[JSpira]

Great way to stretch the car's legs. In 12 days, Dan Collins drove 2,000+ miles from New York to South Carolina to Washington D.C. and back to New York and found a lot he liked about the car.

2013 BMW ActiveHybrid 5: The 2,000-Mile Road Trip – Review and Report

[steve-p]

Interesting read which covers the thing that is sometimes overlooked when people get sidetracked by fuel economy, initial cost or just general prejudice against hybrids: the AH5 is a genuinely really nice car to live with on a daily basis. It's just like a 535i with the added bonus of a/c that works when the engine is off, and stop-start that doesn't feel like it's going to kill you pulling out into traffic, as there's electric power to get you going instantly long before the engine starts, and of course improved economy. Other hybrids (rightly) get a bad rap for their awful CVT transmissions, but the 8 speed in the AH5 is just like you would expect in a proper car. So it does performance when you want it, and relaxed when you don't.

I was intrigued by mention of tracking usage in the ConnectedDrive iPhone app though, as I have the app and don't have anything like that in it.

[AP]

whilst this is undoubtedly a good car to drive, with a nice and refined engine, from the economy point of view , the diesels knock it for six. Even a 530d (535d in the US!) will give you more economy for similar performance.
I just don't get why you would buy this. In the UK I've only seen 2 of these on the road. Most people buy diesels.
If you want ultimate refinement and prefer petrol, stick with a 530i or 535i or even 550i. If you want the economy , get a 520d, 530d or 535d.

Just doesn't stack up in my opinion but obviosuly its an individuals choice.

[steve-p]

Strictly speaking, the 530d does not have similar performance though. For that you need the 535d, and then the real world economy gap may not be that much different. With exactly the same usage pattern I'm only getting slightly worse economy than the manual E92 330d I had in '09, and the AH is both quicker and a lot more refined.

[khai Dow]

Originally Posted by steve-p

Interesting read which covers the thing that is sometimes overlooked when people get sidetracked by fuel economy, initial cost or just general prejudice against hybrids: the AH5 is a genuinely really nice car to live with on a daily basis. It's just like a 535i with the added bonus of a/c that works when the engine is off, and stop-start that doesn't feel like it's going to kill you pulling out into traffic, as there's electric power to get you going instantly long before the engine starts, and of course improved economy. Other hybrids (rightly) get a bad rap for their awful CVT transmissions, but the 8 speed in the AH5 is just like you would expect in a proper car. So it does performance when you want it, and relaxed when you don't.

I was intrigued by mention of tracking usage in the ConnectedDrive iPhone app though, as I have the app and don't have anything like that in it.

I use the connected drive apps and one you leave the car and disconnect the phone you can see the info by opening the app, clicking on the BMW Apps. Next go to the ECO Pro Analyser. From there you can access all of your previous trips and sort them by date or by score. It gives you other details on the trips and tips etc.

[Hoa]

I've driven an ActiveHybrid 5 for a month and put on 5k miles before. I averaged 31mpg mixed. I spent 80% on the hwy and 20% city. I drive at 80mph on cruise control most of the time. If you drive in the hwy a lot, a hybrid is not the car for you. You benefit almost nothing. I can get almost the same mpg with a 528i. 535i is about 28mpg mixed for me.

I wish the battery would last a bit longer to improve the mpg when there is a lot of stop and go. When I was in traffic, the battery drained down quickly and the engine would kick back on to to charge the batteries again. When taking off, its smooth until the engine kick in, it create a jerk which I wasn't fond about. I wish the batteries were stored somewhere else because it take up a portion of the trunk and I couldn't fold the seats down. Overall, it is a very nice car. If I travel in the city a lot, I wouldn't mind owning one.

[steve-p]

Originally Posted by khai Dow

I use the connected drive apps and one you leave the car and disconnect the phone you can see the info by opening the app, clicking on the BMW Apps. Next go to the ECO Pro Analyser. From there you can access all of your previous trips and sort them by date or by score. It gives you other details on the trips and tips etc.

Found it now, thanks. It looks good but it requires you to have the phone connected using the cable all the time. I use Bluetooth on my iPhone and use the cable for a dedicated car iPod, so it won't really work for me.

[khai Dow]

Originally Posted by steve-p

Found it now, thanks. It looks good but it requires you to have the phone connected using the cable all the time. I use Bluetooth on my iPhone and use the cable for a dedicated car iPod, so it won't really work for me.

Makes sense Steve. Question for you. I have a iPhone 4 and am unable to get the plugin functionality to work. It says its there but when I pull it up it says no plugin compatible device detected. Its a 2013 Ah5. Are you having similar issues?

[steve-p]

Originally Posted by Hoa

I've driven an ActiveHybrid 5 for a month and put on 5k miles before. I averaged 31mpg mixed. I spent 80% on the hwy and 20% city. I drive at 80mph on cruise control most of the time. If you drive in the hwy a lot, a hybrid is not the car for you. You benefit almost nothing. I can get almost the same mpg with a 528i. 535i is about 28mpg mixed for me.

I wish the battery would last a bit longer to improve the mpg when there is a lot of stop and go. When I was in traffic, the battery drained down quickly and the engine would kick back on to to charge the batteries again. When taking off, its smooth until the engine kick in, it create a jerk which I wasn't fond about. I wish the batteries were stored somewhere else because it take up a portion of the trunk and I couldn't fold the seats down. Overall, it is a very nice car. If I travel in the city a lot, I wouldn't mind owning one.

The point about the jerk sometimes when the engine restarts is a fair criticism, although it happens quite infrequently for me. Also, bringing the car to a complete stop smoothly every time is not quite as easy as it is in a conventional car, but gets better as you get used to it.

It would be great if the battery had more capacity and I guess this will change with future improvement in the technology, but I'm not sure where else they would be able to place the battery pack. Where it is now prevents BMW from putting this tech in anything other than a four door sedan so I'm sure they would have relocated it if they could. What kills the battery is acceleration, so what works for me in urban use is to accelerate hard enough to use the engine to get up to speed, then cruise on battery alone. On the last part of my commute I can get nearly 4 miles mostly engine off this way.