On Monday, I got a special guided tour of the new BMW X1 which was hidden away in a Sydney BMW showroom, which isn’t yet allowed on the streets.
As I walked towards the SUV, first thing I noticed was it’s agile grille, and the body of the car covered in this amazing pearlescent brown. I know brown sounds revolting, but this colour was just amazing. It’s a new colour by BMW.
The car is a cross between the 1 Series and X3, which has turned it into a hatchback All Wheel Drive SUV.
It’s an attractive car, from every angle. I found it hard to find a position walking around the car where I thought it looked abit weird. This car is refined. It is like BMW have smoothed out the rigid lines of the X3 and pumped abit of muscle into the 1 series, with an outstanding result. The current model of the X3 has come to the end of the BMW 7 year cycle to make way for the new X3 which comes out 2011.
Getting in the SUV was comfortable and easy, it felt light and airy in there with the colour combination – beige leather with a dark timber finish on the dash. It has all the usual standard bits and pieces that all the other models have (excluding some of the 1 Series models), including a Sport Package with firm suspension, large wheels and tires, navigation system with iDrive controller, rear-obstacle detection, rear side airbags, heated seats and steering-linked headlamps. All this with a 3 litre Diesel engine, which sounded pretty gutsy when I turned it on via the START/STOP button on the dash.
I felt comfortable, controls where all in easy reach, the small and smooth steering wheel feels great to hold onto, visibility is great and it has a moonroof which lets an abundance of light in.
I really like this car and would totally consider it if it was the sort of car I was looking for. It definately beats it’s competitors in that same price range like the Volvo XC60 or the Land Rover Freelander 2.
The thing that suprised me most about this car was the price. You can get a decently spec’ed X1 on the road for around $65,500. I think thats pretty good, for a car that has most things that the 3 Series & X3 has, plus a little more!
The X1 will be available for test drives on the 9th of April.
Likes: Price, standard features, interior layout, visibility, spacious and great to look at.
Dislikes: The iDrive system is complicated, that’s all really!
Would I buy it? Absolutely! I would buy the one I saw, in that amazing brown colour.
