[Arthur55]

Having owned my X1 for a while now I thought I’d post my thoughts about the car with the 1.5 3 cylinder petrol engine and manual gearbox, front wheel drive, as this may not be somebodies thoughts of an ideal engine for this size of car.

My previous car was a 1 series with the same drive train but rear wheel drive.

Obviously the X1 is a heavier vehicle. On test drive I was presently surprised by how well the larger vehicle drove with the engine. My wife has a Mini with the same engine, and obviously as you go from a the smaller car up to 1 series then to the X1 the engine loses its ‘perkyness’ on each jump.

Even the Mini isn’t overly happy at driving at smack on 30 mph in 4th in the town. We often drive in 3rd at or under 30 mph to provide some flexibility if needed.

The X1 is the same. One thing I have noticed is that the engine is happiest above 2000 rpm. 1500 upwards it will pull fine but you can feel some slight vibration through the steering wheel when accelerating until after 2000 rpm. Having said that my X1 is a M Sport with the M Sport suspension. The tyres are Pirelli P Zero on 18 inch alloys. I must say that with this set up I also notice a lot of road surface difference and vibrations from this too. (The wheels are balanced)

On the open road the 1.5 is fine, pulls very well and is adequate for my needs. But you will find more gear changes are needed depending on how many gradients or hills you encounter. For instance on a dual carriageway, at a speed of 60 mph, with a slight gradient, the car is happier in 5th.

Fuel economy is fine, but you will need the touch of a ballerina on the throttle to achieve anything like BMW claim.

So in general don’t be put off buying the X1 with the 1.5 engine, but this is definitely better for town or city use.

[callum_62]

Interesting read

Im about to buy a 69 plate X1 and have narrowed it down to 2, and 18i and an 18D

[68jcb]

Hi, I have the 18d auto and it goes really well, if I put in sports mode, it's awesome!

[callum_62]

Well I bought one

Arrives on Tuesday

2019 facelifted xline in mineral grey

Add ons are sun protection glass, tech pack 1, tech pack 2 and sports seats

I'm sure for the type of driving I do the 18i will be sufficient

In reality there was about a 2300gbp difference with similar specs and I couldn't justify that

The car I'm getting is just over £11k cheaper than same spec new

10 months old and 3000 miles

[Peter_R]

Originally Posted by callum_62

Well I bought one

Arrives on Tuesday

2019 facelifted xline in mineral grey

Add ons are sun protection glass, tech pack 1, tech pack 2 and sports seats

I'm sure for the type of driving I do the 18i will be sufficient

In reality there was about a 2300gbp difference with similar specs and I couldn't justify that

The car I'm getting is just over £11k cheaper than same spec new

10 months old and 3000 miles

That's a good deal.

[oakey46]

QUOTE - Arthur55
'The X1 is the same. One thing I have noticed is that the engine is happiest above 2000 rpm. 1500 upwards it will pull fine but you can feel some slight vibration through the steering wheel when accelerating until after 2000 rpm. Having said that my X1 is a M Sport with the M Sport suspension. The tyres are Pirelli P Zero on 18 inch alloys. I must say that with this set up I also notice a lot of road surface difference and vibrations from this too. (The wheels are balanced).'

An interesting comment above, but I haven't any experience of vibration through the steering and the power delivery on my X1 is smooth right through the rev range, with more in the way of usable torque than I had possibly anticipated, especially considering it's a three cylinder engine. The designers at BMW have obviously done a lot of work in the design stages to alleviate that.
I don't have the M Sport suspension - mine is the standard X-Line setup with, for summer, Bridgestone Turanza T001 tyres on 18" rims, so maybe that has some influence, the real issue being road noise but, again, unless on really bad surfaces, it is tolerable (perhaps I'm just getting used to it!) and I shall look carefully at which tyres to buy when I need to replace the summer tyres sometime 2021 (I leave my 17" winter wheel set on the car until around late March).