The 2023 BMW 530xe PHEV hits the sweet-spot for what I want in a vehicle: 1) with up to 21 e-miles on a full charge I have enjoyed 100% electric driving for almost all my day-to-day trips (in the past year I’ve only filled the gas tank to our 530xe about 3-4 times), 2) Easy road-trips with no interruption to wait-around for my car to charge, just fill the tank with gas and keep going. I’m just not ready to go electric-only because the technology and charging infrastructure just isn’t there (until it’s as quick and easy to get a full electric charge as it is to fill your gas tank (in just 3-5 minutes), I’ll happily enjoy my 530xe PHEV. It’s literally the best of both worlds. Also the 530xe is stylish (I get unsolicited comments often), seats are comfortable on long road-trips and car is sporty to drive. Plus the back seat is comfortable too — often not the case in other vehicles. I’ve throughly enjoyed my 2023 530xe with no mechanical problems or issues.

Our new 2023 530e was a disaster. After just three months the coolant valve to the EV battery failed while on a driving trip. It took three weeks to get the car delivered back home. After returning the car the replacement valve failed the same day. Another wait of 11 days before the car was returned to us. Avoid the hybrid technology!

The good features of the 530e definitely outweigh the bad. The positive features include: good performance handling, good looks, and decent technology. The negative qualities are: less trunk space, sketchy fuel economy numbers, less than average battery performance and slower engine-only performance. As a former owner of multiple 5 Series vehicles, this looks similar but its clearly a different car with different body panels. BMW delivered this car with a level 1 portable charger, that charges fully from 0 to full (21 miles) in about 12 hours. A level 2 charger would recharge faster, but is not necessary if overnight charging works for you. Still having fun with this hybrid for now.