BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - Zippy123

I am looking for a replacement to the Tucson and have seen a few BMW 2 Series Active Tourers as pre-reg with some really good discounts. They seem to be a nice mix of non-suv styling and high seating position.

I will be looking at automatics and probably the Grand Tourer because they seem to be cheaper than the Active Tourers.

I do about 20k a year. A couple of journeys a week. Either 2 x 100 miles about 60 of which are on single carriageway roads and the rest on motorways (though in rush hour) or one longer trip say 200 miles there and 200 miles back of which there will be 2 x 30 miles on single carriageway roads. Will a diesel still be appropriate?

Are these any good / does anyone else have experience of them?

Cheers Z

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - Avant

One of these came a very close second to the Q2 when I was looking at the beginning of 2018. I had the Active Tourer in mind despite the silly name: the Gran Tourer is slightly longer and has a third row of seats (so that Gran can come too).

I was looking at the 220i but the diesel might suit you given your mileage. Difficult to know whether diesel's general decline will continue or whether people will accept that it's still a good option for larger, high-mileage cars. On that will hinge how well the 2-series will hold its value.

Lower depreciation was one factor in favour of the Audi: others were:

- you seemed (this was in 2018, before the facelift) to sit on the front seats rather than in them: I couldn't get comfortable;

- the Q2's doors extend over the sills so you don't get dirty when getting in and out. The BMW's don't, and we live in a muddy part of Dorset;

- the ride and handling were only so-so, I think because the car is taller than other BMWs, rather than becasue it's FWD;

- the indicator and wiper stalks are infuriating.

When you're liiking at these, also consider the X1 which is a similar size. List price is higher but I think it holds its value better so there could be good leasing or PCP deals on this.

That said, it was a good car and if the Q2 hadn't existed I might have had one and been happy with it.

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - craig-pd130

I've had a 225xe plug-in hybrid as my company car for the past two and a half years / 22,000 miles. Quite simply, it's the best car I've ever had.

It's comfortable, roomy, versatile and in 'sport' mode (which combines the 145bhp petrol engine and 80bhp electric motor to give the full 225bhp) it's very quick indeed. Fantastic overtaking punch on single carriageway roads. Yet in town you can waft around on pure electric power.

I've averaged a genuine 50mpg (calculating the combined cost of petrol and electricity) which is better than any of my previous VW / Ford / Volvo turbodiesel family cars managed. The car takes 3 hours to fully charge from a conventional 13A 3-pin socket, and this will give anywhere between 12 and 18 miles real-world electric-only driving, depending on speed and ambient temperature.

The car's had zero problems. With the miles that you do, a diesel is definitely an option, but I would suggest having a drive in the hybrid if you can. It's a very different and rewarding experience to other cars, which you may well like.

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - sammy1

It's comfortable, roomy, versatile and in 'sport' mode (which combines the 145bhp petrol engine and 80bhp electric motor to give the full 225bhp) it's very quick indeed. Fantastic overtaking punch on single carriageway roads. Yet in town you can waft around on pure electric power.

Surely the two drive trains don't work in tandem, either 145 or 80 bhp available to use? What is the point

12 to 18 miles electric not good. can appreciate you would not be polluting in town. Is the car self charging?

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - Zippy123
The two drive trains do work in tandem.

I would love the hybrid model but unfortunately it’s out of my price range of £20k and less than 1 year old and 5,000 miles - unless I’m looking in the wrong place!?
BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - craig-pd130

Surely the two drive trains don't work in tandem, either 145 or 80 bhp available to use? What is the point

12 to 18 miles electric not good. can appreciate you would not be polluting in town. Is the car self charging?

The two motors can work separately, or in tandem, depending on the driving mode you select. Petrol engine drives the front wheels via a torque-converter auto, electric motor the rear wheels directly. The relationship between them is managed by the car's ECU.

- 'Auto eDrive' blends the two power sources according to throttle input and speed (i.e. on gentle throttle, the car is electric-only up to 48mph. If you boot it, the petrol engine kicks in too).

- 'Max eDrive' gives electric-only driving up to 78mph until the battery hits 5% charge remaining.

- 'Sport' combines both petrol & electric motors, giving max performance and 4WD. It also maintains (self-charges) the main traction battery, so that 50% battery capacity is reserved for travelling in ULEZ areas, for example.

It's not intended to be an all-electric vehicle - that's what the i3 is for. Nor is it intended to be an economy hybrid - if you want one of those, buy a Prius.

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - badbusdriver

It's not intended to be an all-electric vehicle - that's what the i3 is for.

This is an odd statement which suggests the reason there is no full electric 2 Series Active Tourer is due to the existence of the i3. The i3 is a completely different kind of car aimed at different buyers and has nothing to do with it*.

Nor is it intended to be an economy hybrid - if you want one of those, buy a Prius.

Another odd statement!. There are two types of hybrid, those that use the electric power solely to increase the performance (think La Ferrari, which can't run on electric power only), and those which use it to increase the economy, which includes pretty much everything else including the 225xe and Prius.

*In actual fact, looking on Autotrader, there are more i3's for sale with the range extender than without. This makes it a hybrid too, just a different kind, where the engine is used only to charge the battery (like the ill fated Vauxhall Ampera).

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - craig-pd130

It's not intended to be an all-electric vehicle - that's what the i3 is for.

This is an odd statement which suggests the reason there is no full electric 2 Series Active Tourer is due to the existence of the i3. The i3 is a completely different kind of car aimed at different buyers and has nothing to do with it*.

That's precisely why there is currently (no pun intended) no full-electric 2-series tourer. Don't forget the 225 was launched nearly 4 years ago, when there weren't many electric cars available at all. Manufacturers were still seeing which way the legislative wind was blowing and developing the various full EV technologies (batteries, DC converters etc).

And re the comparison between the 225 and the Prius, the Prius is developed primarily for economy, not performance. To use the hoary old 0 - 60 comparison, the latest-generation Prius does it in 9.8 seconds. The 225 does it in 6.6.

Yes, the 225 can use the electric motor to increase economy if you want (by using the electric motor for most urban driving), or you can use it to boost performance (in Sport mode, both motors run all the time). The 225 was basically an offshoot of the development of the i8 - it uses essentially the same powertrain, with three differences - the 1.5 litre 3-pot turbo is in a lower state of tune; the electric motor is only single stage (the i8's is 2-stage, allowing higher rpm) and in the i8, the petrol engine drives the rear wheels and the electric motor drives the fronts.

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - Avant

There are several different types of hybrid as we all know, but I'd say that they all have the objective in common of saving fuel and being good for the environment.

I would guess that a Prius would also give about 50 mpg, like Craig's 225xe, in varied motoring. But each is probably at its best in slightly different types of motoring.

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - snifter

The car takes 3 hours to fully charge from a conventional 13A 3-pin socket, and this will give anywhere between 12 and 18 miles real-world electric-only driving, depending on speed and ambient temperature.

This made me sit up - sounds ideal for SWMBO's short commute. Is that genuinely 3 hours to a full charge from a standard domestic plug socket ? No wall boxes, etc ?

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - craig-pd130

This made me sit up - sounds ideal for SWMBO's short commute. Is that genuinely 3 hours to a full charge from a standard domestic plug socket ? No wall boxes, etc ?

It genuinely is. The car's main traction battery is 7.5kW capacity (I think it's now slightly larger capacity in the current facelift model, maybe 8.5kW) and when charging from a standard domestic socket, the car draws 10 amps max.

My daily commute is 4 miles each way, 8 miles total. Half of that is NSL dual carriageway. And the ability to program the car to pre-condition it before departure so you step into a fully-defrosted, warm interior is something that you don't want to give up once you've experienced it.

I looked into getting a wall box fitted, but the car's electronics limit it to a max current draw of 16 amps, so it still takes 2 hours for a full charge from a wall box It wasn't worth the cost to save an hour - especially as you've got the petrol engine anyway.

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - daveyK_UK

Looked at 2 series 7 seater a few years back, thought it was awful in terms of internal space and capacity compared to rivals.

I understand people buy the badge but the 2 series tourer had nothing to recommend it over far cheaper rivals.

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - Zippy123

Looked at 2 series 7 seater a few years back, thought it was awful in terms of internal space and capacity compared to rivals.

I understand people buy the badge but the 2 series tourer had nothing to recommend it over far cheaper rivals.

That may well be the case, especially when comparing it to the Touran etc, but I find those boxy and I am not looking for a huge space, just a decently specified, high driving position car that is not too old and low mileage. These seem to be a very good price compared to a lot of others on the market and that may well be because they don't sell, but that is to my advantage if the price is lower!

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - Regdor

We liked the 2 Active with the sports seats and test drove one as it seemed an ideal car for our needs.

On poor quality scarred roads the ride was abysmal, noisy thumping and shaking. It was NOT on low profile tyres.

Combined with a 1.5 petrol engine that sounded like a Dyson vac in the car we were so glad we had taken a test route of our choice. Make sure you do the same if the ride is important.

BMW 2 Series Active / Grand Tourer - Avant

I think that engine, fine in a Mini, is just too small to make a 2-series any fun to drive (unless of course it's paired with an electric motor as in the 225xe). The 218d is confusingly a 2-litre: my son-in-law has one as a company car and finds it adequate but a bit pedestrian.

220i, 220d or 225xe are the ones to go for.

Edited by Avant on 08/01/2020 at 23:30