BMW X5 45e hybrid
Discussion
BryanC84 said:
Apologies for bringing up a 2 week old thread 
Brett,
Thank you for posting about the 45e.
We ordered ours a couple of weeks ago with a delivery date of June 30th (ish).
We went for
Alpine White (if scratched, Alpine can be fixed, whereas Mineral White requires respray)
Tetragon Trim
M Sport Plus (22" Wheels, Sun tints to rear, black grille/tailpipes/rails etc)
Tech Pack (part of the offer)
Visibility Pack (freakin lasers!)
Heat Pack (arm rests etc)
As part of our deal, we're getting a BT Chargemaster installed free too.
-
I was wondering if you'd come across any snags etc?
One thing I've been reading up on is the rear seats having excessive wrinkles. Have you had that issue at all?
No real issues, had a notification appear that there will be a recall to change the plug on the charging pack. (it's got a really thick lead/moulding to the plug so hard to plug into an IP rated outdoor socket...Mercedes have the same style and it is a bit of a fiddle)Brett,
Thank you for posting about the 45e.
We ordered ours a couple of weeks ago with a delivery date of June 30th (ish).
We went for
Alpine White (if scratched, Alpine can be fixed, whereas Mineral White requires respray)
Tetragon Trim
M Sport Plus (22" Wheels, Sun tints to rear, black grille/tailpipes/rails etc)
Tech Pack (part of the offer)
Visibility Pack (freakin lasers!)
Heat Pack (arm rests etc)
As part of our deal, we're getting a BT Chargemaster installed free too.
-
I was wondering if you'd come across any snags etc?
One thing I've been reading up on is the rear seats having excessive wrinkles. Have you had that issue at all?
Been awhile since the last update...
Now on about 4500 miles, the CV19 rules have meant a lot less travel - even thought I sent back the C350e early I've not bothered to replace it for now - so the 45e has been doing all duties, and doing them with ease.
Now the weather has warmed up we regularly get over 50miles from a charge, so the reviews and owner feedback was right - this is the first car to actually do what the manufucaturer said it would! (In my experience of 3 new PHEVs in the last 5 years anyway)
As a result I've had to fill it up once in 9 weeks!
It is big though, and I was glad of the X-line trim recently when I had to take to one of the narrower lanes in these parts!
By far this is still the best allround car I have ever driven.
Now on about 4500 miles, the CV19 rules have meant a lot less travel - even thought I sent back the C350e early I've not bothered to replace it for now - so the 45e has been doing all duties, and doing them with ease.
Now the weather has warmed up we regularly get over 50miles from a charge, so the reviews and owner feedback was right - this is the first car to actually do what the manufucaturer said it would! (In my experience of 3 new PHEVs in the last 5 years anyway)
As a result I've had to fill it up once in 9 weeks!
It is big though, and I was glad of the X-line trim recently when I had to take to one of the narrower lanes in these parts!
By far this is still the best allround car I have ever driven.
Evanivitch said:
Out of interest, if you were to run on EV mode for an extended period, does the engine have to run a maintenance cycle every few weeks? My Ampera does, just wondered if BMW does too.
I'm not certain, but I assume yes...I usually run in adaptive mode which, (especially combined with satnav) is quite smart at switching between EV and ICE depending on the gradient as well as simple throttle inputs, right now there have been very few journeys where the ICE has not been used here and there. You can force it to run in EV only, and given it has decent motors and batterys this gives acceptable performance for modest acceleration etc.
On a few occasions I have run it around 100% in sport mode to give the engine something to do!
The "Hey BMW" feature is still very good, has a few gimmics but also some really useful things such as:
- Take me home. (It will load home address and set satnav for home, and come out with a pithy phrase like "I agree, it will be nice to get home")
- How far away is XXXX (Tells you distance and asks if you want to go there)
- Play radio XXXX (retunes to that station)
- Tell me a joke... (says "There's no way you can be bored already?! Here, try sport mode" and puts the car into sport)
- Hows the oil? (Tells you oil status, so far all its told me is "everything is OK"
Little update.
I've done zero research, but I suspect it's getting OTA updates as some of the behaviours have changed...
I've done zero research, but I suspect it's getting OTA updates as some of the behaviours have changed...
- Auto braking near obstacles when parking or manouvering at slow speeds is now much more aggressive...I'd never noticed it before in months of parking it hard up against the garage etc.
- Sport mode no longer keeps the engine running if there is any charge in the drive battery.
- Spotify actually stays logged in for longer than a day!
Hoofy said:
That's annoying. Surely, in sports mode, you'd also want instant acceleration from the lights? Or does that happen anyway?
Once it's running it seems to stay running, but my normal practice is to select sport before I want to use it so that the engine is warmed up before I use all the revs, and all of the boost, and more road than I should! b19rak said:
Hi, do the running boards make any difference getting in and out? I’m getting my 3.0d next week and thinking off fitting some aftermarket ones.
They do for those of a non-PH director standard height and build! I mainly selected them so that shorter friends could get in easily and it gives a measure of protection from car park door dings. (if you/family struggle to get in due to the sill width/seat bolsters then adding the side steps will make that worse, not better)
....................and it's developed a fault.
It won't lock the charging lead into the socket, and the charging pack shows a red flashing "fault" light. Not sure yet if the problem is with the car or the charging pack.
Goes in next week to be looked at under warranty.
Still drives fine and regens power from braking etc, no errors on the dash - just something of a hit to the MPG rating!
It won't lock the charging lead into the socket, and the charging pack shows a red flashing "fault" light. Not sure yet if the problem is with the car or the charging pack.
Goes in next week to be looked at under warranty.
Still drives fine and regens power from braking etc, no errors on the dash - just something of a hit to the MPG rating!
Edited by BrettMRC on Tuesday 14th July 10:35
I need to get another lead as well so that I can use an AC charging point if I am away from home.
Standard one only comes with a 13A plug.
I wonder how many do get stolen? It's going to be a growing problem... (especially with things like the Outlander PHEVs that are far more numerous)
It's also displaying a charming little message now: "Please check tyre pressures at your convenience" How very un-germanic!
Standard one only comes with a 13A plug.
I wonder how many do get stolen? It's going to be a growing problem... (especially with things like the Outlander PHEVs that are far more numerous)
It's also displaying a charming little message now: "Please check tyre pressures at your convenience" How very un-germanic!
Not Ideal said:
Just driven my X5 40e from London to Cannes. Got to the petrol station about 450miles in and the petrol flap wouldn't open. After a bit of a google it turns out that after extended engine use the tank needs to vent before it will unlock itself. Well this took 45minutes which isn't ideal in the middle of a road trip - doesn't make for swift stops and progress ! I assume it must be to prevent any sparks from the battery as this process is limited to hybrid models ?
On the 45e there is a fuel release button, you press that and then wait for a message on the screen to tell you the cap can be released. Longest I have had to wait is about 30seconds though.Is it the same system on the 40e?
In the manual it warns it "may take several minutes under certain conditions"...not 45mins though!
TheInsanity1234 said:
Could it be a repeat of what happened before? She pulled up at petrol station and the car wouldn't release the flap because it needed to vent/equalise pressures and then it's taking a needlessly long time to do it.
I grant you the possibility that she was just prodding the wrong button or attempting to open the flap from outside the car without having pressed anything to release it!
She forgot the flap was one where you have to push it in first to release the catch I grant you the possibility that she was just prodding the wrong button or attempting to open the flap from outside the car without having pressed anything to release it!
Scrump said:
Could you please stop posting details of anything negative about the X5 45e?
One of these was on my shortlist as a replacement for my E class and this thread had made me look at them in a positive light. If you start posting negative ownership experiences then I will have to go and look for something else.
I may well be heading in to Bristol in the week for work, so if you are about you can have a look in person and get really put off of it? One of these was on my shortlist as a replacement for my E class and this thread had made me look at them in a positive light. If you start posting negative ownership experiences then I will have to go and look for something else.
Not Ideal said:
Sorry for delayed response.
Yup so in 4+ years and 20k+ miles of having the 40e this is the first time it has happened to me and it definitely seems to be related to the length of time you're using the petrol engine. As this was my first properly long trip in the X5 this is the first time I had experienced this.
The manual says it may take a few minutes but this was 45mins for the first time and then 30mins for the 2nd time - I had been doing 3-4hr stints though. Usually when I'm in the UK and doing short journeys the petrol cap releases in a matter of seconds as per Brett above. It definitely wasn't ideal waiting at the side of a motorway petrol station for this undermined amount of time before we could fill up and get back on our way.
On the 40e (and I think the 30e) the petrol cap release button is by the footwell and definitely an after-thought as I am sure the regular petrol and diesel models don't have a release button so looks like it was just added in for these PHEV models.
Overall, it is a minor pain but just thought I'd pass on the info as I was scratching my head with it for a bit until I googled it and saw it was a common issue with the BMW PHEVs.
If I remember I will RFM later and see if there is a manual override... that amount of time is just daft! (Quite often you can move a boot panel and pull a manual release - that's what I will look for)Yup so in 4+ years and 20k+ miles of having the 40e this is the first time it has happened to me and it definitely seems to be related to the length of time you're using the petrol engine. As this was my first properly long trip in the X5 this is the first time I had experienced this.
The manual says it may take a few minutes but this was 45mins for the first time and then 30mins for the 2nd time - I had been doing 3-4hr stints though. Usually when I'm in the UK and doing short journeys the petrol cap releases in a matter of seconds as per Brett above. It definitely wasn't ideal waiting at the side of a motorway petrol station for this undermined amount of time before we could fill up and get back on our way.
On the 40e (and I think the 30e) the petrol cap release button is by the footwell and definitely an after-thought as I am sure the regular petrol and diesel models don't have a release button so looks like it was just added in for these PHEV models.
Overall, it is a minor pain but just thought I'd pass on the info as I was scratching my head with it for a bit until I googled it and saw it was a common issue with the BMW PHEVs.
Not Ideal said:
^^ there is a manual over-ride. There is a green cord accessed from the side panel in the boot that you can pull (hard) that then opens the flap.
I tested my petrol flap in a quiet spot earlier and when pressing the interior petrol flap release button I can hear it venting gas for a couple of seconds before allowing the flap to open.
I don't hear anything out of mine, well nothing obvious.I tested my petrol flap in a quiet spot earlier and when pressing the interior petrol flap release button I can hear it venting gas for a couple of seconds before allowing the flap to open.
Due to lock down I've not had a reason to do a long run in it yet - but will have a play next time I'm out in it for more than an hour to see what it does...
b19rak said:
Not a hybrid but here is mine in Msport plus trim Carbon Black. 3.0d 220 miles and averaging 29mpg mixed driving.
That's a nice looking X5 Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff