[Duncs1961]

I have owned my X1 S Drive 20i for nearly three months now and overall, I and really pleased with the car; it is refined, comfortable, practical (mostly!), frugal (I average 50MPG on long journeys) a brilliant motorway cruiser, has very proficient handling on country lanes and is happy in town driving too (except occasional hesitation when pulling out of junctions, though I have covered this problem, as have others, in another thread).

However, not withstanding the above, I cannot stand and I am now beginning to hate what I can only describe as the stupid, impractical design of the centre storage area. A classic case of form over function.

You have to crank your hand in the most awkward way to extract anything from the trays below the floating armrest; the forward tray is difficult, and the rear tray is almost impossible. Even worse is a passenger cannot use the front tray at all, as the support for the floating armrest blocks access to it on that side. I’ve also noticed I have inadvertently scratched the plastic down the side of the floating armrest with my watch, when squeezing my hand down the side to get something out of the trays.

The storage below the armrest lid is pathetic and of really no use at all; even worse, on right hand drive cars like mine, the lid opens in favour of the passenger, as BMW are too tight and/or lazy to re-hand it for the RHD market!

The cupholders (at least those installed in the UK version) do not have sprung lugs to firmly hold a cup, can or bottle that has a smaller diameter than that of the cupholder holes, so they rattle around. I have taken to installing self-adhesive foam around the perimeter of the cupholder in order to mitigate this problem, on a £38k car FFS! My partner’s Hyundai i10 has far better cup holders!

I obviously didn’t note these flaws during the test drive; instead, I was just wooed by the floating armrest and centre controls (which admittedly, work well and are convenient).

Rant over!

[MontyB1]

We haven't got ours yet but now in the country but during the test drive we both commented how pathetic the centre console is. It would be far better cutting a hold out of the bottom of it and push a box down into it to store more things.

The lid as again beyond annoying as to why they have been so cheap for right hand drive markets. Just make it go up to the back that everyone other one does so it isn't a problem...!! I'm willing to bet it gets sorted in the LCI version of the car!

[ramen.slayer]

Wish some aftermarket company could fix this. The “floating” design is just a poor one for such a small car. I am getting a RHD car too, and I noticed how it opens on the wrong side when I first saw the car. I rarely use storage in my cars to begin with, so practically speaking it doesn’t affect me much as I hate having clutter/random stuff stored. But still. This is just a complete fail from BMW

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by ramen.slayer

Wish some aftermarket company could fix this. The “floating” design is just a poor one for such a small car. I am getting a RHD car too, and I noticed how it opens on the wrong side when I first saw the car. I rarely use storage in my cars to begin with, so practically speaking it doesn’t affect me much as I hate having clutter/random stuff stored. But still. This is just a complete fail from BMW

If I wanted practicality, I'd have bought a Toyota or Mazda. I love the floating center console - I don't need to store lots of stuff in there.

[SpaceSilverX1]

Originally Posted by tex2670

If I wanted practicality, I'd have bought a Toyota or Mazda. I love the floating center console - I don't need to store lots of stuff in there.

I keep a couple of $50 bills under the rubber mat under the floating console for emergencies.


I was actually surprised at how large the X1's glovebox was when I saw it for the first time. Although the only thing inside right now is just my registration and insurance cards.

[jihong]

The horrible storage area is probably one of my biggest gripes about this car. You don't realize how bad it is until you actually use the car for a bit and/or if you store a lot of stuff in that area (like me). Was hoping someone would build aftermarket bins with door/latch to place in that space to provide more organized hidden solutions. The "flap" arm rest is almost completely useless and it's a pain to put and retrieve things from the storage space under the armrest. It really is a horrible design.

[ramen.slayer]

Originally Posted by tex2670

If I wanted practicality, I'd have bought a Toyota or Mazda. I love the floating center console - I don't need to store lots of stuff in there.

This is not a sportscar. If anything this is a premium small sized SUV/Crossover, which means it’s mean for driving people around and not setting records around the Nurburgring as the metric.

Just poor excuse for a poor design. While I am not looking to have this car to lug lumbar and suitcases around daily, it is fair to expect the manufacturer to offer something a little more useable. It’s not big enough to fit most messenger/sling bags. And even less practical for putting ladies handbags there given how tight the space is (and could scratch their bags). So it’s great for mobile phones storage at best. If it’s all about design, then don’t put those cheap rubber padding with beads/studs that suggest it’s for storage. Just leave it empty with leather/interior trim materials and let artistic people admire it. Besides, it’s not even that good looking to begin with.

Precisely I am not buying a Toyota corolla, so I think it is fair to expect a bit more thought on the practicality side.

For the records, I don’t keep much stuff in my cars. My cars tend to have nothing visible. No tissue box, no funky toys, no cellphone cables/holders, random air fresheners or sunglasses. I prefer to keep my car clean both from organizing standpoint and free of dust. The center console is just a nightmare to vacuum using a lot of the handheld vacuum cleaners

[huma]

We need to demand compensation for such an obvious design flaw. Let's all get together and march to a BMW dealership and demand an extended all inclusive 8 year warranty to alleviate our mental anguish.