I have this very same car, 330e M Sport, and I charge it pretty much every night at home. I pay 23GBP per month here in Norway. If the prices you mention are valid also for home charging, then it's a very UK-specific problem. In terms of range, if you wanna get the most out of it in pure electric you have to drive the car in electric mode, not hybrid. However, for long trips, the cars recharges constantly and it saves a lot of gas. This past summer I saw that after starting a trip with an empty battery, the car anyway drove 180/500Kms in electric mode, thanks to the regen. For my daily drives, I almost never use gas, and I can get 36-40Kms of range during the summer in pure electric, which is more than enough for most people in many European countries. The key is having a charger at home or your job though, otherwise it doesn't make sense. After all that is said, the car is super fun to drive, and the adaptive suspension, the laser lights, and all the other tech just make the car a great all-rounded and safe vehicle for any kind of driving conditions.

I am living in apartment and luckily it has 12 chargers underground parking lot. I charge 330e everyday and it costs just 1.5~1.7$ for full charge. If you can easily charge, I definitely say this is great car.

Why do car reviewers keep banging on about a PHEVs range? The whole point of a PHEV is to reduce Co2 and MPG. My G20 330e will do over 50 miles on electric with one charge if you put it in the right settings. To talk about car park charging at £22 per day is utterly ridiculous - what did you charge it with gold lined electricity? It costs around £2 to charge fully on a public network, around £1.50 on my home charger. Please do your homework before ranting about the uk charging infrastructure - this is miss reported - due to your lack of understanding in the purpose of a PHEV. The only point you made which I agree with this is it is a great car. The only reason you think it’s a halfway house is that your viewpoint - as all journalists is flawed in regards to any PHEV - not just BMW’s!

Great review, like all the detailed visuals of inside and out. I do agree with the other comments on charging - the criticism of charging infrastructure and costs are really just general comments about hybrid / electric cars and aren't BMW-specific issues. If you don't have easy and cost efficient access to charging then a hybrid / electric isn't for you...yet.

That charging rate is brutal. I get my 330e in about 3 weeks and I’ll cost around £1.25 to fully charge at home. It’s a company car so it’s a no brainier with its low BIK tax.

the thing you said about having to store the cables either in the trunk or with a passenger sounds a bit ignorant. No one drives around with the cables in an EV and certainly not in a hybrid. You either leave them at home or you don't use them at all if you have a wall mounted charger like most ppl. And if you need to charge at a charging station then the cables are already there, you don't need to have the cables with you anywhere.

I've had my 330e since August and its the best car that I've have ever driven. Why buy a hybrid or even an electric car if you cannot charge at home? While I have been waiting for a driveway, I have been using a free Pod Point...how much did you pay? I dont have any complaints with my 330e, todays charge was 80p.

Cost from empty should be no more than £3.50 typically in UK. You’ve picked a charger with some kind of time tariff probably. This should have been pointed out in your review. Less of the hand gestures

The point about cost of electric charge is ridiculous, my wife has just got same car as test, we easily get 32 miles, but you don’t run it in that mode...plus if you live in a flat you simply would not purchase..be realistic, you put it in garage charge it every night cost is ridiculously cheap, and it’s also quite quick

Finally english review of the 330e

I pay 0.195USB/kWh at home. I have a Chevy Volt (possibly replacing it with a 330e). Assuming 90% efficiency of the 12 kWh battery, we're talking 2.60USD to fully recharge this, which is the equivalent of a gallon of gas... so the cost for electric or gas is about the same. The advantage I get is when I use free charging at work. Now, as for paying 23GBP at a public car park for charging; it is not uncommon for the charger's owner to charge fees for idle time. A 7kW charger would have charged the 330e in 2 hours, assuming the internal charger is that fast. A typical 3.3kW charger would charge the 330e in about 4 hours. Leaving a car overnight for 9 hours, that's either 7 or 5 hours of idle fees; I could easily see that being near 23GBP.

Same situation in Germany, charging the battery from 0 to 100% can cost you like 10€ which is absolutely ridicilous. In Luxembourg its much better, you have the Chargy stations all over the place and the charge is like 3€ for the full battery (12kW x0,25€ per kWh).

You can get this car for an awful lot less than £40k if you get the sport-pro trim, but you get the same drivetrain, power, and economy, but with normal shaped bumpers instead of "sporty" ones. (PS I get 125mpg from mine)

A good idea on this review that would have made this stand out from other reviewers is to compare the money savings via gas useage to the 3 series cars. Do a thorough review of the drive settings. No one else has done that. too bad

That’s crazy expensive charging. About £0,19 per kWh in the Netherlands. So that should easily have been a full top up for less than 10% of what you paid. Glad you like the car though!

I agreed w u 100%, on top, the maintenance cost, combustion engine n motor n the battery…. Etc, I would wait either go with i4 or new c300e with 60 miles electric range.

Would have been cheaper to use the engine to charge it rather than the way you did. £20+ 😃😃😃

Battery pack isn’t in the trunk like c/e class. Battery is where the gas tank is supposed to be and gas tank is no the trunk. It’s a better solution for weight balance :)

If you are going to leave the car overnight you don't need a dedicated charge point. A simple 3 pin plug will completely recharge the battery in about 6 hours. We'll be using that solution on my wife's new company car (the 330e) along with free charging at work. As her work is 25 klm from the house the only time we'll use petrol is the weekends for fun.

I charged my BMW 330e at Shell petrol pump using type 2, it took 3 hrs to charge and I paid £5.05. Not sure why it cost you £23 😂 you might need to alter settings to change the charging input to 12A. I live in Central London and I thought that was really cheap.

In Canada, we only get the Sport model, BUT it's only 25,944 pounds (before government discount) Cars in the UK cost way too much!

Here’s a thought: don’t buy an hybrid/electric if you can’t charge it. You mentioned it... after ranting about it. If you buy a car you can’t charge it’s your own fault. Get out of the city bubble... we don’t all live there. How do you know how the steering felt? Most of the time your hand was conducting an orchestra.

Why don’t you mention it charges itself whilst braking or regen off the throttle so no need to charge?

Totally fair. I own one and can charge it 3 point overnight. Its ideal for short trips fuel free. And I can still cross country for work reasonably 👍👌

The vast majority of 3 series owners are surely suburban or rural commuters with driveways and the ability to have home chargers. This car is designed to be charged every day at home else it's pointless. If you're looking for a car with a 30 mile electric range for the commute, you're not going to be living in London either. If you live in London you work in London surely - you don't pay massive rents or mortgages to live in the city only to commute out of it on a daily basis. And if you're driving a lot then a 320D is probably a better choice anyway. I agree charging infrastructure is poor in cities for owners of flats, but that's just one demographic and it's their choice to live there. However, really appreciate the review as this is on my shortlist!

this is a great car ............ i have that exact one awesome looking ......... i love it

The 3 Series is by far BMW best car and this is my pick of the bunch (if only I could afford M340i) it does everything I want out of a car, unfortunately I have only driven one G20 and it wasn’t a great experience however that was a year and a half ago but that was at launch so their will be some dud cars their. I will be looking to drive another one after lockdown is lifted here in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Slightly inaccurate on the range.. all models of 330e get the top spec infotainment systems with the larger screen. On the hybrid they are SE Pro and Sport Pro instead of SE and Sport.

A halfway house - No sh*t Sherlock it’s a hybrid 😂

Not sure you can spec an xdrive on a 330e. It only comes as rear wheel drive

U only charge at home .

Simple. Get a good deal on a 330e now and ne year later sell it for the same price and buy the i4

Should only take a few hours on a 7 kWh and never £ 20 !!!!

The 69 detail on his plate lmaoo

I'm just,... Not sure why you'd buy this over a Tesla Model 3. By all accounts it drives as well and is much faster. It also has FAR more space for luggage and bits and bobs and will save you a fortune in fuel - even considering this is a plug in hybrid. Okay, build quality is probably better here but,... I'm struggling to think of much else bar the badge. If you've got somewhere to plug a car in,... Just get the Tesla - it's around the same money.. If you don't, why would you consider this anyway?

Fully electric version will make this look out of date very quickly. Don’t believe me? go drive a Tesla. That charging rate was criminal!!

Don’t buy urgent please read first my 330e nearly 4 years old done 38000 miles timing chain broke last month the engine is being rebuilt now but bmw said NO goodwill because it wasn’t brought at a bmw garage just over a year ago and it’s B service wasn’t completed a a bmw garage but a fully qualified vat registered garage absolutely disgraceful BMW should now stand for BE MORE WARY