![]() ![]() Back seats are firmly padded with little bolstering and very straight backs. Most cars get less comfortable as you move rearwards, and that is certainly true of the X1. Even Lexus is ditching real moo in their latest designs. If you want real cow, be prepared to pony up an extra $1,450. Something that isn’t standard however is leather. If you can’t find a comfortable position, go see a back surgeon. The optional thrones contort in more ways than I can describe and are one of the most comfortable seat designs in any $30,000-40,000 vehicle. ![]() Our X1 was equipped with the $3,000 M-Sport package which brings aluminum trim, a black headliner, steering wheel mounted shift-paddles and BMW’s excellent sport seats. Front comfort is excellent, even in the base model with an 8-way manually adjustable seat. BMW: you got the X5 and X6’s cupholders so right, what happened?Ĭupholder woes aside, there is little to complain about inside the X1. Want to jam a enormous southern-style Styrofoam drink in your X1? Good luck. You will also have a passenger complain their knee hits it all the time. ![]() When in place, you have a cup holder positioned to splash its contents on your snazzy iDrive knob. When it’s not inserted, you have an odd hole with a springy-cover concealing its depths. If you look at the picture below, you’ll see it: a funky little thing that inserts into a slot in the center console to the right of the shifter. After consulting the instruction manual, I found the other one. It was at that point I noticed I had only one cup holder. Being a lover of convenience, I headed to Taco Bell. Go to the south, my friend, go to the south. It’s obvious they are making effort to understand ‘mericans, bless their little hearts, but I think a US field-trip is in order for the guy who designs center consoles in Bavaria. Sure, they understand driving dynamics and styling, but the Burger King drive-thru is incomprehensible. Germans car engineers don’t understand America. This is an interesting choice when even Buick and Chevrolet have ditched their hard plastic interiors for squishy bits. The black upper portion of the dash has then been coated with a thin layer of soft material to improve feel, while the rest of the dash remains hard. Instead of the soft molded instrument panels used in other BMWs, the X1 gets a hard plastic unit. (How those six-figure shoppers feel about this is anyone’s guess.) Once you’re done playing with the high-rent knobs, your hands will discover where BMW saved money: plastics. This parts bin approach pays dividends for the X1 where you get the same shifter and iDrive controller found in six-figure BMWs. That’s obvious outside as well as inside the X1 where you’ll find the same shapes and many of the same controls/screens found in other BMW products. What’s your opinion? Sound out below.Įuropean car companies are accused of making the same sausage available in different lengths. My only other quibble outside is that the wheels look a bit small for the X1. First up, BMW’s rear hatchback design makes the X1 look less like a Volvo wagon, but also reduces practical load space. I should point out a few things before we move on. Get it now? Speaking of the X3, the X1 is 6.5 inches shorter and 3.5 inches narrower than its larger cousin. Only that wouldn’t sell as many X1s either. As a result, you might almost call the X1 BMW’s latest hatchback. Unlike the X3 and X5, the one thing BMW didn’t do was shorten the hood. (The X1 is a cousin of the 1-Series (E87) and 3-Series (E90).) Since wagon’s don’t sell well either, BMW stretched the X1 vertically and called it good. The result is a handsome BMW version of the Subaru Outback or Volvo XC70. While that term has become synonymous with “ginormous FWD soft-roader” the X1 is more of a “true” crossover in that it looks like a cross between a pregnant 1-Series and a mini X5. So what is the X1? It’s a crossover of course. OK, so BMW would prefer that I called the X1 “the most affordable” BMW in America, but I suffer from political incorrectness. Click through the jump as we look at the cheapest BMW in America, the 2013 BMW X1. The Germans are a persistent people, so for 2013 they are fishing with fresh bait. Then came the 1 series, a fantastic little car that hasn’t exactly set the sales charts on fire. Likewise, the fog lifted at BMW and they refocused on volume models. At some point he realized that 25-grand (in 1997) was an awful lot to have paid for an asthmatic 138-horsepower rattletrap and sold it. Like most 318 shoppers, he paid way too much because it had a roundel on the front. I know a guy who used to own a BMW 318ti. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |