Road Test: BMW X1 18d Sport

Price as tested: €47,670

+ Sharp chassis, more welcoming interior, practical, plenty of poke from smaller engine
– Still looks a little awkward, pricey
= Really quite a sweet car
In just two and a half years, the BMW X1 has notched up sales of more than a quarter of a million units, and that it without it being sold in the massive US car market, a situation BMW is well on the way to rectifying. If you ever doubted the massive current global appetite for classy, compact SUVs, then doubt it no more.

There is a massive slice of my brain that rails against these cars though. Take the specific car we’re testing here; €47k’s worth of X1 18d Sport. Yes, it’s chunky, good looking (if you appreciate the current BMW design idiom) and both decently spacious and practical. But for the same money, you could be in a lower-slung, better looking, better-driving BMW 3 Series Touring, a car that I believe to be just about perfect. Yet people will continue to flock to the X1.

Which should be abhorrent to me (I just love estates) and yet, with a few days in the X1’s company it easily charmed its way into my affections.

The styling has been updated for this year, with a new bumper, front airdam, tweaked lights and some other small adjustments. Cleverly, the converging lines of the bonnet’s power bulge and the upsweep of the front bumper actually makes a subtle X-shape. Clever, that.

Inside, the quality of materials used and the fact that the centre console has been redesigned (it now faces more obviously towards the driver) is genuinely welcoming. The Sport spec helps here, with figure-hugging seats that, in spite of a distinctly offset driving position, mean long journeys are very comfy experiences. In spite of being an X1, it’s pretty close to the 3 Series in space terms, and the boot out the back is large (420-litres), deep and square. A shame that the X1 doesn’t get a separate opening glass window in the tailgate (as does the 3 Touring) but hey, you can’t have everything.

Having some cake and eating it is the very point of the newly-fitted 18d diesel engine though. In spite of the name, it’s actually a de-tuned 2.0-litre (1,995cc to be exact) and pumps out 143bhp and 320Nm of torque. Those aren’t exactly ground-shaking figures, but actually the X1 feels plenty brisk and only starts to struggle when you get into the upper reaches of the rev band. Happily, with that much low-down torque, you won’t need to do that very much, so progress is swift and relaxed.

Thanks to BMW’s clever EfficientDynamics systems (a battery of fuel-saving tech including stop-start, brake energy recovery, a low-drain air conditioning compressor and more) the X1 18d returns impressive official figures of 5.4-litres per 100km (that’s 52mpg) and 143g/km of Co2. Impressively, those figures are attained with the optional 8-speed automatic gearbox fitted, as it was to our test car. It costs a whopping €2,191 but it’s so smooth, unobtrusive and effective that it just might be worth it. An auto that genuinely calls the need for a manual into question.

BMW has also clearly been at work on its suspension setups. A few years ago, a large-wheeled (17” alloys), stiffly-sprung BMW SUV in Sport spec would have been a recipe for loosened fillings and shattered spines. This time around though, although Germanic firm-ness is still the name of the game, there is a subtle suppleness that makes everything much more relaxing. And yet the BMW traditions of sharp handling and a balanced chassis are still there in spades. Meanwhile, the X-Drive all-wheel-drive system gives you terrific confidence in changing conditions. Or just when it’s chucking it down with rain. You can get a cheaper S-Drive version with rear-wheel-drive, but if you’re buying an SUV, shouldn’t it be 4wd?

One caveat though; the steering, which although communicative and brilliant at speed just weights up too much around town and at lower speeds. It’s just too darned heavy and surely that’s not good for the likely target market for these cars.

Still, with that one small flaw in the diamond, I’ve come away from the X1 really rather liking it. No, it’s not perfect and yes, I’d still overall have a 3 Series Touring for similar money, but if you’re into the whole SUV thing (and many, many of you are) and you fancy the famed Blue and White flag of Munich on your driveway (again; many, many) then this is a good place to start.

BMW X1 X-Drive 18d Sport
Price as tested: €47,670
Price range: €35,160 to €49,010
Capacity: 1,995
Power: 143bhp
Torque: 320Nm
Top speed: 195kmh
0-100kmh: 10.1sec
Economy: 5.4l-100km (52.3mpg)
CO2 emissions: 143g/km
Road Tax Band: C. €330
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 87% adult, 86% child, 64% pedestrian, 71% safety assist

Road Test: BMW 640d Gran Coupe

Price as tested: €120,033

+ Gorgeous, balanced chassis, mighty engine, comfort, economy, noise
– Nothing much
= Makes you feel like Batman. No higher recommendation.


Much as I foolishly did when I first drove the new BMW 6 Series convertible, I came to the Gran Coupe with some unfortunate preconceptions. Too big. Too bloated. Too much of a plutocrat barge for this day and age. A €100k car in 2012 Ireland? C'mon, that's like €30k more than Audi asks for the A7 or Mercedes wants for a CLS. Etc etc. And so on.But, just as I did with the cabrio, I (spoiler alert) came away utterly loving the car. Which just goes to prove two things. One, never underestimate BMW and, two, review the car on the road, not the car in your head...

So, what is a Gran Coupe? Well, it's the latest in a burgeoning line of car makers either adding extra doors to existing two-door coupes or chopping the rooflines of existing saloons to create saloon-coupe hybrids. The idea is to create cars with the looks and panache of coupes with most of the easy-access practicality of saloons. Thus the afforementioned CLS and A7 but also the A5 Sportback, the Volkswagen CC and sundry others currently in development.

In the specific case of the Gran Coupe, BMW has taken the standard 6 Series shell, given it a 113mm wheelbase stretch (taking to just beyond the 5-metre long mark) and crammed in a couple of extra doors. The result is a long, low wide chop-top that manages to avoid looking like a 6 Series that's turned back, Cinderalla-at-midnight-style, into a 5 Series and is frankly, pretty gorgeous. Especially in the black of our test car, which in true Father Ted fashion, wasn't actually black at all but instead very, very, very, very, very dark blue. It's gorgeous and I'm going to shut up now and just let you go and look at the photos.

Done? Good, then I'll continue...

Behind the sharks-nose grille and lights likes the 40d diesel engine, actually a 3.0-litre straight-six with twin sequential turbos – a development of the engine we've been familiar with for many years in the 535d and the old 635d. Now, it comes with some interesting  figures. 313bhp is a good start but 630Nm of torque is even better again and those are combined with a 5-odd-secs 0-100kmh, claimed 50mpg fuel economy and 148g/km of Co2. That is frankly a remarkable set of figures and proof once again that BMW's chief engine designer is actually a Mr. Potter, a youthful man with glasses who displays his diploma from Hogwarts with quiet pride.

It's a truly stunning engine to be in control of, so much so that it eclipses the more headline-grabbing 560bhp petrol V8 from the M5 in my mind. Power arrives in a near-silent rush from below 1,500rpm, shunting the 630d forward in a manner that suggests that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe express has derailed and smacked you, silently, up the backside. The engine only makes you aurally aware of it at higher rpm, where instead of a diesel rattle, you get a creamy, slightly rough-edged snarl. It's lovely. And addictive. Rather like cream itself.

As for economy, well almost needless to say we couldn't match BMW's claimed figure but our average, which hovered in the mid-sevens in terms of litres burned per 100km traveled (a solid 45mpg-ish) still seemed pretty good, and if we also failed to match BMW's claimed touring range of 1,300km, then a solid 8-900km still seems achievable.

Inside, in spite of the Gran Coupe's extra length, the cabin still feels intimate and tight fitting. The dash and centre console seem to bulge and swoop almost organically around the driver, allowing you to settle deep within the car, wheel pointing straight at your chest. The standard leather trim is gorgeous and inviting and the seats prove endlessly comfortable, something the old-shape 6 Series missed out on.

In the back, while it's not surprisingly not as commodious as a 5 Series, the Gran Coupe is absolutely fine for both head and legroom and unless you're the star player for your local basketball team, you should be able to get very comfy. That practicality is backed up by a 460-litre boot which should be adequate for most purposes.

To drive, that stretch in the wheelbase seems only to have improved the dynamics relative to the standard 6 coupe. Not that the standard car is lacking in any sense but just that the Gran Coupe seems to give you a wider range of options. Selecting comfort from the little toggle switch by the gear selector for the excellent 8-speed automatic transmission seems to be the best option for Irish roads. Sport is fine and won't knock your fillings out, but Comfort just gives you that extra little sense of flex that turns tackling an Irish back road from a chore to a delight. In spite of its size, the Gran Coupe can be cornered on a pin and placed to within millimetres of your desired trajectory. The steering, in any of the four modes, is always a little bit wooly and artificial feeling (something not helped by BMW's continuing insistence on fitting its M-Sport specced cars with fat, over-stuffed steering wheel rims) but the reactions of the chassis itself are wonderfully well balanced and its these that you learn to exploit, and never mind the faintly disappointing steering.

I had expected many things of the Gran Coupe, few of them good. Given the massive extra expense it asks buyers to stretch too relative to an Audi A7 or Mercedes CLS, I was certain ahead of the fact that BMW was overstretching itself, and I remain convinced that the Mercedes actually has the better sorted chassis. But the Gran Coupe, thanks in no small part to its wonderful engine, is actually a star performer and goes so far to justifying its lofty six-figure price tag that you almost begin to forgive the expense. Fabulous to drive, irrepressibly grunty and bewitching to look at, it may be a niche within a niche but that's a niche I'd happily squeeze myself into.

Actually, on a final note, the best drive I had in the Gran Coupe was not up some twisting coast road (although I did do that and it was fabulous) but a gentle 50-60km pootle to my local cinema and back. The Dark Knight Rises, the new Batman film was on, and comic book nut that I am I simply couldn't resist. Coming back out after nearly three hours of Bat-tastic Batmanery and plipping the lock on the low, dark, glowering Gran Coupe felt just perfect, and for the briefest of moments, I was Bruce Wayne. And that might just be the moment at which the Gran Coupe's price tag begins to look worth it...



BMW 640d Gran Coupe M-Sport
Price as tested: €120,033
Price range: €97,110 to €131,520
Capacity: 2,993cc
Power: 313bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Top speed: 250kmh
0-100kmh: 5.4sec
Economy: 5.6l-100km (50.4mpg)
CO2 emissions: 148g/km
Road Tax Band: C €330
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested