BMW X1

Expert Rating:

What is it?

It's the smallest premium SUV on the market. For now, anyway, because the rest of the pack aren't too far behind: Audi is well into development of the Q3 and Land Rover has confirmed that the LRX junior Range Rover will definitely go into production. But for now, if you like your SUVs pretty small and with a lovely posh badge on the front, the BMW X1 is your only option. It's technically a crossover too, because if you live somewhere flat and with plenty of roads nearby, you can ditch the four-wheel drivetrain and specify a cheaper, more fuel efficient rear-wheel drive setup. Score.

Is it any good?

The X1 is a BMW, so of course it's any good, but it's also surprisingly disappointing in a couple of key areas. Firstly, the cabin ambience is below what we've come to expect from BMW, utilising plastics for parts of the dash and doors that wouldn't look out of place on a Japanese supermini. It's all glued together with solidity, of course, but it looks a little low rent for a car with a starting price of over £20k.

We drove the four-wheel drive xDrive20d - the middle engine of a range comprising three diesels badged 18d, 20d and 23d. Each engine comes in either six-speed automatic or manual form, and only the 23d can't be specified with two-wheel 'sDrive'. The X1 moves with a verve characteristic of all modern BMWs and because it's smaller and lower than other Beemer SUVs it feels more like a proper car: it turns with real sharpness and feels planted, resisting squat and dive. However, the trade-off for that dynamism is a ride that's just too hard, which will grate on the majority of buyers using the car as a posh family runabout: all that jiggling over speed humps could get tiresome.

The familiar 2.0-litre diesel unit is, as ever, fast and frugal, although in the X1 it seems to have lost some refinement, gaining a gruff note at higher revs. The manual gearbox doesn't shift as smoothly as we might have expected either, so we'd opt for the auto instead. And wind noise at motorway speeds isn't entirely shut out of the cabin.

But as a posh family runabout it still holds plenty of appeal. There's barely less cabin space than in the BMW X3 and the boot is plenty big enough to cope with the demands of 2.4 children. The rear bench folds forward incrementally to increase boot space without folding the chairs completely flat, but if you need it to it splits 40/20/40. Fully loaded the X1 will hold 1,350 litres of whatever. The door pockets are nice and big too, and because SE is base spec, it's well equipped.

Should I call the bank manager?

By all means, because at the lower echelons of the range the X1 makes a case as a good value SUV, with miserly running costs sweetening the deal. The 141bhp sDrive18d SE boasts 54.3mpg and 136g/km, and costs £22,660 - for an SUV remember. For that you get 17-inch alloys, climate control and parking sensors as standard, among other things of course.

At the other end of the spectrum, the xDrive23d SE - 201bhp, 295lb.ft, 0-62mph in 7.3 seconds - costs £29,055, which despite its performance and relatively low consumption (44.8mpg and 167g/km) will seem difficult to justify given how inferior the cabin quality is to, say, a 3 Series.

Summary

There's certainly a place for the X1 and it's largely a well-executed, good-looking and good value package. However, it still manages to be disappointing because of a couple of basic oversights; if only BMW had made the plastics better and the ride softer, it would probably have made the bigger X3 redundant at a stroke. As it is, it lacks the chunk of joie de vivre that would have turned it into a great car. Still, it will no doubt appeal to many for its practicality, low running costs, SUV driving experience, city-friendly proportions and big blue propeller on the bonnet. It goes on sale on 24th October, and BMW is taking orders now.

Mark Nichol