BMW 330e review: reliability & safety rating

The BMW did well in Euro NCAP's crash tests, bettering the results achieved by the Volvo S60 for adult and child occupants, and matching it even in terms of the performance of its driver aids. Cars don't get much safer than this.

BMW 330e reliability & problems

The BMW 3 Series did relatively well in our 2022 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, placing 32nd out of 75 cars. The executive saloon was generally well-liked, but owners had issues with its high servicing costs and over 23% of respondents reported a fault with their car within the first year of ownership, which is slightly above average.

BMW as a brand managed to beat-out its main rivals Mercedes and Audi in our brand survey, but could still only muster a 16th-place finish out of 29 manufacturers. Once again, general reliability and the cost of repairs were big sticking points.

Safety

The BMW's Euro NCAP crash-test rating is excellent, and promises that this is one of the safest cars out there. Our only quibble is that you can't add a space-saver spare wheel (sadly an issue with every plug-in hybrid due to the space taken up by the batteries). You also have to add a 'Driving Assistant Professional' pack to get adaptive cruise control, and an upgraded autonomous emergency braking system that can sense pedestrians and cyclists as well as other cars – the latter is standard on the Volvo S60.

Otherwise, the 330e comes with a suite of passive and active safety equipment including lane-departure warning and speed-limit assistance. You also get front and rear parking sensors, as well as a reversing camera. LED headlights are also standard and deliver great visibility at night.