BMW X1 practicality and boot space
- Excellent all-round practicality
- Room for five adults at a push
- Electric tailgate fitted as standard
Space up front is adequate, but you do feel slightly more hemmed-in than you would in a Volvo XC40 or Volkswagen Tiguan, owing to the more cocooned cabin design. Storage space, meanwhile, is reasonable, with large cupholders and door pockets proving useful on long journeys.
Climb into the back, and while there is enough room for three adults, like most cars in this class it’s best to keep the middle seat free or for children only. That said the X1’s outright size means headroom is generous and the sliding rear bench affords plenty of legroom when pushed all the way back. In ordinary circumstances, a 6ft rear-seat passenger will be able to sit behind a driver of the same height.
Those familiar with the previous generation X1 will notice that its successor has grown markedly in size and takes on a far more SUV-like profile than before. The upside of this is the increase in interior and boot space, however less confident parkers may want to dip into the options list and spec the front and rear parking sensors (rear are standard across the range) and reversing camera.
BMW isn’t usually associated with gargantuan luggage areas, but the X1 does well against the competition in its class, delivering impressive luggage capacity and very low loading lip – handing for hauling large items into the back.
What’s more, if you fold the rear seats down via a switch in the boot (40:20:40 split as standard), they sit nice and flat making it easier to load long, awkward items in. The standard-fit electroc tailgate also aids practicality, particularly as it opens with a kicking motion under the rear bumper.
Safety-conscious – to a point
- Five-star safety rating, but…
- … autonomous Emergency Braking is optional
- Two Isofix points as standard
When tested in 2015 the BMW X1 achieved a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, however this now comes with a caveat. Autonomous emergency braking (fitted as standard to many cars these days) is only offered as an optional extra on the X1, meaning that if it were to be tested against the now more-stringent Euro NCAP regulations it wouldn’t achieve the same five-star rating.
That said, the X1’s 90% score in the adult occupant and 87% mark in child occupant categories suggest it should perform well in the event of an accident, even if the standard tech designed to help prevent incidents is lacking.
If you want your X1 to come with Autonomous Emergency Braking, you need to spec the Driving Assistant Plus package – that also comes with adaptive cruise control, high-beam assist, traffic sign recognition and lane-departure warning. That such potentially lifesaving technology isn't standard on a fairly expensive range of cars is disappointing.
Video: BMW Euro NCAP crash test
Basic equipment
The basic equipment list includes equipment that is standard across all versions of the BMW X1 SUV.
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Equipment by trim level
To view equipment options for a specific trim level, please select from the following list:
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M Sport equipment
M Sport standard equipment |
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M Sport optional equipment |
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SE equipment
SE standard equipment |
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SE optional equipment |
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Sport equipment
Sport standard equipment |
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Sport optional equipment |
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xLine equipment
xLine standard equipment |
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xLine optional equipment |
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