Hi Robert, I've had a 330e as a company car since July last year. Company car tax was one of the main reasons for looking for a PHEV and the 330e worked out over £200 per month cheaper than the equivalent 320d. But since running it, I'd never go back to a diesel. Couple of points to let you know. Firstly, the MPG gauge is indeed the same as BMW use in all of their "normal" cars so only reads up to 99.9mpg. However, there is a smartphone app that shows you your actual mpg. On my drive in this week to my office, a journey of about 12 miles, the petrol engine kicked in on one short fast stretch of road and it showed 565mpg for the journey. I plugged in at work and it did about the same on the return run. It also works out your fuel saving based upon the electric miles driven, so far I'm up to over 500l of fuel saved over 9000 miles. The other point is to say that this 330e is based on the current model of the 3 series, so they had to retro fit the electric gubbins in to that chassis. The new 3 series model comes out next year and there will be a full EV version, which will compete with the Tesla Model 3. I'd certainly look at the EV version as my next car. Great show, keep up the good work.

@robertsmiff

7 жыл бұрын

Pete Hampton you've just sold one to me! Looking next week!

@loungelizard836

7 жыл бұрын

Pete Hampton Can you force EV-only mode? Can you selectively engage ICE assist?

@michaelb.7260

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for those interesting additional insights!

@petehampton6051

7 жыл бұрын

J Bishop You can, yes. There are 3 modes, Auto, EV Only and Save. Auto will allow the car to decide what source it uses, EV Only is obvious and Save keeps charge in the battery and if below 93% in Comfort setting will charge up to that point, then hold it. HTH

@petehampton6051

7 жыл бұрын

Rob Smith, good luck. If it's Co car it's a no brainer. You can get it in Luxury and M Sport specs as well

BMW doors are so perfect, I get your point. It is so satisfying to close them over and over again.

@paulanderson79

7 жыл бұрын

BMW knows how to build cars for the long haul. I'd far rather drive (and own) a 300,000 mile 5 Series over a 30,000 mile Vauxhall.

@kevina2052

7 жыл бұрын

paulanderson79 The cost of parts might change your mind.

@paulanderson79

7 жыл бұрын

KEvin Allen I ran a 5 Series E39 528i SE (2000/X plate double VANOS engine) for years. Parts were very reasonably priced and the car was outrageously reliable. It was written off in 2014 due to being hit from behind so hard that the floorpan was bent. I bought a 2nd user VW Passat to replace it. In two years it cost me over £5000 in repairs ON TOP OF routine maintenance and consumables. In my experience the BMW parts prices thing is something of an urban myth. Though I am led to believe that USA owners don't do as well as us European owners do.

@rogerhudson9732

7 жыл бұрын

The complexity of their 7 series 'soft close' doors is daunting.

@paulanderson79

7 жыл бұрын

Yeah, at that level it does become overkill. But if you have the money (I haven't), then why not indulge?

It was really funny watching you enjoy the doors! Thank you for making me smile as I go to sleep

Best intro Ive ever seen. Laughed a lot and was a breath of fresh air.

Glad to be a subscriber. Love the insight all the way from Arizona and Utah in the US.

I love the way, you make the door noise and the German impersonation.. you are absolutely Gas man!!! Love your shows

For people , who are not trusting EVs too much , a plug in hybrid is a fine "bridge" to the path , to understand and learn it. I believe its better for them to exist , as people get knowledge about differences of an electric motor and a petrol engine , on the same car. And its good for those skeptical people , they don't want to fully switch to electric, as they dont know if they will get stranded in the middle of the forest , as well as had never had any experience on them on a larger scale than testing it once or never at all. Then they understand that electric motor is not that boogeyman , and its really useful. I believe you shouldn't be hard on hybrids , they're like the teachers of both worlds. I believe thats still better 1000 plug in hybrids than 1000 diesel drivers who dont really know if electric vehicle is right for them at all. Its like an experimental car , I believe its like a bridge , or that helpful rock in the middle of the river to step on and get to the other side.

@iainansell5930

7 жыл бұрын

yah, sometimes its just not conveniant to stop to charge your vehicle mid journey.... i get about 55mpg out of my auris tourer hybrid quite easily on the motorway, more so in town...much better than my previous car, an insignia tourer cdti..

@morosis82

6 жыл бұрын

Yep, especially as a changeover technology. Having said that, make them with a range of at least 80-100km, so that they can genuinely be an 'EV' for the majority of their daily driver use. That will help people appreciate just how often they actually use fuel (not very), and whether it's worth keeping a difficult to maintain engine on hand for those odd occasions when you can't wait 30 minutes for a charge in the middle of a multi-hour road trip. Or, as will be more the case over the next few years, when you are away from convenient charging infrastructure. It's a 3500km drive to my brothers place, and I don't know if I'd like to do it with an EV unless I had plenty of time - even fuel stops can be hundreds of km's apart. I will be looking for a larger car in the next couple of years, and I doubt I'll be able to afford a Model X, so any company that can give me similar size, with near 100km of pure battery range, is going to get my hard earned.

@1862henry

4 жыл бұрын

Like your logic!

I just love how he present about this car, just so entertaining

finnally! someone who also feels the quality of those doors ahah

A really good review, and I've seen dozens lately.

Hi Robert, I have to say despite your misgivings, I thought this was actually one of the best and most enjoyable car reviews I've seen for a long time. Why? Because it feels honest, genuine and unrehearsed! Very refreshing when you see all the other reviews out there, which seem so scripted and robotic, you always seem to enjoy doing these! Really great stuff and keep up the good work! :)

nice camera work and colour grading by the way..

Slight door fetish detected at 6:15... phwoar!

@mbielchris

7 жыл бұрын

"slight"

@SnakeyUk08

7 жыл бұрын

Need a gif now of rob opening and shutting that rear door lol :)

@HermanVonPetri

7 жыл бұрын

I guess what we've learned is that Robert is a fan of the Doors?

@simonthebison

7 жыл бұрын

Well you know Kryten gets a double-polaroid over a vacuum cleaner, so can't blame Robert getting a bit excited over a good door...

@dwftube

6 жыл бұрын

Ooh. You can't beat a good "thunk"!

These review videos of my little baby make me love it even more.

love your style...keep up the good work!

Your reaction to the rear doors had me in splits.

Very nice one episode! Cheers from the continent 😉

Robert, great review, but looking back over past episodes I thinking with all these PHEVs your driving you need a new channel called Half Charged!

You deserve the Academy Award for Best Live Sound Design

Well done. Very informative.

So glad to hear you say it out loud: plug-ins are a mixed bag! I am sure it is a great drive tho! :D

I LOVE the door bit - lol! you are brill - please do more eps :P

I don't see this channel as a car show. That is one that reviews cars to help buying one (or not of course). I see it as a news type show to keep up to date on the state of the art in tech to stay 'fully charged'; i.e., what's going on in the industry in general. From wind power and solar, to batteries, and of course cars. Maybe I got the wrong impression, but it doesn't make me all that interested in whether there's enough headroom for passengers. I don't mind if you do talk about it, but don't feel you have to on my behalf. :) I would really like to see more videos on broader topics like advances in solar, batteries, grid, and the like.

@Simon-nx1sc

7 жыл бұрын

drees84 I completely agree!

"It's a beautiful dor" :)))))) I also love the feel of those dors 👍👍

Love the channel!

Always enjoy your honest humble opinion when reviewing the car of the day. I haven't made the leap into a e-car yet but will shortly. Logistics with charging at work and home have to be shorted first. All the best.

@okkeharr

7 жыл бұрын

You probably don't want any shorts in your charging arrangements :)

Good review. Nice camera work and colour grading.

As an owner of an X5 XDrive40e, I love this strategy BMW is taking with the cars. The torque right from zero RPM! I wish the range was slightly better rather than 15-20 miles I would love to see 30-40 miles of range. Other than that these are brilliant cars!

I have a 335i and I agree with him about the doors. They are such a pleasure to shut, especially the rear doors.

I've never seen anyone get quite so excited by door sounds. That made me LOL!

Best car ever. Had this 3 years now and can’t imagine my life without it. 🥰

@shawflygirl

2 жыл бұрын

Excellent to know. I pick mine up at the weekend ☺️

@armaankhalid9324

2 жыл бұрын

@@shawflygirl ur in for a treat. The 71 plate has so many perks and features. Lucky you ☺️

@itsfahys

2 жыл бұрын

What is it like going over Speed bumps. I owned a bmwi3 for a while and it was very harsh over rough roads and speed rams , but it had very narrow tyres.

@khanstudioz9543

2 жыл бұрын

How is the plug in aspect? I do a lot of local driving and think I will hardly be spending on petrol this way

@cazbantu4233

2 жыл бұрын

Yep BMW was smart by using Toyota hybrid system and BMWs engines.

Liked the. 330e very much when I tested it. So much so I've ordered a 530e this morning. Same drivetrain but with 9kWh.

Nice light hearted review

Man, those doors must be quite something! I wish there was a dedicated youtube channel describing car doors in detail and making reviews of them! Rob - its time for a second channel!=)

Really enjoyed the review. Really fun, thumbs up from me! :)

Rob excellent review as always and you've earned a sub, the way you say, BMW can do doors. You enjoyed that so much I bet you wish you could do their doors 😂😉

It's staggering how much engineering goes into making doors sound good.

I'd really like to give you 100 likes just for the Doorgasms but i can only give one. Nice reviews, really good for people interested in EVs.

The door enthusiasm has me in stitches 😂

You mentioned learning how to appreciate the differences in cars over time and experience of driving multiple kinds of cars. It could be a really interesting side project to do a documentary of something like "Unexpectedly Becoming A Car Reviewer", obviously with the Llewellyn flair ;)

Oh man, I love a good door!

The issue with the 99.9 mpg is exactly because you use mpg , if you use l/100km it makes perfect sense, if you are really into economy use km/l. It gives you a better degree of understanding what it cost you to make a certain journey.

Maybe they should've called this model the 330h and reserved 330e for a pure electric version.

@DanubeRS

7 жыл бұрын

Pretty sure Lexus lawyers would get all up in their grill with their xx300h range there...

@AleksanderHoff

7 жыл бұрын

Normally, BMW has reserved their 330 names for 3-series 3.0 liter engines... but that is no longer the case, so these days those names feel a bit strange. The 30 doesn't mean anything anymore.. this car has a 4 sylinder, 2.0 liter petrol engine. The same that you will find in a 316, 318, 320. So yes, I agree that they have to do something about how they name their cars. However, Mercedes has done the same thing with the C350e. The competitor to the 330e that BMW released before them.

@paulanderson79

7 жыл бұрын

No way will Lexus be able to copyright, patent or reserve a single character in the alphabet. That's not feasible. Any more than Microsoft can copyright the dictionary word 'windows' or Apple the dictionary word 'apple'

@DanubeRS

7 жыл бұрын

My comment was less about any legal action, but more of a satirical comment to do with naming originality, largely from a consumer perspective. Maybe they should have kept the ActiveHybrid nomenclature? Then again, the word "hybrid" has been tainted by less... "thrilling" products...

@paulanderson79

7 жыл бұрын

Daniel Park fair enough! Sometimes this happens when things are written rather than spoken. Please accept my apology

Test drove the i3 and 330e on a couple of three day test drives. Loved both but ordered the 330e as a company car as it was so much more practical.

you deserve more subscribers 😜

I like the little jab at Top Gear

Just for the record, for those who may be interested, I took my 2019 330e for a drive through Canberra (Australia) suburbs into the country at normal traffic and highway speeds last weekend specifically to test the range on pure electric. I achieved 47.5kms before the petrol engine cut in.

@sampsalol

2 жыл бұрын

I assume you have the newer G20 body model 330e that has a bigger battery? If not, that 47km seems way too high since most people claim 25km. :D

@pcw0652

2 жыл бұрын

@@sampsalol Yes, it's a G20, and I can assure you the 47kms (or 29 miles if you prefer) is real. With routine usage, in which I endeavour to avoid completely draining the battery, I will force it over to petrol with 10% to 15%, remaining and that is usually at about the 40km mark give or take a bit, terrain dependent.

Image a complex with thousands of these doors. Stick Rob in there and he will go wild.

@C0deH0wler

7 жыл бұрын

Clickbait Turk Armenian Genocide Denier image of image?

@C0deH0wler

7 жыл бұрын

Imagine imagination

New camera? This is top tier video quality

If I did car reviews you'd get the same "silly/happy" overly-enthusiastic attitude. You're awesome dude!! :)))

hahahahaah your back seat review was..... acceptable. lol. love it.

Best intro ever

Try to watch and enjoy. All I keep seeing is that mini-Mohawk 😄

Depending on your way of driving, it seems it is anywhere between 12-20 miles. The good thing is, if you run out of battery, petrol engine just kicks in and you continue your trip. If you have 20 miles( 32km) daily commute, and relatively lightfoot, charge at home (or at the job) , you might end up using only electric for a days before you will use a petrol engine. It seems to me like a good compromise.

What a refreshing review, nice job. Have one as a company car, 25K miles per year. Usual 'average' mileage per month and get around 39--45 mpg. Could be couple hours a day on A roads / Motorway / city mixed driving within 10% of the limit in most places. think the 200kg of batteries don't help economy, I could get better mpg from a petrol (had engine in Clubman before and was mid 40's without trying to be good. It ain't no diesel but for shorter journeys and school run it uses no petrol or pollutes my town ! MOST Importantly my company car tax bill is half.

The video is so cinematic

I’ve been looking for a refresh for the 3 series but I gave up. I’m picking up my new 2018 330e i-Performance TODAY. Trading in my 2012 BMW 550i GT & my 2015 Mustang Ecoboost Premium. I wanted to consolidate to one one vehicle because I’m 20 years old and it’s literally just me. No reason to own 2 cars anymore. I maxed this new 330e out for under $60,000. Happy to find something still with a mid-5s 0-60 time and super efficient.

So much quality

I understand your comment about PHEV versus full electric. I agree that full electric is definitely the way to go but the prices and availability is currently prohibitive. I am looking to move from a company supplied Diesel to a BEV early in 2020 but the prices are a major disadvantage. The cars that I can afford are not available until later next year so the best that I can realistically do is to get into a PHEV, and the BMW is top of the list, and then move to a BEV once they are available. Great channel.

I'm getting one of these in a month or so. why? 1) I only drive 10 miles to work and can charge at both ends. So in theory I could do my whole commute on electric. 2) Company car tax savings - I currently have an Audi A3. I'll save nearly £2.5k on tax (although the government are changing this to make it less attractive soon) 3) For work i can also travel up to 300 miles a day, so pure electric doesn't work for me yet...... 4) It's a well built car with an amazing door noise! Great video BTW. Love the channel.

@jur4x

7 жыл бұрын

Hope you get it before 01.04.2017 :)

@jacksonbangs6603

7 жыл бұрын

How about a Tesla 100 D with super charging. Rated range is 335 miles.

@jacksonbangs6603

7 жыл бұрын

Forgot to mention that it is the Tesla Model S 100 D that gets 335 miles per charge.

@jur4x

7 жыл бұрын

It's twice the price, isn't it? Also, he can definitely get it before april. Tesla... I doubt you can get one (and get it registered) in march, if you order now. And there is the catch. All cars with listed price higher then £40000 registered on or after 01.04.2017 are subject to additional tax of £310 per year for the first five years. Which means £0+£310 for EV and £140+£310 for non-electric cars (£130+£310 for hybrids).

@jlewis3013

7 жыл бұрын

MS P100DL £132700 with no extras. No way of getting one by April (3-4mth lead time). Good options on New Inventory cars at present though - all currently exempt from VED change in April and free supercharging for the life of the car.

There were two on the charge points at Bicester Village car park in the last week ! I had never ever seen one then two appear at once !

had one of these for work last year, loved it, shame about the mpg was only 40mpg whilst using along the A14 everyday. but I am buying one next week because it is so much fun to drive and yes on short runs the electric only option is great but the engine will kick in if you go over 40mph.

@papujenherra8931

Жыл бұрын

The engine does not kick in when the car's on electric mode if you go over 40mph.

I'm taking delivery of a 330e tomorrow. I can't be more frikkin excited!

@ashamaniq

3 жыл бұрын

So… how has it been so far?

@fish_bacon

3 жыл бұрын

@@ashamaniq couldn't be happier!

@AndrewwTheo

2 жыл бұрын

@@fish_bacon thoughs on the car in winter drive? does it effect ur battery?

@LanceVance305

Жыл бұрын

Just got mine shadow edition fully optioned does wonders

Oh what I would give for one more Carpool episode. Still love Fully Charged tho.

Another great video as usual. I found myself laughing along with you when your MPG changed. Hehe. I am also conflicted about PHEVs and always have been, as I'm one of those odd folks who've always preferred pure EVs. I want to like them, but I just think they were a stop-gap that we never really needed.

Yeah... I currently own a hybrid, being a 2008 Nissan Altima. The car has been great and worked perfectly for the 110k km we've put on it. It's a nice family car. We have put a deposit down on the new Chevrolet Bolt EV and hope to have it next month. Very excited about getting a full electric car. I've already had a level II charger installed in my garage :) The problem with hybrids is that you don't get any of the benefits of an electric car. You still have to: fill it up with fuel, book oil changes every few months with the dealer, etc. What I've found is that the ICE shows wear even though it actually has far less Kms than the actual car. We had to have work done to the head to clean deposits even at just 70k Km?? This makes me think that the constant starting and stopping of the hybrid design wears the ICE engine in a different way. Of course, I'm not talking about a plug in hybrid here. But for me... full electric!

Best car reviewer

Like the intro

Very entertaining video, I had a lot of fun, thanks! But after 12' and 12'' of talkings iI still haven't heard about "All Electric range"....did I miss something?

You got a sub after u said cling-ling-ling 👊🏻👍🏻

The door reaction made my day, thank you for being the car reviewer that you are!

It's all about weight ratios for me, a PHEV has a large petrol tank, engine and gearbox. When you compare with a REX (BMW i3) it still has an engine and tank, but significantly smaller than the PHEV. However as some of the comments here show, for people who have unpredictable mileage needs for their work a PHEV could tick the box until we get sufficient choice of 250-300 mile plus EV's. My main concern is that people may be choosing the PHEV out of fear (Range anxiety) rather than necessity and I would be really interested to know what the long term ownership running figures are like for people who often use them on longer trips as these will then be 'dragging around' the electrical gubbins whilst not using them very much. Great video as usual! :)

Interesting to see lots of people in the comments who own or are soon to own this car, not usually the case fully charged.

At 22 seconds ,,haha ,, there is just chull, hahah.. he is v good in making the sound effects,, :)

People like to pick on BMWs and say we should all drive light weight Asian cars, well you dont usually get beautiful door action like that on Asian produced cars. Things like that inspire you to feel a bit safer travelling in a car. I like Hyundai etc but you definitely feel its more a light weight. Each to their own preference.

You might have a different opinion of Plug in Hybrids if you could get behind the wheel of a 2nd generation Chevy Volt. I went from a pure electric to the Volt. With 53 miles of range (and that's a realistic number, not the exaggerated NEDC test), and having full power available in all electric mode, I literally go months at a time without using any gasoline at all. I've even taken several trips that were over 100 miles miles round-trip and made it 100% on electric because there was charging at my destination.

@cjeam9199

7 жыл бұрын

The 8-Bit Guy Fully electric didn't work out for you then?

@shadowblack1987

6 жыл бұрын

The 8-Bit Guy hahahaha Chevy volt hahaha

@RingRingRingBananaPhone

5 жыл бұрын

but its a chevy...

@user-eu4hh4rf9l

5 жыл бұрын

33w3

You have a new calling in life. Car reviewer by a non car type person. :o) Love it. LOL

Good review and nice to see some thought being applied to even these small battery PHEVs I too have a 330e and also get too and from work on EV mode so as you mention emission free driving through the week. At weekend I travel much further so don't want range anxiety so this is great for me, and I really wish pure EV owners would step off there high horse surely having more people move to electric in any form is better? This BMW has brought me from driving 530i, 335d to a hybrid so a step in right direction and I see other saying the same. Surely any form of EV uptake should be encouraged even if this type of car bring 2% more people lowering their carbon footprint that's a start and it will grow due to awareness

Subscribed

Thanks for reviewing this! I was just researching this yesterday (USA version) and was disappointed that's it's such a tiny kWh battery and such a upcharge vs the 330i. The range mpg is not great unless you use the battery and it seems it will barely get used! My lease is up for my 328dx (diesel, x-drive, avg 41 mpg) and this 330e would have been "the one" but, no x-drive all-wheel drive, and tiny battery, and high price? No thanks! This is fail.

Ha, that door thing! Exactly what I did last time at the BMW dealer! They have got their doors right, thats for sure... :-P

12 miles! Wow!!

you're astonishingly hilarious

I really like car reviews that actually shows me the car most of the time, instead of some guy sitting in it, babbling on about it.. Hint hint.

thumbs up for 4k .. thank you!

Great review as usual.

I'd like to see more cars with like a 100HP 1.0l 3-cylinder turbo engine with a bigger battery support and electric motor rather than a 2.0l 4 cylinder with small battery in this car

@nhcs2k

7 жыл бұрын

Haja Yes, or maybe just a tiny range extender petrol engine, but not to move the car directly.

@Markus__B

7 жыл бұрын

Like BMW did in the i3 with their tiny REX. Yes, that´s a great way to overcome the Lack of charging stations. At least here in Germany. Still having a backup ICE to keep the charging state would be great. But the Pricetag on the i3 REX.... All those rubbish pseudo EV´s just use the electric motor to increase the power of their ICE wich is stupid imho..

@Friek555

7 жыл бұрын

I don't get the range extender part. If your engine has to be able to sustain a certain charge level, it needs to have the power to move your whole vehicle. What am I getting wrong here?

@Markus__B

7 жыл бұрын

It just provides enough to keep your batteries at the level you are. Imagine "No ICE Cities". Drive there on ICE switch to electric while in the city and back to ICE on your way home. And if you can´t reach a charging station when out of Wh, just start the ICE to get you there/home. And if you don´t need the REX you are pure electric. Best of both worlds when living in areas where the charging network is rubbish. With more charging stations around the REX obviously is useless. Till then gimme that REX.

@danthebat666

7 жыл бұрын

In an ICE only car, the full power of the engine is only use a small amount of the time. In a range extender system only the the electrical part needs to deliver the bursts of power using the battery as a reservoir, and a smaller ICE can be used as only average power need to be maintained.

I look forward to when this technology reaches every car. I will take my Skoda Yeti with PHEV.

0 to 60 is good for knowing if you can pull out in front of a vehicle and get up to speed in time. Where I live there is a fast road with large trucks using it, being able to sneak in front of them and not have my car covered in muck is nice. Also, pulling into a gap on a roundabout is much easier if you know the car pull away quickly. The lag when you put your foot down is the car changing to a lower gear first, if you set the gears to manual or sport this should not happen.

Looks like you are back home already.

Ooh, I think this i the same 330e I sat in the other day at Oxford BMW after test driving an i3. :) Smug mode.

*when Robert says "That's important" He is being sarcastic.*

What amazes me is the fact that there is still no better PHEV than a GM Volt/Ampera. It is the only one equally capable in both EV and CS mode, has meaningful EV range and decent acceleration. And it was designed in 2008 and put in sale in early 2011.. Yes, it has arguable exterior look and not very large interior space, but it more than makes up for it.

He loves his doors XD

how does this compare to the c350e? In terms of performance and driving dynamics? And also for the transition from electric to petrol, which one is more refined?

I'm getting mine next week. I will basically use no fuel for the next 3 years. I recommend people try it if you get the chance :-)

I even love 3 series, but the counter that only goes to 99 when the car claims to be able to do +130 is a well-spotted flaw - something one should not expect from BMW.

this BM has one of nicest seating adjustment options and you chose the worst possible.

It does seem that plugin hybrids are destined to be the most expensive option, at the point of purchase that is. Given their complexity and equipment as you say. Still, there will be usage scenarios where they are the best option no doubt. Just at the moment it seems they are for psychological reasons.

2017 MB C350e vs 2017 BMW 330e ? Ur verdict will be ?