As many of you know, I’ve been driving Lyft with my Clarity for the past 2.5 yrs, 154K miles. I just purchased a BMW 530e, another Plug in Hybrid please don’t criticize me for doing Lyft I thought I would just write some things that I observed while comparing the vehicles engine: My BMW actually has some balls when punching the accelerator. It really picks up and you hear the engine. You also feel it shift through all eight gears on the transmission. The Clarity is much quieter. It does pick up nicely but not nearly as quickly as the 530e I really miss the right turn signal camera!!! No camera under mirror on BMW EV Range: My Clarity used to get 48 miles , sometimes 53 when I got it. Now it’s more like 27-30. My BMW is advertised as 21 miles, but it seems I get 17-20. However the way it uses this is different than the Clarity EV usage: With the Clarity, it defaults to EV mode if there is a charge and the engine remains off unless you go crazy. The 530 is totally different and I’m still figuring it out. It does have an EV mode, and the car runs at a much slower pace than Hybrid mode. It’s a drastic difference compared to Clarity using electric vs HV. In Hybrid mode (which it has two. Normal Hybrid and Hybrid Eco Pro), it actually uses your battery EV when you are at slower RPMs. The display is shaded blue in this range and is wider the more battery power you have. When I first got it, I drove in hybrid mode and it used all my battery power surprisingly. The BMW has a “battery control” mode which you set at the percent you want your battery to be at, and it will charge to that point. It’s like HV Charge. It charges to 100% though Gas Tank: clarity 7 gallons. BMW 12 gallons fuel consumption: I get about 36-42 mpg on my Clarity. The BMW IS advertised as 25mpg. I’ve been getting 28-30 I have the four wheel drive version on the BMW Rear Camera ; The rear camera is good on the Clarity but much clearer on the BMW. warnings : The BMW has much better warnings on what is around you when parking The clarity does a better job warning of vehicles in front of you. paddles: The Clarity the paddles control regenerative braking. On the BMW, they manually change the transmission gear. So you can manually downshift with them. cruise Control: the ACC on the Clarity, I feel is it’s best driving feature. The BMW just has normal cruise control but it’s a bit different If you slightly tap up/down it will increase /decrease by 1mph like any car. However if you hit it good, it jumps to the nearest 5mph increment. This is handy when going from a 55mph zone to 45mph zone. Tap it twice and you lowered your speed by 10 mph I talked about how I use cruise control to slow down. The BMW slows down much faster!! Both have brake lights on when you do this. I do this all the time. engine compartment: I’ve changed the battery in my Clarity easily. I can’t even find the battery in my BMW. I’m nervous about repair costs. Dashboard; I find the BMW has a better dashboard display. It always shows my EV range and total range. You can select various things In the window just like the Clarity when I think of more I’ll write it. ( I had this whole post typed and it didn’t post and deleted most of it, so I had to retype)
Thanks for the details. Sounds to me like one way to summarize is it is designed more as an ICE car that happens to have some EV range, rather than designed to be EV for majority of it's usage with gas backup.
The Clarity will also bump by 5 mph up or down if you hold it a bit. I just wish it had 20 mph for the low end. There are a lot of those speed zones around here.
The list price on the 530e is about 20K higher than the Clarity. Does BMW have extra incentives / discounts that partially mitigate this price difference?
@StickWare , holding down the acc or dec button on the cruise control pad will increase or decrease the speed by 5MPH. I had a BMW 328 before Clarity. The seat in the bimmer is so much better. I could drive from NY to Toronto without my butt hurting (8 hours drive). But in the Clarity, my butt starting hurting near Baltimore in my NY to DC trip. (3hrs)
I would have thought the BMW 330e would be closer match to the Honda Clarity, why did you choose 530e instead of the 330e? Dan
The BMW has a federal tax credit of up to $5830. Interestingly, the stated 21 mile EV range from a 12kWh battery is only 1.75 miles per kWh, and that is from a 107hp motor, propelling a ~4200lb car. Of course, it is only using ~10kWh’s of that capacity, much like the Clarity using ~14kWh’s. It is a dreadful outcome none the less.
Stickware had reported previously that the battery was rarely charged and most driving (90%)? was done in HV with a depleted battery. Lithium batteries are pretty tough, but using them at 10-20% SOC for a couple of years, isn’t doing them any favors.
I always hold it down to slow down. Didn’t know it decreased by 5 though. I mean if you hold it longer it decreases 7. Right? Or it locks at 5? the BMW goes to next 5. Like 37mph set. Hold down 35. Again 30, 25 Correct about the seats!!! The BMW is a much more comfortable seat with many more controls that I haven’t used yet
Agree, could never understand ppl who do that. Even if it's only L1 120v overnight, no reason not to start off the day with juice IMO. And I'm in CT which is always in top 3 of highest state utility rates for continental US.
I chose the 530e because I bought the car to drive Lyft Black. The 3 series line does not qualify for that.
They gave a 5K discount. Plus another 1K from dealer. But I included the M sport Package $2500 and all wheel drive $2500
there is your standard Lyft Lyft Lux are more luxury cars Lyft Black are luxury black cars. lux and black cost a lot more to ride in and I get paid way better I can now drive Lux or Lux Black