BMW Active Hybrid 3

[ATM]

I bought this at the weekend. I didn't even know BMW made a Hybrid. I went in to look for a diesel as I do about 600 miles per week at the moment. When I took it for the test drive the first 2 minutes were not good. I suddenly remembered the last BMW sport I had owned - an E90 330d Sport with RFT - which was very hard. I turned to the salesman and said it's a bit hard. He said let's switch the suspension to Comfort - SOLD.

Edited by ATM on Thursday 27th March 08:12

[ATM]

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/bmw-3-series-hy...

Think x35i with F1 style KERS

[ATM]

Additional Equipment:

19" M Star-spoke style 403M alloy wheels
Advanced Parking package
BMW Apps interface
Brushed Aluminium Trim
Elec Fr Seats + Driver Memory
Ext. mirrors - folding. auto dimming
High-gloss Black interior trim finisher
Interior comfort package
Internet
Media package - BMW Professional Multime
Seat heating - front

[ATM]

Found this on t'internet.

[ATM]

http://www.hybridcars.com/bmw-activehybrid-3-detai...

[ATM]

I only saw my first 3 GT on Sunday. Looks like an X6 back to front and without the 4wd gubbins. That slash in the front wing is awful. I've already seen some 20 inch wheels on Ebay for mine - must resist the bling.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221293125367

[ATM]

So it's arrived. I have been enjoying the geeky hybrid gubbins. I am probably driving a lot slower than other road users. It just seems so vulgar if you accelerate too much and the engine has to kick in.

[ATM]

If anyone wants to ask a question fire away. I'm not sure what people want to hear / read / see about the car.

I'm currently over half way through my first tank of Asda unleaded so will report back when I fill up next which will be soon. Obviously on the motorway the Hybrid gubbins is just weight as it doesn't do anything over about 60mph unless going down a steep decline where it will cut the engine and charge the battery. Obviously if you get off at the services then the battery can drive as speed comes down to around 30mph. The car will run on battery power up to around 40mph.

Yesterday morning when I left home I found the engine still running when I stopped art the lights. I thought this was very odd. A quick fiddle with the iDrive and I found the car reporting an interior comfort message. I turned off the hot air blower and the engine immediately shut off. I'm now driving round with my coat on.

[ATM]

pimpchez said:

So you have spent what equates to really big house deposit on a car that you dont want to keep you warm?

or have i read that wrong lol

You're almost right. I'm happy for it to keep me warm when the engine is already warm. I just dont see the point of running my engine for the sake of a bit of warm air.

From what I've read the car comes with 3 batteries. One conventional battery for the starter and the rest of the car. Another conventional for the AC and electric steering. Finally the Lithium Ion unit for the hybrid gubbins. But it seems the AC cant warm me up without engine temperature.

[ATM]

Hello PeteA

I like your colour combo. I didn't really have a choice as this was just in the showroom on the day I wandered in. I would prefer to have the smaller wheels if I am honest as the rft are starting to annoy me a little and I dont think I need 19 inch wheels. I will probably switch to winter tyres soon and I dont think 19 inch winters make sense.

Do you notice a vagueness in the brake pedal? I am assuming this is the energy harvesting thing doing its thing rather than the brake pads / discs converting energy to heat and dust.

I keep putting the car in Eco-mode - do you ever use it?

[ATM]

I believe its probably pitched at the American market because they dont do diesel. Now you can't avoid congestion charge too so there are less reasons to go for a hybrid. Unless you want a 335i with 18% BIK and KERS.

[ATM]

peteA said:

Anyone reading this thinking you can drive for miles on electric power alone needs to check the BMW website! You are lucky if you get 2 miles and as soon as you go over about 35 mph the engine kicks in....and at any time during your 30mph 2 mile journey you decide to accelerate briskly the engine chimes in. The real benefits are in travelling in slow moving traffic, housing estates, car parks, etc where you are saving fuel and this all happens mostly seamlessly as its all automated.

I was in some slower moving / crawling traffic on the M6 yesterday - as usual. This worked well using the Hybrid gubbins. Right now my Blue number - I believe this tells me how many miles I've managed to extend my fuel with free motoring on battery power - says....

I will confirm this before I start exaggerating wildly and report back.

I think the car would perform well in city based commuter traffic if economy is your thing. I'm pretty impressed with the thrust in full fat mode. I believe this uses both electric and petrol power simultaneously.

[ATM]

peteA said:

ATM said:

I'm pretty impressed with the thrust in full fat mode. I believe this uses both electric and petrol power simultaneously.

In reality its better at this than economy! ...and your right about the electric and engine working together. From memory the 0-60mph time is 5.1 second and with 8 speeds to play with the grunt is available pretty much everywhere. Like someone said earlier its not far off M3 performance but obviously totally different in character.

ATM said:

a 335i with 18% BIK and KERS.

- this pretty much sums up my approach to the car when I went to order it.

The Active Hybrids come well specced for some reason - only things I added were pro sat nav and heated seats.

Found an interior shot of mine...

Nice

I don't particularly like black seats and the blue on mine is a bit shouty - oh well.

The good news is I am pleased with the comfort of the seat after a good hour of driving. You cant ever be sure this will be the case on a test drive. I had an E65 730d sport which used to annoy round the shoulder area after a while - I suspect due to the sporty wings they have.

[ATM]

ATM said:

I was in some slower moving / crawling traffic on the M6 yesterday - as usual. This worked well using the Hybrid gubbins. Right now my Blue number - I believe this tells me how many miles I've managed to extend my fuel with free motoring on battery power - says....

I will confirm this before I start exaggerating wildly and report back.

So I am fairly certain my Blue number said 33.6 miles last night after work. This morning when I got to work it said 30.7 miles. So it seems to have gone down.

[ATM]

So I've managed to drive the car round successfully for 2 weeks - amazing I know - and I am getting used to it. Overall the relationship is going well so far.

I've been ebay hunting for some suitable winter wheels. I visited a BMW dealer - not the one where I bought the car - and found they were displaying a set of winter tyes on some alloy wheels. The price £1700 - ouch. I don't really know if I like the idea of Run Flat Winter Tyres. I am not a big fan of Run Flat tyres full stop.

My brother asked me about the locking nut which made me think - where is it. I rummaged round and found a spot for it which is empty. So an email to the BMW sales guy followed. They've now told me I have to go back to the dealership with the car so they can identify which nut I need.

[ATM]

So BMW have now identified which locking wheel nuts I have. The key / adapter I need has been ordered.

I found a set off 17 inch wheels from an F30 on ebay here - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

I think the seller is a BMW garage. They offered to check they'd fit my car and the answer they've come back with is No they wont fit. Back to Square 1.

[ATM]

Holywow said:

http://www.approved.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/bmwauc/details...

I'm tempted by this car.

Any advice ?

What the electric drive like ?

Have you driven it?

It depends what you want from a car - if you're being sensible then how much city driving you'll be doing compared to motorway or if you're not being sensible and just want a more grown up 135i?

[ATM]

I've ordered some OZ Allegerita wheels in 17 inch diameter. 8 inch wide for front and back. Hopefully they'll be arriving next week. I believe these are only 7kg per wheel. That's a massive reduction from the 19 inch wheels I have right now which are 13kg per wheel. I'll get the bathroom scales out once I've got some tyres organised. I might just use the 225 50 17 Nankang Winters I have from last year.

http://www.ozracing.co.uk/car_wheels_var/OZ%20Raci...

[ATM]

Holywow said:

ATM said:

Have you driven it?

It depends what you want from a car - if you're being sensible then how much city driving you'll be doing compared to motorway or if you're not being sensible and just want a more grown up 135i?

I've driven one which bmw parklane have for sale which I liked only it's 10k more.
98% London City driving avg 17mph.
And the occasional trip to the coast and occasional wine trip to France.
I like all the extras they come with park assist heated electric seats and the extra economy is neither here or there I guess.

Ok so did you experience the hybrid thing?

I didn't get chance to really test it on the test drive. I was more interested in the 335i engine with a lower BIK rating. I've never driven any other hybrid car so I'm no expert. I know I like mine for sure. The switch from Electric to Petrol is very seemless. There can be some gearbox jerking if you have it in Eco Mode as the car tries its hardest to save as much petrol as possible. Switch the car to Comfort and this goes away. I also have a Sport setting and then the gearbox can be set to Sport too. I dont know how much of this is on your car as mine is the M sport. All that aside the car drives well pottering and has more than enough grunt for pressing on. The engine sounds good too. You can drive a couple of miles on electric only before the engine cuts in. The engine will switch off at any speed up to about 70 or 80mph when going down hill for example. If you feather the throttle going down hill it will use battery only. Sometimes the brake pedal can feel a bit numb. I think this is because it tries to harvest the energy when you press it gently rather than just apply pads to disc and generate heat. I've drive for 4 hours without stopping and the seat feels fine. My current mpg is 41 but I do a lot of motorway driving in traffic so 60mph.

I could waffle on more but I dont want to bore you...

[ATM]

Holywow said:

Not boring.
I'm very interested
I'm in the process of specifying a new 335i the salesman offered me a drive in the hybrid as they didn't have a 335i to demo.

I've not driven a vanilla 335i. If the deal is appealing with the Hybrid then get it bought. I agree it seems cheap. Especially over a new one.

What else can I tell you?