The One Redux

The first and a vital launch for BMW in 2016, the all-new X1 promises to boost the model’s popularity and sales in India.

It’s been five years since the BMW X1 showed up in showrooms across India. Jump forward to 2016, BMW gets their brand new X1 into the country and this one blows away all doubts about the car’s category. One look at it and it’s evidently more masculine, closer to its SUV roots than the previous generation car.

The new front end design is sportier, ramped up with the M Sport trim, the LED headlamps look angrier rather than puppy-faced predecessor. The strong lines on the bonnet scream “I’m all grown up!”. It’s what you don’t see under the skin that is responsible for the new look as well as a larger cabin. The new X1 is based on BMW’s UKL platform. This modular platform has liberated a lot of space on the inside of the car. While the driver and co-passenger sit higher now, the rear passengers get more kneeroom, headroom, flexibility to slide the middle row back and forth, and recline the seatback. What has been made even better by the new chassis is the vast improvement in ride and handling. This new car now gets an electronically assisted steering, that doesn’t make the car’s weight felt while retaining the directness of the old one.

The new X1 uses an 8-speed ZF automatic transmission that shifts seamlessly in any situation, even negotiating heavy traffic. There is always the option of shifting through the paddle shifter on open roads. The transmission is mated to a 2-litre, twin-turbo, diesel engine that produces 190bhp and 400Nm of torque. The most significant change here is the adoption of a front-wheel drive format with the new platform. The new X1 becomes the first car in in BMW’s current line-up to adopt this architecture.

The first and a vital launch for BMW in 2016, the all-new X1 promises to boost the model’s popularity and sales in India