New BMW X1 review, test drive

What is it?

This is the second-generation BMW X1 that was launched in India at the 2016 Auto Expo. It’s also the first of the BMWs built on the front-wheel-drive ‘UKL’ platform to come to India. Yes, you read that right – the X1 is built on a front-wheel-drive platform and its engine is positioned transversely. This layout has a huge bearing on the way the new X1 looks. The long-bonnet look is gone and what you see is a more cab-forward design.

In fact, the whole design is a big departure from the old car. The new X1 is slightly shorter in length but is also taller and the proportions are a whole lot nicer now. Where the old X1 looked like a jacked up estate, this one looks like a small SUV.

And it’s rather well done too. The look is unmistakably BMW, with the large kidney grille up front flanked by shapely LED headlights with those trademark LED rings. The particular X1 with us is the range-topping M Sport version that gets sportier, more sculpted bumpers, M badging on the flanks and smart 18-inch wheels. It’s also the only X1 that can be had in this racy shade of Estoril Blue.

At the sides, the X1 manages to look larger than its predecessor and elements like the mildly flared wheel arches and strong beltline give it a nicer look too. The rake of the rear windscreen is also more SUV-like now, and styling at the rear is, again, very modern BMW. The spread out tail-lights with their LED elements look particularly attractive.