BMW DETAILS FIRST HYBRID 3 SERIES, ACTIVEHYBRID 3

True to its promises, BMW has officially announced the new ActiveHybrid 3, at the same time furnishing details thereof. Impressively, the car becomes the most powerful 3 Series (F30) in the range! Moreover, BMW South Africa will sell the car in SA locally as its current flagship while waiting for the brand new 6-cylinder (tri?) turbo M3.

What took us by surprise was that we were expecting this thing to use the company 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo for its petrol side of the powertrain. Instead they’ve gone and raided the ActiveHybrid 5’s closet and installed its systems. So here we have the hard-working 3.0-litre straight six with a single turbo, churning out a nice 225kW of power for the rear wheels, while exterminating 400Nm in torque. Add to the mix is the electric motor, accompanied by a pack of lithium-ion batteries, both worth 40kW and 210Nm. In total the car makes a heady 250kW and 450Nm of pull, just like the ActiveHybrid 5.

And so we are told of a 0 – 100km/h sprint of 5.3 seconds, top whack of 250km/h and average fuel usage of 5.9 litres per 100km. Since this is a full hybrid, BMW reckons it can run on the volts for up to 4km at a time at 75km/h. All this despite a weight penalty of some 135kg, 3 litres smaller fuel tank and 90 litres less luggage space, compared to the normal 335i.

The new BMW ActiveHybrid 3 arrives in Mzansi around October this year. Expect to pay over R600 000 for this car which has no direct competitors in our market.