Firestyle Magazine: Issue 6 - Winter 2016

MOTORING
BMW 3-Series 330E
Take a good look at the pictures of the best selling BMW 3-Series and see if you can notice any difference, probably
the answer is no there isn’t anything different but this particular derivative is the 330E and a BMW plug-in hybrid. If
you notice the front near side wing there is what appears to be a petrol filler flap, that is the giveaway, this is where
you can plug in the vehicle to transform it from petrol to electric mode. In fact there is little else to differentiate
this from a conventional 3-Series. The very small discreet E-Drive badge on the rear pillar is a further giveaway. This
E-drive will be appearing soon on quite a few more vehicles within the mighty BMW empire, writes Bob Hickman.
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The big advantage of this new
hybrid technology for BMW is the
CO2 emissions are reduced to
a mere 44 g/km, so if you are a
company car driver the benefit in
kind taxation will be less than half
as a conventional 320D and this
seriously is impressive. However the
benefit in kind comes at a price, the
hybrid 3-Series is considerably more
than its petrol and diesel derivatives.
BMW has employed a set of lithium
iron cell batteries and they have
placed them under the boot floor so
there is a slight reduction capacity
but not sufficient to worry about.
The batteries provide power to
an 87bhp electric motor which
is situated within the gearbox
casing. This gives an extremely
alien concept because the vehicle
suddenly becomes a silent vehicle,
to drive on pure battery power is
somewhat disconcerting initially but
you soon become used to it. Add
in the 182bhp petrol and you have
a vehicle that gives tremendous
thrust and motive power through an
8-speed gearbox.
BMW purists will be pleased to note
that the new hybrid derivative
is still rear wheel drive, in electric
mode the vehicle still retains its
BMW characteristics and will still
give excellent driver response, it
meanders silently and relatively
speedily in pure electric mode
when in the city, but give the
throttle accelerator a quick tap and
instantly the traction control disables
and the entertaining factor of
engine power kicks in and you have
a vehicle that is very responsive.
The 3-Series has nearly 250bhp at
its disposal when you add together
both the petrol and electric motors.
There are 3 modes to choose from,
you can go pure electric, choose to
maximise between the two or you
can have a battery save, dial the
factors in and the cars electronic
brain works out for you. The battery
capacity for mileage seems to
be about 25 miles in pure battery
mode which possibly doesn’t seem
a great deal but lets not forget this
is not a pure hybrid that you are
dependant and reliant on battery
power, it is quite easy to allow the
vehicle to drift along in battery