#Activehybrid 5 silent start series

As you’d expect, there’s a hybrid sub-section built into the iDrive-controlled menu structure visible on the central 6.5-inch display.

#Activehybrid 5 silent start series

It’s all regular 3 Series fare inside as well apart from an energy transfer display within the rev counter area, which indicates when the battery is being charged as well as the electric drive status including a power mode for when the electric motor is providing additional boost during hard acceleration. Exclusively available for ActiveHybrid 3, these lightweight aero-efficient rims add a futuristic, almost conceptual edge. If you’re one of those hybrid buyers keen on making a statement, albeit a small one, opt for the 18-inch Streamline wheels as fitted to our test car. So you get the same beaky nose, classic swept-back profile and 5 Series-aping rear. Does the added complexity and mass of a battery pack, electric motor and associated ancillaries compromise the Bavarians’ traditionally sporting pedigree? Time to find out, starting with this, the most compact and sportiest of the three.īar the badging and standard satin-finish side window trim, the ActiveHybrid 3 looks just like the 335i sedan it is based on. Enter the sports hybrid.īMW hasn’t exactly rushed into the performance-oriented hybrid market, but the flipside is that its new ActiveHybrid range, in 3, 5 and 7 Series guises, should be properly sorted. Current thinking, if you’ll pardon the pun, is that you really need two power sources: a potent petrol-fed motor to preserve the performance aspect and a zero-emission electric motor to boost efficiency.

But ECU remapping-on-the-fly only goes so far.

This situation has led to the appearance of the dual-natured car, evidenced by the increasing use of the ubiquitous Sport button. However, the ugly, pesky laws of physics-based truth is that short of an unfeasible, radical reduction in vehicle mass, you can’t have both simultaneously. Sourced from THE FUSION OF explosive performance and parsimonious fuel use is the Holy Grail of contemporary fossil-fuelled motoring.