[Closed] Another car thread. BMW X1 X-drive

Look out for people looking at it with a "who the **** in their right mind would buy any X BMW let alone an X1" look on their face ;). In all seriousness there are more spacious premium options; Golf Tiguan, Mazda cx3 (or whatever it's called).

They're based on the 3 series platform - the engines at least come from the older E9x 3 series so that will be the same engine as an e90 320d. Which is fine, they're very common and a good mix of economy and torque.

They look fugly IMO. It's an ultimate driving machine for people who don't like driving. Come to think of it, so is most of BMW's current line up.

Looks good to me.

Practical too I guess so just buy it ...

But buy one with Automatic gear because manual gear is sooo yesterday.

Looking for a slightly larger car for my wife.

An estate is larger, and less ****ery. X1 is a silly, silly car.

As above, if you want a larger SUV type car, there are many, many better options. Tiguan, XC60, Kuga, take your pick.

OP asked for real world experiemce not the haters.

IMO X1 is interesting as it offers nealry as much space as the X3, a neighbour has one and aside from being a great looking car (better than x3 & x5 imo) its very practical. I'm considering one as I'm looking for a compact 4x4 (xDrive model). I personally prefer Audi to BMW but I wonder whether the Q3 which I really like is quite large enough (my bikes always travel inside the car)

In responce to the above I am a VW fan but would put Golf and Tuigan well below a BMW in terms of quality and "prestigue". XC60 I like especially exterior styling but when I priced them up boy where they expensive.

Since when were the vw or Mazda premium options?

Are you looking at the new or old X1? Makes a huge difference.

We have the older shape X1 at work. It's poverty spec so the seats are rubbish with very little support. It does not have much interior space for the overall size. I'm really not a fan, but I'll leave it at that. I'd rather have an Octavia estate. More room, more comfortable, nicer to drive IMO. The 4x4 system seemed better of the Octavia too

Had one as a courtesy car when our 3 series convertible was in for a service.

It had a lot of extras on and was the auto box version. We thought it was very nice with lots of room inside and a good size boot. M sport models have lots of nice touches but do tend to have big wheels with pricey tyres.

Looked at a Q3 but this was cramped in the back and ultimately bought a Q5 which my wife drives.

I have a 3 series touring but have considered changing it for a X125d.

Pre 2012 and the interiors are cheap and nasty, go for a 2014 M Sport to get some nice kit included (Nav, Leather, auto) and also a facelift.

2016 are the better looking and are revised to have more space and equal the 3 series spec to make it no longer a poor mans small utility.

Looked at one the other day - more space than my 120d, X Drive for those wet Gorrick forest parking spots, car-like drive and only slight less MPG than my 120. About the same size interior as our '08 Kuga.

All I'd suggest to the OP is that you seriously look at the space if size is the criteria for changing the car. A few friends have smaller SUV type cars, and boot space especially is usually surprisingly small. Bigger hatchbacks/small estates usually win on the space and economy front.

I had one for 160K km....
Was a really good car & pleasant to drive (though mine was manual)

depends on what you need of course. There isn't huge amounts of space but no worse than the a V60 Volvo for example.

Build quality is typical BMW - mine had a hard life (company car - lack of respect from me :oops:) but handled it well

(I think its quite ugly still but I managed to get a much better deal than the equivalent 3 series touring at the time)

ps: even the sports seats aren't fantastic

Nice to see the Skoda Octavia gets a mention! It wouldn't be STW car thread without one.

I've just got rid of one after owning it for only 6 months.

I had a 63 plate X1 2.0d M Sport auto. Kit was low compared to competitors, the bluetooth is phone only, no audio streaming and most don't even have an auto dimming rear view mirror.

Avoid the M Sport at all costs, the suspension is unbearable and road noise from the large alloys is very very intrusive on anything but smooth tarmac. For me running up and down motorways it got too much. A lot of people attribute it to the run flats but it's an expensive job to replace them all if you wanted to figure out if it was or not.

Prices have taken a dive because of the release of the newer model and it being a much better car, people are swapping them pretty quickly so a lot of the older shape ones are coming on to the market.

I've swapped it for an Audi A4 Avant 2.0 Auto and it's a much much better car in every way and not much more expensive.

I like em'

Some are the sDrive (2wheel drive) and the xDrive (4WD) so watch for that, also 1.8D and 2.0D, manual and Auto boxes.

Other than that, look great IMO.

From a quick google, prices for 2012/13's with c40k on are about £13-£15k

To echo above a relative bought the M-spec (3+ L engine) in the non-X model and it goes like stink but the ride is very hard, he's wondering how he's going to see out the lease term.

Well it is a 2010 which has done done less than 5k per annum.

Full dealer service history - not that it's needed too much of this due to low mileage, fresh MOT, road-tax, service earlier last month.

Bodywork perfect, wheels perfect.

Only observations I had:

Low-rent interior, but that was to be expected.

Front tyres are getting low on tread plus both are more worn on the outside which suggests either BMW set-up toe-in or the alignment needs done.

Steering is fairly heavy a low speeds - believe this was as a result of standard power steering due to x-drive system. This could be BS of course.

177bhp model which is certainly pokey enough. Superchips seem to be able to squeeze a bit more out of it if required too.

In terms of space, not too shabby and it's notably bigger than the car it will be replacing.

And, I have seen, touched, driven it and it's close to home.

Given my recent car record, this must be a winner!

I've had an X1 and 118d on loan whilst my 3 series has been in for work.

The X1 was much smaller physically in size inside than I thought it would be. To me it was also a bit odd. It didn't drive like a good car ie BMW, but didn't have full 4x4 height etc.

The 118d I had was just as big inside, better screwed together and felt more like a car.

None of the X series would be my bag

Front tyres are getting low on tread plus both are more worn on the outside which suggests either BMW set-up toe-in or the alignment needs done.

Steering is fairly heavy a low speeds - believe this was as a result of standard power steering due to x-drive system. This could be BS of course.

177bhp model which is certainly pokey enough. Superchips seem to be able to squeeze a bit more out of it if required too.

The front tyres will always do that, normal for that car.

Steering is heavy on them, even with servotronic.

Superchips can map them but watch out for the torque limit on the gearbox.