BMW 330e, are they reliable?
Discussion
My sister in law is looking for a car that can do 50 miles a day into Bristol. She doesn't want diesel or a pure EV with a budget up to £17K used, and a used 330e seems to fit the bill.
My last ownership experience with a 335i was hardly one to remember with leaking coolant, breaking HPFP, turbo rattles, iDrive system going kaput etc.......
Are the 330es just as unreliable?? I don't want to get the blame for recommending a lemon
My last ownership experience with a 335i was hardly one to remember with leaking coolant, breaking HPFP, turbo rattles, iDrive system going kaput etc.......
Are the 330es just as unreliable?? I don't want to get the blame for recommending a lemon
Ours hasn’t been!
It’s had >£6k of warranty work and untold trips to the dealer in the 2.5 yrs.
But don’t take my word for it: https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/20...
Take there’s.
I certainly wouldn’t buy one out of warranty!
It’s had >£6k of warranty work and untold trips to the dealer in the 2.5 yrs.
But don’t take my word for it: https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/20...
Take there’s.
I certainly wouldn’t buy one out of warranty!
gangzoom said:
She's gone for a CT200H. Slightly cheaper than the 330e, better mpg without having to faff with a plug, and no need to worry about reliability. The one she has her eye on is the same colour as our IS300H.
Make sure she can tolerate the over sprung and over damped ride.Also watch out for accelerator as nothing happens when you press it initially in normal mode (can be interesting at a junction)
The CT isn't a bad shout. (Long term owner speaking here).
I'm not saying it's better than a 330e, but it's certainly got a lot going for it due to its quality and low hassle hybrid offer. I'm still baffled by the slating the CT gets for ride and, like all Toyota hybrids, it benefits from an anticipative / "cool" driving style. It takes some time to adjust to. I've never had problems off the mark and if anything the battery assistance makes take off superior to most non-AWD autos.
I'm not saying it's better than a 330e, but it's certainly got a lot going for it due to its quality and low hassle hybrid offer. I'm still baffled by the slating the CT gets for ride and, like all Toyota hybrids, it benefits from an anticipative / "cool" driving style. It takes some time to adjust to. I've never had problems off the mark and if anything the battery assistance makes take off superior to most non-AWD autos.
gangzoom said:
^Her last car was some kind of Tata, and she is use to the roads/traffic of Delhi, so am pretty sure she will find the ride quality/acceleration of the CT fine .
Just not as good as a 330 of course. .The CT isn’t without issues either, or safety recalls which seem quite a regular occurrence. I’m not saying it’s worse than the BMW but it might not be much better.
Which issues and recalls?
CT 200h tops What Car reliability survey, with 100% score for 3rd year running - hybrid / electric category
Not the most attractive car, but certainly one of the most reliable!
CT 200h tops What Car reliability survey, with 100% score for 3rd year running - hybrid / electric category
Not the most attractive car, but certainly one of the most reliable!
Have run both cars.
CT200H from 2015 to 2018 (60K miles) and a 330E from 2018 to now (30K miles)
CT200H:
No reliability issues apart from one recall.
Very comfortable and decent build quality
Dealer super efficient and helpful
Fast enough, except maybe at higher motorway speeds.
Smallish car with not much space for adult rear passengers and small shallow boot
Pretty dull to drive
Averaged 53mpg (from trip computer) over the three years / 60K with a 50/50 mix of town and motorway trips
330E
No reliability issues so far other than two software upgrades.
Very comfortable and better quality interior than the Lexus
Dealer fine but not as good as Lexus.
Very fast !
Bigger car, more interior space and much bigger boot than the Lexus but still not huge.
Stick it in Sport mode and it's great fun or switch to ECO PRO and chill out depending on your mood
Currently averaging about 51/52mpg (from trip computer) over 30K with a 50/50 mix of town and motorway driving
CT200H from 2015 to 2018 (60K miles) and a 330E from 2018 to now (30K miles)
CT200H:
No reliability issues apart from one recall.
Very comfortable and decent build quality
Dealer super efficient and helpful
Fast enough, except maybe at higher motorway speeds.
Smallish car with not much space for adult rear passengers and small shallow boot
Pretty dull to drive
Averaged 53mpg (from trip computer) over the three years / 60K with a 50/50 mix of town and motorway trips
330E
No reliability issues so far other than two software upgrades.
Very comfortable and better quality interior than the Lexus
Dealer fine but not as good as Lexus.
Very fast !
Bigger car, more interior space and much bigger boot than the Lexus but still not huge.
Stick it in Sport mode and it's great fun or switch to ECO PRO and chill out depending on your mood
Currently averaging about 51/52mpg (from trip computer) over 30K with a 50/50 mix of town and motorway driving
S1bs said:
CT200H:
Averaged 53mpg (from trip computer) over the three years / 60K with a 50/50 mix of town and motorway trips
330E
Currently averaging about 51/52mpg (from trip computer) over 30K with a 50/50 mix of town and motorway driving
Thanks that's useful info, she doesn't need a big car and doesn't really care about driving experience. The reliability and mpg is key. I presume the 330e is been plugged in daily to achieve that mpg?Averaged 53mpg (from trip computer) over the three years / 60K with a 50/50 mix of town and motorway trips
330E
Currently averaging about 51/52mpg (from trip computer) over 30K with a 50/50 mix of town and motorway driving
gangzoom said:
Thanks that's useful info, she doesn't need a big car and doesn't really care about driving experience. The reliability and mpg is key. I presume the 330e is been plugged in daily to achieve that mpg?
Not charged every day - would guess about 3 days a week on average - parking situation at home is complicated........If charged every day, would expect the mpg to be in region of 60mpg ish
Hope this helps
Hi
Also owned both cars like S1bs. Echo everything said there. MPGs similar though getting 56mpg from my BMW, 45% of total miles electric.
Enjoyed the CT200h and dealer service, but the 330e really is a product step up, though ongoing service step back.
Absolutely no issues with either car. Lexus probably fits the need if she doesn’t want the plug in hassle every day. Plug ins better suited to smaller commutes/journeys being the majority (which is my profile), with the occasional thrill if you need it from the combined horses.
Shame because I’m about to sell mine, when I’ve checked out an A250e.
Also owned both cars like S1bs. Echo everything said there. MPGs similar though getting 56mpg from my BMW, 45% of total miles electric.
Enjoyed the CT200h and dealer service, but the 330e really is a product step up, though ongoing service step back.
Absolutely no issues with either car. Lexus probably fits the need if she doesn’t want the plug in hassle every day. Plug ins better suited to smaller commutes/journeys being the majority (which is my profile), with the occasional thrill if you need it from the combined horses.
Shame because I’m about to sell mine, when I’ve checked out an A250e.
Picked up the CT this afternoon. Returned 45mpg on the run to house from the garage.
The garage also had a fews 3 series parked up near the CT at pick up, noticeably bigger car which she doesn't need, but interior did look nicer and iDrive clearly better than the Lexus system. But I think the CT hit the brief very well, and after a few years it'll probably make way for a bigger car.
The garage also had a fews 3 series parked up near the CT at pick up, noticeably bigger car which she doesn't need, but interior did look nicer and iDrive clearly better than the Lexus system. But I think the CT hit the brief very well, and after a few years it'll probably make way for a bigger car.
Edited by gangzoom on Saturday 7th March 15:50
I have just scrapped a 6 year old BMW 330E after taking it into BMW with an engine coolant leak and paying £600 to fix it. They kept the car for around 2 weeks (and no courtesy car was provided) they said the car was dangerous and could have killed me.
When they got in touch with me they said it would cost £10,000 to fix the problem.
The technician explained that when they were doing the work for the engine coolant leak that the wiring connecting the electric drive had literally crumbled in his hand and had turned green like the kind of green you get with corroded copper and had caused damage to the battery and charging components.
I obviously pushed this back to BMW that as the owner of the car there was nothing I could do differently to stop this problem. The vehicle had been serviced at every interval required and this is clearly a manufacturing fault.
BMW were very not helpful and have just chosen to ignore me. After requesting an engineer report they said they could not provide this due to data protection which is ridiculous, they just don’t want to provide it, so I have placed a SAR to get all details relating to the vehicle.
After paying the £600 for the engine coolant leak I was told the vehicle would drive on petrol but no electric. I collected the car and it broke down 3 miles down the road and had to be recovered, I called BMW and I am still waiting for a call back, they just ignore you and wait for you to go away.
I had a local engineer look at the car and he suspects the alternator was either not reconnected to the battery or damaged during the ‘repair’ as the battery was completely flat and had swollen.
I have decided to cut my losses and scrap the vehicle after a completely shocking experience from BMW Crewe.
I highly recommend anyone thinking of getting any BMW to look else where, this was my first and will definitely be my last BMW.
When they got in touch with me they said it would cost £10,000 to fix the problem.
The technician explained that when they were doing the work for the engine coolant leak that the wiring connecting the electric drive had literally crumbled in his hand and had turned green like the kind of green you get with corroded copper and had caused damage to the battery and charging components.
I obviously pushed this back to BMW that as the owner of the car there was nothing I could do differently to stop this problem. The vehicle had been serviced at every interval required and this is clearly a manufacturing fault.
BMW were very not helpful and have just chosen to ignore me. After requesting an engineer report they said they could not provide this due to data protection which is ridiculous, they just don’t want to provide it, so I have placed a SAR to get all details relating to the vehicle.
After paying the £600 for the engine coolant leak I was told the vehicle would drive on petrol but no electric. I collected the car and it broke down 3 miles down the road and had to be recovered, I called BMW and I am still waiting for a call back, they just ignore you and wait for you to go away.
I had a local engineer look at the car and he suspects the alternator was either not reconnected to the battery or damaged during the ‘repair’ as the battery was completely flat and had swollen.
I have decided to cut my losses and scrap the vehicle after a completely shocking experience from BMW Crewe.
I highly recommend anyone thinking of getting any BMW to look else where, this was my first and will definitely be my last BMW.
Jon2023 said:
I have just scrapped a 6 year old BMW 330E after taking it into BMW with an engine coolant leak and paying £600 to fix it. They kept the car for around 2 weeks (and no courtesy car was provided) they said the car was dangerous and could have killed me.
When they got in touch with me they said it would cost £10,000 to fix the problem.
The technician explained that when they were doing the work for the engine coolant leak that the wiring connecting the electric drive had literally crumbled in his hand and had turned green like the kind of green you get with corroded copper and had caused damage to the battery and charging components.
I obviously pushed this back to BMW that as the owner of the car there was nothing I could do differently to stop this problem. The vehicle had been serviced at every interval required and this is clearly a manufacturing fault.
BMW were very not helpful and have just chosen to ignore me. After requesting an engineer report they said they could not provide this due to data protection which is ridiculous, they just don’t want to provide it, so I have placed a SAR to get all details relating to the vehicle.
After paying the £600 for the engine coolant leak I was told the vehicle would drive on petrol but no electric. I collected the car and it broke down 3 miles down the road and had to be recovered, I called BMW and I am still waiting for a call back, they just ignore you and wait for you to go away.
I had a local engineer look at the car and he suspects the alternator was either not reconnected to the battery or damaged during the ‘repair’ as the battery was completely flat and had swollen.
I have decided to cut my losses and scrap the vehicle after a completely shocking experience from BMW Crewe.
I highly recommend anyone thinking of getting any BMW to look else where, this was my first and will definitely be my last BMW.
Under data protection? The can’t give you a copy of the report for your car? When they got in touch with me they said it would cost £10,000 to fix the problem.
The technician explained that when they were doing the work for the engine coolant leak that the wiring connecting the electric drive had literally crumbled in his hand and had turned green like the kind of green you get with corroded copper and had caused damage to the battery and charging components.
I obviously pushed this back to BMW that as the owner of the car there was nothing I could do differently to stop this problem. The vehicle had been serviced at every interval required and this is clearly a manufacturing fault.
BMW were very not helpful and have just chosen to ignore me. After requesting an engineer report they said they could not provide this due to data protection which is ridiculous, they just don’t want to provide it, so I have placed a SAR to get all details relating to the vehicle.
After paying the £600 for the engine coolant leak I was told the vehicle would drive on petrol but no electric. I collected the car and it broke down 3 miles down the road and had to be recovered, I called BMW and I am still waiting for a call back, they just ignore you and wait for you to go away.
I had a local engineer look at the car and he suspects the alternator was either not reconnected to the battery or damaged during the ‘repair’ as the battery was completely flat and had swollen.
I have decided to cut my losses and scrap the vehicle after a completely shocking experience from BMW Crewe.
I highly recommend anyone thinking of getting any BMW to look else where, this was my first and will definitely be my last BMW.
Have you raised this with customer.information@bmw.co.uk
I had a similar experience with BMW and my car was under warranty.
If Carlesberg did awful customer service, it would look like Rybrook Shrewsbury and BMW customer services.
In the end I got legal, rejected the car and bought a Mercedes. Life has been less stressful ever since!
It took them 6 months to repair the car that they had denied had any issues with it. It needed a new steering rack and new suspension top mounts.
Avoid!
If Carlesberg did awful customer service, it would look like Rybrook Shrewsbury and BMW customer services.
In the end I got legal, rejected the car and bought a Mercedes. Life has been less stressful ever since!
It took them 6 months to repair the car that they had denied had any issues with it. It needed a new steering rack and new suspension top mounts.
Avoid!
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