BMW X5 45e hybrid

[aponting389]

Another great video from Harry. I’ve had my 45e about 3 weeks now and done 730 miles, of that 340 on electric so a bit under half. It’s averaged 45mpg over that which is a bit less than I expected but am happy with. The car is lovely, coming from an F90 M5 it’s very strange as the interior feels very similar but the driving experience couldn’t be different. The 45e really is luxurious and getting on for Rolls-Royce levels as Harry says. It can be a quick car if you want it to be and use the sport mode. However it’s not engaging at all as a drivers car and soon hampers your mpg/battery life. I love it!

[Turfy]

BrettMRC said:

aponting389 said:

BrettMRC said:

Utter madness not plugging it in IMO, why bother with a hybrid at all?

The low BIK. It makes perfect sense, why bother using his own electricity when he gets fuel for free?

There's a couple of reasons...

1) It's missing the point of the vehicle to not charge it, especially with the bigger ones.
2) Charging them is not expensive.
3) Hauling around half a ton of motors and batteries just to burn even more fuel "just because you can" is feckless.

If the poster above has no charging options at all then maybe I can see where he is coming from a bit, but still seems utterly wrong.

Edited by BrettMRC on Monday 17th August 11:34

It just depends on where the environment vs. cost reasoning lays.

It is just as "feckless" using your 2.5t, 3.0V6 when you could be in Prius. I suspect the Prius would not be suitable for a number of reasons that are known only to you.

Personally, I see the huge hybrid 4x4 SUV as a total joke for innumerate reasons. It is a very disingenuous attempt to convince the world that you are helping it. Compared to the X5M, maybe you are. Compared to the other 95%+ of cars that are better for the environment, you are not...

Charging has a cost; it is not free. Clearly there is a BIK angle here.

[BrettMRC]

Turfy said:

BrettMRC said:

aponting389 said:

BrettMRC said:

Utter madness not plugging it in IMO, why bother with a hybrid at all?

The low BIK. It makes perfect sense, why bother using his own electricity when he gets fuel for free?

There's a couple of reasons...

1) It's missing the point of the vehicle to not charge it, especially with the bigger ones.
2) Charging them is not expensive.
3) Hauling around half a ton of motors and batteries just to burn even more fuel "just because you can" is feckless.

If the poster above has no charging options at all then maybe I can see where he is coming from a bit, but still seems utterly wrong.

Edited by BrettMRC on Monday 17th August 11:34

It just depends on where the environment vs. cost reasoning lays.

It is just as "feckless" using your 2.5t, 3.0V6 when you could be in Prius. I suspect the Prius would not be suitable for a number of reasons that are known only to you.

Personally, I see the huge hybrid 4x4 SUV as a total joke for innumerate reasons. It is a very disingenuous attempt to convince the world that you are helping it. Compared to the X5M, maybe you are. Compared to the other 95%+ of cars that are better for the environment, you are not...

Charging has a cost; it is not free. Clearly there is a BIK angle here.

That's quite a high horse you have there!

My point was that if you have a plugin hybrid, whether it is for BIK purposes or not - refusing to charge it seems utterly daft for a lot of reasons. (Environmental, driving experience, economy etc)

I can see no reason why you would think I am being anything other than truthful? I've nothing to gain nor lose from the approval of the internet.



On another note... going back to the dealer on Friday to have some niggling behaviours looked at.
Since the software update the following happen:

Does not always lock on the remote, have to get back in restart the car, turn it off and get out again... odd and annoying.
Charging keeps defaulting back to 6A, annoyoying.
The auto braking has decided that it needs to help out duing low speed parking if you get within 6-8" of an object, also annoying.

However, inspite of this it is still awesome. For most trips it's 80-95% battery, so the av-mpg sits at 90, on longer trips it still does 45-50mpg.
I've moved to an office that's only an hours drive away (give or take) and can charge once I get there, so I'm doing the majority of that commute on EV.

It's a fantastic car.

[BrettMRC]

custardkid said:

After ordering in January mine in now in the country, but held up with the battery / weld spot issue
Doh!

Looking on line it looks like the open pore wood is no longer available?... So looks like it'll be fairly unique!

How is yours going?
Are you getting the same 50:50 battery : fuel miles as Harry?

What is the battery/weld issue then? Will it mean a new car, or can they repair it before it gets to you?

[custardkid]

Sounds like the chance of there actually being a fault is low, and just needs inspection
But guess its a new battery pack if its an issue

Something to do with too much weld causing a shorting risk

My car is at the docks / HQ compound
Someone on the 330e thread got as far as going to collect their car ... Seeing it and it not being released by the dealer

https://www.google.com/amp/s/motorillustrated.com/...

[1Toomanycars]

Turfy said:

It just depends on where the environment vs. cost reasoning lays.

It is just as "feckless" using your 2.5t, 3.0V6 when you could be in Prius. I suspect the Prius would not be suitable for a number of reasons that are known only to you.

Personally, I see the huge hybrid 4x4 SUV as a total joke for innumerate reasons. It is a very disingenuous attempt to convince the world that you are helping it. Compared to the X5M, maybe you are. Compared to the other 95%+ of cars that are better for the environment, you are not...

Charging has a cost; it is not free. Clearly there is a BIK angle here.

Out of interest, what would the 95% of other cars that are better for the environment be, as there are, without going back through this whole thread, at least two owners that hybrid or not, are getting 45mpg from their 2.5 Tonne SUV's?

To me, that is exactly the sort of job hybridization was meant for, and precisely the sort of vehicle to do it to. Our 3.0 Twin Turbo Diesel X5 can only dream of 45mpg!

If you're as anti the SUV and hybrids as you seam, it's quite simple, don't drive one, and if you're just anti cars, Pistonheads may not be the forum for you.

[Turfy]

BrettMRC said:

Turfy said:

BrettMRC said:

aponting389 said:

BrettMRC said:

Utter madness not plugging it in IMO, why bother with a hybrid at all?

The low BIK. It makes perfect sense, why bother using his own electricity when he gets fuel for free?

There's a couple of reasons...

1) It's missing the point of the vehicle to not charge it, especially with the bigger ones.
2) Charging them is not expensive.
3) Hauling around half a ton of motors and batteries just to burn even more fuel "just because you can" is feckless.

If the poster above has no charging options at all then maybe I can see where he is coming from a bit, but still seems utterly wrong.

Edited by BrettMRC on Monday 17th August 11:34

It just depends on where the environment vs. cost reasoning lays.

It is just as "feckless" using your 2.5t, 3.0V6 when you could be in Prius. I suspect the Prius would not be suitable for a number of reasons that are known only to you.

Personally, I see the huge hybrid 4x4 SUV as a total joke for innumerate reasons. It is a very disingenuous attempt to convince the world that you are helping it. Compared to the X5M, maybe you are. Compared to the other 95%+ of cars that are better for the environment, you are not...

Charging has a cost; it is not free. Clearly there is a BIK angle here.

I can see no reason why you would think I am being anything other than truthful? I've nothing to gain nor lose from the approval of the internet.

Fair points; it was not a personal attack.

I guess if the T8 in question is being used daily and the petrol is "free" it is a £ decision not to charge the car.

How much would it cost to charge the battery daily to full, use, recharge the next day? £2 - £4.

[BrettMRC]

Turfy said:

BrettMRC said:

Turfy said:

BrettMRC said:

aponting389 said:

BrettMRC said:

Utter madness not plugging it in IMO, why bother with a hybrid at all?

The low BIK. It makes perfect sense, why bother using his own electricity when he gets fuel for free?

There's a couple of reasons...

1) It's missing the point of the vehicle to not charge it, especially with the bigger ones.
2) Charging them is not expensive.
3) Hauling around half a ton of motors and batteries just to burn even more fuel "just because you can" is feckless.

If the poster above has no charging options at all then maybe I can see where he is coming from a bit, but still seems utterly wrong.

Edited by BrettMRC on Monday 17th August 11:34

It just depends on where the environment vs. cost reasoning lays.

It is just as "feckless" using your 2.5t, 3.0V6 when you could be in Prius. I suspect the Prius would not be suitable for a number of reasons that are known only to you.

Personally, I see the huge hybrid 4x4 SUV as a total joke for innumerate reasons. It is a very disingenuous attempt to convince the world that you are helping it. Compared to the X5M, maybe you are. Compared to the other 95%+ of cars that are better for the environment, you are not...

Charging has a cost; it is not free. Clearly there is a BIK angle here.

I can see no reason why you would think I am being anything other than truthful? I've nothing to gain nor lose from the approval of the internet.

Fair points; it was not a personal attack.

I guess if the T8 in question is being used daily and the petrol is "free" it is a £ decision not to charge the car.

How much would it cost to charge the battery daily to full, use, recharge the next day? £2 - £4.

No worries

I think it's probably about £3.00 to charge?
It is a much nicer drive with charge in the battery, I took mine out yesterday with very little charge and wondered what the unusual slight vibration was as I went up a nearby hill!

[Phatbenito]

Any of you guys opted for the “Driving Assistant Professional” and, if so, what are your first impressions?

[BrettMRC]

Phatbenito said:

Any of you guys opted for the “Driving Assistant Professional” and, if so, what are your first impressions?

I have it and it's generally very good - especially in average speed zones.

Edited by BrettMRC on Wednesday 2nd September 08:07

[Terminator X]

Not Ideal said:

Geekman said:

Not Ideal said:

Just got back from my France trip in my 40e. Stats aren't toooo bad.

2100 miles
48h
24.8mpg
44.2mph

I think the mpg isn't bad considering it had 4x people and 3x suitcases in it for the most part. I think it suffers at the 85-95 leptons mark because its only got a small 2l 4cyl engine which does about 2200-2500 rpm at those speeds which means its working quite hard. I imagine the newer 45e does better at that speed on a long run because it is a 6cyl ?

Edited by Not Ideal on Tuesday 4th August 06:58

I don't want to come across as being a typical PH member with nothing positive to say, but those figures seem very poor to me. My much older supercharged range rover sport would get 22-23MPG on a run like that at 80-85MPH, and my even older XJR around 28-30MPG. Neither are cars designed with economy in mind, so it seems bizarre that a far more modern hybrid would do anything other than comprehensively beat them. It seems that from a purely environmental perspective, unless you're only doing short, town based journeys, these don't make much sense (tax savings excluded of course), or am I missing something?

No problem - all polite discussion is good ! Yes as I mentioned the engine is small and working hard on the motorway which BMW fixed with the 45e and gave it a 6cyl which adds weight but makes for a better all round package than my 40e. If I was bombing around on motorways all day/every day then these 4x4 hybrids make little sense. For me living in central London with occasional motorway use but mainly used in town I get other benefits and it works.

I have a 4.4 V8 not much worse than that

TX.

[BrettMRC]

Terminator X said:

I have a 4.4 V8 not much worse than that

TX.

My 4.6is manages about 22mpg on a run

Around town....maybe 7?

[Scrump]

I have just watched the Harry’s Garage video on one of these. Harry seems quite taken with it.

[BrettMRC]

Update:

Since the charging issue and software update mentioned previously the '45 has been acting strangely, it went in to BMW last week to see if they could find a cause but no joy. (They did kindly send out a BMW Genius before I went to home to make sure none of the problems were user error... a little irritating but I can see why they would want to check)

The issues were:

Randomly not locking off of the remote.
Unlocking when the remote was within 10ft of the car...not 6" from the handle like it should.
Randomly no longer recongising the keys unless they were held against the transponder on the steering column.
Resetting the charging rate back to 6A at random.
Highly intrusive automatic braking when trying to manouver into a space or a narrow lane. (Not fun when it stops you reversing off the lane into the driveway!)


Last night it escalated into something a bit more annoying/dangerous. Just leaving the house and the drivers dash display switched off, on the central display I had a series of errors and warnings concerning the entire external sensor suite and driver assistance systems. Turning on and off, getting out locking and unlocking etc would not clear the error.
I used the in-car BMW assistance feature to get through to the BMW roadside assistance team. Within 90mins they had a tech out to the car, he was able to get some codes off of it this time which clearly showed some major issues, his opinion was the CanBus has been borked by the software update.
Interestingly he pointed out that a lot of this generation of BMW have been totally bricked by OTA software updates and can only be switched on and driven onto the low loader with the intervention of a laptop. (Seems like effectively a boot disk required to bring them to life)

To quote the tech "we are out there picking up the pieces of these failed updates".

Today it's going into BMW and they are going to give me a suitable replacement as I have a 600mile round trip with 3x PH Director Build adults starting this afternoon!

Hoping a fresh download cures it, or they can find a problem with the canbus.... I do not like the idea of driving heavy vehicle so reliant on fly by wire and automation if it can be so critically ****ed up by software updates - bordering on the dangerous. (Not saying that in a Daily Mail way, just stating the obvious)

Wonder what they will give me to use in the interim?

[Hoofy]

FFS. That's the problem with modern cars. So technical.

[Scrump]

That sounds really cp.
You could take the V8 X5 instead

[BrettMRC]

Gets better...

I should have been at BMW for 11am to drop off the borked one and collect the "luxury hire car" from their partner.

10:50 got a call from LCH who were delighted to tell me they can have a 1 series at the dealership "between 14:00 and 15:00".

right off! Last night I was promised a comparable vehicle by 11am.... LCH called back and said they have nothing to offer me then.

Now awaiting a call back from BMW.

I'm not trying to be an arse here, yes I have another car - but my wife needs a tall car due to joint problems so I can't take the 4.6 and leave her unable to go anywhere for the weekend.

Why do companies make promises they can't fulfil directly?

/end rant/

Edited by BrettMRC on Friday 11th September 11:45

[Hoofy]

I always say that a car make is only as good as the support it offers when things go wrong. Back when TVR had dealerships, I found my two local dealerships were excellent.

[BrettMRC]

BMW have basically asked Enterprise to find me something halfway suitable....as I type this some poor sod from the Yeovil branch is doing a trip to Bristol and back to bring me a 4 series GT.

He's hoping to be with me around 16:00.

• Sigh*

[LeoSayer]

When my wife took her X5 to BMW for the second attempt at a warranty repair a few years back, she came back with Mini Coupe loaner.

That's about as far away from an X5 as you can get.