The 2016 BMW 330e hybrid has made its way to the U.S. and Europe. The popularity of hybrids is growing and here are the first impressions of the car.
BMW is hoping to grab 10 percent of the global hybrids market by 2020 and the company is hoping that the 330e will help achieving the target.
Being a hybrid the 330e runs on battery as well as on petrol. The car does not make a lot of noise when running on battery.
"Push the starter button and you're greeted by the eerie sound of silence. Providing there's enough charge, the car will always start on electric power, allowing you to pull away without making a sound. It's perfectly hushed around town and continues its inaudible creep all the way up to motorway speeds. As you'd expect, things like wind and tyre roar are more evident due to the lack of engine drone, but it's far from intrusive - making the 330e a pleasant long distance cruiser," says Richard Ingram of AutoExpress.
The 2016 BMW 330e is fuel efficient and the interiors are at par with other cars in the BMW 3 Series.
"BMW has delivered a midsize four-door sedan that goes like a 340i but uses a third of the fuel, or none at all in its electric mode. The real shortcoming of the 330e has nothing to do with its powertrain, but that it's stuck with the downmarket 3 Series interior. But for most people, most of the time, the 330e will do just fine," says Michael Taylor of AutoBlog.
The BMW hybrid is cheaper when compared to other cars in the same category.
"Costing less than the 330i, the new 330e is competitively priced at £31,435 after applying a £2500 government grant. This will be cheaper than both the Mercedes-Benz C300h and Volkswagen Passat GTE when the car goes on sale. With an official CO2 rating of 44g/km, it qualifies for the government's OLEV grant and will allow owners to evade the London congestion charge, making it a particularly attractive proposition for those who regularly enter the capital," says Greg Kable of AutoCar.
The battery of the BMW 330e can be recharged in short span of time as well.
"The battery, the automaker says, can be recharged in 2 hours and 15 minutes using a BMW i Wallbox with a charging power of 3.7 kilowatts, while a full charge takes an extra hour on a domestic power socket," says Matt Schmitz of Cars.com.
Performance of the BMW 330e is quite impressive.
"Performance is pretty swift (0-62mph in 6.1 seconds, 140mph flat out), with barely any hesitation when you floor the throttle, but carrying around 165kg worth of batteries, motors and other bits and pieces is like having two adults in the boot, and however much engineers might shuffle ancillaries around to give perfect weight distribution, that's still going to file the sharpest edges off the handling," says Chris Knapman of The Telegraph (UK).
The dimensions of the 330e remain the same as found in other cars of the 3 Series. However, including a battery in the car, it has reduced the boot capacity to 370 litres.
