BMW X1 CROSSOVER REVIEW

My car

I have owned this car since march and find it comfortable and economical. The 2.0 engine has enogh poke to get me out of any trouble and there is loads of room. Highly recomended

My car

Great car! We've owned this now for 3 months and the costs of keeping it going just keep putting smiles on my wife and I's faces. We downsized from a full sized 4x4 and saw our fuel costs drop by 60%! We average 47mpg (and that's about town!). It's comfortable, quick, solid and a great drive. The only gripe is the rear seats struggle to seat three adults comfortably and the engine can, on starting, sound tractor like. That said we could have bought an X3, or a Q5, and got that space. Then we would have sacrificed the lower TCO. The reviews seem overly harsh, especially when they talk about the interiors. We have the red leather and ebony inserts. Feels no different in quality to my pals Merc and in a different league to the more mainstream offerings - have you sat in a Freelander?

Those who complain about vibrations and excessive noise should take their cars back to BMW. I would suggest they have faults that need dealing with!

My car

What a disappointment. It seems that BMW rushed the development of this car to cash in on the SUV/crossover market. It is solid and well screwed together but suffers badly from a noisy diesel engine which transmits a lot of vibration through the cabin. Apparently it is the same engine that is used in the 3 Series but in the X1 it sounds and feels like a tractor. There is a continuous vibration through the pedal box which is very wearing on a long trip - like having an electric toothbrush on the sole of your foot. This, and the noise of the engine should have been ironed out at the development stage. The cabin quality is also below par. Some of the plastics, particularly around the centre console and interior door handles are cheap and scratchy. The steering around town is also on the heavy side. Seats are very comfortable and economy is not bad but overall, this is a cynical attempt by BMW to cash in on the booming small SUV market. There are better alternatives out there. I sold mine after three months. Enough said.

My car

Having owned BMW's for my last four cars I have to say i may be a little biased. I feel design and drive wise they just can't be beaten, especially inside the Cabin. The last BMW was a Z4 so a completely different tyoe if car but i still feel confident through the corners and it drives really well off road and on the country roads where i live, it also saved friends and family in the snow! It's amazingly good to run, torque in almost every gear to accelerate and good driver assist aids like Hill Descent Control. Got it with Prof Sat Nav and iDrive, which makes life so easy whilst driving along in my opinion and the voice control is good at recognising my pronunciation of the english language! Out of my 120d, 320i Coupe and this, the X1 is my favourite so far for space, comfort and flexibility.