330e

[eamo]

Anyone driving a 330e circa 2017?
I'm looking at buying one. Drove one today and was seriously impressed. My commute to work is 22 miles round trip.
Now I appreciate the quoted MPG figures should be taken with a huge pinch of salt

Appreciate any feedback - positive or negative

[kdevitt]

Haven’t driven one, have heard boot space is slightly down on other models. What I will say however - as being the proud owner of a very mild hybrid with a 17km range - with my regular driving the car hasn’t run off the engine once. I also feel a lot less guilty about not getting the engine up to temperature on very short journeys.

Dergsides experience with the 530e might be more relevant!

[dergside]

Mechanically this is pretty much identical to mine I reckon. With a round trip like that, if you can charge at home or work during the week then I suspect you'd be filling it up every other month. As Ken said, you'll lose boot space and the fuel tank is smaller (40 or 42l), but with a reasonable amount of charging and a mix of journeys on top of the commute I still see an easy enough 800km on a tank of petrol. For most daily commute duties I don't think you'll feel at a disadvantage with just the power of the electric motor propelling you along. Its not hard to use the various driving and electric modes to involve both power sources and its impressively quick when you do, with a direct comparison with the 272bhp 530i to compare against. Given the extra weight, it sounds a bit counterintuitive to say that the instant torque helps to make it feel like a very tidy handler, but the instant torque means its a breeze to use the throttle to help make it very tidy in and through corners. Thats something I hadn't expected.

The downsides are the boot space, as mentioned, and the 4 cylinder isn't very tuneful when it does participate in things, when compared to any of the straight 6's. In the 5 that's not too big a deal because its very refined in every other respect. I can't say whether the 330 would be quite so refined, but previous 3 and 5 comparisons would suggest that it'll be a little less so.

I'd say that your rational mind would find it hard to make a case against one but you might find the overall experience a little less complete than the 6's you'd be used to. I'm fortunate to have some of the other things to supplement and fill gaps its leaves.

I would say, if shopping in the UK, remember, the VRT of a 530 is about 60% of a comparable 330 for a 2017, so it would probably help bridge some of the gap to the higher purchase price of a 5.

[eamo]

thanks boss