BMW 330e

mickdw

carsfan2 wrote: »

Life changing? Not really but nice to have but if it was on the options list I wouldn't pay for it. Bit like heated steering wheel or seats I suppose.
Actually there is rarely a need for these when the cabin is already warm.

I'm talking about having a car with de iced windscreen and heated cabin when you appear out to it on a frosty morning.
That is the spec to beat all spec in my opinion if you are someone who leaves home each morning well before daylight in the winter time.

cros13

digiman wrote: »

Is this only a feature on the e models or is it available on all once you have connected drive?.

An internal combustion 3-series uses waste heat from the inefficient engine to heat the cabin. A PHEV or BEV has to have a way of heating the cabin that is independent of such a source of waste heat, so they have a electric resistance heater or (generally on a BEV) a heat pump (which is up twice as efficient). You need a battery able to supply 3-5kW of power so that pretty much makes it an exclusive feature of plug-in vehicles only.

Another side effect is instant heat whenever you want it without needing to wait for anything to warm up.

mickdw wrote: »

That is a feature worth its weight in gold. Life changing for some id say. Nothing worse than being in a hurry and having to deal with a frozen car every morning. No more cold cabin either. Fantastic.
A feature in nissan leaf too I believe.

Preconditioning is a feature of every EV and PHEV on the market. Though in the case of the Mitsubishi outlander remote activation is an option.

vintagevrs wrote: »

In theory then, even forgetting about the timer aspect of it where your car is warm before you get it, it should work better as it doesn't need to wait for the car to warm up.

It won't work like an engine block heater. The combustion engine would still be cold.

carsfan2

mickdw wrote: »

I'm talking about having a car with de iced windscreen and heated cabin when you appear out to it on a frosty morning.
That is the spec to beat all spec in my opinion if you are someone who leaves home each morning well before daylight in the winter time.

That's pretty much what you get but I find it is best to use when the car is still plugged in as I reckon it depletes the batteries otherwise as I reckon it must draw a fair bit of power to generate the heat.

cros13

carsfan2 wrote: »

That's pretty much what you get but I find it is best to use when the car is still plugged in as I reckon it depletes the batteries otherwise as I reckon it must draw a fair bit of power to generate the heat.

The i3 battery contains a heating pad which will warm the battery to optimum operating temperature during preconditioning, and also runs cell balancing. This only run when the preconditioning timer is set and requires that the set departure time be more than four hours away. If the set departure time is less than 4 hours away it skips the battery precondition and just heats the cabin.

I'm not sure if the 330e battery has a similar heater system. I've yet to get my hands on the service manuals.

Keggers74

Pre heated mine this morning and got 148 mpg on my 27km commute to work and still have 35% battery left for the trip home tonight. Trip is about half M50 (which was quite slow today) and half regular streets with much of it stop start. Been averaging about 70 to 80 mpg typically so something went right this morning, but shows what these cars can do on a good day.

Voodoomelon

That's excellent. What do you reckon got you up in the 140s this morning, the traffic? I got about 18mpg myself, something went very wrong.

Keggers74

Voodoomelon wrote: »

That's excellent. What do you reckon got you up in the 140s this morning, the traffic? I got about 18mpg myself, something went very wrong.

I had it pre heated and the air con was off, but I think the key thing was the M50 was moving a lot slower than normal so it didn't suck the battery as much trying to keep me at 100-120km/h.

Even on a normal day going full speed I think my normal 70-80mpg is fantastic though (I came from a 911 doing 22mpg on the same route!).

mackerski

Can any owner confirm whether the preheating option can be activated without the car plugged in? I know it would cause more petrol consumption, but it could be practical for the occasional snowy morning.

Voodoomelon

I don't own one, but the car does not have to be plugged in. Nor does it use fuel to heat or cool the cabin, they are electric systems.

bazz26

Has anyone got any sort of real world mpg figures for running this car at a constant 60 or 70 mph? I presume at that speed that it would be mainly the petrol engine that would be doing the work.

I do about 70 km on average a day to/from work and out & about and most of that would be on good roads including motorways doing a steady 60 or 70 mph. I also do a bit of suburban driving but not a whole lot. I'm averaging about 45 mpg from my current F10 520d auto with the same driving. My workplace has free charging points for EVs so one of these cars may well be an option for next time. I guess when the time comes I'd really need one of these cars for a few days to see how it work for me.

Keggers74

bazz26 wrote: »

Has anyone got any sort of real world mpg figures for running this car at a constant 60 or 70 mph? I presume at that speed that it would be mainly the petrol engine that would be doing the work.

I do about 70 km on average a day to/from work and out & about and most of that would be on good roads including motorways doing a steady 60 or 70 mph. I also do a bit of suburban driving but not a whole lot. I'm averaging about 45 mpg from my current F10 520d auto with the same driving. My workplace has free charging points for EVs so one of these cars may well be an option for next time. I guess when the time comes I'd really need one of these cars for a few days to see how it work for me.

Tends to get about 45 mpg sitting at 60-70mph without any real use of the battery, so similar to your current car. You make up the benefit then when you come off the motorway and can run around without using any petrol at all.

bazz26

That sounds pretty decent for a 2.0 litre petrol engine and definitely worth my while investigating further when the time comes. Have you done any long trips in it yet? While I wouldn't be doing long distance driving regularly but I'd be interested in seeing how this car fairs over an occasional long trip, say like Limerick to Dublin or Limerick to Cork. I'd say even running on pure ICE it might return mid to high 30s but obviously drop if you have a constant heavy right foot.

mackerski

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I don't own one, but the car does not have to be plugged in. Nor does it use fuel to heat or cool the cabin, they are electric systems.

I get that - but if I use battery power to preheat the car and if it's not charging, I will do my driving with a depleted battery, so I'll burn more petrol for traction than otherwise. The energy has to come from somewhere.

stesaurus

Keggers74 wrote: »

Pre heated mine this morning and got 148 mpg on my 27km commute to work and still have 35% battery left for the trip home tonight. Trip is about half M50 (which was quite slow today) and half regular streets with much of it stop start. Been averaging about 70 to 80 mpg typically so something went right this morning, but shows what these cars can do on a good day.

Sounds like you preconditioned the battery and cabin. It's definitely the best way to setup the car for these cold mornings.
Just using the app 15-20 mins before departure will only get the cabin heated, it doesn't help the battery. If you set a timer the night before then the battery will fully precondition using the power from being plugged in. You'll get much better mpg as a result as the battery is all setup to go and gives itsbest efficiency.

Also you've realised the basic things with EVs/PHEVs. They love traffic unlike a petrol/diesel. You use very little power at lower speeds or stop/start traffic.

carsfan2

Hi Bazz
I drove limerick to Dublin and back on Friday last as it happens.
Left with a full battery and cruised130kph mainly. 44 mpg.
Left sandyford empty enough battery and after m50 car park motorway was slow until Waterford exit then put the foot down. 39 mpg.
Car is so quick and refined it's hard for me to keep it reined in.
Day to day commuting starting with full battery is still in the 60's mpg however.
Not a car for motorway pounding day in day out.

bazz26

Thanks, I think an extended test drive is definitely on the cards when the time comes.

grogi

carsfan2 wrote: »

Hi Bazz
I drove limerick to Dublin and back on Friday last as it happens.
Left with a full battery and cruised130kph mainly. 44 mpg.
Left sandyford empty enough battery and after m50 car park motorway was slow until Waterford exit then put the foot down. 39 mpg.
Car is so quick and refined it's hard for me to keep it reined in.
Day to day commuting starting with full battery is still in the 60's mpg however.
Not a car for motorway pounding day in day out.

So we have reached a point where real-world efficiency of 40 mpg (7.0l/100km) in motorway driving in an executive saloon capable of 0-100 in 6.1 seconds is considered bad?!

Interesting times indeed...

carsfan2

I never said it was bad!
I'm delighted with the economy I get considering the performance but if you spend your life predominantly up and down motorways,diesel is still better with regard to fuel costs.
0 to 100km/h doesn't always give a full picture of a cars useable performance either. Mid range acceleration can be just as important where a torquey diesel can shine.

Jentle Grenade

Someone drove into my OH's 330e in the work car park last week and the repair quote by BMW is €6,000! Impact was to front driver side, almost at a 45 degree angle to the headlight. Buckled wheel/suspension apparently. The whole thing was captured on CCTV and the bloke who drove into the car wants to sort it privately...! No thanks bud.

grogi

Jentle Grenade wrote: »

Someone drove into my OH's 330e in the work car park last week and the repair quote by BMW is €6,000! Impact was to front driver side, almost at a 45 degree angle to the headlight. Buckled wheel/suspension apparently. The whole thing was captured on CCTV and the bloke who drove into the car wants to sort it privately...! No thanks bud.

Give him a figure and record the face expression

Keggers74

Maybe a stupid question, but does anyone know whether two cars can charge at the same time using the ESB charge points that have the three different cables at the front?

I pulled into one the other day at a shopping centre and a Nissan Leaf was busy charging at it, but it wasn't using the Type 2 cable that I needed for my 330e. Didn't want to plug mine into the Type 2 cable in case it cancelled the Leaf's charge.

Anyone know if this can work?

KCross

Keggers74 wrote: »

Maybe a stupid question, but does anyone know whether two cars can charge at the same time using the ESB charge points that have the three different cables at the front?

I pulled into one the other day at a shopping centre and a Nissan Leaf was busy charging at it, but it wasn't using the Type 2 cable that I needed for my 330e. Didn't want to plug mine into the Type 2 cable in case it cancelled the Leaf's charge.

Anyone know if this can work?

Yes you can but it might depend on the firmware running on the charger as to whether it will allow it or not.
When you plug yours in and swipe your card it will give you an AC option only since the Leaf is using the DC.

It wont cancel the Leaf's charge.

stesaurus

Keggers74 wrote: »

Maybe a stupid question, but does anyone know whether two cars can charge at the same time using the ESB charge points that have the three different cables at the front?

I pulled into one the other day at a shopping centre and a Nissan Leaf was busy charging at it, but it wasn't using the Type 2 cable that I needed for my 330e. Didn't want to plug mine into the Type 2 cable in case it cancelled the Leaf's charge.

Anyone know if this can work?

Some of the fast chargers allow 1 AC and 1 DC charge simultaneously. So yeah its possible, you'll know when you present your card if it gives the AC option.
BUT you probably shouldnt be using a fast charger to begin with. The 330e can only charge at pathetically low speeds. Its not very fair on say a Zoe which can charge upto 15 times the power.
Ideally you should be using the slow charge points with your own cable which keeps the fast chargers free for fast charging.

Blazer

grogi wrote: »

Give him a figure and record the face expression

He probably thinks a few hundred will sort it out

digiman

Guys, a few questions:

a) How long does it take to charge the car at home?
b) How long does it take to charge at the ESB charging stations?

What is the cost of a) per charge?
Do ESB have a charge associated with b) ?

Keggers74

digiman wrote: »

Guys, a few questions:

a) How long does it take to charge the car at home?
b) How long does it take to charge at the ESB charging stations?

What is the cost of a) per charge?
Do ESB have a charge associated with b) ?

a) charging at full power takes about 3 1/2 hours. Maybe a little less. With a dual rate meter, I think mine costs about €1 to charge fully.

b) I could be wrong but I think it's about 2 to 2.5 hours at an esb charging station. The esb ones are free to use.

digiman

Keggers74 wrote: »

a) charging at full power takes about 3 1/2 hours. Maybe a little less. With a dual rate meter, I think mine costs about €1 to charge fully.

b) I could be wrong but I think it's about 2 to 2.5 hours at an esb charging station. The esb ones are free to use.

Thanks, how does the ESB ones work? There are a few of them where I work, do I need to book these in advance each day?

Keggers74

They are first in best dressed. If it is not in use when you get there, you can use it. There is an app that is meant to show which ones are currently working and available.

Esb issues you with a card that you use to start the charger. Presumably this is done to be ready to start charging for use at some point down the track.

carsfan2

Just saw on Carzone a white 162 m sport 330e with 1500km for sale privately for 51k or for buyer to take over sellers pcp.
Bit strange and massively unrealistic pricing.

mickdw

How could you possibly take over a pcp without going back, settling with bmw and taking out new pcp.
The used ads are kinda weird for the 330e as its sometimes not clear if they are referring to before grant or after grant price. ID imagine as a used model, you would have to assume grants are gone. That being the case, some of the prices are mad.

bazz26

Sounds like some sort of scam or tax fiddle to me. You would really want your marbles checked to get involved in that sort of deal.

grogi

bazz26 wrote: »

Sounds like some sort of scam or tax fiddle to me. You would really want your marbles checked to get involved in that sort of deal.

Don't be paranoid - ye never heart of transfer of a lease or any other contract?

It sounds exactly what it is - someone took a contract, but due to changed circumstances cannot fulfil it. Instead of breaking it and facing early termination fees is looking for someone else to transfer it to. Both parties can benefit - the vendor by not suffering the fees, and the buyer by taking some equity (from the initial deposit) with the deal.

There are some costs to be paid to the financial institution of course for amending the contract, and financial checks needs to be performed. But they have interest in the contract being completed as well...

mickdw

So you think the original buyer is going to be happy to walk away from the original deposit and just let someone in to take over payments?
The original buyer would be nuts unless it was bought with minimum deposit day one.

bazz26

grogi wrote: »

Don't be paranoid - ye never heart of transfer of a lease or any other contract?

It sounds exactly what it is - someone took a contract, but due to changed circumstances cannot fulfil it. Instead of breaking it and facing early termination fees is looking for someone else to transfer it to. Both parties can benefit - the vendor by not suffering the fees, and the buyer by taking some equity (from the initial deposit) with the deal.

There are some costs to be paid to the financial institution of course for amending the contract, and financial checks needs to be performed. But they have interest in the contract being completed as well...

Good luck to you if you want to spend 50k in that method.

grogi

OSI wrote: »

The ad states you can only take over the payments if you hand them 14 grand first.

He is insane if he expects someone pays either the cash price or 14k to take over the lease... 10k less and there might be some traction

carsfan2

Don't think it could be legal to sell on a car on pcp without clearing the finance first.
Anyway the price asked is ridiculous.
Wonder if it is a case of buyers remorse?

grogi

carsfan2 wrote: »

Don't think it could be legal to sell on a car on pcp without clearing the finance first.

Technically you are not buying a car. You are buying the equity in the PCP contract together with all the obligations of the contract and the privilege to use the car.

Such transfer cannot complete without involvement of the financial institution that is currently financing the car to amend the contract, they usually have fixed price do transfer it to someone else. But they might say NO to it - but it is not in their best interest.

sligo_dave

Going back to the cost of home charging, has anyone not bothered switching to the night rate and used the home charging in standard rates?
Considering the relatively low (compared to Nissan leaf) amount of electricity required for the car, would there be much financial benefit to changing for a more expensive tariff for day use when washing machines, dishwashers, lights, etc are running?

MarkN

grogi wrote: »

Don't be paranoid - ye never heart of transfer of a lease or any other contract?

It sounds exactly what it is - someone took a contract, but due to changed circumstances cannot fulfil it. Instead of breaking it and facing early termination fees is looking for someone else to transfer it to. Both parties can benefit - the vendor by not suffering the fees, and the buyer by taking some equity (from the initial deposit) with the deal.

There are some costs to be paid to the financial institution of course for amending the contract, and financial checks needs to be performed. But they have interest in the contract being completed as well...

You'd want your head examined to do that with a car. The car isn't the current 'owners' to do anything with other than drive it.

cros13

sligo_dave wrote: »

Going back to the cost of home charging, has anyone not bothered switching to the night rate and used the home charging in standard rates?
Considering the relatively low (compared to Nissan leaf) amount of electricity required for the car, would there be much financial benefit to changing for a more expensive tariff for day use when washing machines, dishwashers, lights, etc are running?

For a typical home if 30% or more of your total electricity consumption including car charging will be during the night rate hours you are better off switching. A 330e would typically be drawing 6-7kWh five nights a week which would probably be your 30% right there, even without your existing nighttime consumption. Of course most washing machines, dishwashers and dryers these days have timers which you can use to move even more consumption to the night hours and Tesco has timer sockets for 8.50/each.

I draw 20kWh a night charging my car and combined with moving loads to nightsaver even though my total household consumption almost doubled since switch to EV my bills are down 10-20%.

The day rate usually only goes by a cent or so and the night rate drops by 7-9 cents. Standing charge goes up by 50eur/year.

unkel

cros13 wrote: »

For a typical home if 30% or more of your total electricity consumption including car charging will be during the night rate hours you are better off switching.

You can't say that! It's not relative to your total consumption. There is a clear cut off point that's pretty much the same for every home, not depending on your total consumption or your day consumption or the percentage of the latter of the former

It's very simple maths. The night meter costs nothing to install. The standing charge is higher if you have a night meter. But your night rate is much lower. Rate and standing charge depend on your provider

Say the extra standing charge is €8 per month and your normal rate is 16c and your night rate is 8c, then to recoup the €8 you need to have 800/(16-8) = 100 units per month at the night rate, or a bit more than 3 per day

Or basically charging an EV for just one hour a night at the slow charger would be enough to go get a night meter

Padraig Mor

unkel wrote: »

You can't say that! It's not relative to your total consumption. There is a clear cut off point that's pretty much the same for every home, not depending on your total consumption or your day consumption or the percentage of the latter of the former

It's very simple maths. The night meter costs nothing to install. The standing charge is higher if you have a night meter. But your night rate is much lower. Rate and standing charge depend on your provider

Say the extra standing charge is €8 per month and your normal rate is 16c and your night rate is 8c, then to recoup the €8 you need to have 800/(16-8) = 100 units per month at the night rate, or a bit more than 3 per day

Or basically charging an EV for just one hour a night at the slow charger would be enough to go get a night meter

Extra standing charge is actually about half that - about €50 a year. I think I've said before that since I got a night meter, changed providers and moved most clothes / dish washing to night hours, along with c. 1 full charge on my Leaf per week, my electricity bills have actually gone down. I'm currently running at about 44% night usage.

sligo_dave

unkel wrote: »

You can't say that! It's not relative to your total consumption. There is a clear cut off point that's pretty much the same for every home, not depending on your total consumption or your day consumption or the percentage of the latter of the former

It's very simple maths. The night meter costs nothing to install. The standing charge is higher if you have a night meter. But your night rate is much lower. Rate and standing charge depend on your provider

Say the extra standing charge is €8 per month and your normal rate is 16c and your night rate is 8c, then to recoup the €8 you need to have 800/(16-8) = 100 units per month at the night rate, or a bit more than 3 per day

Or basically charging an EV for just one hour a night at the slow charger would be enough to go get a night meter

That's great info, makes a lot of sense when it's much the same for day rate and nearly half price for night rate. Just to get onto energia now to start the process.
Anyone else waiting on delivery in January?

carsfan2

what spec and colour did you go with Slig Dave?

sligo_dave

carsfan2 wrote: »

what spec and colour did you go with Slig Dave?

I went for m sport in estoril blue, black leather, m sport plus pack. Getting the black grill as dealer fit option too. Pretty much what's in this pic:

madds

sligo_dave wrote: »

I went for m sport in estoril blue, black leather, m sport plus pack. Getting the black grill as dealer fit option too. Pretty much what's in this pic:

That's a beaut. Enjoy!

carsfan2

That will be lovely Dave.
Enjoy when it arrives
M sport plus makes it look even better in my opinion, 19" lovely wheels.
Harman kardon speaker upgrade is terrific.

Moe1013

sligo_dave wrote: »

carsfan2 wrote: »

what spec and colour did you go with Slig Dave?

I went for m sport in estoril blue, black leather, m sport plus pack. Getting the black grill as dealer fit option too. Pretty much what's in this pic:

Thats funny, I'm waiting for one for Jan delivery. Same spec but in white..Haven't changed the grill yet though. Looks like a nice idea. May I ask how much extra the dealer wants for it?

bazz26

I think someone mentioned earlier around €150 including fitting.

sligo_dave

Moe1013 wrote: »

Thats funny, I'm waiting for one for Jan delivery. Same spec but in white..Haven't changed the grill yet though. Looks like a nice idea. May I ask how much extra the dealer wants for it?

I didn't clarify, I think he mentioned around €100 odd but could have been more. Have you it long ordered? The countdown to January is becoming harder ever week. Getting updates now that it's due to be built this Monday and expected in dealers 2 weeks later (hopefully anyway)