BMW X1 sDrive18i xLine

The third-generation BMW X1 offers improved overall refinement and comfort, as well as a more versatile interior than before. Could it be the new segment leader?

Price: R768 045
0–100 km/h: 8,74 seconds
Top speed: 215 km/h
Power: 115 kW
Torque: 230 N.m
CAR fuel index: 7,80 L/100 km CO2: 148 g/km

A member of BMW's X family of SUVS in name, the path that the X1 has taken to gain a fully fledged seat at the main table has not been an easy one. Granted, while sales volumes for the first-generation car suggested otherwise, based on the 3 Series Touring of the time, the original X1 wasn't so much an SUV as it was a raised ride-height hatchback designed to fill an enticing gap below the larger, more popular X3.

With the launch of the second generation X1 in 2016, you got the sense that BMW was taking this now burgeoning segment a lot more seriously. Boasting a more resolved SUV-like stance and an altogether more refined interior, despite sharing its platform with the ill-fated 2 Series Active Tourer (and a few of its Mini cousins), the X1 was beginning to feel a touch more convincing as the official entry point into the brand's popular and profitable - X family.

Underlined by the fact that the car is fitted as standard with an upmarket xLine trim package, the new third-generation (U11) X1 introduces the kind of model specific attention to detail that this package had been crying out for. Helped by a global trend towards buying down (in this case from the equally impressive modern X3), the new X1 is longer, wider and taller than the model it replaces. Including a 22 mm stretch in wheelbase and suitably wider wheel tracks, front and rear, the car both looks and feels more substantial on the road.