[XONE]

For the people who have their BMW X1 for a while now, how do you like it?

What are your overall thoughts, your favorite and least favorite things about the car?

[amilcarnj]

I got a fully loaded X1 in space silver. I love it. I am impressed with how well it drives for an entry-level vehicle and how spacious it is compared to the next level the X3. I really love it. Until now, no issues at all so far. The only thing that I do not like about this car is the start-stop thing. It takes forever to get going on a full stop but other than that is a great vehicle. Some people say it is a countryman with a batch. I can take that. My budget is 1000 for a car a month. But if I can get it on the 600s - 700 I take that. I may go to the X2 or X3 when the new generation comes out. The X5 is too big for me.

[Kothar]

Likes: looks, sport seats , Harmon Kardon decent system not blow your doors off good but decent, fuel economy , room and comfort, all the tech

Dislikes: comfort access not on rear doors need to use fob to open, no rotary dial for use in idrive setup, no dedicated heated steering wheel button, no cooled seats, jerky transmission with start stop when not in sport mode ,when you want to go and not get hung up...this occurs in only certain stops I do. But overall that's it and the positives far outweigh any nitpicks.

[FlashMonkey929]

I have one of the earlier production models before features like Driving Assistant Pro and Active Seats were introduced. My model is an X1 xDrive28i with the M Sport Package, Premium Package, and additional Shadowline trim option. I opted for the Gloss Black trim and the black Sensatec interior. Overall I'm very pleased with the car, and it has about 4,500 miles on it.

Likes:
- comfortable for the majority of my drives, though on drives longer than an hour I can see how active seats would help.
- lots of power, this engine is fantastic and has loads of torque and acceleration, enough for me to get into trouble
- handling is overall great and corners well
- very spacious interior
- Harmon/Kardon sound system pleases me after tweaking the settings a bit, very satisfied though I may add a subwoofer in the future
- iDrive 8 has been overall responsive, with the only glitches occasionally happening while using CarPlay
- HUD is very bright and clear and I rarely need to look down at the instrument cluster most of the time
- Headlights are pretty good, more than bright enough and seem to project a fairly even pattern. Cornering lights are decent when driving in poorly lit areas
- voice control works fairly well, but you have to be patient while it thinks
- Digital Key Plus is one of my favorite features, so seamless and I don't have to carry any keys anymore which is a bonus
- Fuel economy is pretty good, though I tend to have to drive during the worst times of day so I'm sure others get much better.
- Cargo space is more than enough for my needs

Dislikes:
- The throttle lag in personal mode. By far the worst thing about the car, and borderline unsafe.
- On off camber steep inclines, I notice the AWD system gets a bit awkward and takes a second to figure out what to do
- The storage space below the armrest is next to useless, especially with sport seats as the bolsters block even more access to it
- No mode select button. Switching between driving modes takes too long for my taste.
- Dash is just a tiny bit reflective in bright lighting and is a very minor annoyance in the windshield at certain times of the day
- Tail light turn indicators are red, where the rest of the world gets amber
- the pores in the sensatec material on the seat cushions are nice, BUT they tend to swallow up grains of sand and are difficult to get out.
- Drive Recorder doesn't constantly record while driving unless manually engaged and using a USB stick, and it takes up your infotainment while in use.
- Parking Assistant is painfully slow
- Cross-traffic Alert intervention most times intervenes way too sharply, like panic braking, even though the supposed pedestrian or obstacle is 20 feet away. Can't distinguish between a hard barrier and overgrown grass.
- Lane Departure warning sometimes intervenes when it shouldn't.

All in all except the throttle lag issue, the rest are very very minor annoyances and don't really interfere with my enjoyment of driving the vehicle, so take that with a grain of salt as I'm just nitpicking.

[bfaliszek]

After 5 months of use, I am generally happy with the X1. Especially with driving assistant plus and low fuel consumption.

However, the last two weeks have not been too lucky for my X1. Two weeks ago, the car was in the service for a repair action related to adjusting the space between the headlights and the car's hood. Yesterday I couldn't open the fuel cap flap and had to have the car serviced again. Most likely, the lock that blocks the opening of the flap has stopped working. In addition, I do not have a green cord on the right side in the trunk for emergency opening of this flap. If they fail to open this flap today, they will have to replace the entire mechanism of closing the fuel filler flap in the car...

[Rags2Rags]

We've had our X1 since January. This is our first BMW.

Likes:
- The styling, I still look back at it as I'm walking away because I love how it looks so much. There's just something about the badge that really does it for me. It's not an ego thing, it's just being satisfied that I'm in a spot in life where I could finally get one.

- Gas mileage is great.

- I love the way it handles and the power it has for such a small SUV/engine.

- As others have said, I really like how spacious it feels inside, they did a really good job making it feel "open".


Cons:
- I hate not having any physical buttons. I didn't think this would bother me as much as it does/has. Having to play around on the display to do pretty much anything is really annoying and pretty unsafe. Leaving smudges on the screen is also bothering me more than expected.

- The total lack of storage space is terrible. Whoever designed that centre console should be fired. As others have said the space under the armrest is pretty much useless. I really dislike not having a spot to hide my phone or dash cam if I go into a store for 5 minutes.

- The air system is also terrible from a "noise" point of view. "low" shouldn't sound like all other car's "max" setting. I ride around with "very low (or whatever the setting is called) because otherwise it's almost too loud to comfortably listen to music.

- The on/off is also "trash" :-) we've all talked about this way too much at this point.

- I dislike how the SUV doesn't remember how I left the settings, such as the on/off the in- cabin air circulation settings, etc. If I disable the on/off, when I start the SUV I want it left like that. I think this is an industry wide issue as our other SUV does the same annoying thing.

- Smaller con: Not having ventilated seats in a 60K++ (CAD) SUV is a rip-off in my opinion. This is not the end of the world but for everything else it includes, ventilated seats should be a standard option.

- The blind spot detection isn't all that great and tends to only light up when cars are already too close IMO. Sometimes it will go off when I'm turning onto a road and there's no one there.

- Lastly, I have the same complaint as FlashMonkey about the throttle lag. Especially on take off. It seems like an all-or-nothing in personal mode even with on/off disabled.


In the end as much as I LOVE the "brand" and it's the best looking SUV we've ever owned IMO, I'm not convinced I would buy it if I could go back in time. I do still really enjoy driving it which is the most important part of this whole thing I guess. I'm stuck with it until it's payed off (6 years for me) so I better learn to love it. lol.

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by amilcarnj

Some people say it is a countryman with a batch. I can take that.

Well, first, those people don't realize that the U11 isn't on the same platform as the Countryman anymore. And second, I cross-shopped a Countryman. My X1 with Convenience Pkg, heated seats, sport seats and homelink mirror cost $1000 more than a Countryman Iconic with a few additional options. So let those folks get a 189 hp Countryman....

[beefgroovy]

Originally Posted by tex2670

Well, first, those people don't realize that the U11 isn't on the same platform as the Countryman anymore. And second, I cross-shopped a Countryman. My X1 with Convenience Pkg, heated seats, sport seats and homelink mirror cost $1000 more than a Countryman Iconic with a few additional options. So let those folks get a 189 hp Countryman....

I’m coming from a 2014 Countryman JCW, and was also considering a 2023 Countryman and Audi Q3 before deciding on the X1. The S version was fun to drive but the engine was trash trying to pass on the highway. Sport mode was a bit more acceptable in normal driving, but still pretty meh. The JCW was awesome, that engine sounded RAW, but still smaller interior/cargo and about $2k more than a highly spec’d out M Sport. And the old style gear selector made it hard to see which gear you were going into. The last niggle was the manufactured pop/burble was very evident inside the cabin and got pretty annoying after a while.

I feel like the ones who hate on the X1 by calling it a rebranded MINI have never driven a MINI.

[jejupods]

I echo FlashMonkey and Rags2Rags completely - they are pretty comprehensive lists!

I still think this car is better than the rest of the competition in the segment and there is much to like about with the car. The digital key is also one of my favourite features.

The worst though are the throttle lag in the default mode, and the suspension on the M sport model. I only got to test the regular suspension, which was 100% fine. While the car handles really well with the suspension, it's way too rough imo. I was expecting it to be more of a dynamic ride, but feel kinda swindled with how BMW have advertised the 'M' suspension system in this car. Funnily enough, my wife has not complained yet which I'm quite surprised about. This was going to be a stop gap until the next gen X3, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to last until then.

[JupiterOne]

1. lag in personal mode both from get going or while moving
2. lag in personal mode both from get going or while moving
3. lag in personal mode both from get going or while moving
4. ==/==

- do not know how many more times it needs to be crying to BMW to fix it.

Everything else subtle, there is no ideal car.

[srbs73]

I really like the iX1 and the only real gripes are:

1. Aircon is way too loud. Very Low isn't powerful enough and Low is extremely loud. It seems on a scale of 1-10. Very low is 1 and Low is 7! Compared to my 3 series, it's really bad. I'm hoping a software fix can reduce Low to 3 or 4.
2. Not getting the adaptive cup holders in the UK.
3. My BMW app connectivity is a bit hit and miss. More painful for an EV.
4. iDrive being touch-only is unsafe.

[FZI89]

Originally Posted by srbs73

I really like the iX1 and the only real gripes are:


Aircon is way too loud. Very Low isn't powerful enough and Low is extremely loud. It seems on a scale of 1-10. Very low is 1 and Low is 7! Compared to my 3 series, it's really bad. I'm hoping a software fix can reduce Low to 3 or 4.
Not getting the adaptive cup holders in the UK.
My BMW app connectivity is a bit hit and miss. More painful for an EV.
iDrive being touch-only is unsafe.

Have you tried turning off the automatic programme for climate control?

During my test drives I found that turning that off and manually selecting the level (will now display as numbers instead of “low” “very low” etc) resulted in much quieter air conditioning

[FlashMonkey929]

For what it’s worth, I have mine set to automatic on the dynamic setting and I only notice it if I actively listen for it.

[srbs73]

Originally Posted by FZI89

Have you tried turning off the automatic programme for climate control?

During my test drives I found that turning that off and manually selecting the level (will now display as numbers instead of “low” “very low” etc) resulted in much quieter air conditioning

Thanks! That's definitely an improvement being able to select 2 rather that Low.

[Kothar]

Ah I thought was crazy with the AC on low will try this.

Now how do I get odometer to constantly appear in driver screen? And current trip distance? I've tried messing around with steering wheel controls on what appears, but not showing. Thx

[ccs368]

Originally Posted by Kothar

Ah I thought was crazy with the AC on low will try this.

Now how do I get odometer to constantly appear in driver screen? And current trip distance? I've tried messing around with steering wheel controls on what appears, but not showing. Thx

You are like 5 seconds away from finding the screen you want. On the right side of steering wheel, there’s the icon button (looks like a gear wheel) to change display for content. I have everything like odometer and tripmeter info too.

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by Kothar

Ah I thought was crazy with the AC on low will try this.

Now how do I get odometer to constantly appear in driver screen? And current trip distance? I've tried messing around with steering wheel controls on what appears, but not showing. Thx

Trip data, which is the second menu option on the instrument panel widget.

[Kothar]

Yeah I can find that , it puts the fuel economy meter and the current distance. But I'd like a fixed odometer on bottom portion , it shows fuel gage with distance left and then on far right side shows oil temp gage I believe. Not sure if in that same area just to have a fixed odometer. The area in-between will also show current posted speed limit white sign and will show the airbags and vehicle (that will go after a min or so).

This vehicle has so many settings that are deep in menus.

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by Kothar

Yeah I can find that , it puts the fuel economy meter and the current distance. But I'd like a fixed odometer on bottom portion , it shows fuel gage with distance left and then on far right side shows oil temp gage I believe. Not sure if in that same area just to have a fixed odometer. The area in-between will also show current posted speed limit white sign and will show the airbags and vehicle (that will go after a min or so).

This vehicle has so many settings that are deep in menus.

I don't believe so.

[MontyB1]

Originally Posted by Kothar

Yeah I can find that , it puts the fuel economy meter and the current distance. But I'd like a fixed odometer on bottom portion , it shows fuel gage with distance left and then on far right side shows oil temp gage I believe. Not sure if in that same area just to have a fixed odometer. The area in-between will also show current posted speed limit white sign and will show the airbags and vehicle (that will go after a min or so).

This vehicle has so many settings that are deep in menus.

I think you 'can' do this, the trip display in the middle that you can configure is (according to the manual I've not been out to the car) shows the ODO total and trip value. You might have to configure exactly what it shows as it might be it can show just the current journey so configure that in the centre screen.

Search in the BMW app for Odometer is how I found it.

[Kothar]

I am fiddling with many things to setup for my tastes and kinked to fob. So far much ahead now. But who knew so much tailoring to get this done?! And voice command won't populate if you say, show me odometer.....it was worth a try.

[MontyB1]

Originally Posted by Kothar

I am fiddling with many things to setup for my tastes and kinked to fob. So far much ahead now. But who knew so much tailoring to get this done?! And voice command won't populate if you say, show me odometer.....it was worth a try.

Yeah I found it clunky until I found that no key had been associated with the profile. Now I've done that it helps when getting in it better now and not being left with a profile choice.