Get a new 330i or extend a lease?

Sadly the E90 is also the ugliest 3 series ever. I'm keeping my E46.

The lease buyout on BMWs is VERY low - you can make thousands buy buying it and immediately selling it. If you buy the car, keep it for a year, and trade it on a 2007, you'll be ahead of the game financially.

Sounds about right, once the battery is flat is has to be re-charged by buring fuel, cannot see much re-charging being acheived by breaking and slowing down. 42mpg (UK gallon) is decent for a 1.5L pertrol engine, which is what a Prius is in the end. Course the E91 320d is supposed to do 48mpg, I really get 42/43 mpg though would expect to beat 48 on a long run.

Mmm, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I prefer the new E90. especially in E91 touring form. The E46 was always too small inside to be practical and comfortable for me, with pedals offset to the right... weird! Never liked the E46 touring (E47?) light clusters.

worried about getting stranded you could always carry another tire without rim with you."

Couple of problems with that....

1) Where would you put it? If you're on a long trip the boot is full of luggage already, and they've done away with the under-floor well to fit a proper spare.

2) Run-flats are VERY VERY difficult to mount. Most BMW centres will charge extra for mounting; most local garages won't be able to do it without seriously damaging your wheels.

And if you frequent the race track or autocross course, run-flats are just not available in the kinds of sticky rubber for those situations. Sadly any purchase of a new E90 would involve new rubber before leaving the dealer's lot.

Of course, new BMW wheels are patently ugly, so maybe a purchase of four new aftermarket wheels and four decent tires isn't so bad. The stock run-flats can sit in the garage for three years, until it's time to turn back in the car.

I think the point BMW, VW and other Euro mfrs make is their diesel engines get "as good", if not better, mileage than a Toyota Prius.

Last year, I did a century and lost one of my contact lens. I decided to use the SAG wagon to take me downhill back to the start. It was a Toyota Prius. The owner had been up and down the very hill course and stated that he was averaging over 46mpg. Given the terrain and all the stop and go that was fantastic. Would a euro diesel engine get similar mileage? Hard to say.

The one advantage a Prius might have over a euro diesel is it might have cleaner emissions.

Depends on the driving you are doing. Stop start traffic around town and the Prius's hybrid engine has the opportunity to re-charge batteries during decelleration, an opportunity it does not get if you are on the open road cruising for hours, which is where a Euro Diesel wins. The down hill runs you are talking about above is where the Prius must be getting it's energy from to acheive the firgures you are quoting. There is then the fact that a good Euro diesel (320d or 330d) leaves a Prius for dead on performance (RE: Dave Plowman above), so there is no like for like comparison here. Around town my 320d gets about 32mpg (US) / 38mpg (UK/Imperial), cruising at 70mph on the flat its between 50 and 58mpg (US) / 60 and

70mpg (UK/Imperial). It's also a fast fun car where a Prius is a bit dull? at least it looks it on paper, never driven one.

IMHO, although regenerative braking helps, the main saving is not having the engine idling when stopped, where it scores in heavy city traffic.

I have, and the 'new' version is fun around town. Silent and nippy. Not so on the open road where it's frequently sluggish. Trouble is the size of the thing suggests it's a family car for all uses, but in practice (to me) is a town only car - which is why it's not a success in the UK as there are much cheaper and more stylish alternatives.

Thats the Prius's problem, too expensive and you never get the 65mpg (UK) combined fuel consumption out of it. If you drive in to London there is a daily 5 GBP "congestion" charged which you are excempt from if you drive a petrol/electric hybrid. This is about the only time this car makes sense.

.... We got a bit off topic here, I wondor if "Shant M" decided on an E90 330i or not... ;) Adrian

8 gbp now. ;-)

Despite living quite close to the area, I've never once paid it. If I need to go into the area, I use PT. Apart from the charge, parking is very expensive - likely to be far more than the charge itself for a day.

Of course BMW have stated they will be producing a hybrid - probably an X series. The Lexus hybrid SUV gives remarkable fuel figures for that type of vehicle. Of course it can neither tow or go off road...

Which makes one wonder... how is it an SU (or SA) V?

Lexus RX 400h owners and testers reporting actual fuel consumption struggle to get 29mpg (UK/Imperial), never mind the official 36mpg figure.

That's still rather better than a similar performance conventional petrol

4x4 type vehicle. Which of course could be used for towing the occasional thing or crossing a muddy field. Not that they often are. ;-)

According to my friends with a new RX400H, they're getting about 3-4 mpg (US) more than my wife's Highlander (non-hybrid, same engine.) That's about 20% more. Of course, neither are driven a lot in city - more an even mix of freeway/secondary/city.

FloydR

The Highlander uses a Toyota V-6?

Indeed, yes. Ours uses the 3.3L V6 that is in the Lexus ES330 and RX330/RX400H. You can also, of course, get the I4... but not many here in the US.

Oh, yes, the Highlander *IS* a Toyota (as is the Lexus.) Is there a non-Toyota Highlander in the UK?

FloydR