Coming to a school car park
THE multipurpose vehicle (MPV) market has not had a great time in recent years, particularly in SA. Stalwarts like the Renault Scenic and Toyota Verso have disappeared from the scene, leaving the likes of the Volkswagen Touran and Mercedes-Benz B-Class, the latter having been launched with a couple of minor updates last week.
So why would BMW want to join the school run? Well, for a start the company says the new 2 Series Active Tourer is not really an MPV. Instead, it is a car aimed at those with an active lifestyle, those who need to be able to make use of the sliding rear seat to make more space in the back to put in mountain bikes, camping gear or cooler boxes for a day at the dam. MPVs have always been good for that but yet they have been largely ignored by the active set in favour of crossovers and SUVs.
I find it difficult to think that BMW can change the minds of the active set: after all, it looks like an MPV in the same way as the BClass does. Merc has actually done fairly well with its mom’s taxi option and BMW has obviously decided to avoid creating its own niche models for five minutes and is having a go at a genre it has never been in before, (unless you class the numerous X5s in the school car park as mom’s taxis too).
According to BMW SA’s communications guy, Edward Makwana, the company is aiming to increase sales in the small premium segment by 40% globally over the next three years. That requires a big marketing push and some new models, hence the decision to launch the Active Tourer.
“We are entering segments that we have not previously been in,” he said.
In order to attract more people to the Bavarian brand, there has to be some resemblance to other models. The Active Tourer has “typical BMW design”, according to Makwana. That might be a bit of a stretch, externally at least. The familiar kidney grille is there, of course, and the rear tries to look a bit X3, but much of it has clearly been penned by designers who have spent ages poring over key rivals. I have to say that I am not convinced about the styling, but place a time lapse camera outside the school car park and I am quite sure they will start appearing like leaves in the spring. It is not the BMW design style we are used to, but times change and the market evolves.
Climb inside the cabin, though, and you instantly feel you are in familiar BMW territory. Up front there is very little that differs from a regular 1 or 2 Series model. It is the rear with its superb legroom and that sliding split seat that sets it apart. It reminds me of the Honda FR-V of a few years back that had all that built-in flexibility in terms of balancing the seating requirement with luggage needs, depending on the situation. In total the boot space can be expanded from 468l to 1,510l. It is all very useful and you can even fold down the front passenger seat if you need to stow something longer, like your kid’s double bass or, as BMW would prefer you to think, an active teenager’s surfboard.
The big question for any fan of the propeller marque, is whether it drives like a BMW, particularly in light of the decision to make it front-wheel drive. Yes, frontwheel drive. This is the first BMW to swap the drive to the front wheels, unless you count Mini, of course. In fact, the Active Tourer shares its chassis, and its engines, with the new Mini five-door.
There will be four derivatives, including a 218i, 220i, 220d and 225i. At the launch around George we had the chance to drive the 218i and the 225i. The 218i uses the 1.5 TwinPower turbo engine from the Mini Cooper but it weighs in at a full 200kg heavier which shows in the way the engine has to work harder. The 218i we drove at launch also behaved in a remarkably un-BMW like way. The steering was way too light and the suspension made the body slide around on the axles. With a price tag of R378,000 it was very disappointing. I am assured that you can add options like Servotronic steering and variable adaptive suspension damping to correct this, but these add to the cost.
The 225i was a different matter altogether. It is a BMW. The steering was well weighted, the suspension composed and it felt like driving any other model from the marque. The 2l TwinPower turbo engine from the Cooper S helped of course, as did the slightly increased weight, but it was a very different vehicle to the 218i. It is very good and I felt more at home, rather than feeling like I was in a Verso with a BMW badge.
You have to fork out more for the 225i in base spec, a full R448,847. Add to that options like the Sport, Luxury or M-Sport packages together with numerous items from an extensive list and you can easily head into the upper R500,000s. Whether you call it an MPV or an Active Tourer, that is expensive and at this point you could even consider an X1, which fits the active lifestyle moniker a bit better.
Whatever your thoughts, there is little doubt that the Active Tourer is likely to set the new benchmark for active soccer moms, so expect to see plenty of them on the streets of suburbia soon.
BMW has joined the school run with its new 2 Series Active Tourer I have to say that I am not convinced about the styling… but times change and the market evolves