BMW unveils the X1 SAV

Chris Bangle did a great many things at BMW, including creating the BMW X5 – the world’s first Sports Activity Vehicle, or SAV if you’re into acronyms. This was joined by the less successful and much more fugly X3.

And now the X1 has joined the SAV party. It features the new, more Adrian van Hooydonk influenced looks as sported by the latest BMW 7 Series and the new 5 Series GT.  The X1 is a bit gloopy, but the styling’s mix of SUV and estate car is pretty spot on with the current zeitgeist – it doesn’t look antisocial in the way that a Porsche Cayenne does.

This theme continues with the engine line up too. The X1 is only available with diesel power, and all but the range-topping xDrive23d are six-speed manual equipped only so the X1 can feature BMW’s start stop system. The engines are all pretty frugal as far as SUVs go, with the highlight being the entry-level two-wheel-drive xDrive18d which boasts 54.3mpg economy and CO2 emissions of just 136g/km.

The X1 range arrives in partial form in the UK on October 24th. If you don’t speak BMW’s language, two-wheel-drive is called sDrive and four-wheel-drive is called xDrive. So now you know. The sDrive20d and xDrive20d use the single turbo 2.0-litre diesel and start from £24,205 and £25,510 respectively and the top spec xDrive23d, which uses the twin-turbo 2.0-litre diesel, kicks off from £29,055.

But we reckon it’ll be best to wait until December for the arrival of the entry-level X1 sDrive18d, which costs £22,660. There’s an xDrive version of this car too, that costs £23,940.