Xoutpost.com - 2013 BMW X1 review

Thanks for posting that! I just drove a 2013 X1 with 3500 miles on it as a loaner vehicle when my 35d was in for the recall and for the life of me I would have NEVER figured out what the slot next to the shifter was for. Now it makes sense as to why the second cup holder is in the center console!

Ok so Here's the thing. The X1 I have is a stripped down model obviously ordered for dealer courtesy car use. No iDrive, nor screen, no real frills. Just your basics. I gave it a "Will it Baby" test last night and I have to say. It failed. Here's why:

Procedure as follows: Take all baby/toddler items found in my wife's e90 and put it in the X1.

Trunk space - Equal. We took the stroller straight out of my wife's trunk and put it in the X1 trunk and had the same amount of useable space left over in front of it. There is a caveat though. The X1 has a rear decklid which seems to be able to be detached from the hatch so that you could leave it down. I suppose you could use that space as storage but I wouldn't put anything overly heavy up there.

Rear Passenger space. Lots of legroom on the X1 compared to the e90. My 3.5 year old's booster as well as my 2 month old's carseat base fit just fine. The booster, though did have a minor inconvenience in that the seatbelt latch wound up almost underneath the booster. I had to slide the booster forward a bit, latch, then slide him back. Which is mildly annoying when you're standing outside the vehicle trying to buckle your kid in.

Driver's space. Compact but comfy enough. I longed for my Sport seats in my 35d. Everything was in arms reach and nothing struck me as oddly placed except for the secondary cup holder. The side view mirrors are nicely sized. I hate the mirrors on my wife's e90.

Passenger side. Fail. With the Chicco Carseat in place, the passenger's knees were in their chest. Yes, i'm exaggerating slightly but don't think about getting anything out of the glove box unless you're a contortionist.

Get up and go. To be honest with you, having driven my wife's car and my x I was a little let down. I was genuinely surprised to open the hood and see the words "twin turbo" on the engine cover. I wasn't expecting it to handle like my wife's car but I also expected it to be a little more peppy and not have as much body roll as my x does. Oh btw, I don't have AD on my x.

Bottom line? My 3.5 year old wanted to keep it. For me, I should have taken the 5 series loaner instead and am looking forward to picking up my 35d tonight. But, these opinions are my own. If you own one and love it, I wish you nothing but luck with it.

Oh, I should mention that i played around with the eco button on it. According to the computer, I was able to gain 3 miles while using it.