BMW X1 facelift review, test drive and video

BMW addresses the old X1’s issues with refreshed styling, more power and equipment.

Published on Feb 14, 2013 05:22:00 PM

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BMW X1 facelift review, test drive and video

This new car addresses one of the biggest weaknesses of the old X1 – its dull interiors. This one gets more premium materials than before and instead of a two-one dash, it now gets an all-black theme throughout the cabin including the seats. The wooden inserts on the dashboard are now replaced with aluminium-finish inserts and the high-gloss surface around the air-con controls and chrome inserts around the display screen gives it a nice touch.

Three trim-levels are on offer – base, xLine and Sportline. The base variant includes climate control, electric wing mirrors and fog lamps, on board computer, audio system with CD/aux/USB and 17-inch alloy wheels. The xLine variant adds underguard elements for front and rear aprons, side skirt covers and air intake and kidney grille slats in Titanium Silver matte finish. This variant also gets special door sills with xLine badging, sports multi-function steering wheel with leather, multi-colour ambient lighting, floor-mats with colour-matched piping and Fineline Bay matte wood finish exclusive to the xLine trim level.

The next trim level, Sportline, comes with front and rear aprons, side skirt covers, air intake and kidney grille slats in black high-gloss, black-chrome trimmed exhaust finishers, unique design for 17-inch alloys and door sills with BMW Sport badging and sport seats, BMW Sport steering wheel with leather and red stitching and brushed aluminum trim on the interior.

A navigation system with an integrated hard disk and an 8.8-inch screen, panorama glass roof, power seats, rain-sensing wipers and a heated steering wheel are on offer as optional equipment.

The X1’s longitudinal setup means that the transmission tunnel intrudes into the cabin The X1 is low slung and you sit much closer to the ground and the seating position, even with the height adjust, is low and it doesn’t give you the feel of an SUV. The high sill makes getting into the X1 a little difficult as well.