BMW 2 Series Active Tourer Plug-in Hybrid 230e xDrive (A) First Drive Review

Amongst the three variants of the new second generation 2 Series Active Tourer that I drove in Spain is this 230e, which is the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model that sits atop of the model range.

The car I drove is a pre-production model, with actual market introduction slated for July 2022. However, during my time with the car I couldn't really identify any pre-production bugs and issues, so this is about as close to the production model as we can expect.

Plug in baby

The big news on this model is the new fifth generation eDrive system, with many carryover elements from the iX EV flagship. This is the latest generation plug-in hybrid system from BMW, and there's quite a lot that's been improved. Charging capacity is doubled, battery capacity has increased significantly, and total system output is up as well. And, it's entirely likely this powertrain will find its way into other models. 

That translates to an extremely high-quality drive. In electric mode, the car is serenely quiet (especially if you turn off the soundtrack), whilst still offering plenty of gusto when you need. You can easily cruise along at 100km/h on the highway. The adaptive regeneration is also well programmed, using the front camera and sat nav information to adjust the amount progressively. After the first 10 minutes or so, I found myself not noticing or thinking about it much at all, which is to say that it is just working away unintrusively in the background. 

Get into some mountain roads, engage Sport mode, and the car's turn of pace is eye-opening. With 322bhp and 475Nm of torque, the 230e has more power than most hot hatches today. The ability to do a 5.5 second century sprint in a family MPV is still mind-boggling. 

Because of the wider tracks and lower centre of gravity, the car also drives a lot more like a hatchback than a MPV/crossover/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. There's not much in terms of steering feel, but handling is tidy, accurate and agile. With the help of the electric motor, you also have all-wheel drive when you need, allowing you to power out of corners early and assuredly. And, the car always ensures there's some juice in the battery so that it can deliver power to all four wheels when you need maximum traction. I found myself diving in and out of corners carrying much more speed than I thought possible, which is both impressive and slightly weird. This is a family car, remember?  

More relevantly, the car feels most at home doing the normal stuff - highway cruising and city driving. I especially like that in electric mode, the car is rear-wheel drive only, so it feels light on its feet and easy to manoeuvre. And, speaking of electric mode, the all electric range on this car is now 90km, up 35km from its predecessor. It's a pretty usable figure, also considering that the battery can be charged from empty to full in under 2.5 hours.

A key benefit of a PHEV is efficiency, of course. We only did about 50km of driving in mixed conditions (highway and mountain roads), but in that short distance I managed to cover 27.2km only using electric drive, with my combined fuel efficiency figure being 22.7km/L. 

Grading up

Like the 220i, the rest of the car is also delightful. The new exterior design really works, masking a car that has grown in size. It looks pretty good, all things considered. Subtle blue detailing highlight this car's electrified nature, but beyond that it doesn't scream "electric" in any discernible way.

The interior is honestly shocking in the best way - it gets the new iDrive 8, including the curved screen display, AR view, all the niceties found in the iX. It's a huge step upwards compared to the previous generation model, and even compared to the current gen 7 system we see in the rest of BMW's range. You also get some fun features, like an interior camera that can take a wefie for all 5 passengers, as well as the toggleable IconicSounds (which I prefer turned off).

Eyes on the prize

This plug-in hybrid 2 Series Active Tourer is an impressive offering from BMW, bringing all the advanced technology in its bigger, more flamboyant EVs into a compact segment car that's focused on family-first utility.

And while full EVs are certainly the future, a car like this makes sense in the right context. In some European countries where combustion engines will soon be banned in city centres, and currently already have legislation that benefits a lower emission model like this, a PHEV certainly makes sense as a viable, present-day solution. And if you have access to charging at home or at the office, a car like this makes even more sense because you can fully utilise its electric capabilities - electric driving for city-living, petrol power for longer cross country drives.

And if you think about it, Singapore would seem like a perfect place for such a car. However, because of the peculiar way our current tax structure works, this car (like most other PHEVs now) would cost significantly more than its direct petrol counterpart. Therefore, there are no plans for this model to be made available for Singapore. Pity, really, because I think it's the best of the lot that I drove.