Auto Fans Club

The BMW X1 will have several engine options, but BMW hasn’t said which variations will come to the United States. If the X1 gets a 2.0-liter turbocharged option, it will be a rare item for BMW because the base 1-Series and the base X3 have a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine.

Where does this engine slot the X1 in relation to BMW’s lineup and the competition? The X3, BMW’s smallest SUV, has a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine that produces 240 horsepower and gets 19/25 mpg city/highway. The Q5 is fitted with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that makes 211 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. The GLK has a larger engine: a 3.5-liter, 268 horsepower V6 engine. Edmunds agrees, saying, “The new BMW X1 has the potential to be the best-handling small luxury crossover on the market.”

The X1’s interior should fall in line with what the industry and shoppers expect from BMW. BMW hasn’t mentioned how much cargo space is available, but Edmunds says the X1 will have 14.7 cubic feet with the rear seats up and 47.7 cubic feet with the rear seats folded.

Car shoppers looking for a fun-to-drive luxury vehicle that also boasts decent utility will have an all-new option early next year: the 2011 BMW X1 compact crossover. Also contributing to the X1's agile demeanor is its significantly lower overall height (and center of gravity) than most rival compact crossovers.

The price paid for the X1's trick combination of more maneuverable size and a reasonably accommodating rear seat is cargo space. This makes its official name the BMW X1 xDrive28i. That low-revving workhorse should also deliver impressive fuel economy.

BMW is an expert at filling niches that buyers probably never even thought existed. Witness vehicles such as the 5-series Gran Turismo, the upcoming Mini SUV, and the smallest member of the X family, the X1.

This new BMW baby ute is 175.4 inches long, 70.8 inches wide, and 60.8 inches high. That makes it 2.8 inches shorter than a 3-series wagon and 4.5 inches shorter than an X3. In everyday driving, the AWD system delivers 60 percent of the engine torque to the rear axle and 40 percent to the front, but the multidisc clutch pack is able to apportion torque to whichever axle needs it for traction.

Inside, the X1’s décor and layout mimic those of the 3-series. The cargo area varies between 15 cubic feet with the rear seats slid all the way back—there’s another 3 cubic feet available if they’re slid forward—to 48 cubic feet with the seats folded flat.
The X1 definitely wants to be the sports car in the compact-SUV segment.