This is proved using conventional digital photography. If you stretch the picture, it will be covered with “squares” and lose his clarity. But if you reduce the photo, except for the size, nothing will change. For ten years in the “x” series, the BMW brand took one step up and two – down. X3 and X6 occurred from the name X5 earlier, and now this picture was terrible to format x1.
Officially, as a novelty, the car was introduced in Frankfurt, where visitors to the salon experienced a real delight near the Bavarian stand. And not only delight in the direct meaning of the word, but also “delight” as a concept. When a wave of emotions subsided, I wanted to figure out where such a delight came from.
Formally speaking – he took up the factory in Leipzig. The production cycle is not complete: the body is boiled from ready -made parts delivered from Regensburg, from there they bring doors, covers of hoods and trunk, and engines from Munich – from Munich. In the welding shop, 500 robots are sewn with five thousand stitches of spot welding. Then they fall into the paint chamber, and from there – to the assembly. The refueling with components is carried out in 220 stages, each of which takes a little more than a minute. The peak is the so -called “marriage” when the body connects to the chassis at 24 points. After that, headlights and bumpers are installed, the car is seasoned with operational liquids and undergoes a control test on treadmills.
The series “X” passed the tests, even in short, but still history. In 2003, the family of Bavarian SUVs expanded at the expense of the smaller “X-third”. BMW x1 is based on his platform, which is quite logical: the first series does not exist. In addition, in the Bavarian company, they initially did not want to make a mud car for mud from X1 – hence the decision to produce it not only with full, but also with the rear -wheel drive. X -first is not much smaller than the “X -third” – 4457 versus 4569 mm, and the main feature was a small height – 1545 mm, which is 129 mm below the “three”. However, in photo and video images, the beginner looks much larger than in life. The cause of visual deception is the huge “nostrils” made in the spirit of the “seven” – they look powerful against the background of a bumper with curly cuts. Luminous rims of head headlights are hidden under transparent caps, daylight lamps are also provided. The branded Bavarian style is continued by expanded wings, profiled hoods and muscular sides. Bumpers, wheel arches and thresholds, as it should be for the SUV, are protected by lining, and the bottom in the front and behind cover metal plates. No matter how much the camera around the car would fly, she is unlikely to find designer blunders.
In addition to the SDRIVE and XDRIVE transmission and transmission, X1 borrowed a relative from the “X-third” and the general concept of the salon. This is the reason that in terms of the quality of interior decoration now this is a clear leader in the class. The front panel has a clear division into four floors. The upper segment is the display, where the system control interface is displayed. BMW still prefers to carry it out using the IDRive system handle. The next floor is occupied by ventilation ducts; a climate control unit and a radio is implanted in the upholstery, and at the very bottom there is a smoker’s block or a socket. The central console is deployed to the driver, as in the BMW Z4 and the new 7th series. In front of him is a huge shield of instruments with traditionally concise circle of the speedometer and tachometer. We will not renounce the excess expanse in the rear seats, but the four inhabitants in the cabin will definitely be comfortable. Depending on the angle of inclination of the backs of the second row, the luggage volume is 420–450 liters, and with a folded sofa, even gender and 1350 liters of free space are obtained – almost a displacement of single kayak. And you can sunbathe without getting out of the car – a glass panoramic hatch in the roof fills the salon with sunlight.
The BMW X1 itself rowing well on the highway and crossed terrain. It is not worth waiting for off -road miracles from a representative of the SUV class, but for its characteristics it is a reliable crossover. The variety of engines in the novelty is so large that there is even a small confusion – in which part of the world which of them are available. But if you collect everything together, you get three gasoline engines – two “fours” 2. 0 (143 and 170 l. With.), in -line “six” 3. 0 (258 forces) – and three diesel engines. Moreover, the latter have the same working volume of two liters, but have various power – at 143, 177 and 204 liters. With. Gearboxes – also to choose from: 6 -speed “mechanics” and “automatic”. Their advantages include abbreviated switching time, ideal gear rates and the optimal distribution of the moment. A decent dynamics on any surface is ensured by the branded system of all -wheel drive XDRIVE, and Performance Control is responsible for coordinating the operation of the engine and the brake system. The Servotronic system, additionally installed on the XDRive20D and 23D version, provides the necessary steering sensitivity in any road situation. And for lovers of sports driving, a system of dynamic traction control is offered, which optimizes the transmission of power flow.
BMW X1 is primarily the fruit of the fantasy of the economists of the brand, and only then – designers and designers. It is understandable – for the desire to have a real, but small and economical, crossover, a person must pay. So the propeller entered the battle with Volkswagen Tiguan, Nissan Qashqai and Toyota Rav4 with weapons in the form of the first Ix. Europeans began this conditional battle after the premiere. But the Americans in the same century were not lucky: they will see the BMW X1 at best in the second half of 2010.