RE: 400hp BMW M140e hybrid due next year

[anonymous-user]

[sh33n]

I'm a BMW fan (last 5 cars are BMW) but I couldn't want this less, which as it's nigh on as much power as my M3, says something.

[fido]

evo2073 said:

Hybrids are pointless. The added power by the battery negating the extra weight.
I realise that the ICE is on its way out, ultimately, but these hybrid solutions are just bridging the gap while bringing no real world benefits.

If it can work for F1 cars, it can work for road cars - the battery technology is contantly improving - yes they are a bit heavier but you get instant torque at from 0 revs, then the turbo takes over ..

[kambites]

evo2073 said:

Hybrids are pointless. The added power by the battery negating the extra weight.
I realise that the ICE is on its way out, ultimately, but these hybrid solutions are just bridging the gap while bringing no real world benefits.

I don't think that's really true of plus-ins. Looking at our family car use-case, the huge majority of our trips are less than 40 miles so if this has a 40 mile real-world plug-in range that would mean we only ended up using any petrol when either we wanted to do longer trips or we wanted the extra performance. I suspect of the ~6k miles a year our family car does, about 5500 would end up being done purely on electricity so even if the economy is worse on the remaining 500 miles than a current 140i, we'd still average well over 100mpg from it.

So no, it's not going to be faster than a pure ICE would be but that's not really the point. It's going to be a damned slight more economical without significantly sacrificing performance. In practice we don't need the performance we'll probably end up going for a cheaper, more practical EV (something like a Kia eNiro) but for someone who wants a hot hatch for a highish mileage, I think this could make a lot of sense.

Edited by kambites on Friday 9th August 15:08

[mwmackenzie]

Looks a bit Mazda for my liking???

[unsprung]

"Say you have 40 kWh of cells. Do you put them into one EV and leave 39 other cars as pure internal-combustion, or do you make 40 hybrids which have roughly 1 kWh of battery each?"

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/paris-motor-show/...

[MikeGoodwin]

What huge shame

But then this is the car industry all over isnt it.

Wonder if in another 20 years we will see interesting cars again or will they all be electric 4wd auto driving, fly by wire braking and steering systems.

[kambites]

mwmackenzie said:

Looks a bit Mazda for my liking???

That's a far greater complement than I'd be willing to pay it, aesthetically! Mazda probably have the best looking range of cars on the market at the moment; BMW... don't.

[Arsecati]

This car looks like it has some serious identity issues going on - it doesn't know if it's going to a rave, the opera or a swingers party.

[Kawasicki]

Yes, BMW have sold their soul. But they gained 13mm more rear leg room and 20l more boot volume, so it was worth it.

[GTEYE]

British Beef said:

Ugly, heavy, compromised practicality, and expensive..... but Im sure it will do 0-60 in under 4 sec so will likely sell!!

Regular BMWs are getting pretty unreliable these days, hate to think how reliable these will be out of warranty.

I must have been really unlucky with my last 7 BMWs then - 500,000 miles of totally reliable motoring....

[Netherwood88]

I think it looks like what you’d get if you asked someone to draw a focus ST with their eyes closed

[lukeyman]

unsprung said:

"Say you have 40 kWh of cells. Do you put them into one EV and leave 39 other cars as pure internal-combustion, or do you make 40 hybrids which have roughly 1 kWh of battery each?"

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/paris-motor-show/...

Interesting perspective.

I've got a Zoe and a 197 so don't have an allegiance!

Don't like the Merc in the article though.

[Court_S]

Still a no from me!

It's just so damn ugly - it's not going to persuade me out of six pot 140, which itself isn't the best looking car in the world (although the LCI really helped).

The idea of a hybrid hot hatch is interesting though - a colleague as a Golf GTE and when it has charge it's not a bad thing to drive. It's less good when the battery is empty because you're left with a porky Golf and 150bhp to lug it around. Once the batteries get a tad lighter, it might help extend the life of the petrol engine.

[GroundEffect]

evo2073 said:

Hybrids are pointless. The added power by the battery negating the extra weight.
I realise that the ICE is on its way out, ultimately, but these hybrid solutions are just bridging the gap while bringing no real world benefits.

And they are seriously trying to ape the A35 and A45 here. Let this die, please

In towns and cities, they make a huge amount of sense. The energy otherwise lost as heat (braking) is recovered to be reused. And in that case, the extra mass is actually an energy storage device (no net loss).

For sustained speeds though, I agree they don't offer any additional, but for mixed driving they do.

[lestiq]

Jon_S_Rally said:

fernando the frog said:

I know it's a cliche but if you removed the badges and stuck Merc ones on I wouldn't think anything of it

Yes I found myself thinking that. It has more than a whiff of A45 about it!

I came to comment the same thing, its freakishly similar proportions and styling.

[stuckmojo]

Aimed straight at the AMG equivalent. Pick your badge. Car is the same. Maybe not as good even.

Horrible thing.

[Chestrockwell]

Deep Thought said:

nickfrog said:

The current car is good but not exactly the last word in fun or handling. I'd prefer a CTR for that.

As an owner - i'm fully inclined to agree.

Great straightline speed and lovely engine note, but not the worlds best handling thing.

True and the steering was very poor compared to Civic, it didn’t ride as well or corner as well but my god, that engine is an absolute peach !

[Mike1990]

Wasn’t the Golf Mk7 GTE the first hybrid ‘hot’-hatch ?

[Jaroon]

Looks aside, this makes sense to me, for me. I'm actually saving for an R8 V10 but enjoying the summer in an old 135i M Sport convertible with a remap. It's a hoot, never seen more than 15mpg. I'm moving a little further from work, 7/8 mileish commute and a driveway for a change. I'm either stop/start driving to work or hooning and the irrelevant fuel costs of my previous commute now become relevant so, in concept at least, this solution bares thinking about, all be it in a different package.