Green Car Reports Not Sold on ActiveHybrid 5

By John Coyle - September 7, 2012

From my perspective, BMWs have been performance machines before they’ve been luxury cars. When I was growing up, Audi didn’t have the presence it has today, and arch-rival Mercedes-Benz seemed like the more restrained choice. Hell, there was a period when M-B didn’t even bother importing manual transmissions to the States! But BMW stuck with the stick, and solidified itself—in my opinion, at least—as the enthusiast choice.

So I guess I don’t find it to surprising that when Green Car Reports described the BMW ActiveHybrid 5, they said it “feels like a car that has been somewhat reluctantly turned into a hybrid.” Apparently their testers found integration between the 3.3L I6 and the electric motor to be a little rough around town—though they gave it significantly better marks on the freeway—and also felt there was a significant transition between the traditional stoppers and the regenerative braking system. I’m a little surprised that some of the edges haven’t been rounded off here, but and I thought the overall verdict sounded dead on.

Read the review over on Green Car Reports and let me know what you think. >>