BMW 530e Touring long-term test: German estate proves there's life in PHEVs yet

Verdict

You can accuse me of sitting on the fence if you like, but so far I’m seeing plenty of pros (and the odd con) driving this plug-in hybrid BMW 530e. I’m consistently managing 40 miles or more on EV power, which means I can glide around town emissions-free, before leaning on the petrol engine for longer journeys. The fact it drives like any other BMW is the icing on the cake.

• Mileage: 1,658 miles
• Efficiency: 66.9mpg

Regular readers may remember my colleague Alex Ingram spouting off about how plug-in hybrids are pointless, and that “without religious battery charging, they just become overweight, thirsty internal combustion-engined cars”. Like him, I’m a self-confessed electric-car advocate and have been driving them almost daily for the past six or seven years. I’ve used them for all sorts of journeys and can count on one hand the number of times I’ve struggled to charge at motorway services.

But I’m also a realist. I know how cautious the British buying public can be, and understand that switching to an EV from a trusty petrol or diesel car can feel like quite a leap. I also respect that for people who drive hundreds of miles a week, the prospect of having to re-route just to charge their car can feel like one compromise too many.

I therefore fall into a sparsely populated abyss, whereby I love electric (and petrol) cars, but appreciate the service a plug-in hybrid can provide, and the stepping stone it offers to those not quite ready to pack in petrol. As with an EV, it needs to fit your lifestyle, but PHEVs have their place – and I’ll challenge anyone who says otherwise.

Used - available now

2020 BMW

5 Series

83,671 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L

Cash £13,700

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2019 BMW

5 Series

53,068 milesAutomaticDiesel2.0L

Cash £17,299

View 5 Series

2023 BMW

5 Series

38,000 milesAutomaticDiesel3.0L

Cash £30,985

View 5 Series

2023 BMW

5 Series

23,886 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L

Cash £33,100

View 5 Series

I’ve immersed myself in the BMW 530e’s usefulness over the past few weeks. Since the car was delivered less than a month ago, I’ve done the best part of 1,200 miles over a mix of motorway, urban and rural routes. I’ve plugged it in whenever possible, but still had days where I’ve done 200 miles or more, and had to rely almost exclusively on the four-cylinder petrol engine. Yet despite all of this, I’m returning a very respectable 67mpg, and almost 60 per cent ‘eDrive’ share. 

Of course, those EV miles aren’t free, but on an off-peak electricity tariff you’ll get 40-odd miles for not far shy of £1.50. At the UK’s current average domestic electricity price of 24.8p/kWh, it’s more like a fiver. That’s a little more punchy, but (by my maths) roughly the same as a combustion car doing 45mpg.

Powertrain aside, this Touring fits that age-old cliché of ‘all the car you’ll ever need’ almost as well as any model I’ve run over the past 15 years; the boot’s massive, the seats are comfortable and there are just enough luxuries to keep my better half happy. That said, I think you’d expect electric front seats and adaptive cruise control to be standard on a £65k car, and yet they aren’t here.

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That said, M Sport Pro trim certainly looks the part, especially with Oxide Grey paint and the gorgeous espresso leather – a feature I’ll touch on in a future report. The widescreen infotainment system is fantastic, too, although by defaulting to Apple CarPlay and its user-friendly touch layout, I’m finding fewer opportunities to use the otherwise intuitive iDrive clickwheel. In all honesty,

I’m not surprised BMW is phasing it out. I love the full-length glass roof, and I’m even quite a fan of the illuminated kidney grille. I don’t think this G61-generation 5 Series is as pretty as its predecessor, but it has a bit of added presence thanks to our car’s 20-inch bi-colour alloy wheels and dark trim. The Technology Pack is pricey at £2,000, but I make daily use of the myriad cameras, and the head-up display is clear and easy to read.

Better still, while the 5 Series is more mature than ever, it still handles like a BMW. It’s quiet at speed, yet feels agile enough to entertain. The ‘Boost’ button – activated by pulling the left gearshift paddle – gives you full power for 10 seconds, but most of the time the 530e feels fast enough in its own right. It can be a little lumpy when the battery is very low, but it rarely affects driveability – especially as the smooth regenerative braking system tops things up as you slow down. But plug it in and that’s no worry whatsoever.

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

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