BMW X1 (2015-2022) Review and Prices

You’ll be able to get comfy behind the wheel of the BMW X1 no matter how tall or short you are, thanks to a driver’s seat and steering wheel with a full range of adjustment. The BMW’s dashboard points towards the driver, so everything is really easy to operate, and the pedals in the BMW X1 aren’t offset like they are in other BMW models.

Heated seats are fitted as standard to xLine and M Sport cars but are an option on the rest of the range, while lumbar support is, annoyingly, also an option on all models. Both are worth considering if you’re susceptible to backache on long drives.

BMW’s electric front seats with driver memory are also worth buying if you share the car with another driver. Aside from having electric adjustment that’s less fiddly than doing it manually, their memory function means the seat can return back to your exact driving position at the press of a button.

Adults will be fine in the back seats and the BMW X1 has more head and legroom than you get in the Mercedes GLA or Audi Q3. The seat even reclines a few degrees to let you relax on a long journey and it slides forwards and backwards on runners so you can choose between having more rear legroom or extra boot space.

The BMW X1 also copes admirably with three in the back. The middle seat is a little narrow, but a third passenger will be comfy enough, and the hump in the floor isn’t an issue because the footwells are big enough to share.

Even fitting child seats is easy. The BMW X1’s SUV-style raised ride height means you don’t have to bend your back when fitting the seat, plus the Isofix points are clearly marked and the doors open wide.

The BMW X1 comes with vast amounts of handy storage compartments. All the door pockets can carry more than one bottle of water at a time, the glovebox is large enough to take a large and a smaller bottle of water at once and there’s a hidden cubby under the front centre armrest complete with a USB plug to charge your phone.

That’s not all. The BMW X1 comes with an Extended Storage pack fitted as standard, which throws in map holders on the backs of the front seats, a rear centre armrest with two cupholders and a phone tray, a 12V socket for the rear seats and the boot, and a height-adjustable cargo net.

The BMW X1’s boot has a 505-litre capacity. That’s large enough for a few large suitcases – and more than you can fit in a Volvo XC40 460-litre – but it’s outclassed by the 530-litre Audi Q3 and 570-litre Mercedes GLB.

It does come with various cubbies and tethers to keep the boot tidy and your luggage secure, however, and you also get a 12V socket for plugging in a portable vacuum and a huge underfloor storage tray that’ll swallow a small suitcase.

The general design is also well thought out. There’s no load lip so you can easily slide in heavy luggage and the floor remains flat when you fold the rear seats away. The only annoyance is the two-piece rear parcel shelf that is a pain to remove and replace.

With the back seats up, the BMW X1 has no problem carrying a baby stroller or a set of golf clubs, and you can expand its carrying capacity to 1,550 litres with the back seats folded, so there’s space for a bike without you having to take its wheels off.

All models come with handy three-way (40:20:40) split rear seats that mean you can carry a maximum of two people in the rear with something long poking through from the boot.