This five-seater brings lots of tech into the plug-in hybrid sector but will it charge your batteries?

How much? $78,500.

Powertrain: 1.5-litre turbopetrol three cylinder and 14.2kWh plug-in battery and electric motor; 180kW/477Nm; 0.7 litres per 100km cited.

How big? 4386mm long, 1824mm wide, 1576mm tall, 2670mm wheelbase.

We like: Tech-stacked; roomy; urban-friendly.

Not so much: Choppy low-speed ride; engine noisy under load; quirky styling.

WERE all current BMWs gathered for a family portrait, it’s the one standing highest chance of being labelled the least athletic looking.

Doubtless as much as the team responsible for the 2-Series Active Tourer will hold a degree of hope owners will have fun with it, their focus never for a moment envisaged hot-lapping the Nordschliefe.

Functionality and practicality were the optimal remits, to point where they have utterly dictated a look that, while quite clean and modern, is also somewhere between chunky and chubby. 

Is this your idea of a ‘sports activity tourer’? Open to debate, clearly, when all those more suave-looking X models also carry that descriptive. 

Personal view is that, if the 2AT is to be labelled anything at all, the word ‘survivor’ is worth considering. That’s because it’s a kind of car you don’t see too much of these days; a small MPV. 

The roadscape used to be reasonably rich with them, and remains that way in Europe, but out here its rivals over there - from the Mercedes-Benz B-Class, the Renault Scenic, the Toyota whatitsname - have either been and gone, or never bothered to take the trip at all. Most brands now concur a high-rise wagon of choice for families these days is more likely to be something that looks a bit more like an off-roader, less like … well, like this.

Where BMW NZ sees opportunity with this U06 type is less, perhaps, in it being a new but familiar development of the previous design but in it having plug-in hybrid power.

Well, okay, less so right now than back when it signed off on this car, over a year ago. The Government first pulling incentives for battery-involved sub-$80k cars - which this narrowly is - then introducing Road User Charges on them is controversial, and reduces the allure. For all that it has good pedigree, this powertrain won’t be as easy a sell now as it might have been when the local introduction deal was done. 

Drivetrain aside, the appeal is that it’s a compact car, but only on the outside. It’s a product lives or dies by the spaciousness and cleverness of its interior and, from that viewpoint a tall egg shape that almost underfills a parking spot is good stuff. 

From a visual standpoint? Yeah, well, that’s where it tends to suffer for its brilliance. Or maybe from being hit by  the latest interpretation of the Bavarian brand’s design ethos.

Aside from the wheelbase being unchanged, this generation of the car is 32mm longer overall, 24mm wider and 21mm lower than its predecessor, with wider track widths. It’s still a compact car, to point where that most core of styling elements, the front ‘kidney grilles’, look a little over-sized for it. The adaptive LED headlights and large lower intakes might also look more comfortable on a next-size-up car. 

That, and it having - for good practical reason - large window openings leaves it looking quite interesting. Though not outright praise-resistant, hearing one neighbour call it ‘the guppy’ and another refer to it as the ‘BMW blob.’ wasn’t entirely surprising. 

Well, maybe to know it is to love it, right? To a degree, that’s true. That it can occupy the same amount of road scape as the average hatchback yet offer more than 1400 litres’ optimal luggage capacity - not much less than the Skoda Superb wagon that we own - shows how impressively more more practical and versatile it is. 

It’s also taking a technology high road, being the first combustion-engined BMW model to feature the brand’s new iDrive 8 infotainment technology, which combines a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, 10.7-inch infotainment touchscreen into a freestanding black panel on the dashboard and floating centre console sits between the occupants. 

The iDrive 8 system incorporates Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, over-the-air updates, multiple driver profiles, 5G connectivity, augmented reality maps, and the latest iteration of BMW’s voice assistant system. Other interior features include wireless phone charging, a 12-speaker Harman Kardon surround sound system, ambient lighting, a panoramic sunroof, and dual-zone climate control.

Active safety technologies include adaptive cruise control with stop and go, lane-keep assist, lane-follow assist, autonomous emergency braking (with intersection support), and safe exit warning.

On strength of all that, it looks like a tempting car, but as much as the individual ingredients are right, the overall mix just isn’t quite as tasty as I’d hoped. 

There are various quirks. The sportiness that applies with this brand mainly translates here with a firm ride that is quite potentially accentuated by the drive battery. It never feels outright uncomfortable, but at low speeds in particular, there’s tendency to patter and thump over rough surfaces. Handling-wise, it’s not so bad, but you can feel the additional weight when cornering hard. Road noise is noticeable on coarse surfaces, too. I never really felt on top of the brakes, which are electronically controlled but have a phase in the pedal application where nothing much seems to happen, raising potential for a user to overdoing retardation with unnecessary firmness.

The other side of the coin is that it does deliver good economy and enough genuine electric-pure efficiency to satisfy those who intend to drive battery alone for short stints and reserve petrol for longer drives.

While the optimal 0.7 litres per 100km cited is a WLTP dream that has to be considered a nonsense in real-life driving, noticing up 5.4 L/100km from a week’s use that applied the car across the full variety of speed zones and included a full day of consistent open road running was pretty decent, I felt.

That big outing was the first in which it seemed that the electric drive involvement became fully tapped out, with fuel burn rising as result, but hardly to point of concern. Until then there’d been a lot of short stint running with occasional home replenishment that kept it in play to point that proposal that you could theoretically do most of your regular journeys without firing up the petrol engine at all seems solid logic.

While it is a bit odd to look at, it does feel like a quality car, not least from behind the wheel, with some luxury, too. Dense soft-touch materials are in all the right places, build quality is great and all the stalks and surfaces that you touch regularly feel sturdy.

It is well-considered in respect to how it tailors for occupants, not least the driver. A slightly higher-set seats than in a conventional hatchback is applied and the driver’s chair is quite upright. 

A BMW with something of a van driver seating position is certainly well removed from the low-set, almost straight arm and leg provision that is normally associated with this brand, but you won’t struggle to get comfortable behind the wheel nonetheless. 

There’s plenty of adjustment for the driving position and steering wheel and the seats are comfortable with plenty of support. All-round visibility is decent, though while the car has fairly narrow front windscreen pillars, as a tall person I perhaps was affected unduly by these being angled in a way that limited my visibility at junctions. 

Thanks to the large side and rear windows, you won’t struggle to park, this of course also being made even easier by front and rear parking sensors and a exceptionally good rear-view camera. Assuming you don’t want the car to perform this function itself via the push-button assistant which will parallel park for you.

The general instrumentation is quite a step above the average. That curved, two-screen infotainment display across the driver's side of the car and the floating centre console that houses the toggle-style drive selector is very swish.

In other models this system operates with an iDrive, but that twist and tip controller tip is lacking here, so you can only control the system through touchscreen prods or voice commands. I’m not sure that’s progress, because you need to take care not to become distracted when you're driving, but fortunately logics to engaging functionalities are fortunately mostly solid. It having pin-sharp graphics and near-instant reaction to your prods and swipes is also a bonus. 

The car’s functional appeal reveals clearly in the cabin. For one, it has an array of useful areas in which to store all your bits and bobs.These span from beyond the usual door bins and a glovebox. There’s a large storage area under the floating central armrest and you can store and wirelessly charge your phone in front of the cupholders, ideally in an upright position though mine tended to slide out of that.

Broad door apertures and high roof accentuate the interior’s spaciousness. For all its compactness, there’s generous width between the front-seat occupants. The back seat is fine for three bodies and even with the front seats well slid back, there’s generous legroom and loads of head and shoulder room. 

The drive battery placing under the boot floor, rather than below the rear seat, does influence boot space slightly, but also maximises the cabin’s people-friendliness. The only issue for those in the back is that whoever gets the centre-rear has to put up with the central tunnel in the floor. Having two in the back allows opportunity to fold down the standard centre rear armrest, which has couple of cup holders to store drinks. The rear door pockets being moulded to offer convenient bottle storage is a nice touch.

Having once owned a Renault Scenic, I was interested in checking out the cabin’s full versatility. BMW hasn’t matched the French trick of providing individual and fully removable rear chairs, but the German car having rear seats that slide in a 60/40 split, so you can prioritise rear legroom or boot space, is handy. On top of that, they can be folded totally flat in a versatile 40/20/40 split.

Though it hasn’t quite the capacity offered by the fully fossil fuel-reliant models that have remained in Europe, the boot is useful in its shape and design, one nice element being a storage compartment under the main floor floor. There’s no loading lip to contend with, will be appreciated when loading awkward items and it has a powered tailgate.

You have to accept that the driving feel is not as much of a highlight here as it will be from other BMWs; it does well enough and performance is adequate, but really the concept of driver involvement here is more in respect to how effectively you can run the powertrain.

At technical level, the provision is solid. A 1.5-litre inline 3-cylinder single scroll turbo petrol engine, that creates 100kW of power and 230Nm of torque, combines with an 80kW electric motor that generates 247Nm for a combined 180kW and 477Nm, plus up to up to 93 kilometres of purely electric range from the 14.9kWh battery that can be charged from empty to full in 2.5 hours. The engine drives the front wheels with an electric motor feeding the backs, enabling all-wheel drive. All very clever.

BMW’s approach is a bit different than in some other PHEVs. Instead of the usual paddles for regen, there are touchscreen settings  - for low, high or adaptive, the last seeming so surprisingly amenable it became a dealfult for me. There’s no obvious way to use the engine to regenerate electricity into the battery. Yet, on the other hand, it is one a few that does specifically enable isolation of the electric and engine drives; respectively with ‘battery-only’ and ‘battery-save’ modes. 

With the first the engine is not entirely divorced, in that you can still engage it with a very firm press of the throttle; a handy back up if you find yourself needing to extricate from a situation in a big hurry. However, in normal driving, it stays out of the equation. With the second, the three-cylinder couldn’t be more involved; to point where you might wish it was a little quieter. 

Beyond that, you find the car is more fuel-saver focused in Personal (Normal) mode and a little less so with Sport, which really needn’t be bothered with unless you’re out to cross-check BMW’s cited 0-100kmh claim of seven seconds. When the engine and electric side work as one, the car has good pull, to point you’d swear there was at least a 2.0-litre four under the bonnet. The all-wheel-drive influence is subtle.

The only artificiality to the pure electric involvement is the synthesised soundtrack, a rising warble you can chose to involve, or otherwise. It’s from German-born American film score composer and music producer Hans Zimmer and not a patch on the score for Interstellar, IMO. 

The school of thought about PHEV being the best solution for sustainable family motoring relies on the low cost of running, which the car box ticks, but perhaps less coherently that in pre-RUC times, and an accessible price for access. Which isn’t so obvious, either. 

Yes, I know it’s a BMW, and so comes with a certain prestige pedigree. The high technology loading should not be ignored, either. To suggest that is was conceived primarily to win buyers with its badge, rather than any of its actual abilities, is a bit harsh. It’s better than that.

But is it better than the PHEV editions of the Mitsubishi Outlander and Mazda CX-60? They’re larger choices and the latter is also now chasing the same buyer type as this BMW.

Where next for this model? Well, quite potentially, nowhere beyond where it has reached now. The type has been an electric pathfinder for the brand - remember, the previous one was the first in BMW-dom to present with this kind of drivetrain, but wno apparent plan for it to join the migration toward ultimate presentation, in full electric format, it seems BMW has already decided it’s ultimately a square peg.