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What's the difference?
BMW’s X1 has changed. In a good way. Especially if you’re thinking about buying one as a family car.
Yep, last year the third-generation X1 arrived and after 13 years and three different attempts on a design, BMW has nailed it. And by ‘it’ I mean built a super practical and spacious small SUV that’s great to drive.
See, as a dad of two kids, when it comes to cars and my family ‘it’ means something totally different to what ‘it’ meant 10 years ago.
And that’s what this review is about: does the BMW X1, and specifically this xDrive20i M Sport variant we’ve tested here, make a good family car?
If you're thinking of buying it for your family then you need to read this and also consider the likes of Audi’s Q3 and the Mercedes-Benz GLB.
The Kia Sorento S diesel AWD is in the lower spec ranks of the Sorento line-up but it still seems like it would be, on paper at least, an easy vehicle to live with.
It’s a seven-seater with updated technology and a boosted features list and while it may not have the plush appeal of those in the Sorento upper echelon, such as the GT-Line, the Sorento S diesel AWD has plenty of potential as a family mover.
But what’s it really like? Read on.
This new BMW X1 feels like it's been built by a team of parents because it’s one of the most practical and easy to use small SUVs my family and I have ever lived with and, trust me, they’ve seen a lot of test cars come through the Berry garage.
We loved the roomy interior with high ceilings, the clever storage everywhere from the giant door pockets to the floating centre armrest up front and big boot for our pram.
Entry and exit is easy through the tall and wide doors, something my back was thankful for every time I had to put our baby into her car seat.
Driving is easy, with great visibility and the engine that comes in the xDrive20i M Sport makes this X1 sporty and fun to pilot, too.
The only drawback is the price, it's a bit expensive but at the same time you are getting a high-quality feeling SUV.
The Kia Sorento S diesel AWD is a solid buy option in the lower-spec realm of the market. This AWD SUV is not spectacular but it manages to be competitive and, as a seven-seater with updated technology and some good features, it does have ample potential as a daily-driving family mover.
However, if you want more safety tech and more premium accoutrements, you’re likely better off forking out the extra $10,000 or so and getting a top-spec Sorento GT-Line instead.
This current generation of X1 arrived in late 2022 and finally looked more like part of the BMW SUV family with tall and boxy styling rather than the sleek, but raised hatchback it seemed to be before.
My test car had 'M Portimao Blue' metallic paint - a flattering hue that showed off the X1’s lines as you can see in the images.
I like the X1’s oversized grille which suits the angry looking front bumper that comes with the M Sport inclusions, but balanced by pretty headlights.
Inside, the X1 xDrive20i M Sport is modern and minimalist in design. I like the floating centre armrest in between the driver and front passenger and the way it creates a feeling of more space and adds more storage.
The double screens are nice, but we’re seeing this same design and tech now in budget cars such as the Chery Omoda 5 and Haval H6. BMW needs to be even slicker and more stylish if it wants to maintain its edge.
If you like your SUVs sporty looking then check out the BMW X2, X4 and X6. These are coupe style SUVs (but with four doors).
The Sorento’s exterior is stunningly inoffensive. So, for anyone looking for an SUV that won’t make passers-by dry retch that’s all boxes ticked, I reckon.
The cabin feels family-friendly and functional. It's a basic but well designed space, although there’s no getting past the fact this is at the cheaper end of the Sorento line-up as its cloth seats and expanses of hard plastic remind you.
That said, chrome-like touches and faux hand-stitching go some way towards balancing out that impression.
The low-slung dashboard with integrated 12.3-inch touchscreen dominates the front of the cabin in a good way.
My family found the X1 xDrive20i to be one of the most practical small SUVs we’ve lived with thanks to its spacious interior, clever cabin storage and plenty of convenient features.
I need to point out the door pockets - they’re the biggest I’ve ever seen. They’re more door buckets than pockets and super helpful over the week not just for bottles but for everything else that I needed to dump out of my own pockets and into them.
The floating centre armrest up front looks like an ironing board and has a tonne of storage underneath.
The wireless charging is handy but the holster is a bit un-user friendly in terms of access, but it held the phone tight and stopped it becoming a projectile when driving, which is what you want.
There are power outlets galore, too, proximity unlocking, and a gesture tailgate.
Legroom in the back is excellent and there’s so much headroom throughout.
The X1’s 540-litre boot capacity is excellent for the class and meant we could fit our baby’s big pram and the seven-year old’s scooter and still have room for the grocery shopping.
This Sorento is 4815mm long (with a 2815mm wheelbase), 1700mm high and 1900mm wide.
As mentioned earlier, the interior is quite basic and simply designed, but with a low-key classiness about it.
The driver’s seat is six-way manually-adjustable with a pump-action for height, so pin-pointing your preferred position is a welcome minor workout unto itself.
The front seats are adequately comfortable without being too plush – that’s fine with me – and from there driver and passenger have ready access to plenty of storage and cupholders (including two in the front, four in the second row and two in the rear seat) and charging options (including two USB charge points in the front console and one 12V power outlet behind the centre console and one in the cargo area).
My teenagers weren’t impressed at all with the fact they had to plug their smartphones into charge points at the front. Oh, the torture!
The 12.3-inch digital multimedia system has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, both wired or wireless, and it’s an easy-to-use set-up with a crisp screen.
Air-con is a manual-controls affair, second-row passengers get air vents only (on the rear of the centre console), and third-row passengers don’t get vents or fan controls.
The second row is reasonably comfortable with room enough for head, shoulders and legs to be on the right side of comfy.
It sports a bottle holder in each of the doors, and there’s a centre armrest in the second row with cupholders for the El Grande cups of whatever almond-infused crappuccino your obnoxious screenagers are currently addicted to.
The second row is in a 60/40 configuration, which slides, reclines and folds down flat.
The third row is in a 50/50 configuration, a split-fold flat set-up, and it's the realm of mini humans – or you could put adults back there for any trip lasting longer than 10 minutes and you’ll be hated for life.
For those interested in packing potential space, the rear cargo area offers a listed 179 litres of storage capacity; a listed 608 litres in the rear cargo area when the third row is folded away; and 1996 litres when the second and third rows are packed away.
In the space of driving this SUV and writing this review the list price of the X1 xDrive20i M Sport has risen from $68,900 to $73,400.
That price hike was part of an increase across the model range and all grades now cost more, even the entry-level sDrive18i which is now 13K less than the xDrive20i M Sport.
But you’re paying for the more powerful, athletic and only all-wheel drive one in the X1 range.
You’re also getting loads of standard features in the xDrive20i M Sport.
There’s the 10.25-inch instrument display with three different styles for your speedo and other gauges, while flowing into that is the 10.7-inch media screen with sat nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and digital radio.
There are LED headlights, plus proximity unlocking, a head-up display, dual-zone climate control, a power tailgate, sports seats (the front ones are heated and power adjustable) and adaptive cruise control.
As the name suggests the xDrive20i M Sport is fitted with BMW M Sport goodies as standard. These include adaptive M Suspension, M leather steering wheel, M roof rails, M headliner and M interior trim.
My test car also had $8900 worth of options fitted including the sunroof, Harman Kardon stereo, the ‘Vernasca Black’ leather seats and 20-inch M light alloy multi-spoke wheels.
Is it good value? Well, you do get a lot of nice things here but at a $13,000 premium over the entry grade, plus the $3500 price jump in the past few weeks, I’d say the value isn’t great.
If you’re trying to keep the cost down, the sDrive18i is the budget pick.
My test vehicle this time is the Kia Sorento S diesel AWD, which sits at the bottom of the four-variant Sorento line-up (S, Sport, Sport+ and GT-Line). There is a petrol version, but the Kia Sorento S diesel AWD has a price of $53,680 plus on-road costs.
Standard features include a 12.3-inch digital multimedia touchscreen (with wired/wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), a basic digital driver cluster with 4.0-inch multi-function LCD display, AEB, blind spot collision avoidance assist, rear cross-traffic collision avoidance assist, 17-inch alloys (plus a full-sized spare), LED headlights, daytime running lights and fog lights.
It has cloth seats, six-way manually-adjustable driver’s seat, manual air-conditioning, second-row passengers get air vents only (on the rear of the centre console), and third-row passengers don’t get vents or fan controls.
Exterior paint choices include 'Clear White', as well as premium paint choices (all at an additional cost) such as 'Silky Silver' (on our test vehicle), 'Steel Grey', 'Mineral Blue', 'Gravity Blue', 'Aurora Black', 'Snow White Pearl', 'Volcanic Sand Brown' and 'Cityscape Green'.
The X1 xDrive20i M Sport has a more powerful engine than the grades below it in the range - it’s a 2.0-litre, turbo-petrol, four-cylinder making 150kW and 300Nm.
A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission does the shifting for you.
This is also the only all-wheel drive X1 currently in the range.
This Sorento has a 2.2-litre, four-cylinder common-rail diesel engine, producing 148kW at 3800rpm and 440Nm at 1750-2750rpm and that’s matched to an eight-speed dual-clutch auto transmission.
This is a generally clever and effective combination, but there is noticeable lag to acceleration from a standing start, no matter how hard you stomp the right foot.
It has all-wheel drive (part-time with lock mode) and driving modes that include on- and off-road options.
BMW says that after a combination of open and urban roads the X1 xDrive20i M Sport will use 7.4L/100km.
In my own testing my driving was mainly city and suburban, which uses quite a lot of fuel. We did dashes to birthday parties, the grocery shopping, school drop offs and all of it in busy traffic.
I recorded 8.9L/100km, but that’s not overly thirsty considering I was carrying two car seats with children, and all the gear that goes with them.
A small 45 litre tank means the xDrive 20i M Sport has a range of about 608km, which is on the shorter side.
Official fuel consumption for the 2.8-litre four-cylinder Sorento S diesel is 6.0L/100km on a combined cycle.
Actual fuel consumption on this test, from pump to pump, was 6.6L/100km.
This Sorento has a 67-litre fuel tank so – going by that fuel consumption figure – you should be able to get a driving range of about 1015km from a full tank.
Only a week before testing the X1 xDrive20i M Sport I’d been reviewing a BMW 330e and going from the 3 Series to the SUV was like changing my seating position from being in a bathtub to sitting on a bar stool.
Actually, the X1’s seat is far more comfortable than a stool and the refined quality is what you’d expect from BMW.
But compared to the low slung 330e the visibility and the upright driving angle of the X1 is very different.
It’s something you want in an SUV that puts practicality before performance.
As much as I liked the sporty sedan, as a dad I preferred being able to see better when parking in the X1, and this made life a lot easier.
Easy is a good word to describe what the X1 xDrive20i M Sport is like to drive - from that visibility to the light steering, comfortable ride and that great engine with all-wheel drive.
That 2.0-litre four-cylinder has more than enough grunt to run up the steep hills in my neighbourhood without struggling, the transmission is smooth and the all-wheel drive system adds a bit more reassurance in the wet weather.
All of this makes for an easy, enjoyable drive.
As I mentioned earlier, this SUV can feel a tad lardy at times, especially from take-off, but it exhibits slightly livelier characteristics soon enough. Just don’t climb into the driver’s seat expecting a dynamic experience.
Steering has a nice balance to it and the Sorento never feels gargantuan so navigating through busy city and suburban streets is on the correct side of easy.
Ride is a bit firm, but the all-pervasive mindful peace you experience from being in such a hushed cabin tends to mostly negate any minor discomfort you may otherwise feel from clipping every lump and bump on the road.
On-road driving modes are 'Comfort', 'Sport', 'Eco' and 'Smart' and off-road modes are 'Sand', 'Mud' and 'Snow'. All of these adjust engine outputs, throttle control and transmission behaviour to best suit the terrain and driving conditions.
Niggle: The driver-assist tech is a bit abrupt and intrusive. I’ve found this to be the case in Hyundai SUVs, too.
The traffic sign recognition, in particular, is clunky, reacting to signs that don't apply at that time of day, for example school signs, or it reacts to signs that don't actually apply to that section of road. So it's regularly chopping and changing between what speeds you should be at and what speeds you shouldn't.
This Sorento is an AWD with 176mm of ground clearance so I tested it on muddy grass, firm sand and gravel tracks. Nothing outrageous, but mildly challenging enough to make sure the all-wheel drive system can do what’s expected. And it does, seamlessly.
These off-road drive modes are, of course, no substitute for 4WD, but they are fine for when conditions become a little bit slippery. For example, if there’s been a drizzle of rain on the bitumen or the dirt track becomes a bit muddy.
This Sorento has a maximum towing capacity of 750kg (unbraked trailer) and 2000kg (braked).
The X1xDrive20i M Sport like all X1s scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2022.
A score of 88 per cent was given to child protection and the ANCAP report found that a 10-year old and six-year old in the second row had adequate to good protection in a front offset collision and a side impact.
For child seats there are two ISOFIX points and three top tether anchor mounts across the second row.
As you would expect from a model that’s hasn’t even been around a year yet, the X1 xDrive20i M Sport has the very latest in advanced safety tech.
There’s AEB which is operational from 5.0km/h to 210km/h and also works at road junctions. There’s lane keeping assistance, blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert.
There are curtain airbags for front and rear passengers, a centre airbag for the driver and co-pilot along with frontal airbags plus side chest and side pelvis airbags.
The Kia Sorento has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing in 2020.
Standard safety gear include seven airbags*, AEB (with car, pedestrian, cyclist and junction turning assist, from 5.0km/h to 85km/h; car detection up to 75km/h), as well as forward collision warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure alert, front/reverse parking sensors and more.
*Note: the curtain airbags only cover the first and second rows.
Because this is the entry-level Sorento it misses out on such handy tech as the side parking sensors, 360-degree around-view monitor and blind spot view monitor that are found in higher spec variants.
The Sorento has five top-tether child restraint anchorage points and four ISOFIX child seat mounts (two in the second row and two in the third row).
The X1 xDrive20i M Sport is covered by BMW’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
A five-year/80,000km service plan through BMW will cost $2150. You’ll be looking to pay an average of $430 per service every 12 months.
A seven-year/unlimited km warranty applies to the Sorento line-up.
Servicing intervals are scheduled for every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs soonest.
Capped-price servicing covers seven-years/105,000km and at the time of writing ranges between a low of $370 and a high of $817 per service over that period. Total cost is $3787 for an annual average of $541, which isn't particularly cheap.