45e 4y/60k review. TL;DR It's a great trip car!

Yesterday

We'll have owned our 2022 45e for 4 years next month and it's just about to roll over 60000 miles, so I thought I'd post a review.

Of the 59939 miles on it, 27622 are electric, or 46%. Aside from being my wife's daily driver, it's become our primary trip car. We just today completed our 8th trip of >/=2000 miles. Six of those were one-way trips between CO and FL, though not always direct, and the other two were trips from CO to Montana in 2023 and CA/AZ in 2024. Those 8 trips account for over 30% of the miles on the car, and were covered in 31 driving days. I run in battery control mode on all trips, with the hold set to 90%.

PHEV's aren't popular with the online pundits, but they are great in the real world. We get 25-28mpg on our trips, often with an MTB or two on the back, which is plenty for me. I love having all the power I need if I need it, and really love having 27-30 electric miles "in the tank" if I have to run it close to empty. I just did that today, in fact, burning 17 gallons from Amarillo, TX to our home in CO, then being able to use electrons to run 10 miles into town to fill up.

I don't love the seats, but they are fine, and we've done 900+ mile days, and multiple 450-800 mile back-to-back-to-back days, in them. I think they'd be more comfortable if they weren't massaging, which I never use. I also don't use any of the DAPP stuff and, though I use cruise control for nearly every mile, I never use the automated version. Being able to toggle speed up or down either 1 or 5mph at a time is a great feature, and I use it constantly.

While this is a gas trip car for me, it's an electric daily driver for my wife. As mentioned, we live 10 miles from town in CO, so every drive for her is 20 miles, minimum, but relatively few are over 30. It's similar in FL, where we are 5-8 miles from the things we like to do. She'd tell you that her favorite thing about it is rarely having to buy gas. (I'd tell you that she likes nice stuff, so her favorite thing about it that it's crazy nice, but we can agree to disagree on that.

) I like the run-flat tires for her car, and it's allowed her to drive away from a couple of incidents that would have had her on the side of the road with go-flats.

The only thing I don't like about is the needless complexity, and there is a lot of that. DAPP, an electronic dipstick, battery registration, alarms over what seems like everything, etc, etc, etc. All that crap adds no value to me. Fortunately, she isn't bothered by all that stuff, and it's her car. I just get to eat large quantities of miles in it, which I really enjoy doing.

PFA, taken at one of Florida's fine rest stops on Friday.

Mark

An image attached to this post, provided by the poster

Yesterday

Thank you for the review and love the usability of the PHEV for you and your wife.

Any major services done in the 60k miles you had it?

Yesterday

my experience with my MY22 45e is very much similar to yours. It is wife's daily commute car, which is about 10 miles round trip, or maybe 15 miles including dropping off and picking up kids from school. She get free charging at work, where we do majority of the charging. Outside of that, it is our family car for road trips.

Since kids are young, our road trip distance is limited. We mainly go between SF bay area to Tahoe in winter for skiing, about 200 miles away, may 4-5 times per year. And SF Bay area to San Diego in summer, about 600 miles aways, maybe 1-2 times a year. With this usage, car has about 35K miles now. Electric/ICE split is very close to 50/50. Majority if not all of the short distance commutes are electric. All of the ICE distance involve some highway. Supposed this is the best usage from economic perspective and car's health perspective.

Exactly as you said, the concept works for us very well, and the only thing I don't like this the complexity. If California electricity cost is more reasonable, I will like it even better.

One more note from economic perspective, I think MY22 pricing works out great. Our 45e is about $250 more than a compatible required 40i before federal incentive. So after all said and done, we paid about $6000 less compared to a 40i. I think we made a right choice. With today's 50e vs 40i pricing and lost of fed incentive, 50e become a very tough choice to make for californians.

Oh issues. We really had one, but a severe one. Our instrument cluster failed completely at 7K miles, so we didn't know how fast we were, how much range left ... Instrument panel in car is what auto industry calls 0 DPM components, because it is safety and essential for operation. Yet, it failed. Replaced under warranty in about 2 weeks. I definitely won't say this car is un-reliable, but I hesitate to call this car reliable at this point.

Yesterday

We have the same with 27k miles on it. 18k of those are electric and I can say it’s the best car we’ve had that’s all around.

I’ve had three issues so far:
1) Power steering squeak when turning when new that was sorted by the dealer
2) transfer case judder when accelerating from a stop and turning. It’s very slight but before the warranty is up in July I want to get it replaced.
3) this winter the rear struts or control arms were making noise when creeping at low speed during the cold (sounds like pigeons in the car and when I jump up and down by the rear it squeaked). Others have had this problem and some had the air struts replaced while others had control arms replaced.

Other than that no major issues so far. I might buy an aftermarket warranty now that the factory warranty is almost over. I have geico mechanical breakdown but they just jacked up my costs by 2k a year (no claims in 15 years) so I need to shop around…

Yesterday

617jester647 wrote
Thank you for the review and love the usability of the PHEV for you and your wife.

Any major services done in the 60k miles you had it?

None. I put an auxiliary battery in it a few months ago, which was an exercise in needless complexity. We've also had to put tires on it because of some road events, and I got hit while driving it a couple of years ago, but it has been mechanically and electrically solid, so far. If that continues, we'd like to keep it another 2-3 years, at which point it would have 90K on it, or a little more.

Mark

Yesterday

the 45e is my daily vehicle. during the work week, I run it in electric mode 99% of the time. I can’t recall the most recent road trip, but I just took it on a 320-mile round trip last Friday to see my son compete at the State Championships for track. I stand behind what I said about it after its initial purchase in Dec 2020: it’s the best vehicle I’ve owned since 1998

I have a bad lower back, so I sit on a cushion and activate the lumbar massage often, though the cushion is what significantly improves my comfort, not the massage feature

I also drove mainly on Battery Control mode (80% target), achieving 27mpg on the way there (12 electric miles) and 34mpg on the way back (21 electric miles) after I switched to Hybrid mode about an hour from reaching home

I only use Distance Control ACC as I never liked the way the system keeps the vehicle within the lane (too much ping pong)

Yesterday

I feel sorry for those that had problems with their 50e. I would lover the extra power and range but not at the expense of reliability issues they’ve been having. Hope it’s sorted on newer builds.

I unfortunately won’t be signing up for the nueue classe designs. I like a busier classic interior and will continue to find cars that have them.

Yesterday

Glad to see so many people happy with the 45e; it seems to be a LOT less problematic compared to the 50e. Our family hauler (19' Q7 Prestige) is approaching 67K miles and hope to get into an X5 (likely 40i) in 5-8 months. Love the cayenne, but sooo expensive while having worse tech.

Yesterday

White340 wrote
I feel sorry for those that had problems with their 50e. I would lover the extra power and range but not at the expense of reliability issues they’ve been having. Hope it’s sorted on newer builds.

I unfortunately won’t be signing up for the nueue classe designs. I like a busier classic interior and will continue to find cars that have them.

I love wagons.. how is your RS6? I wish I had one!

Yesterday

ScaldedDog wrote
We'll have owned our 2022 45e for 4 years next month and it's just about to roll over 60000 miles, so I thought I'd post a review.

I love having all the power I need if I need it, .. ..

I don't love the seats, but they are fine, .. .. I think they'd be more comfortable if they weren't massaging, which I never use. I also don't use any of the DAPP stuff and, though I use cruise control for nearly every mile, I never use the automated version. Being able to toggle speed up or down either 1 or 5mph at a time is a great feature, and I use it constantly.

The only thing I don't like about is the needless complexity, and there is a lot of that.
- DAPP
- an electronic dipstick
- battery registration
- alarms over what seems like everything

Mark

It's nice to read something positive about the cars we all chose to buy/own. Forums are a great place to come for help but that usually manifests itself in initial complaints, so first the negative, then looking for positives. So glad we have these forums though, we'd all be a lot worse off without them so thanks for your post!

I edited your post and wanted to comment on what I left in

- I get questioned somewhat often as to why I buy BMW's. One of the reasons is its refined power. While the 6 cyl may not be a beast, its got plenty of power and the thing about power is when you have it and you know you have it, you tend to only use it when you feel its needed, even if its only 20% of the time. For the other 80%, having a car with power means an effortless drive without the engine/tranny having to kick down and rev up just to climb a small hill or a decent pull from a stop and this is one reason the car gets such good mileage. Personally, I want to know the car has my back, and it does.

- Seats: I think you're right, it's the massage and ventilation features that just completely fills the interior of the seats leaving little to no room for a decent amount of foam for comfort. Since I have both of these features, I use them....well, I can't take them out of the seat, they're there, so I might as well get some value out of them in trade for the hardness of the seat.

That said, the ventilation works great and on a long trip I do find the massage helps relieve static body stress. I also believe the seat has worn in over the years and is more comfy now than it used to be.

- DAPP: Love it and use it all the time. I too use the steering wheel speed lever to adjust the cruise control a mph or two at a time and I'm surprised I haven't worn that toggle out yet. DAPP has alleviated the arm and shoulder pain I used to get on long drives and has allowed me to drive longer each day so I'm sold on it.

- electronic dipstick: well, to sum this up, the person or group who invented it and the person or group who approved it are the real dipsticks. What an overly complex and completely unnecessary feature that is. Boy would I like to drill a hole into the oil pan! :confused0068:

- Battery registration: I get it and with a car this complicated I appreciate every electron I can squeeze out of its battery and registration allows me to do that and it's so quick and easy to do. Thinking back a few decades, we'd pretty much throw any battery into our cars provided they met or exceeded the CCA if you lived in the northeast. I do wonder how much more we could have gotten out of those batteries.

- alarms: I'll assume you mean pop up messages on the LCD screen? Yes, way too many. One of the first things I did was to climb through the menus looking to remove as many as I could. I put them in the same category as gestures, just something I don't want so am glad I was able to remove 90% of them. I suppose though that for people moving to a modern BMW for the first time, getting those pop ups is useful and educational and maybe that's why the engineers provided ways of turning most of them off.

While I don't have an "e", on trips, which is really the only time I drive the car. I regularly get 32mpg so with all that the car offers and its refined power, who can ask for more? Well, I mean what 'reasonable' person can ask for more?

Yesterday

Interesting, I have the exact same experience with my white '23 45e with 60k miles, right down to the same wheels and mountain bikes on the back.

This is easily the best car I've ever owned.

Yesterday

M a r t y wrote
- alarms: I'll assume you mean pop up messages on the LCD screen? Yes, way too many. One of the first things I did was to climb through the menus looking to remove as many as I could. I put them in the same category as gestures, just something I don't want so am glad I was able to remove 90% of them. I suppose though that for people moving to a modern BMW for the first time, getting those pop ups is useful and educational and maybe that's why the engineers provided ways of turning most of them off.

Great post. With respect to the alarms, a lot of it has to do with the parking stuff. I've not figured out a way to silence the alarms but leave the cameras on. Backing out of a parking space and getting on your way with a bike rack on the back is maddening. Put it in reverse - the alarms go berserk - press the parking button on the console and alarms stop and cameras goes blank. Back out - put the car in drive - the alarms go berserk again, with the urgency of "Terrain! Terrain! Pull up! Pull up!" Our place in FL has a small garage, so we have to park it within a few inches of the wall. Backing out - even without a rack - is also maddening. With hearing aids in - yeah, I'm old - the alarms are really loud.

These are the kinds of things that would drive me crazy on a daily driver, but they don't bother my wife, at all. It's a light plane on trips, though, and I absolutely love it for that. I'd like it even more if we didn't fill it with so much crap that I can't see out the back. That problem is more marital than automotive.

Mark

Yesterday

ScaldedDog wrote
Great post. With respect to the alarms, a lot of it has to do with the parking stuff. I've not figured out a way to silence the alarms but leave the cameras on. Backing out of a parking space and getting on your way with a bike rack on the back is maddening. Put it in reverse - the alarms go berserk - press the parking button on the console and alarms stop and cameras goes blank. Back out - put the car in drive - the alarms go berserk again, with the urgency of "Terrain! Terrain! Pull up! Pull up!" Our place in FL has a small garage, so we have to park it within a few inches of the wall. Backing out - even without a rack - is also maddening. With hearing aids in - yeah, I'm old - the alarms are really loud.

These are the kinds of things that would drive me crazy on a daily driver, but they don't bother my wife, at all. It's a light plane on trips, though, and I absolutely love it for that. I'd like it even more if we didn't fill it with so much crap that I can't see out the back. That problem is more marital than automotive.

Mark

Oh, those alarms. Well, I get them too when backing out of my garage, the only thing I've been able to do is lower their volume via iDrive. Have you tried that? Here, watch this video on how to do it on iDrive 7

Yesterday

M a r t y wrote
Oh, those alarms. Well, I get them too when backing out of my garage, the only thing I've been able to do is lower their volume via iDrive. Have you tried that? Here, watch this video on how to do it on iDrive 7

I’ve got mine on the lowest volume setting. I can understand why they can’t be turned off completely, though. in addition to lowering the volume, the biggest improvement for me was after I coded a different sound package because I found the default tones pretty jolting

Yesterday

nZtiZia wrote
I’ve got mine on the lowest volume setting. I can understand why they can’t be turned off completely, though. in addition to lowering the volume, the biggest improvement for me was after I coded a different sound package because I found the default tones pretty jolting

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the ability to code them. What did you choose as an alternate sound, I might like that as well.

Yesterday

M a r t y wrote
Oh, those alarms. Well, I get them too when backing out of my garage, the only thing I've been able to do is lower their volume via iDrive. Have you tried that? Here, watch this video on how to do it on iDrive 7

I'll try it!! Thanks!

nZtiZia wrote
I’ve got mine on the lowest volume setting. I can understand why they can’t be turned off completely, though.

Why is that? They are easily silenced on my GX460 and Excursion, and our other vehicles don't have them, at all.

Mark

Yesterday

M a r t y wrote
Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the ability to code them. What did you choose as an alternate sound, I might like that as well.

I went with the “Mini” sound package (Receiver Audio Module > Signal tones > Mini)

Yesterday

I’ve had a great experience with my 45e. Did have the auxiliary batteries and a melted laser headlamp module replaced under warranty which is a bit unnerving as it approaches the end of the warranty.

I noticed my fuel efficiency is lower than others. Going 75-80 mph I am getting as low as 22 mpg over a 5 hr drive. I did get up to 28 a couple years ago. Maybe I’m just going faster?

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45e 4y/60k review. TL;DR It's a great trip car!