Just had confirmation that my new salary sacrifice car will be delivered on 8 March. Allegedly 50 or so miles electric range (will be more like 35 I expect). A big improvement over the two Outlander PHEVs I have had which struggled to get more than 16 miles. 3 litre straight six plus the electric gubbins should make it more fun to drive too. 4 year lease so will hopefully do me until full electric cars are more viable (or I suppose I should say the charging infrastructure is more widespread and usable).
My first BMW so keen to see what all the fuss is about. Ordered during lockdown so not able to test drive. b***** expensive mistake if I don’t like it!
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Well the three litre straight 6 (the B58) and the ZF8 in combo is probably the finest and most satisfying thing you can have under your right foot. No idea what the electric gubbins does to it tho.
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Thanks Zero good to know. I thin the gubbins provides around 120hp extra but the petrol engine is detuned a little from standard. 389hp is the combined output which sounds fun but it is a very heavy car. The electric motor is positioned between the engine and gearbox so you get the full benefit of that ZF unit rather than the hateful CVT I had in the Outlanders.
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Here’s what you can expect cosec
youtu.be/RtpF4M6UDDE
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Thanks Bobby, will watch when I get a few mins.
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Summary:
Fantastic car
Excellent mpg if used right
Brilliant driving and handling
Stupid key with it
Expensive tyres
Not suitable for farmers fields....
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Well that was a pretty glowing review. I am not a farmer so should be ok as long as I don’t mind dirty trousers. I did not tick any options boxes just went for the standard M Sport so I think I avoid the silly key.
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Yes the smart key is very silly indeed and big
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Quick first impressions- the car was delivered at 8am this morning. Crikey it’s big! Very complex in comparison to the Outlander so will take a while to learn. Only been for a short drive to take the dogs out but very impressive performance when I gave it a little squirt.
Key things to work out how to do are firstly to find the front camera if it has one to help get on the drive and second to work out how to make it default to its “kneel” suspension status when parked to help get the dogs in. First world problems hey?
I think I am going to enjoy my driving over the next 4 years!
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>> Key things to work out how to do are firstly to find the front camera
>> if it has one to help get on the drive
use the "surround view" function for that.
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>> use the "surround view" function for that.
Would that be able to see a bus?
Just askin' like... ;-)
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>> >> use the "surround view" function for that.
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>> Would that be able to see a bus?
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....only from a distance, not from close up.....
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>> >> use the "surround view" function for that.
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>> Would that be able to see a bus?
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>> Just askin' like... ;-)
Nah its moving too fast, would see slow stationary things tho, like errr a kerb maybe?
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Thanks Zero, will have a search for that
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>> for a short drive to take the dogs out but very impressive performance when I
>> gave it a little squirt.
Its not just the outright grunt of that power plant, of which there is more than enough, its the way its delivered and how capable it all is under all circumstances, toodling, cruising, lugging, sprinting, country lane racing. The gearbox and electronics more than play their part here. Stick it into adaptive, and away you go. When dashing through country b roads, mine has even dropped two cogs preempting the approach to a bend.
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My wife took it for a spin last night and came back with a big grin. Surprised the life out of her when she went for an overtake!
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>> My wife took it for a spin last night and came back with a big
>> grin. Surprised the life out of her when she went for an overtake!
That may prove not to have been one of your smartest moves. You may end up stuck with her car.
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She uses it more than me anyway. As long as I get it when’s have a long journey I am otherwise happy to knock around in the girls’ Fiat 500. There is something about ragging a small car around that I really enjoy.
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>> There is something about ragging a small car around that I really enjoy.
I thought that was just me ! Maybe I'm not so weird after all...
;-)
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>>Maybe I'm not so weird after all..
Yeah you are. For so many, many reasons.
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>> >> There is something about ragging a small car around that I really enjoy.
>>
>> I thought that was just me ! Maybe I'm not so weird after all...
yeah i can see why you are attracted to it, they have such a smaller turning circle.........
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When it comes to parallel parking itself, the MINi will squeeze itself into a space with much less room to spare than the Merc will, though I think it’s turning circle is worse. The Merc however does the whole thing itself once you’ve chosen the space, from turning on the indicator, engaging reverse, accelerating, steering, braking, engaging drive as necessary and then park. The MINi insists the driver controls the brake and gear selection... With both cars though, it’ll avoid any possibility of kerbing a wheel ;)
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 9 Mar 21 at 19:42
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Worked out the problem with the front camera.... there isn’t one! That’s what happens when you don’t tick any options. Hey ho will have to get used to the sensors instead.
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Its part of a technology pack you have to order
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Well apart from the danger of rounding off the front corners when parking on the drive, I think I really rather like this car. Incredible ride, smooth and powerful and of the 415 miles driven so far, 202 have been on electric drive. Bearing in mind the mileage included a 175 mile drive for my wife’s work (she works in the power generation industry so has a letter allowing her to travel non-locally) I think that is pretty impressive.
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>>Incredible ride, smooth and powerful and of the 415 miles driven so far, 202 have been on electric drive.
Have never understood how some figures for Plug Ins are quoted as very high eg 145mpg. I get that what they mean is that is how many miles they have done whilst using one gallon of petrol. But it doesnt include the cost of the electricity for all the miles done on that.
How do they actually compare like for like?
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Is the vehicle provided by your employer, or have you taken the cash from work and done your own personal lease? Just thinking about the insurance side of things...
I have a company car which is insured by my employers fleet policy. Covers me for business use for my employer and SD&P use for me and my wife, but it does not provide business use cover for my wife and her business.
Don’t want to meddle, but just wanted to check that your wife is correctly insured if she’s using your car for her business use.
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Salary sacrifice through my employer and includes insurance as part of the fixed cost. My wife is insured to use for her business too. It is factored in to the cost but cheaper than having another car for her.
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Does the 3 litre petrol Beemer give the nice sounds that the Audi RS type engines do?
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>> Does the 3 litre petrol Beemer give the nice sounds that the Audi RS type
>> engines do?
Not really you need the M version for tuned exhaust. I have got the second exhaust open on mine all the time so its sounds a little sporty.
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ah right, relatuve has the 140M and that sounds nice.
There is an Audi RS6 and an RS3 round here that I hear (and see) regularly. The dog always stops dead and just watches them. Love the sound of those engines!
I would never buy a saloon car but there is something about the RS3 saloon that I just love. Maybe its taking me back to the Orion 1.6iGhia which was always the wolf in sheep's clothing compared to the XR3i which it shared mechanicals with.
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You can barely hear the engine in mine even when accelerating hard. Just a very refined, smooth sound whilst you hang on for dear life! It is odd that it does not feel as quick as my Abarth Spider did but is actually 2 seconds quicker to 60.
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>> You can barely hear the engine in mine
I sometimes forget to turn my engine off when locking it, its so quiet and smooth you dont know its on. It beeps at you to warn the engine is still running when you lock it.
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That is also useful when you want to defrost/warm the car before driving off - start it and lock it (on the drive of course, gate shut...) The short horn beep probably annoys the neighbours though...
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 16 Mar 21 at 12:37
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Another joy of having a plug in. I can set the car to cool or warm whilst plugged in before I leave. Really useful when it is cold enough to freeze the screen.
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Assume it has the heated windscreen?
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I have no idea Bobby. Possibly it does have a heated screen but you just need to set it to warm 10 mins before you leave and it will be defrosted anyway. To be honest it is so complicated I have no idea what it does and does not have. The how to videos are great but cover options too so you need to know what you have and don’t have and that will take patience and I am not good with that!
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Generally speaking EHW are not available BMW options
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>> Generally speaking EHW are not available BMW options
>>
Although, strangely, it was available (and ordered) on the MINI. Though as above, with pre-heating it’s of limited use in an EV or PHEV I imagine.
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>> I sometimes forget to turn my engine off when locking it.....
>>
...that's just age, Z....
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No No no, if it was age I would have parked it in the fridge
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 16 Mar 21 at 12:37
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See the bus thread, dont do them any more.
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I thought I would give a quick update on the BMW after 11 months and 22,000 miles. Lovely car to be in and to drive. Stupidly quick if you want it to be but generally relaxing and easy to waft about in. Most miles done by my wife who worked until last month in green energy so was able to drive all over during lockdowns. I am still waiting for a proper home charger to be installed and using a 3 pin plug is very slow, around 30 hours so we are a bit tardy with the plug in bit. 7,000 of the total under electric power.
Seats are great, infotainment system is easy to use and I even found it cares about me with a setting that comes on after3 hours to waft cool air at you, play groovy music and change the interior lighting. That was weird but clever.
Getting an average of 45 mpg which I am very happy with. Overall delighted with it and would recommend. 50 mile electric range is the best for a hybrid I think.
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Assume the 45mpg is based on 22000 miles using the petrol needed for 15000?
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Overall figure based on the total mileage Bobby. Of course electricity cost for the 7k on top of that.
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So I assume that electric cars vary just like petrol cars on horses many miles they get from their fuel. So ICE cars have mpg. Do electric cars have an equivalent like miles per kw or suchlike? I would imagine an X5 would cover much less miles per kW than say a Zoe?
I remember Harry Metcalfe had this X5 and take some highly of it and the amount of usual journeys that could be completed on electric only.
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I believe a gallon of gasoline is around 44KWh of energy. You can work it out from that.
It’s also why people who are stuck in the ICE age don’t understand the overall energy benefit of BEVs.
Edit
Ok. Looked it up and I’m not accurate. It’s more like 36KWh/gal but the point is the same
Liquid fuels [kg/l] [kg/gal] [kWh/kg] [MJ/kg]
Acetone 0.787 2.979 8.83 31.8
Butane 0.601 3.065 13.64 49.1
Butanol 0.810 10.36 37.3
Diesel fuel* 0.846 3.202 12.67 45.6
Dimethyl ether (DME) 0.665 2.518 8.81 31.7
Ethane 0.572 2.165 14.42 51.9
Ethanol (100%) 0.789 2.987 8.25 29.7
Diethyl ether (ether) 0.716 2.710 11.94 43.0
Gasoline (petrol)* 0.737 2.790 12.89 46.4
Last edited by: car4play on Sun 20 Feb 22 at 09:36
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That'll be the smaller US gallon though won't it?
We ought to be looking up petrol not gasoline :-)
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 20 Feb 22 at 09:44
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And I will admit to being confused over kWh and kw but my car has a 61kWh battery and has a realistic range of somewhere between 200 to 250 miles depending on driving style, weather etc.
It costs me bout £2.50 to fill from empty at home at the moment (will be going up by 50% when my current tariff ends) and I haven't used public charging yet but the pricier faster ones now seem to be 50p a unit (though I think you can pay more) so that'd be £30 or thereabouts. Which may be on a par with cheaper-to-run dino juice fuelled cars.
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I guess so. Maybe the top of my head figure isn’t so wrong!
Edit. 0.8327 Us to U.K. gallon. So that makes it 43 KWh/U.K. gallon. :-)
Last edited by: car4play on Sun 20 Feb 22 at 22:38
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You'll be lucky to get 10kWh of useful energy out of the 36kWh gallon.
36kWh of battery energy will manage 30+ kWh of mechanical energy.
Last edited by: Lygonos on Sun 20 Feb 22 at 10:06
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Exactly Lygonos it’s an efficiency equation
So basically something like our Niro Ev with a 64 something KWh battery and range to flat of around 280 ish miles is doing about 160 miles to the equivalent gallon of petrol. There is no contest with efficiency. Ice engine would be like 30mpg so BEV is around 5 times more efficient.
A CHP gas turbine power station is very high in efficiency too. So it makes much more sense for a given amount of fuel to burn gas in a power station, transmit it and the. power an electric car than run an ICE.
And this is also why BEV have a problem towing. That basically the raw amount of energy you’re playing with once the efficiency falls with towing just isn’t there.
That’s why I keep a thumping diesel for the caravan
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"most satisfying thing you can have under your right foot"
Whitney Houston's head in the bath tub.
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BMW - BMW X5 45e arriving 8 March - Zero
