2018 BMW 330e best BMW on sale in Ireland?

Carney97

I was lucky enough to spend a day with a 2018 BMW 330e. After spending hours studying the brochure and talking to a number of BMW salesman I couldn't help but the think its the best BMW on sale in Ireland. For just over €42,000 you get a car that will get fantastic fuel consumptions and has the performance ability to keep most hot hatchbacks humble?

Is there a better package?

What do you guys think?

Gumbo

Have one in work.
Realistic range of 20km.

Personally not a fan.

Carney97

The range for these german hybrids always seems to fluctuate from what the brand states. My friend who owns an Audi A3 E tron gets 42km of electric range even though it is meant to get 35km.

Other owners are less fortunate.

Casati

Carney97 wrote: »

I was lucky enough to spend a day with a 2018 BMW 330e. After spending hours studying the brochure and talking to a number of BMW salesman I couldn't help but the think its the best BMW on sale in Ireland. For just over €42,000 you get a car that will get fantastic fuel consumptions and has the performance ability to keep most hot hatchbacks humble?

Is there a better package?

What do you guys think?

Yeah value for money I think they are possibly the best BMW in the market, the only big issue I’d have is the small boot. Outside of that as they are a hybrid

Heres Johnny

If you have a 20km commute and can charge in work then they are a good option for you. However, I drive a gas guzzling older bmw and a 20km commute for me is still less than 3 euro. Makes a bit of a difference over a year but you should see the depreciation on a 330e it's savage. Can pick them up in UK for 19k so add on a bit extra for exchange rate and vrt and you could have a 16 reg car for low 20s euro.
When bmw release a 3 series that can do the mileage of an i3 on electric only with a rex these will plummet further.

That said I've test driven a 330e and it's a really nice car. I think a 330e will be my next car, maybe next year.

ELM327

It's a compliance car.

The only BMW with a battery and an ICE that you should consider is an i3 rex. Otherwise either get the best fossil car or the best BEVx,

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Like all cars the actual real world MPG will be a fraction of the claimed figures, having said that the claimed figures are terrific. Performance is indeed pretty good. The 3 series is a good package with good dynamics.

Is it the best BMW on sale.....no.But it depends on your metrics. The 640d gc will return 50mpg and is a better package with much higher cost. The i8 delivers better performance. Any M car, or a 340i has a better engine. X cars are more practical. A second hand BMW offers better value. But you migh be correct that as a new car on a budget that has to be a BMW its a good choice.

Casati

ELM327 wrote: »

It's a compliance car.

The only BMW with a battery and an ICE that you should consider is an i3 rex. Otherwise either get the best fossil car or the best BEVx,

The market disagrees, the I3 is a very niche car , ie it’s a fairly high performance 4 seater city car with a tiny range compared to the 330e

ELM327

Casati wrote: »

The market disagrees, the I3 is a very niche car , ie it’s a fairly high performance 4 seater city car with a tiny range compared to the 330e

The market disagrees?
Is that just on your say?
If we're going by anecdotal evidence I've seen many I3 around but only 3 330e. One on the m50 which was a BMW Ireland car, one plugged in and not charging in Dundrum, and one plugged in on the fast charger in blanchardstown.

Casati

ELM327 wrote: »

The market disagrees?
Is that just on your say?
If we're going by anecdotal evidence I've seen many I3 around but only 3 330e. One on the m50 which was a BMW Ireland car, one plugged in and not charging in Dundrum, and one plugged in on the fast charger in blanchardstown.

Apologies, if your seeing loads of i3’s and practically no 330e’s then I must be wrong

ELM327

Casati wrote: »

Apologies, if your seeing loads of i3’s and practically no 330e’s then I must be wrong

As opposed to "the market" then?

And sales figures can always be skewed when they arein the 2 or 3 figure range. And are not necessarily relevant to the "best-ness" of the car.

http://www.irishevowners.ie/best-selling-irish-phevs-in-2017/
http://www.irishevowners.ie/best-selling-irish-evs-in-2017/

Carney97

I live in Kildare and I would say I see one 330e every day. They seem to be the most popular hybrid around my area. Certainly more popular than the i3

ELM327

Carney97 wrote: »

I live in Kildare and I would say I see one 330e every day. They seem to be the most popular hybrid around my area. Certainly more popular than the i3

If you refer back to the post I made... I never mentioned popularity.
I said the best "product".
And I'm sorry but paying north of 40k for a pathetic 20-25km EV range is quite frankly shanefully ridiculous. I wonder if many of these were company car BIK tax vehicles as opposed to private purchases.

Carney97

ELM327 wrote: »

If you refer back to the post I made... I never mentioned popularity.
I said the best "product".
And I'm sorry but paying north of 40k for a pathetic 20-25km EV range is quite frankly shanefully ridiculous. I wonder if many of these were company car BIK tax vehicles as opposed to private purchases.

I am aware you didn't mention popularity I was purely stating my personal experience.

Yes while €40,000 + is still a substantial amount of money for a car it does offer good value. If you are in the market for a new BMW it does make sense.

I wonder would it be a popular company car? Typically you have to be doing reasonably high mileage (e.g 30-40,000km a year) in order for it to make sense.

billy few mates

Yes I tried one a couple of weeks ago, beautiful car alright, lovely to drive, nicely specced and quite reasonably priced for a new BMW, I seriously considered ordering one.
In the end I decided not to, the main reasons were the very limited electric range and the fact that that model is an aging design, likely to be replaced by a new model this year.

thierry14

kceire wrote: »

Have one in work.
Realistic range of 20km.

Personally not a fan.

Range would be ok for commuting, but that little 80bhp motor in electric mode and nearly 2000kg, is what would piss me off.

Its a complicated mess too

Dual clutch, turbo charged engine, so many things to go we wrong in them

xl500

Casati wrote: »

The market disagrees, the I3 is a very niche car , ie it’s a fairly high performance 4 seater city car with a tiny range compared to the 330e

Well the 330e has a large range due to its ICE Engine and Battery

The I3 has a Large Range due to its Battery and REX

Both Have Range as long as you put petrol in them but I3 has way larger electric range

spyderski

ELM327 wrote: »

I wonder if many of these were company car BIK tax vehicles as opposed to private purchases.

330e doesn't qualify for BIK exemption, so I doubt thats a big factor.

KCross

https://speakev.com/threads/bmw-330e-se.100937/

Lets say you negotiate £19500, thats €21,909
Add on the VRT which comes out at €1,886 (VRT Stat code: 41987721)
Add another €200 or so for flight and ferry.

Total: €23995 landed and registered in Ireland for a 162 BMW 330e (they are €51k new!!!)

Heres Johnny

KCross wrote: »

https://speakev.com/threads/bmw-330e-se.100937/

Lets say you negotiate £19500, thats €21,909
Add on the VRT which comes out at €1,886 (VRT Stat code: 41987721)
Add another €200 or so for flight and ferry.

Total: €23995 landed and registered in Ireland for a 162 BMW 330e (they are €51k new!!!)

They're not really 51k though I have a quote for a brand new one with pro nav and metallic and no other extras for 42k. It's an msport too.
That's including

9% sterling marketing rubbish discount
Government grants of 7500 I think
An extra 2k reduction for straight sale

So the list price is much higher but depreciation starts at 42k not in the 50s.

Still quite the drop though

unkel

KCross wrote: »

Total: €23995 landed and registered in Ireland for a 162 BMW 330e (they are €51k new!!!)

Not a great deal. Our own stesaurus got a 171 330e Sport landed for €27k


If only those cars had a range of say 50km instead of 20km. I would have been very tempted to sell my Ioniq for pretty much what I paid for it a year ago and stayed on compliance PHEV until I could land a Tesla Model 3

KCross

unkel wrote: »

Not a great deal. Our own stesaurus got a 171 330e Sport landed for €27k


If only those cars had a range of say 50km instead of 20km. I would have been very tempted to sell my Ioniq for pretty much what I paid for it a year ago and stayed on compliance PHEV until I could land a Tesla Model 3

The difference in price between SE and Sport is €1k so thats not significant.

Sure, stesaurus got a great deal. At €24k for a 162 its in the same ballpark.

Im just pointing out how much these things are depreciating, its ridiculous.

Casati

KCross wrote: »

The difference in price between SE and Sport is €1k so thats not significant.

Sure, stesaurus got a great deal. At €24k for a 162 its in the same ballpark.

Im just pointing out how much these things are depreciating, its ridiculous.

320d’s depreciation in the UK is as bad if not worse, the 330e is an ideal car to import as the vrt is much lower as it’s a hybrid

ELM327

OSI wrote: »

Wasn't there someone on here with a 330e from new who was told it was already in negative equity on the PCP plan not much more than a year in?

Considering the massive discounts now given by BMW on new models I'm not surprised to hear that.
I'd say anyone who took a PCP on a 330e based on the ~50k RRP will be handing it back with negative equity (absorbed by the PCP) at the end of the deal.

liamog

Most PCPs should be in negative equity during the first year.

unkel

KCross wrote: »

The difference in price between SE and Sport is €1k so thats not significant.

BMW seem to be making this confusing. There is:

SE €50960
Sport €51860
M-Sport €54120

I was presuming stesaurus got the M-sport and I wasn't aware of the Sport version (probably a few spoilers and badges LOL and no proper sport suspension)

And I presume all these prices are before the €7,500 subsidy?

KCross

unkel wrote: »

BMW seem to be making this confusing. There is:

SE €50960
Sport €51860
M-Sport €54120

I was presuming stesaurus got the M-sport and I wasn't aware of the Sport version (probably a few spoilers and badges LOL and no proper sport suspension)

And I presume all these prices are before the €7,500 subsidy?

According to earlier poster its pre-grant prices on their website. Which is interesting because all the other EV/PHEV manufacturers include the grant in their advertised prices on their websites, so that is confusing here.

It looks like you can take the bones of €10k off those prices if you are going in with a straight cash deal.


The difference in SE and Sport seems to be sports seats, sports steering wheel, and different alloys. Not much else. It can't be much anyway with only €1k in it.

bp_me

KCross wrote: »

The difference in SE and Sport seems to be sports seats, sports steering wheel, and different alloys. Not much else. It can't be much anyway with only €1k in it.

One thing to look out for (certainly in UK models) is they don't all get the split folding rear seats. If it wasnt specified the seats dont fold at all (afaik!) and there doesnt even appear to be a ski-hatch.

stesaurus

unkel wrote: »

BMW seem to be making this confusing. There is:

SE €50960
Sport €51860
M-Sport €54120

I was presuming stesaurus got the M-sport and I wasn't aware of the Sport version (probably a few spoilers and badges LOL and no proper sport suspension)

And I presume all these prices are before the €7,500 subsidy?

Mine's an M-Sport with the pro-nav. I got a great deal but won't be hanging on long term to it.

stesaurus

OSI wrote: »

Wasn't there someone on here with a 330e from new who was told it was already in negative equity on the PCP plan not much more than a year in?

It's how they're designed. All PCPs will be in negative equity until probably the last few months.
I'm sure there will be some odd cases alright but there's very little chance you've paid off more than the depreciation with low PCP monthlies within the first year. It's only when the depreciation curve starts to tail off that you will start catching it and creating some equity. HP on the other hand will have higher monthlies so it's easier to be in some form of equity early on.

stesaurus

I'm getting around 45-50mpg in mine. Battery lasts around 30km but you have to realise that it only works below 80km/h, once you go above that the engine kicks in. Hell if you put the foot down it kicks in. So the battery is only useful for city/town driving and not tearing around back roads or motorway.
Now in saying that it works for me. I have plenty of places to charge so I can make the most of it. If I drive to work its a 70km spin and easily the last 20-30km of that is heavy traffic so the battery is great to save petrol. Same on the way home once I charge at work. It's also nice to pop into and around town without using any petrol so it does have its uses.

Negatives hmmmm, it's heart breaking queueing and paying at petrol stations or just even remembering and having to alter my journey to swing by the bloody petrol station. It's poke is nowhere near the i3. Even in Sport unless you floor it. There's just no comparison to the instant torque of a proper EV. Having said that it will leave an i3 for dead above 100km/h but i'm too old for that ****. I like to cruise around 140km/h and the i3 was easily capable of that anyway and would easily have more poke at those speeds than 90% of what's on the road.

The charging timers are a pain in the arse. Actually so is the i3 in this regard. If you want to only use night tariff you have to set a departure timer. Very annoying if you don't know what time you'll leave at. In the i3 you can get around this by setting it for a week in advance if you wanted. The 330e of course won't give you the option of choosing a day so you need to set a departure time for every night. I wfh so my departure times are never predictable so its incredibly annoying. My workaround is a physical timer rated for 13a that only makes my granny evse active during night tariff. Such a pain that they won't allow further options.

zilog_jones

Not sure I'm understanding the timer issue - if you want to use the night rates, can't you just set the departure time for 8:00?

stesaurus

zilog_jones wrote: »

Not sure I'm understanding the timer issue - if you want to use the night rates, can't you just set the departure time for 8:00?

I could but if I'm not leaving at 8 I then have a car heating up while I'm lying in bed or working away. I shouldn't have to plan ahead every night and setup a departure.
There should be two distinct settings, one for setting a charge period to use a night tariff if you want and another for departure times. BMW being BMW don't give you those choices.

bazz26

stesaurus wrote: »

It's how they're designed. All PCPs will be in negative equity until probably the last few months.
I'm sure there will be some odd cases alright but there's very little chance you've paid off more than the depreciation with low PCP monthlies within the first year. It's only when the depreciation curve starts to tail off that you will start catching it and creating some equity. HP on the other hand will have higher monthlies so it's easier to be in some form of equity early on.

If I remember correctly the poster was looking at trading in his 330e M Sport after 18 months and the trade-in price equated to him losing 21k in 18 months on the car. The reason he was given for such a loss was due to the price of a new one including the grant rebate. That and the fact you can import a 6 month old one from the UK with very low VRT and balance of BMW warranty still on it.

I inquired last July/August about buying a 330e and I found BMW dealers useless when it came to getting information about the 330e, they would rather sell you a 320d all day long. One dealer didn't know anything about the grant process over being adamant that it was something I had to sort out myself and nothing to do with them. Very few 330e around to test drive and a factory order would not arrive until January if ordered in August. Glad I lost interest straight away as 21k is a fair chunk of change to lose in 18 months but then again buying any BMW brand new now is nuts given the depreciation they suffer in the early years.

Buy a 6 or 12 month old example from the UK and even allowing for not qualifying for the grant here you will save a good bit of money especially with the low VRT.

stesaurus

bazz26 wrote: »

If I remember correctly the poster was looking at trading in his 330e M Sport after 18 months and the trade-in price equated to him losing 21k in 18 months on the car. The reason he was given for such a loss was due to the price of a new one including the grant rebate. That and the fact you can import a 6 month old one from the UK with very low VRT and balance of BMW warranty still on it.

I inquired last July/August about buying a 330e and I found BMW dealers useless when it came to getting information about the 330e, they would rather sell you a 320d all day long. One dealer didn't know anything about the grant process over being adamant that it was something I had to sort out myself and nothing to do with them. Very few 330e around to test drive and a factory order would not arrive until January if ordered in August. Glad I lost interest straight away as 21k is a fair chunk of change to lose in 18 months but then again buying any BMW brand new now is nuts given the depreciation they suffer in the early years.

Buy a 6 or 12 month old example from the UK and even allowing for not qualifying for the grant here you will save a good bit of money especially with the low VRT.

You don't get the €5k SEAI grant but you will have gotten the UK equivalent so it's like for like really.
Then you get €2500 off the VRT bill due to it being a PHEV

It really is ridiculous for dealers to push people into the 320s when you get more performance and mpg for the same price really.

zilog_jones

stesaurus wrote: »

I could but if I'm not leaving at 8 I then have a car heating up while I'm lying in bed or working away. I shouldn't have to plan ahead every night and setup a departure.
There should be two distinct settings, one for setting a charge period to use a night tariff if you want and another for departure times. BMW being BMW don't give you those choices.

Oh so it's tied to charging and pre-heating? Can you not disable the pre-heating and start that remotely when needed? No pre-heating at all in my Prius Plug-in , so setting it to finish charging at 8:00 every day is fine for me (also matches my departure time for work).

stesaurus

zilog_jones wrote: »

Oh so it's tied to charging and pre-heating? Can you not disable the pre-heating and start that remotely when needed? No pre-heating at all in my Prius Plug-in , so setting it to finish charging at 8:00 every day is fine for me (also matches my departure time for work).

Yes, you can do that also but it's another compromise and I know I'll forget to manually start pre-heating on the days i actually need it.
I guess my point was that its silly for BMW to limit the options and its more limited in the 330e than the i3 by not allowing timers specifc by days. Its just odd.

zilog_jones

Yeah, does seem odd considering we had 7-day timers on things like VCRs 30 years ago!

bp_me

zilog_jones wrote: »

No pre-heating at all in my Prius Plug-in , so setting it to finish charging at 8:00 every day is fine for me (also matches my departure time for work).

O/t but new one has some sort of timer. Also you can remotely start the HVAC from the key.

zilog_jones

Yeah, mine doesn't have a heat pump like the new model, so only way of heating the cabin is by running the ICE (+heated seats). I only have remote aircon (grand in the summer, but not now!).

xl500

stesaurus wrote: »

I could but if I'm not leaving at 8 I then have a car heating up while I'm lying in bed or working away. I shouldn't have to plan ahead every night and setup a departure.
There should be two distinct settings, one for setting a charge period to use a night tariff if you want and another for departure times. BMW being BMW don't give you those choices.

Straying a Bit here but in the BMW I3 you can set Departure Time say 8.00 or 6.00 or whatever you want to force car to charge during off peak but you also have option to precondition for departure time separately ie precondition or not

80sDiesel

In real world driving would the 330e get the same Litres/100 as say the 320d ?

stesaurus

xl500 wrote: »

Straying a Bit here but in the BMW I3 you can set Departure Time say 8.00 or 6.00 or whatever you want to force car to charge during off peak but you also have option to precondition for departure time separately ie precondition or not

In the i3 if you set the tariff then it won't charge during that period. The departure or pre-con doesn't impact that. It will heat the car using the battery but not top-up.
Also pre-con in the i3 means something a little different, its also getting the battery up to the correct temp and needs at least a few hours notice to work correctly.
Pre-con in the 330e just means heating the cabin.
All makes perfect sense in the software dev office of BMW

stesaurus

80sDiesel wrote: »

In real world driving would the 330e get the same Litres/100 as say the 320d ?

Similar I'm sure but would of course depend on the driving pattern. If you are constantly on the motorway and don't hit traffic then carrying around the battery, charger etc. is going to hurt but if you have a pretty standard pattern then I'm sure you'd be able to match it. It should comfortably beat the petrol out.

Just checked the honest john mpg figures also and it seems to agree. 330e(43-65, avg 51) 320D(38–58, avg 50). They are both in the same range but the 330e is beating it slightly.

Then you have the extra performance so overall a much better prospect.

80sDiesel

stesaurus wrote: »

Similar I'm sure but would of course depend on the driving pattern. If you are constantly on the motorway and don't hit traffic then carrying around the battery, charger etc. is going to hurt but if you have a pretty standard pattern then I'm sure you'd be able to match it. It should comfortably beat the petrol out.

Just checked the honest john mpg figures also and it seems to agree. 330e(43-65, avg 51) 320D(38–58, avg 50). They are both in the same range but the 330e is beating it slightly.

Then you have the extra performance so overall a much better prospect.

But aren't you paying more at the pump with the petrol?

stesaurus

Any loss on fuel would be made up for with the lower tax rates. And hopefully we'll start seeing an end to cheap diesel soon enough

80sDiesel

stesaurus wrote: »

Any loss on fuel would be made up for with the lower tax rates. And hopefully we'll start seeing an end to cheap diesel soon enough

Isn't the difference in motor tac something like 120 euros?

billy few mates

80sDiesel wrote: »

But aren't you paying more at the pump with the petrol?

Yes but petrol engined cars are so much more refined than diesel equivalents (no pun intended). The overall driving experience on a petrol car compared to its diesel equivalent is far nicer, I have no problem paying a few quid extra on a tank of fuel to enjoy that experience...

zilog_jones

stesaurus wrote: »

If you are constantly on the motorway and don't hit traffic then carrying around the battery, charger etc. is going to hurt

I don't think the weight is an issue here, it's just at motorway speeds you will never be able to take full advantage of the battery assuming the 80km/h EV mode speed limit is correct. Hybrids are more efficient than diesels with mixed driving, and with PHEVs it's all about making the most of the battery for the lower speed portions of your driving.

Matt Simis

I wondering if in reality the i8 has much better economy than the 330e then? Its got the same battery but more powerful motor (speed cutoff is 125kph) and is 200kg lighter.. strange times.

Obviously in normal car metrics (ie it has a boot and real rear seats) the 330e is a totally different animal.

zilog_jones

One sole i8 owner on SpritMonitor: https://www.spritmonitor.de/en/detail/836622.html

5.61 l/100km, vs. an average of 5.27 between 26 330e owners: https://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/6-BMW/37-3er.html?fueltype=6&minkm=3000&powerunit=2

Of course, with PHEVs your fuel consumption can vary greatly depending on how much EV-only driving you can do, so such small sample sets aren't particularly useful.

And considering the cost of the i8, running costs are all a bit academic