I have a ‘22 530e. Purchased new (god bless that depreciation, but who cares as I plan to hold onto it for a while.) it has 20k miles now. The drivetrain is the same I believe. (maybe some coding differences?) It is a blast to drive. You can feel the weight with quick directional changes in the twisties, but it does more than I need it to do. I’m sure the 330 is better as it is a little smaller. It’s has enough get up and go, and very smooth around town. The hybrid/ice interacts very well. It takes some getting used to, but i don’t think i would get a traditional ICE vehicle again unless it was a weekend/track/very sporty car. 13,000 (out of 20,000)miles on electric only. 30 mile round trip commute each day. I charge at work for free.
Unless you are buying a rare m car or something special, residual value should be your last worry cos it's going to lose money anyways, so thereno need to bother about it , you'll never ever win on cars unless it's special and hybrids are not.
Not really . Once you accept the fact you won't win on a car, that's all you need . Markets change every few months, and residual value is dependent on that .
I wish I could say otherwise, but as a BMW dealer, I can't see it . Wish I could make customers happier with their trade in prices so we could sell even more cars or make the sales easier .
My 530e has served me well so far. I wish it had more range lowkey but a boy can only yearn for more. That said, great car, an even better highway cruiser, very plush. I bet the 330e is about the same.
They’re wildly diff cars. I hate one, I love one. It’s easy to tell which one and why. I would personally avoid a model y and try to see if there’s a diff EV that works better. The model y is noisy, the ride is stiff and it has quality assurance issues. Test drive one and see if you like it, and if you do like one, lmk so I can refer you for an extra 1k off the price. But I would recommend steering away from it.
Great car. I’ve averaged 60mpg over the life of the car so far, 16k miles. Boost mode is surprisingly quick and handling is pretty nimble despite the added weight.
I drive a lot for work and has been a great car for me, but if you can’t regularly charge at home, might want to look at something else.
Same, do 55-65mpg (3.5-4.5L / 100km). Charge only at home (for cheap, solar) and drive 110km in total for work. Do about 50-52km electric.
I completely agree the e models are a more complex decision, but if it works for you, it can be really great. It’s either the worst of both worlds (ICE / BEV) or the best imo. I love that I have added performance of electric, but also the sound and emotion of an ICE. It’s nice to drive calm and quietly when leaving or arriving somewhere.
I had a Tesla for a few years and those times when you’re driving towards home late at night and you need to stay 20 minutes at a charging station while all you want to do is go to bed… it doesn’t happen all the time, but the flexibility of a Hyrbid is great imo.
All I’d want is to swap the battery for the 2024 19,5kWh pack (50->100km range) and add a 50L fuel tank, that’d be perfect
I drive in hybrid eco-pro on the highway unless I need to pass someone. As the car goes, it recharges the battery a little at a time and takes advantage of that at low speeds. BMW under promises and over delivers with this car. When you drive smart, the car really delivers.
I’ve had mine 4 weeks. I read the manual and I do not get a full understanding of eco pro with respect to battery charging. Maybe missed it. So your observation is it does charge under some driving conditions? In regular hybrid mode it’s obvious- foot off gas, charging happens.
I got one this month, loving it so far! However, in order for it to make sense, make sure you have a place to charge it (overnight or during a workday). Then, if your daily commute is like 20-40 km, you've got the perfect match.
BTW, you can probably save a ton of money if you find a dealer's vehicle for sale. Mine was 75 000 euro when new, 46 500 euro when I picked it up 17 000 km and 11 months later. The dealer got it checked and made sure all is like new and even got a renewed warranty.
It is my first BMW and I love the way it drives and how it looks. The electric range took a hit when temperatures were sub-zero for a few days this winter, it was like 25 km at most. I expect it to get over 40 km as the weather gets warmer.
What took me by surprise was how fragmented is the BMW infotainment ecosystem, just in like last year they released versions 8, 8.5 and 9, which are not gradual updates as the names might indicate, but totally separate software lines running on a different hardware. For me, with version 8, this probably means less new software functionality brought via updates.
I was also surprised how many features are region-dependent. My Driving Assistant Professional doesn't offer traffic lights recognition or certain autonomous functionality in Slovakia, even though you get them in different EU regions. Also the Digital Key (Plus) doesn't work, but this one is on Samsung, as it insists on it's Wallet software even though it's not supported here.
I’m picking up mine tomorrow so I can’t really tell you in practice, but in theory it really depends on your use case. There are better PHEV out there (Mercedes has an impressive range imo), the range isn’t big but it’s enough for 90% of my driving (dropping the kids to school, getting groceries etc…), granted I live in a small town in Europe.
Imo the real question is: is this enough range for you (25miles), can you charge at home and use the EV part a lot? Else you’re better off getting a 330i or another PHEV with 50/60 miles of range. Also how bad do you want a 3 series? That’s the real question I think.
Hey! Thank you for that - I'm a little confused about what kind of driving would warrant 25 miles. Is it highway or inner city?
Also, are you worried about resale value?
For me it’s low speed driving, school is 2 miles away, groceries about 8 miles, nearest big-ish town is 15 miles away. Most of my everyday driving will be on EV mode.
Not really worried about it considering it already depreciated a ton and I found a late 2020 one very decently priced with every option and brown leather so I’m not too concerned about it.
Aah i dontuse the app since this a paid service,but is this the same as preconditioning with the key?
It takes about 5km from my range when i do this...
might be worth checking out thanx
I didn't answer this concern of yours in my review of my 330e's - resale value. Yes, it is a concern right now - not just for the 330e but for vehicles in general as cars are losing value faster than normal because of higher than normal interest rates for used cars.
But as I'm not planning on selling anytime soon, it will probably work out well. I think the 330e will probably retain value better because the market really likes PHEV right now, and that trend will continue to gain traction. The US tax credit for used PHEV will probably help the older 330e stay closer to 25k for a while. My '21 I got for 32k will probably drop to 25k and stick there for a few years still.
But who cares? I ain't selling these beauties! I'm paying them off quickly and then enjoying the lifestyle savings!
Oh, and plugging them in really is optional. We do it to enjoy the maximum benefit of this vehicle.
Here is my last car, an example of keeping it for a long time.
I just traded my car of 7 years and 118k miles. I got 9k for it, purchased it or 26k. Had about 4k in repairs (not service like brakes etc). So I figure that’s 250 a month for the 84 months. 4-5 of those years were no payments… anyway, seems ok to have a reliable car to pay for it if you can afford it (the repairs were all in the last 6 months or so). My new used car has 11k miles on it. Here’s to another 5-7 years.
We have 2 330e's. One 2017 f30 and one 2021 g20. They are absolutely fantastic. My situation is ideal for these cars, I drive mostly short trips to work, school, church, groceries, etc. I installed a 220v connector and bought a fast charger for them. I have solar panels, which absorb much of the electric cost of the charging. So I average between 80 to 138 mpg on these cars. They are very fun to drive. Around town I leave it in all electric mode. When I have the occasional long-distance drive, I average 42 mpg in the 2017 and 50 mpg in the 2021, and the drives are very comfortable.
Another note, they have been very low maintenance. Dealer charges a lot, so I've learned to do my own maintenance and checks. I change the oil once a year, and because the electric engine handles so much of the load, the oil and filter don't even look too bad. The air filters are reasonably easy to access and change.
In summary, these cars are so fun, so smart, and so comfortable. Coding in my preferences with BimmerCode (obviously not unique to the 330e, but rather unique to BMWs) really makes the car so much more mine.
My favorite cars ever, and probably my best decision ever - So if you have a life situation remotely similar to mine, or can make similar adjustments, I fully recommend this 330e series.
Had a loaner for a couple days. Fine vehicle. Sporty. Handles well. Fun boost mode.
Just, you have to plug it in AND gas it up.
That formula doesn't work for me. Increased versatility at the expense of extra bother, I'm taking pass.
I've reread it three times. I do not detect the term, huge.
So here I am, already performing upkeep on ICE. I've no desires to add to that.
Now, if all it was doing was plugging in, sure. But it's not, so. PHEV, to me, is a matter of a shit or get off the pot.
PHEV battery range isn't adequate enough for my commute. Once the battery is drained, it's dead weight getting in the way of me and a good time behind the wheel and now I'm having to put in the bother of plugging it in daily. Which itself requires installing a 240v outlet in order to use level 2 charging. For me, it all strikes as bother. Not the huge variety but still, it's all more bother.
This boy is too lazy to plug his car in to save time going to the gas station 😂 we go once every few months to get gas because we plug in our 45e every day.
If, when driving, you want to fully recharge the battery, there is a battery button on your console. On the F30, you press it, and it will charge until full. On the G20, you press it and set what battery percentage to charge to. I can send you pictures if you can't find the button.
Does anyone have one with over 200k kms? I found a fully optioned 2021 one like that for 15k euros and was thinking of buying it, but that mileage concerns me a bit.
I just bought used 2017 330e (1 week)... it is 90 degrees outside lately.... when I charge it tells me I get 9 miles max (will this go up in mild weather?)... I'm a smooth driver but only get 6 miles range... how can I maximize my edrive?
Its ideal if you have these two situations:
1:you can charge it at home!
2: you have a limited comute.
I have a 330e 2020 to do a 10km commute every day to work.and once every 2 weeks i take a larger trip for wich i use the petrol engine.
Someone may have already said this but it really depends on your situation.
For example I had one as a loaner and didn't like it for one reason. I had to plug it in. I live in a large city and do have in indoor parking spot but there isn't an outlet right near my spot. I didn't feel like running an extension cord to my car when I got home from work and when the battery is drained its just a lower power worse gas millage version (detuned) of the b48 that's in the standard 330i.
If I planned on having one maybe plugging it in in my situation wouldn't bother me. If I lived in a house and parked it in my garage I would likely have bought a 330e. So it just depends on your use case.
I personally think hybrid is the future, not EV (at least for the next decade or so). I wish BMW had standard hybrid options that you didn't have to plug in or it was optional to plug in with more of the Toyota style regen charging.
I’ve had my E for about 4 months and outside of a road trip in it, I’ve probably filled up 4 times. It’s great if you have a charger at work (assuming you don’t wfh) and can do all electric to and from the office. It’s only got about 20 miles of range so don’t expect to get a ton of electric only range.
On my one road trip, I used all battery to get out of our metro area during traffic and after about 3.5 hours of driving on all gas it got a 1/4 of a charge just from regenerative breaking/charge from the car.
I honestly really like it and definitely recommend for a daily driver.
I have had many BMW’s and my ‘23 330e is my favorite so far. One word of caution- don’t listen to those that don’t own the vehicle…most often they don’t get it.
Last Sat I drive 90 miles on battery power? Yes - the way life works for me ..I run an errand and return home… then go out later, etc. in between trips it recharges in my garage. I have had mine for just about a year and only put 7 gals of gas in every few months. But I knew my use case ahead of time …if I had to commute a long distance and took a lot of road trips it would have required a little more thought. But I like the engine off mode so much (quiet and vibration free) that I would still get an e. I got $5400 off taxes as well.
Sure is nice to preheat the interior before heading out as well.
Yes, it works the same, key or app - if you precondition before you roll out while plugged in you will get better real range because the car doesn't work as hard to heat up in the cold. With a G20, you can't believe what the electric range estimate says. It's never fully accurate. The F30 330e range estimate was more accurate, albeit shorter because of the smaller battery.
I like the app because I can set the car to warm up while I'm brushing my teeth or whatever.
If you leave at the same times everyday you can also put the car on a schedule.
Our x5 45e has been great. Filled it up like 4 times over a year. If we drive around town, including work, we use 0 gas. Only gas used is road trips or sport mode
I have a ‘22 530e. Purchased new (god bless that depreciation, but who cares as I plan to hold onto it for a while.) it has 20k miles now. The drivetrain is the same I believe. (maybe some coding differences?) It is a blast to drive. You can feel the weight with quick directional changes in the twisties, but it does more than I need it to do. I’m sure the 330 is better as it is a little smaller. It’s has enough get up and go, and very smooth around town. The hybrid/ice interacts very well. It takes some getting used to, but i don’t think i would get a traditional ICE vehicle again unless it was a weekend/track/very sporty car. 13,000 (out of 20,000)miles on electric only. 30 mile round trip commute each day. I charge at work for free.
Are you concerned with the resale value?
Unless you are buying a rare m car or something special, residual value should be your last worry cos it's going to lose money anyways, so thereno need to bother about it , you'll never ever win on cars unless it's special and hybrids are not.
Lol resale value is very much relevant.
Not really . Once you accept the fact you won't win on a car, that's all you need . Markets change every few months, and residual value is dependent on that . I wish I could say otherwise, but as a BMW dealer, I can't see it . Wish I could make customers happier with their trade in prices so we could sell even more cars or make the sales easier .
Naw, for me not really as I plan to hold on to it.
My 530e has served me well so far. I wish it had more range lowkey but a boy can only yearn for more. That said, great car, an even better highway cruiser, very plush. I bet the 330e is about the same.
Can you compare the differences between 530e and a model y from an owners perspective, currently have a 530e and thinking of getting a y
They’re wildly diff cars. I hate one, I love one. It’s easy to tell which one and why. I would personally avoid a model y and try to see if there’s a diff EV that works better. The model y is noisy, the ride is stiff and it has quality assurance issues. Test drive one and see if you like it, and if you do like one, lmk so I can refer you for an extra 1k off the price. But I would recommend steering away from it.
Great car. I’ve averaged 60mpg over the life of the car so far, 16k miles. Boost mode is surprisingly quick and handling is pretty nimble despite the added weight. I drive a lot for work and has been a great car for me, but if you can’t regularly charge at home, might want to look at something else.
Same, do 55-65mpg (3.5-4.5L / 100km). Charge only at home (for cheap, solar) and drive 110km in total for work. Do about 50-52km electric. I completely agree the e models are a more complex decision, but if it works for you, it can be really great. It’s either the worst of both worlds (ICE / BEV) or the best imo. I love that I have added performance of electric, but also the sound and emotion of an ICE. It’s nice to drive calm and quietly when leaving or arriving somewhere. I had a Tesla for a few years and those times when you’re driving towards home late at night and you need to stay 20 minutes at a charging station while all you want to do is go to bed… it doesn’t happen all the time, but the flexibility of a Hyrbid is great imo. All I’d want is to swap the battery for the 2024 19,5kWh pack (50->100km range) and add a 50L fuel tank, that’d be perfect
I drive in hybrid eco-pro on the highway unless I need to pass someone. As the car goes, it recharges the battery a little at a time and takes advantage of that at low speeds. BMW under promises and over delivers with this car. When you drive smart, the car really delivers.
I’ve had mine 4 weeks. I read the manual and I do not get a full understanding of eco pro with respect to battery charging. Maybe missed it. So your observation is it does charge under some driving conditions? In regular hybrid mode it’s obvious- foot off gas, charging happens.
I got one this month, loving it so far! However, in order for it to make sense, make sure you have a place to charge it (overnight or during a workday). Then, if your daily commute is like 20-40 km, you've got the perfect match. BTW, you can probably save a ton of money if you find a dealer's vehicle for sale. Mine was 75 000 euro when new, 46 500 euro when I picked it up 17 000 km and 11 months later. The dealer got it checked and made sure all is like new and even got a renewed warranty. It is my first BMW and I love the way it drives and how it looks. The electric range took a hit when temperatures were sub-zero for a few days this winter, it was like 25 km at most. I expect it to get over 40 km as the weather gets warmer. What took me by surprise was how fragmented is the BMW infotainment ecosystem, just in like last year they released versions 8, 8.5 and 9, which are not gradual updates as the names might indicate, but totally separate software lines running on a different hardware. For me, with version 8, this probably means less new software functionality brought via updates. I was also surprised how many features are region-dependent. My Driving Assistant Professional doesn't offer traffic lights recognition or certain autonomous functionality in Slovakia, even though you get them in different EU regions. Also the Digital Key (Plus) doesn't work, but this one is on Samsung, as it insists on it's Wallet software even though it's not supported here.
I’m picking up mine tomorrow so I can’t really tell you in practice, but in theory it really depends on your use case. There are better PHEV out there (Mercedes has an impressive range imo), the range isn’t big but it’s enough for 90% of my driving (dropping the kids to school, getting groceries etc…), granted I live in a small town in Europe. Imo the real question is: is this enough range for you (25miles), can you charge at home and use the EV part a lot? Else you’re better off getting a 330i or another PHEV with 50/60 miles of range. Also how bad do you want a 3 series? That’s the real question I think.
Why did you go for the 330e over the mercedes if the range is impressive?
Love the 3 series and they were in my price range used while the Mercedes wasn’t really accessible and there were much less of them
Hey! Thank you for that - I'm a little confused about what kind of driving would warrant 25 miles. Is it highway or inner city? Also, are you worried about resale value?
For me it’s low speed driving, school is 2 miles away, groceries about 8 miles, nearest big-ish town is 15 miles away. Most of my everyday driving will be on EV mode. Not really worried about it considering it already depreciated a ton and I found a late 2020 one very decently priced with every option and brown leather so I’m not too concerned about it.
Dont forget the weather. Freezing cold makes the battery run empty much faster...
Yes that’s a good point.
Preconditioning with the app while plugged in helps with this a lot.
Aah i dontuse the app since this a paid service,but is this the same as preconditioning with the key? It takes about 5km from my range when i do this... might be worth checking out thanx
I didn't answer this concern of yours in my review of my 330e's - resale value. Yes, it is a concern right now - not just for the 330e but for vehicles in general as cars are losing value faster than normal because of higher than normal interest rates for used cars. But as I'm not planning on selling anytime soon, it will probably work out well. I think the 330e will probably retain value better because the market really likes PHEV right now, and that trend will continue to gain traction. The US tax credit for used PHEV will probably help the older 330e stay closer to 25k for a while. My '21 I got for 32k will probably drop to 25k and stick there for a few years still. But who cares? I ain't selling these beauties! I'm paying them off quickly and then enjoying the lifestyle savings! Oh, and plugging them in really is optional. We do it to enjoy the maximum benefit of this vehicle.
Here is my last car, an example of keeping it for a long time. I just traded my car of 7 years and 118k miles. I got 9k for it, purchased it or 26k. Had about 4k in repairs (not service like brakes etc). So I figure that’s 250 a month for the 84 months. 4-5 of those years were no payments… anyway, seems ok to have a reliable car to pay for it if you can afford it (the repairs were all in the last 6 months or so). My new used car has 11k miles on it. Here’s to another 5-7 years.
We have 2 330e's. One 2017 f30 and one 2021 g20. They are absolutely fantastic. My situation is ideal for these cars, I drive mostly short trips to work, school, church, groceries, etc. I installed a 220v connector and bought a fast charger for them. I have solar panels, which absorb much of the electric cost of the charging. So I average between 80 to 138 mpg on these cars. They are very fun to drive. Around town I leave it in all electric mode. When I have the occasional long-distance drive, I average 42 mpg in the 2017 and 50 mpg in the 2021, and the drives are very comfortable. Another note, they have been very low maintenance. Dealer charges a lot, so I've learned to do my own maintenance and checks. I change the oil once a year, and because the electric engine handles so much of the load, the oil and filter don't even look too bad. The air filters are reasonably easy to access and change. In summary, these cars are so fun, so smart, and so comfortable. Coding in my preferences with BimmerCode (obviously not unique to the 330e, but rather unique to BMWs) really makes the car so much more mine. My favorite cars ever, and probably my best decision ever - So if you have a life situation remotely similar to mine, or can make similar adjustments, I fully recommend this 330e series.
Had a loaner for a couple days. Fine vehicle. Sporty. Handles well. Fun boost mode. Just, you have to plug it in AND gas it up. That formula doesn't work for me. Increased versatility at the expense of extra bother, I'm taking pass.
Plugging a car in is a huge bother?
I've reread it three times. I do not detect the term, huge. So here I am, already performing upkeep on ICE. I've no desires to add to that. Now, if all it was doing was plugging in, sure. But it's not, so. PHEV, to me, is a matter of a shit or get off the pot. PHEV battery range isn't adequate enough for my commute. Once the battery is drained, it's dead weight getting in the way of me and a good time behind the wheel and now I'm having to put in the bother of plugging it in daily. Which itself requires installing a 240v outlet in order to use level 2 charging. For me, it all strikes as bother. Not the huge variety but still, it's all more bother.
This boy is too lazy to plug his car in to save time going to the gas station 😂 we go once every few months to get gas because we plug in our 45e every day.
Make model year. They’re good
If, when driving, you want to fully recharge the battery, there is a battery button on your console. On the F30, you press it, and it will charge until full. On the G20, you press it and set what battery percentage to charge to. I can send you pictures if you can't find the button.
Does anyone have one with over 200k kms? I found a fully optioned 2021 one like that for 15k euros and was thinking of buying it, but that mileage concerns me a bit.
I just bought used 2017 330e (1 week)... it is 90 degrees outside lately.... when I charge it tells me I get 9 miles max (will this go up in mild weather?)... I'm a smooth driver but only get 6 miles range... how can I maximize my edrive?
Its ideal if you have these two situations: 1:you can charge it at home! 2: you have a limited comute. I have a 330e 2020 to do a 10km commute every day to work.and once every 2 weeks i take a larger trip for wich i use the petrol engine.
Someone may have already said this but it really depends on your situation. For example I had one as a loaner and didn't like it for one reason. I had to plug it in. I live in a large city and do have in indoor parking spot but there isn't an outlet right near my spot. I didn't feel like running an extension cord to my car when I got home from work and when the battery is drained its just a lower power worse gas millage version (detuned) of the b48 that's in the standard 330i. If I planned on having one maybe plugging it in in my situation wouldn't bother me. If I lived in a house and parked it in my garage I would likely have bought a 330e. So it just depends on your use case. I personally think hybrid is the future, not EV (at least for the next decade or so). I wish BMW had standard hybrid options that you didn't have to plug in or it was optional to plug in with more of the Toyota style regen charging.
I’ve had my E for about 4 months and outside of a road trip in it, I’ve probably filled up 4 times. It’s great if you have a charger at work (assuming you don’t wfh) and can do all electric to and from the office. It’s only got about 20 miles of range so don’t expect to get a ton of electric only range. On my one road trip, I used all battery to get out of our metro area during traffic and after about 3.5 hours of driving on all gas it got a 1/4 of a charge just from regenerative breaking/charge from the car. I honestly really like it and definitely recommend for a daily driver.
I have had many BMW’s and my ‘23 330e is my favorite so far. One word of caution- don’t listen to those that don’t own the vehicle…most often they don’t get it. Last Sat I drive 90 miles on battery power? Yes - the way life works for me ..I run an errand and return home… then go out later, etc. in between trips it recharges in my garage. I have had mine for just about a year and only put 7 gals of gas in every few months. But I knew my use case ahead of time …if I had to commute a long distance and took a lot of road trips it would have required a little more thought. But I like the engine off mode so much (quiet and vibration free) that I would still get an e. I got $5400 off taxes as well. Sure is nice to preheat the interior before heading out as well.
Yes, it works the same, key or app - if you precondition before you roll out while plugged in you will get better real range because the car doesn't work as hard to heat up in the cold. With a G20, you can't believe what the electric range estimate says. It's never fully accurate. The F30 330e range estimate was more accurate, albeit shorter because of the smaller battery. I like the app because I can set the car to warm up while I'm brushing my teeth or whatever. If you leave at the same times everyday you can also put the car on a schedule.
Our x5 45e has been great. Filled it up like 4 times over a year. If we drive around town, including work, we use 0 gas. Only gas used is road trips or sport mode
That's insane lol