BMW ActiveHybrid 5

Lease it and hand it in before the free maintenance expires. BMW are great cars but man they will empty your wallet with endless repairs and ultra expensive upkeep. Based on experience

 

The BMW Active Hybrid 5 gets WORSE mileage than the gas version. This isn't progress. BMW does poorly with hybrids. It would be far better to release a BMW Clean Diesel 5. At least that car may get 40+ MPG on the highway.

 

The BMW ActiveHybrid 3 gets 34 mpg on the highway.

The newest BMW 328i gets 36 mpg on the highway.

The old out-of-production BMW 335d got 36+ mpg on the highway - often beating 40 mpg.

The next year's BMW 328d will get 45 mpg on the highway.

Again, BMW simply doesn't know how to do hybrid cars.

 

The new BMW Active Tourer (1 Series Crossover) may be coming out as a production model in 2014. It is reputed to have 87mpg with the combination of a 3 cylinder gas engine and a lithium ion powered electric motor.

 

huh
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There isn't a great savings but there is more power and better city mileage than the one with the same engine, and much better milage than the one with more power.

 

Mmm, that 335d was a fun car to test drive...friend had one before he stepped to a 750i (he regrets every day) 425ft lbs at 1750rpm and 265hp at 4200...that thing was hard to keep under control in the rain with the TCL off .

 

Its easy to see why bmw canceled it
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The activehybrid3 gets better mpg and is much faster. The 328 i is much less expensive and is only 1mpg combined worse mpg than the diesel. The 328d should get much better fuel economy, estimated 4 mpg combined better than the activhybrid3, but will be the slowest US bmw 3 series.

 

I don't know where you're getting your numbers from but they sure don't match EPA ratings. See Compare Side-by-Side.

FWIW, the ActiveHybrid 3 gets better combined mileage than the 328i while having 335 hp (
BMW ActiveHybrid 3 - Features & Specs - Specifications - BMW North America
) vs. only 240 hp of the 328i (
BMW 328i Sedan - Features & Specs - Specifications - BMW North America
).

 

The mileage differences make hardly a dent on the actual cost of owning and maintaining the BMWs.

Further, few BMWs can last past 150K miles without needing a new replacement transmission and a major engine overhaul or replacement.

Further, every model has more than enough power and torque to drive and accelerate quickly enough for any commute in the United States.

In comparison, a 1999 Lexus RX300 can easily do 110 mph on the highway before the electronic speed limiter cuts you off from driving faster. Climbing hills at 90+ isn't a problem.

Even a 1990 Toyota Camry easily goes 130 mph on the highway.

 

Wow. I don't see any of this to get excited about, but really, it doesn't make the statement of the Lexus LS beast hybrid at 20 mpg.

Have you driven a beemer and an RX back to back? The activehybrid3 and activehybrid5 are about turbo straight 6 power and but more smoothness at better fuel economy. Take a test drive of one, then compare it to a lexus gs or ls hybrid. Power is about power, not speed. But for those keeping score

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The slower lexus rxh gets 2 more mpg. The slower lexus lsh gets 8 less mpg. The beemer activehybrid 3 does cost less than half what the lsh does I'm not defending the car as a great choice, but it does make more sense to some then those lexus. The fusion hybrid looks better and gets better fuel economy for a much lower cost. You do need to give up some handling and a lot of power though. But bmw seems to be doing well, they just need to drop the 2L turbo in there with the activehybrid system and tune it for fuel economy.

 

None of the Luxury hybrids make economic sense like the non-luxury hybrids do. Seems like they are after buyers who aren't looking for MPG but status, aesthetics, power and say they are "green"? Along those same lines, you think Tesla "S" buyers line up just for the MPG?

 

BMW's hybrids get poor mpg in real life compared to GS450h... something like 30% worse according to Autobild.... there would be no reason to get 5 hybrid over GS450h other than being BMW fan... they are also not as smooth as HSD... all according to German media.

Same goes for VW hybrids.

 

I'm hoping things go well with the new Accord hybrid such that we see Acura full hybrids in a few years, like 2014 or 15 TLX hybrid (TL and TSX are to be combined into TLX for next year as I've heard). I wonder how well Honda can build a full hybrid. Haven't seen a real review for the Accord Plugin yet.

anyhoo, BMW, tooo expensive

 

I really don't know how the euro press tests these things, I know that no one has entered mileage at fuel economy.gov on these beasts. I know why. If you are really concerned about fuel economy then you don't buy either. Car and driver did say that if you drive the lexus like a prius then you may hit epa, but if you try and drive it like a sports sedan you won't get close. These are "eco poser" cars, at least according to that term that c&d uses sometimes. You buy a Lexus gsh or a lsh because you want to look like you care.

Why iMHO is the GSh a worse example of a eco poser car? It adds a stunning $12K to the price of the car, and then at least according the reviews, the cvt gives you a lag that won't let it act like a sportsedan. The $8K primium of the beemer at least doesn't kill its sport sedan manners, you still go through that smooth 8 speed. Which makes you ask, if its not for sportsedaness what advantage does a GS have over an ES? If you are going to throw that out, why do you pay so much more versus a ESh that gets much better mileage, and has roughly the same room inside? Answer - you are an eco poser. You don't really care about fuel economy, and you don't really care about the sports sedaness. Granted those extra costs include some extra features, but it is a very bloated charge to look environmental

Luckily most aren't fooled.
April 2013 Dashboard - HybridCars.com
April sales
1237: Lexus ESh
98:--- BMW Activehybrid5
34:--- Lexus GSh

Now I kind of like the idea of the bmw system, but they need to bring the cost down and fuel economy up. The way to do that is drop the 2L engine onto it, and gear and tune it for fuel economy. Really if you are looking for value though the camry hybrid and fusion hybrid are going to drive as well as the ESh and get similar fuel economy for a much lower cost.

 

"eco poser".. good one!

How about "Hybrid snob"?

 

It sounds more like an 'engineering prototype', a first attempt. There may be a little BMW chauvanism thinking they can separate 'green' from the 'greenies.' Regardless, they have a right to learn to see what happens, to run the experiment.

Bob Wilson

 

BMW has done a bunch of hybrids of varying degrees, I think mostly/all with the "ActiveHybrid" moniker. It's very confusing to me.

There was stuff like BMW Concept 7 Series ActiveHybrid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Review at
2011 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 First Drive - Photos and review of BMW's new hybrid 7 Series - Motor Trend
from the October 09 (!) issue of Motortrend. FE results at Compare Side-by-Side.

There was also stuff like 2011 BMW ActiveHybrid X6 to Be Discontinued - KickingTires (using the ill-fated GM, BMW, Daimler, Chrysler two-mode system: Global Hybrid Cooperation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

As the above points out, 480 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque in an SUV != good FE. Compare Side-by-Side confirms the 17 city/19 highway, 18 mpg combined.

I remember comical posts from a troll like the one at Dumped the 07 Prius after 5 weeks | Page 11 | PriusChat:

Only company left out of the bunch left using it is GM.

BMW's BMW EfficientDynamics marketing BS bothers me, personally. They keep using that term all over their cars. At least, it seems like they've been putting out products that kinda live up to those claims, in the past few couple of years.

 

Its not so tough

Yep, you got it.

BWM's first hybrid system was built with gm and mercedes, and bmw and mercedes both decided it was too expensive. In the mean time Lexus was pedaling its extremely expensive version of rwd or awd hsd in the lexus ls ($20K) and gs($12K). Neither of those models got big props on fuel economy either.

Mercedes and BMW then cooperated on the system in the Activehybrid 3,5,7 and mercedes S400h and E400h. Its a flywheel motor, lithium battery, and clutches. Its a similar system to that in the hyundai and infiniti hybrids. It adds about 300 lbs to the car, and scales easily. The lexus system on the other hand adds 400 lbs in its latest implementation on the gs, and is different for each engine choice, more power, the more weight. That means the LS system is heavier and more expensive. Mercedes got more fuel economy, bmw didn't get much because they stuck with the same turbo engines.

BMW got what it needed, it no longer loses customers for 5 and 7 series cars to lexus simply because they want the hybrid badge. It appears to be improving the system, and an atkinson 4, or better a turbo 3 in a 3 series could dramatically improve fuel economy. Until then bmw has the 320d in europe, and 328d coming to america.