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Just picked up the 300h few days ago and everything looks fine except there's a whirling sound whenever the car is approaching a stop, guess it's the motor noise, just wondering if it is normal.

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Welcome to the club gtb5, and yes the slight electrical whirring, is related to the electric motor and completely normal. I'm sure someone technical could be more specific but that's all I know. The engine noise can get a bit of getting used to, although I don't know of many that like the fake engine noise option. Can't remember off the top of my head what Lexus have called it.

Enjoy your car!

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Thanks for the reply and I must have turned off the fake engine noise (think it's called ASC) so now the motor has become more obvious so I will resume the fake sound to determine which one is less irritating LOL. By the way I can't bring up the screen where tire pressure of each wheel as shown in the user's manual, can you please guide me to it?

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I don't think you can on the Euro model. I believe you will just get a warning icon on the dash when one if them is below par. I also think that means it could be guesswork as to which tyre is the one in need of attention. I'm sure someone will chime in if I've got this wrong.

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No - you don't have it wrong DJP - There is no auto location system in Europe even though the very early original press releases stated that they would be included on all new IS models, The manuals do say '(where fitted)' so that they clearly have the choice to add it again at some later stage.

It was one of the things that I questioned as when I was test driving the IS back in early summer - I asked about the auto location tyre pressure system and after a bit of detective work by the dealers, they said that the specification had changed slightly from the original press release and would now only be the alert system via the warning light.

Alas - its just the humble tyre pressure alert system which means that you will have to manually check all 4 if you get the warning light - unless of course its fairly obvious which tyre is way below where it should be.

Having said that - even the standard warning system has helped me in the past when I have had a puncture and allowed me to get it sorted before anything bad happened.

Welcome to the club gtb5 btw!

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The test car I had sounded like a tram slowing down - quite liked it as it had a kind of industrial efficiency association what with the kinetic energy thing going on.

As for the ASC - I turned it up once, then off thereafter - I think my Scalextric cars sounded more authentic!!

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When you brake, I believe that the motor goes into ERS (Energy Recovery System) mode - really putting everything into the Battery - or as much as is practicable from the inertia of the car slowing down, as to not waste that energy.

Some of the newer E-only cars can almost generate enough Kinetic energy so that the Battery isn't used at all, especially on a flat road, like the BMW i3. So they claim….and you can actually drive it using just the accelerator only - apparently when you lift, so much ERS is "forced" that the car actually comes to a stop as hard as if you apply the brakes, and that might take some getting used to else you'd be jerking (!) around

I've got a test drive coming soon….

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http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEUQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.evworld.com%2Flibrary%2Ftoyotahs2.pdf&ei=94OyUvv-J47B7AajwYGQAQ&usg=AFQjCNFq7bbmJxs-t3UemXukLxFlI8J90g

This document contains a good description of the Toyota/Lexus hybrid system. The document is a little old, but I don't think the fundamental principles will have changed.

The current edition of What Car magazine has a short article on a test drive in the BMW i3 which says the Battery lasted 56 miles and that "it takes time to get used to the way the I3 slows down due to the heavy engine-braking effect".

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http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEUQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.evworld.com%2Flibrary%2Ftoyotahs2.pdf&ei=94OyUvv-J47B7AajwYGQAQ&usg=AFQjCNFq7bbmJxs-t3UemXukLxFlI8J90g

This document contains a good description of the Toyota/Lexus hybrid system. The document is a little old, but I don't think the fundamental principles will have changed.

The current edition of What Car magazine has a short article on a test drive in the BMW i3 which says the battery lasted 56 miles and that "it takes time to get used to the way the I3 slows down due to the heavy engine-braking effect".

Does it state how it was driven? The jury is still out on Battery only E cars, but the range extender is the one we'll be driving….if BMW ever come back to me!

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Hi Jonas, Sorry I don't have the What Car magazine now, but the review of the I3 here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/bmw/10440292/BMW-i3-Range-Extender-review.html reports a slightly better range of 65 miles. However, it also notes the car automatically restricted performance when the Battery charge ran low: "It was a gradual process, from motorway cruising speed all the way down to 44mph. By this time I was travelling up a slight incline and had effectively become a slow-moving obstacle. Lorries were catching me with quite frankly terrifying closing speeds."

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Hi Jonas, Sorry I don't have the What Car magazine now, but the review of the I3 here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/bmw/10440292/BMW-i3-Range-Extender-review.html reports a slightly better range of 65 miles. However, it also notes the car automatically restricted performance when the battery charge ran low: "It was a gradual process, from motorway cruising speed all the way down to 44mph. By this time I was travelling up a slight incline and had effectively become a slow-moving obstacle. Lorries were catching me with quite frankly terrifying closing speeds."

Why oh why would anyone even risk taking one on the motorway? They really are not made for that! It's almost as crazy as taking a 1970's moped on a motorway....they're meant for town use - which is why I'm always dubious of what car mags claim they achieve on tests.

PS - just reading that article, it seems to state that the dimwit driver didn't read the instructions lol and didn't engage "range extender mode". I'd still never take an electric thing on a motorway - it's like using a mobile phone knowing the Battery is flat

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