BMW 3 Series 330e 2019 review

At the other end of the car sits the exact same 181bhp turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine used in the 320i, which on its own might only be enough to propel a 1660kg, rear-driven saloon of this size to 62mph in around 8.0sec. It isn’t alone, though, because within the 330e’s eight-speed Steptronic transmission there’s an electric motor that normally contributes 67bhp but can swell that to 111bhp for short bursts thanks to a new XtraBoost system activated in Sport mode.

Open the sluice gates and you’ve therefore got 289bhp and 310lb ft to play with – figures that comfortably surpass those of the 330i and make the 330e the most potent non-M 3 Series until the six-cylinder M340i xDrive arrives.

Altogether, the 330e makes a strong case before you’ve even turned a wheel, and indeed continues to do so once the wheels are turning. For a start, with both power sources on stream, this is a prodigiously quickcar. It defaults into electric mode when you ‘switch’ it on and once on the move there’s a useful marker in the digital instrument binnacle that tells you how much throttle you can use before combustion enters the fray (answer: more than you’d think).

The transition is seamless, and thereafter the 330e pulls fiercely hard. However, it doesn’t match the crisp delicacy of the 330i through direction changes and isn’t so alert. This is hardly a revelation, although with the weight of the battery pack kept within the wheelbase and similar physics at the front axle, the same satisfying poise is at least present.

In short, it’s no synaptic delight but neither is a car whose appeal disintegrates on a challenging road, and from the mid-range upwards, torque-fill from the electric motor means throttle response is effectively on par with a finely tuned naturally aspirated engine.