330e Battery out of warranty

If it's so uncommon, then it's an even bigger co-incidence that three 330e's that I personally know of have had major electrical issues. (one was covered under warranty after an argument).

The alternative viewpoint is that plenty of people who have spent a lot of money on a premium car are unlikely to admit that it wasn't so reliable after all. They rightly want to protect their investment too.

Ask anyone on the street what they thought of Peugeot vs BMW quality, and you'd hear one answer only, but JD Power said otherwise of BMW between Nov' 15 to Jan '18.

All cars have their issues, no argument there, but if something does go wrong in a 330e out of warranty, there is limited expertise to fix it, and it's complicated, so it's expensive.

The bar for a recall to actually happen, if it's not a safety issue, is astronomical.

Europe doesn't really have class action lawsuits, and US consumer law is actually far better in many regards when it comes to common problems. The below BMW TIS's are just some of those uploaded by the NHTSA Office of Defect Investigation, due to investigations and complaints about the 330e. Obviously that doesn't include failure rates, but it does show that the problems was common enough to come to the attention of NHTSA.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10145275-9999.pdf

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10149575-9999.pdf

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/MC-10151185-9999.pdf

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10136347-9999.pdf

Probably a stupid question but anyhoo, is it possible to just rip out the electric gubbins to convert them to a 330i?

Battery pack layout, packaging, cooling, cable routing, potential for overheating, water ingress and vibration will all be different between a 330e and 530e, and that may influence failure rates greatly.

Given how irate and personal you're getting over my posts, calling it bullshit, horseshit, and suggesting that I couldn't afford a fix, I think my point on owners trying to protect their investment isn't too far off the mark.

Why on earth would an OEM preemptively recall stuff, when they can just take the hit on warranty, and tell their other customers to pony up if their hilariously short warranty runs out?

I work in automotive electronics, and stuff is designed to, and should easily last 10-15 yrs and 350k km.

The other 2 cars I know of were below 100k km as far as I know, and were both owned by people who get bonuses bigger than the average salary. I sold mine (after it was fixed) to a family member for around half the market value. It was never about money for any of us, it's about the principle of not paying BMW a fortune to fix their bad quality product.

Why 45/50 mpg is nothing especial diesel will do better

It's very good. That was my point. The most efficient diesel car on the market now (Octavia) will do 52.4mpg on the motorway. And that's from testing, not real world. You'd expect that to drop below 50 in real world conditions. And it's the best.

I have made enquiries with two trade dealers that I know and respect and both say avoid Mercedes’ and BMW hybrids citing real life specific model car issues they encountered

I’m aware these might be rare issues but after reading this thread I am very inclined to avoid BMW, I’m not a betting man but it would be me it would happen to.

Yeah, I wasn't recommending them, just pointing out where the other poster was wrong about any diesel being able to do 50mpg.

Yes, fine, were they new and/or warrantied?

I'm talking to people who are going to go out tomorrow and choose between a 2017 330e and 320d

Having owned both a 2017 330e and several 330d's I can't think of a single reason anyone in their right mind would entertain the idea of the PHEV over the vastly superior diesel.

Not really, I have an E Class 220D and on a cross country run easily get over 63 + mpg , it easily maintains 105 Kph on cruise control in 9th gear at 1025 rpm with a/c on, I had a 2’.0 Passat Diesel that could do even better.

Not a direct comparison. 105 is not motorway speed. These are the official figures I'm quoting for the Octavia and it's listed as the most efficient. It will do mid to high 60s in combined mileage. I had a 3 litre Audi that would do 55mpg on cross country. Did it easily on a Dublin to Malin Head trip. Wouldn't get it on motorways at motorway speeds though.

ok, I was curious myself so this is a picture taken just now showing 53.2 mpg over 31500 kms mixed driving, real world.

my point remains that this Is still good not great and can be beaten by most newer diesels

You keep forgetting that the conversation you jumped into was about motorway mileage ONLY.