BMW BLOG

BMW X1 reviews continue to pop up in our RSS reader. This time, our friends over at Edmunds.com, spent some time behind the wheels of a new BMW X1 at the Leipzig plant in Germany. All the X1 reviews we have seen recently are targeting the European automobile market and consumers; and the official launch date was set for October 24th.

Those of us living in the U.S. will have to wait a little longer than a year before we would see the entry level SAV. So far reviews have been on the positive side, with the main focus being placed on efficiency and performance. There are still voices that disagree with the interior design quality, but that’s another story we’ll get into in the near future.

Hidden deep into their review, there is a small piece of information that will make some of the BMW fans happy: “But then the BMW people reassured us that this four-cylinder diesel will be coming over to North America in the X1 and other BMWs by 2012.” In a way, expected, but still nice to receive reassurance that the BMW diesel engines offering will increase in the United States.

Here is an excerpt from the X1 review:

After we had our initial privileged go at a BMW X1 prototype in May, we were really pleased with the vehicle’s dynamics but there were few deeper facts to relate. BMW experts kept mentioning the Volkswagen Tiguan as a competitor for the forthcoming X1, but that is certainly mostly a European market concern. To forget the Acura RDX, Infiniti EX35 or Lexus RX 350 in the U.S. market would be foolish. Not to mention the Audi Q5, Land Rover LR2 or even the Cadillac SRX. Maybe a Nissan Rogue could fit on that shopping list if something less than $28K was preferred.

But every one of those other crossovers is noticeably bigger than the 2011 BMW X1, particularly in overall height. The X1 turns out to be truly a unique piece. There’s plenty of space inside for four humans (or five if you must) — their heads, their shoulders and their cargo. Yet the X1 is configured to ride lower than other crossovers and thus shows off some crisp Bavarian dynamics, while the exterior look is nicely faithful to what we expect to see when staring down a BMW.

Full Review At Edmunds.com