The car

It's a G30 BMW 545e xDrive M Sport Edition in 'Tanzanite Blue', optioned with Tech Pack Plus, Comfort Pack Plus and pretty much every single option, as it was a limited-edition release. Bought in January 2021 new. Anthony had covered 27,315 kilometres when he submitted this report - and he'd like to point out that 12,442km of that was on battery power alone.

The owner

Anthony, married with two kids, lives near Kildare Town. In his words: "I am terrible for switching cars; usually I don't get two years out of one then my head gets turned. Last car was an Audi A7 50 TDI S line. I really feel Audi made a good car with a pretty poor engine. It was the least responsive 300hp engine I have driven. That was my third A7, the best of them being the A7 Competition edition from 2015, a really great car."

 It appears that Anthony, who covers about 24,000km a year, is a bit of a driving enthusiast: "I'm heavy on tyres so that would best explain how I like to drive. Where we live, we have some great driving roads. The BMW really excels on this type of road; it launches you from one corner to the next with the combined output of the car's hybrid system of 400hp."

The ownership experience

"Having driven a 545e I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would ever want a diesel engine again. We as a nation are addicted to diesel. A new 520d is running into 530e money and not far off a 545e. These two have night-and-day better engines than the 2.0-litre diesel. They are incredibly efficient too. My 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine gets 5.3 litres per 100km on average, and this is in a performance car. My previous diesels were getting 7.2-8.0 litres per 100km.

"The level of equipment in my car is unreal: adaptive suspension, adaptive cruise control, head-up display, upgraded seats and the greatest luxury of them all, a heated steering wheel! There's too much to list here. If you can think of it, it's already on the car... Except a sunroof, maybe. One more thing, the myBMW app is excellent for the battery powered cars. You can set the climate control to come on before you leave home in the morning, so the car is preheated. In the app you can also set it to charge only overnight, and this will cost approximately €1.50. Having a wall box at home for charging is a must."

Problems experienced: "The car has been faultless from day one."
Average fuel consumption: 5.3 litres/100km (53.3mpg)

Advice to prospective buyers

"If you are considering buying a 545e, or even a 530e, and are worried about fuel and charging, don't be. You won't regret buying one of these cars. They are really outstanding. I can see the 530e putting a serious dent in the 520d over the next couple of years. If you can afford adaptive suspension and adaptive cruise control, then I can't recommend these enough. Some days I feel like I'm in a 7 Series not a 5 Series and that's from the suspension. My car is sitting on low profile tyres on the 20-inch wheels and you wouldn't notice them even though they are those awful run-flats."

What next?

"This car is already sold. I was offered exactly what I paid for it from the dealer I bought it off and decided to go fully electric now for my next car. This will be the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo and I already used the options list from the 545e to spec the Taycan... that's how good the 545e is. I still have a 1988 Alfa here for my petrol head experiences!"