forward to it
100% luxury and cheap as chips to run.
Hopefully the 330e BMW will be as good, although the reading I've done suggests the transition between electric and petrol is a bit harsh, something they've managed to get perfect on the Merc, sometimes you just don't know it's come on, the transition is almost completely seamless.
The car seems to be getting more economical. My 25-35 mile commute into London has been approaching the 99.9 max displayed MPG since I started, and this morning easily reached that figure a mile before the office, and supposedly consumed 2% of my petrol (81->79%) which is a pound.
Maybe it's the warmer weather I don't know, but I basically drive from home to a couple of miles up to the motorway on leccy, then switch mode to "E-SAVE" and cruise in the traffic at about 60 for a few miles before I hit the outskirts of London ~8 miles from destination switching to E-MODE. All this in the comfort setting.
Anyhow, plenty of electric to waft from red light to red light silently and park at the electric point outside my office near Oxford Street.
Out of town on 100+ mile journeys it's still fairly poor if you tank it, 35-40 maybe a normal/slightly above average motorway speeds, but 60 possible if you don't mind taking your time and doing 65-70.
Oh, and as predicted someone knocked off the electric flap -- I feel sorry for the chap because it's in exactly the wrong place and I felt sure someone would clip it. He was decent enough to leave his details but Merc have quoted an astonishing 1200 quid to paint in the little scratch made on the bumper and perform a load of tests and diagnostics etc. Hopefully he'll be letting me know his insurance details although unsurprisingly since I emailed him the quote he's gone quiet. I'm tempted to forget the bumper in the interests of keeping the costs down, but not knowing if the charging plug has been tweaked, I need to have that lot looked at during the strip down as I'm relying on my 6 year electrical warranty from Merc and I don't want to jeopardise that.
A big design flaw here from Merc (low down, offside) and I expect they'll be getting these fixed hand over fist.
Anyway, the car is superb, and anyone looking forward to getting one should definitely look forward to it
100% luxury and cheap as chips to run.Hopefully the 330e BMW will be as good, although the reading I've done suggests the transition between electric and petrol is a bit harsh, something they've managed to get perfect on the Merc, sometimes you just don't know it's come on, the transition is almost completely seamless.
I saw 25 on charge mode over a 50 mile thrash, and it was a (fun) thrash. I ended up with >90% battery from 15% at the start. Charge mode seems really wasteful to me and I don't use it. Not really sure why I would to be honest. Maybe if you have 10 miles city driving and you don't mind cruising carefully for 40 miles on the way and have no charge at the start to save, it might make sense.
Your trip will be impossible on battery alone no matter what you do. Real world it'll do 10 miles on electric only before it starts going onto petrol at about 25-30% remaining. But then the engine going off downhill etc will add maybe 20% of your journey on battery.
My long term average is about 40% electric (1200 miles so far out of total) which is mainly because of my commute.
My guess on your commute is E-MODE to the motorway get up to speed then E-SAVE until your battery range says a mile or two more than you have left to destination, then E-MODE again. If you don't mind a pedestrian 60mph on the motorway bit, you'll get 80+mpg for that trip. 70mpg if you want to do 70, 60mpg if you're in a hurry. Fairly confident guess
As long as you can charge up at work this car should outperform a diseasel on that commute fairly easily.
Your trip will be impossible on battery alone no matter what you do. Real world it'll do 10 miles on electric only before it starts going onto petrol at about 25-30% remaining. But then the engine going off downhill etc will add maybe 20% of your journey on battery.
My long term average is about 40% electric (1200 miles so far out of total) which is mainly because of my commute.
My guess on your commute is E-MODE to the motorway get up to speed then E-SAVE until your battery range says a mile or two more than you have left to destination, then E-MODE again. If you don't mind a pedestrian 60mph on the motorway bit, you'll get 80+mpg for that trip. 70mpg if you want to do 70, 60mpg if you're in a hurry. Fairly confident guess
As long as you can charge up at work this car should outperform a diseasel on that commute fairly easily.
Well I got the premplus kit so I guess my roof and improved display/hifi/ambient and seat adjustment makes it slightly nicer inside, but it's basically the same as yours. Very comfy seats, lovely ride and rock solid stability at any speed (only seen 130mph so far but still seems super stable, I'm sure at 155 it's perfect too in Germany)
Lighting brilliant on those back roads in the dark, best I've seen and better than the xenons on my 911 which I thought were great.
Super quiet especially on electric but >50mph the engine is un-noticable also. Engine a bit gruff at slow road speeds, and you hear it a bit on sport+ at 4-6k especially on the overrun since it holds onto gears but that's fine because you want it up there for the speed. And it's fairly quick too, especially when you feel the "second turbo" feeling of the leccy.
Yeah, comfort wise it's really great.
Lighting brilliant on those back roads in the dark, best I've seen and better than the xenons on my 911 which I thought were great.
Super quiet especially on electric but >50mph the engine is un-noticable also. Engine a bit gruff at slow road speeds, and you hear it a bit on sport+ at 4-6k especially on the overrun since it holds onto gears but that's fine because you want it up there for the speed. And it's fairly quick too, especially when you feel the "second turbo" feeling of the leccy.
Yeah, comfort wise it's really great.
Hey there. Well it's nearly 5k miles now, and mpg seems to be basically 90-99.9+ on my daily commute either way, not tearing about driving purely to save cash on my weekly commute. And high-30s on my regular 100 mile plus trips where I'm not driving with economy in mind. Looks like of 5k miles around 2200 of them are electric only and my long term average so far since new is flipping between 50.4 / 51.4 Definitely hard to get 99.9+ on cold mornings, and easy on warm ones.
Engine seems quieter now its run in, though a bit thrashy sometimes when you're enjoying the full rev range. On the motorway it's really super civilised and quiet at any speed at all. Brilliant at long trips comfort wise but definitely less economical than a diesel, though I much prefer a petrol engine to use.
I'm really pleased still. So far I'm running a luxury car at least as good as the Jag I had before, yet every week I'm retaining around 50-60 quid instead of giving it to those shysters at SWT, plus I'm coming and going as I please. Range seems around 500-600 miles with the trips I'm doing and it costs me under £50 in super unleaded per fill up.
Engine seems quieter now its run in, though a bit thrashy sometimes when you're enjoying the full rev range. On the motorway it's really super civilised and quiet at any speed at all. Brilliant at long trips comfort wise but definitely less economical than a diesel, though I much prefer a petrol engine to use.
I'm really pleased still. So far I'm running a luxury car at least as good as the Jag I had before, yet every week I'm retaining around 50-60 quid instead of giving it to those shysters at SWT, plus I'm coming and going as I please. Range seems around 500-600 miles with the trips I'm doing and it costs me under £50 in super unleaded per fill up.
Hi there,
On that commute yeah you'll manage that sort of economy I'm sure.
That trip you describe if your parents don't mind you plugging in and you go on high charge for about an hour I reckon you could get there and back without even starting the engine.
No problem with the plug at all other than the predicted knock-off that's happened twice now because of the stupid low down / offside location of it. Cars leaving from behind don't see it. I was quoted bonkers money from merc because it seems the hinge can't be easily replaced and I'm not having them remove the bumper, I was able to repair fine with superglue as only the hinge was snapped.
Regarding the leccy only, yes I decide on my trip when to save and when to use electric based on my experience of the trip. I make sure I'm on electric only as I hit 9 miles from London, with a little electric from my house to the main road. I aim to arrive with 10-15% left. You'll get the idea and do the same thing I'd imagine.
On that commute yeah you'll manage that sort of economy I'm sure.
That trip you describe if your parents don't mind you plugging in and you go on high charge for about an hour I reckon you could get there and back without even starting the engine.
No problem with the plug at all other than the predicted knock-off that's happened twice now because of the stupid low down / offside location of it. Cars leaving from behind don't see it. I was quoted bonkers money from merc because it seems the hinge can't be easily replaced and I'm not having them remove the bumper, I was able to repair fine with superglue as only the hinge was snapped.
Regarding the leccy only, yes I decide on my trip when to save and when to use electric based on my experience of the trip. I make sure I'm on electric only as I hit 9 miles from London, with a little electric from my house to the main road. I aim to arrive with 10-15% left. You'll get the idea and do the same thing I'd imagine.
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