BMW Rental in Kuala Lumpur

The entry point is the 330i M Sport at RM1,000 a day, RM5,000 a week or RM10,000 a month. The X4 sits at the same RM1,200 daily as the Velar and the Golf GTI and is the sensible small-SUV pick. Above that: the M4 Competition at RM2,300, the Z4 M40i roadster at RM1,300, the i7 and 750e both at RM2,500, and the X7 M Sport at RM2,700.

The i7 is the one worth explaining. It is fully electric, so there is no petrol cost at all, but you inherit charging. There is decent DC charging along the North-South Expressway and at most large KL malls, and if you are staying in one condominium for a month a home charger arrangement usually makes the maths very good. For a two-day booking with a long interstate leg, the 750e plug-in hybrid is the easier car — same money, no range planning.

The X7 is a genuine seven-seater and the one corporate clients book to move a delegation from KLIA to a hotel and then around town for a few days. It is also 5.15 metres long. Older car parks in the city centre — the ones with 2.0-metre height bars and tight spiral ramps — are not friendly to it. Around Mont Kiara, Bangsar South, Damansara and the newer malls it is a non-issue.

For company-account bookings the 330i and X4 do most of the work: presentable at a client car park, cheap enough that finance does not query the line item, and small enough to park at a shophouse office in SS15 or Puchong. We run monthly rates on the 330i, X4, M4, X7, i7 and 750e, and the monthly rate is roughly ten days of daily hire for thirty days of car.

Fuel: the 330i and X4 will do around 9 to 10 litres per 100 km mixed. The M4 Competition and X7 both have big turbo engines and heavy kerb weights and will happily take 14 to 16 in traffic. Nobody rents an M4 for economy, but it is worth knowing before you plan a Genting run and back.

All BMWs go out with a Touch 'n Go card fitted to the windscreen. You reload it or we settle the toll usage against the deposit at the end — whichever you prefer, agreed up front, not argued about afterwards.