Leading a double life
BMW makes two of the best plug-in hybrids you can buy, in the shape of the 330e executive saloon and the plusher 530e. But which one will you connect with best? BMW 3 Series 330e M Sport List price £41,450 Target Price £36,419 Our reigning executive
IF YOU’VE BEEN sitting on the fence about buying a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), now is a great time to make the jump into the welcoming arms of electrification. Fuel prices may be down, but electricity is cheaper still, and the tax benefits can be staggering for company car drivers.
Besides, gone are the days when PHEVS were heavily compromised compared with their conventional counterparts, in the pursuit of low CO2 emissions. These days, they are often the pick of the range.
Take, for example, our Plug-in Hybrid of the Year, the BMW 330e. It combines an impressive official electric-only range of 37 miles with swift acceleration and real driver appeal, something that isn’t true of all PHEVS. So, that’s what you should buy, right? Well, let us throw a spanner in the works by introducing the larger BMW 530e.
Looking at their list prices, you might think there’s a gulf between them, but the gap shrinks considerably after discounts. The difference in monthly PCP finance costs isn’t nearly as big as you might think, either. Game on.
Although both of our contenders have 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engines that can produce 181bhp and electric motors with 111bhp, the 330e’s maximum combined output of 288bhp trumps the 530e’s 248bhp. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the 330e takes half a second less to accelerate from 30-70mph – a handy advantage should you find yourself on a short motorway slip road. But neither car will leave you feeling short-changed by the acceleration on offer. Nor can we fault the responsiveness of their eight-speed automatic gearboxes.
Each car has a 12kwh battery under its boot floor. In the 330e, we managed a decent 26.5 miles on electric power only before the petrol engine kicked in during our tests. Unfortunately, we haven’t done the same test on the latest 530e (the battery has just been upgraded, giving an official electric-only range of 33 miles), but 23 miles in realworld use should be possible. That difference shouldn’t be a surprise, because the larger, heavier 530e requires more energy to motivate it.
Both the 330e and 530e impress when you get to a sinewy stretch of road, having precise steering that gains weight naturally as you start to turn the wheel, building your confidence in their abilities. Both grip strongly and are well balanced in corners in standard rear-wheel-drive form, as tested. Four-wheel drive is optional on both cars, but their ranges and CO2 emissions are worse if you tick that box.
While there’s no doubt that
DOWNSIZE OR UPSIZE?
the 530e feels pretty agile for a car of its size, the 330e is keener to dart into bends and will ultimately put a bigger smile on your face. Yes, the lighter petrol and diesel versions of both cars are even more rewarding to drive, but the differences are acceptably slim.
Despite both cars being tested in M Sport trim, ‘e’ versions of the 3 and 5 Series aren’t fitted with the stiffer suspension that non-hybrid M Sport models come with. Still, you’re left in no doubt that these are sporty saloons, with bumps being rounded off acceptably rather than smothered brilliantly. The 530e is more comfortable, though, and it gets even better if you add Variable Damper Control adaptive suspension (£985); this allows you to stiffen it up for your favourite bit of twisty road or soften it for a cushier ride. You can get a similar system in the 330e, but only as part of a £2200 M Sport Plus Package, and the ride still isn’t as plush as in an equivalent 530e.
It’s the 530e that comes out on top for refinement, too, proving quieter when cruising on the motorway. The 330e isn’t bad for wind noise, but there’s far more tyre roar, especially if you go for optional 19in wheels. Both have similarly hushed electric motors and petrol engines that hand power back and forth between each other almost imperceptibly.
BEHIND THE WHEEL Driving position, visibility, build quality
Despite their premium prices, neither car comes with full electric seat adjustment as standard; the 330e’s are entirely manual unless you opt for the £1700 Premium Package, while the 530e’s are electric apart from fore and aft adjustment and are much easier to adjust because of this. It’s also disappointing that neither car comes with adjustable lumbar support, although this can be added for a reasonable £265 on the 330e and £275 on the 530e.
Both driver’s seats have plenty of adjustment, although the 530e’s larger chairs are more cosseting on a long journey. Heated front seats are standard on both.
Visibility is pretty good no matter which car you’re in, helped on the 330e by a standard rearview camera (a £375 option on the 530e). Both come with front and rear parking sensors, plus they have powerful LED headlights (adaptive in the case of the 330e, so the beam of light changes depending on your speed to better illuminate the road).
Configurable digital instrument panels are standard in both
INFOTAINMENT
The 330e’s system is a joy to use, with a crisp, clear 10.3in touchscreen and straightforward menus. Interacting with it on the move is a doddle, thanks to a rotary controller between the front seats, and the highmounted screen is easy to see at a glance. Wireless Apple Carplay phone mirroring is standard but can be temperamental. As in the 530e, Android Auto isn’t available, although it’s coming.
76 July 2020
INFOTAINMENT Apart from having a slightly bigger display (12.3in), this system is very similar to the 330e’s and no less brilliant, responding promptly to inputs and being intuitive to use. It comes with sat-nav, Apple Carplay, Bluetooth connectivity and voice control as one of the ways of interacting with it (along with the rotary controller, touchscreen and optional gesture control, all found in the 330e too). cars, but they can’t show the same variety of information as the equivalents from Audi, for example, and aren’t as legible.
More impressive is the quality of the materials, with each car featuring plenty of soft-touch plastics and leather trimmings. That said, the 530e’s slightly richer mix of materials, with fewer scratchy plastic surfaces, makes it that bit classier.
BMW 3 Series vs BMW 5 Series
SPACE AND PRACTICALITY Front space, rear space, seating exibility, boot
There are no prizes for guessing that the 530e has the 330e licked here – although that doesn’t mean the latter is cramped. Even when fitted with a space-sapping electric sunroof (also part of the Premium Package), tall people sitting in the front will find that there’s enough clearance above their heads. However, the 530e has even more head room, especially when, like our test car, it does without a sunroof. Maximum available leg room is similar in both cars, although the 530e’s interior is significantly wider.
That extra width really pays off in the rear, where the 530e is more comfortable for three adults sitting side by side and has a bit more leg room. There’s more head room, too, but the 330e still has enough room for a couple of sixfooters. They just won’t feel quite as well catered for.
Remember the boot-mounted batteries we talked about earlier? Well, they make their presence felt in both cars, pushing up the floor and reducing the amount you can carry. The 330e’s boot is particularly shallow – worth considering if you plan to use your car for family holidays.
The 530e’s is significantly bigger in terms of capacity and length, although it can’t actually hold any more carry-on suitcases; both can manage just five. That’s well down on the regular models’ tallies of seven (3 Series) and eight (5 Series).
Rear seatbacks that split and fold in a 40/20/40 arrangement are standard in the 330e, but you have to pay £335 to get them in the 530e.
BUYING AND OWNING Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
If you go by the brochure prices, the 530e is a chunky £8670 more expensive than the 330e. But factor in Target Price discounts and that gap shrinks to a more palatable £5939.
The 530e sheds value at a faster rate, though. While the 330e should retain 47% of its original
price after three years, the 530e is predicted to be worth just 37%. Insurance and servicing are also more expensive on the 530e.
Fuel costs can vary greatly, depending on how you use the car. If you do mainly short trips and recharge the battery regularly, your economy could be spectacular. But if you let the battery go flat and mainly use the petrol engine, the figure will be decidedly average.
With the battery fully depleted, the 330e’s petrol engine chalked up 37.2mpg on our test route, while the 530e managed 33.1mpg. You can therefore expect to spend an extra £200 or so in petrol for the 530e every 12,000 miles, based on typical commutes of 40 miles, partly on electric power and partly on petrol. A full battery charge will cost around £1.68 in each (assuming an electricity price of 14 pence per kwh).
Add up all the costs you’re likely to face as a private buyer and the 530e will drain around £8000 extra from your bank account over three years.
If you’re planning to buy on PCP finance, the terms were a bit better on the 530e at the time of writing, with a low APR of 1.9% (versus 4.9%), but the 330e will still cost you around £100 less per month on a three-year deal with a limit of 10,000 miles per year.
Given that both the 330e and 530e have an official electric range of 30-39 miles and emit less than 50g/km of CO2, they currently attract a low benefit-in-kind rate of 10% for company car drivers. You’ll therefore pay just £138 a month for the 330e and £167 for the 530e (assuming you’re in the 40% tax bracket) – in other words, less than half what a diesel 320d or 520d would cost you.
Both cars come with two charging cables as standard: a Type 2 cable for plugging in to a dedicated wallbox and one with a three-pin domestic plug on the