HOT HATCH IN DISGUISE
return of BMW’s X1 The welcome
BMW doesn’t make mistakes. Or at least it’s not in the habit of admitting them. If the company introduces a product that isn’t an instantaneous hit with the public – such as the weirdly designed 7 Series of the early 2000s or the maddeningly complex iDrive system for infotainment – they automatically adopt Margaret Thatcher’s approach on the unpopular Poll Tax. They assure us that eventually we will come to understand and love it.
Thus we come to the new X1. In the language of the Bavarian Motor Works, the letter X designates cross-country, leading you to expect that the vehicle that bears an X will have some off-road capability (think BMW X5).
When it first appeared in 2009, however, the X1 looked more like a pumped-up, oversized estate car than a 4x4 sports utility vehicle (SUV). In an era when SUVs were the single sector of the car market showing unrelenting growth, this tactic looked odd. That suspicion was reflected in sales figures that were distinctly un-BMW-like.
The new X1 has now arrived on sale and it looks like – guess what? – a fully-formed if petite SUV that might even be a younger sibling to the mighty X5. Is BMW admitting it might have made a mistake in the past? Not a whisper. They know that the X1 is an excellent piece of work that requires no apology. Priced between £27,440 and £36,720 (before paying for those expensive extras BMW piles into all its cars), the new X1 costs as much as many full-size SUVs from companies like Ford, Mazda and VW.
Clearly a premium is being exacted for the snob-value of the BMW brand. Does the car live up to it? Answer: yes, and how. The X1 is so well put together, so cleverly configured and such a treat to drive that it trounces its German rivals. Available with front-wheel drive, in the style of BMW’s 2 Series Active Tourer, or with four-wheel drive, in even more expensive versions, the second generation X1 may look like an SUV but it isn’t going to storm any peat bogs.
The boot space has been expanded to 550 litres (85 more than Audi’s Q3) or 1550 L with the rear seats flat. Also enlarged is leg and headroom for passengers in a newly designed interior which exudes luxury and self-confidence. New options for this car include a Head-Up display for speedometers and satnav, Performance Control, Driving Assistance (including automatic parking), and bi-LED frontlights with adjustable beams for seeing round curves.
The two-litre engine in our test car may have been more rackety at low speeds than the world has come to expect from sophisticated diesels but it was a cracker in progress. With 188 bhp and 400Nm of torque passing through a six-speed manual gearbox or an eight-speed automatic with paddle controls on the steering wheel, 0-60 mph takes little more than seven seconds. That figure puts this car closer to the hot hatch class than the sluggish SUVs with which it might be more naturally compared.
Road-holding and driving dynamics are fully matched to those powers, making the X1 almost as much fun to drive hard as any GTi.
BMW claim 57.6 mpg but our average was 43mpg, almost 25% difference. Will BMW acknowledge this discrepancy? Don’t hold your breath.
‘The X2 is so well put together and a treat to drive that it trounces its German rivals’