BMW's soft option

BMW is promoting the X1 as a 'sports activity vehicle' rather than an SUV. Photo / Jacqui Madelin

BMW wants to grow its business. A high-riding compact soft-roader suits the Kiwi lifestyle, and X1 is deliberately priced to overlap the similarly focused mainstream.

What's new
Not the underpinnings, which are 3 Series Touring - available with four-wheel-drive overseas - albeit here fitted with a shorter, narrower but taller hatch-like body.

The engines are standard BMW fare, with a 2.0-litre 20d turbo diesel with 130kW at 4000rpm and 350Nm, and the twin-turbo 23d with 150kW at 4400rpm and 400Nm. Either rear or four-wheel-drive options are available, dubbed sDrive and starting at $56,900, or xDrive from $66,900.

Two petrol powerplants will also arrive later this year, an sDrive 18i four-cylinder and an xDrive 25i six.

The company line
BMW Group NZ MD Mark Gilbert is upfront about this car's soft focus. "We're pushing it as a sports activity vehicle rather than sports utility." Still, SUV sales remain strong here, and "it's a great opportunity for us to increase our volume in 2010 and beyond".

It also means BMW gets the jump on Audi's Q3 and Land Rover's LRX, as well as replacing the outgoing X3, which is about to step up in size.

Gilbert hopes customers will hopes customers will cross over from mainstream soft-roaders. "This is the car for New Zealand - it's a little bit of the cake and you can eat it too; it's lifestyle, it's what New Zealanders want."

What we say
The X1 features BMW's efficient dynamics tech and brake energy regeneration. The alternator doesn't charge up hills to reduce power drain, but fast-charges when you lift off, while it trickle-charges under cruising to retain just enough power for what you're using. There's a variable displacement compressor for the air con so it only runs when you want it. And the manual cars will also get stop-start.

All this miser-tech means the 20d drinks just 5.8 litres of fuel per 100km.

Lots of thought went into the cabin, too. All the rear seats fold independently; the boot carries 420 litres and you can increase that to 490 just by putting the rear seatbacks straight - or to 1350 if folding them flat.

On the road
This is a well-sorted hatch to drive - rather like Skoda's Yeti, emphasising on-seal performance while compromising off-road ability. It's an honest approach many buyers will like, given so few ever take their cars off the tarmac.

The engine's smooth, grunty enough to make the most of that handling, yet sufficiently refined to cruise - though a tad noisy under load.

We tried only the xDrive variants - the sDrive's rear bias should supply a slightly more dynamic drive experience.

Mind you, the xDrives feature the performance control set-up from the X6 that cuts power to the inside wheel when cornering and boosts it to the outside wheel to literally drive you round corners. No wonder it feels good.

Why you'll buy one
You like the look; you want an xDrive BMW and this one's the most affordable; you want an xDrive but can't afford it, so you'll opt for sDrive and hope no one will notice ...

Why you won't
If you want a car, you'll buy one. If you want an SUV, you want one that's useful off road. And run-flat tyres may be safer, but the ride is still too jiggly.