BMW iX1 L Review: Bigger Yet Cheaper Entry-Luxury Model

The BMW iX1 – or the electric X1 has been stretched. It gets a long wheelbase and a price drop. Yes, a bigger car yet cheaper. Primarily because it is now BMW’s first electric to be assembled in India. 

BMW iX1 L Review: Design

So, is it a masterstroke? Well, we'll wait to see what happens in terms of sales, but I can tell you that the logic of doing this is very smart and I clearly think so because we also had this car winning the best market launch at the recently concluded Auto Expo in Delhi. It was a nice surprise, and it was also one of the significant cars to actually launch with prices, and we have it right away, so nice and fresh. In the front, of course, you see that typical BMW i styling, like all the electrics have from BMW and it's very similar to the iX1 that's been in the market. Now, that car will pretty much give you all the styling cues you need to know about this one, so I don't really have to get it to styling details. I mean, you see everything here that you've seen on the X1 and on the iX1, barring, of course, that long wheelbase.

BMW iX1 L Review: Platform & Dimensions

Now, I say it like that because look, long wheelbase has a strategy. For years, these premium brands have played with that in China across many, many products. In India, it used to just be the E-Class that we got the 3 Series from BMW. Now we have the 5 Series, and now we have this. It is smart, especially for this buyer. They're trying to enter into the luxury space, but they also want all the frills. They would like to have that extra space, but they're constrained by budget. So, if you compare it to say an EQA, suddenly this starts to look much bigger and a lot more ample.

Now that wheelbase is 108 mm longer than on the regular car. Overall, the length is 116 mm longer, which means that most of that has gone into this space, and you have just a little bit of a difference on the overhangs. It's really just bumper styling. But coming to this off that 108 mm, most of that back here. This means that here with this door is not just a space in the back that's increased, but it's also the door length that's increased, which gives you a nice wide access to get into the car.

And then we've also got one little difference at the back. The styling is exactly the same except for the little badge here. The previous car said Xdrive30 because it was a dual motor, and it had all-wheel drive. This one is only front-wheel drive, so eDrive 20 L. So, the length’s gone up, but we lost the all-wheel drive. 

BMW iX1 L Review: Battery & Range

The battery is the same as the xDrive30’s and has the same charging times and specifications. But while the xDrive30 weighs 2010 kg, and the Drive 20L is 20 kgs lighter, the 0-100 times are staggeringly different. The range looks good though.

At over 500 km, the claimed range is really great for a car of this size, this segment, and for the buyer who's looking to step into electrics with a car like this. But the part that irritates me a little bit. You know, you went long wheelbase for all that extra space. It gives you so much more floor space. you could have had a much larger battery pack with more range. That would have made it even more attractive, even more compelling. It's not bad. It's ample enough, but, you know, I just thought that's a little bit of a missed opportunity.

BMW iX1 L Review: Performance

Now in terms of performance, it is a BMW and so I have to say the dynamics and ride all of that is really sorted. Steering is also completely on point. Is it as powerful feeling as the dual motor, of course not, and that car does feel sportier. It does feel a little bit more agile too, with good reason. It also has the nice acoustics and all of that sound management that goes with the electrics from BMW, but coming back to the whole point about the regular wheelbase car, which is a little bit more powerful and has the dual motor, all-wheel drive set up, that car is still available in the market so for the enthusiast, the one who really still wants the better driving car, it is still there.

Yes, so the xDrive30 was definitely more fun but this is not sluggish. The massive surge of power is a bit softened though when you slam the pedal. The boost function where you get an added extra burst of power for 10 seconds is also missing on this variant. 

BMW iX1 L Review: Safety

You do have ADAS, you have 8 airbags. That part is all standard. BMW says it's just level 1 ADAS, but it gives you a whole bunch of features, which the company says other brands call level 2 that said, before I give you the details about all the different ADAS functions, I will say that it also has something called digital premium. It's now a new suite of features that are available in the screen. And with that package that you to pay extra for, you get new functions, and it unlocks a few extras on the ix1 long wheelbase. We'll tell you more about all of that in our detailed tech review on this car and is also coming up. 

So, the ADAS functions you get are Dynamic cruise control, Front collision warning, Lane change alerts, Blind spot detection, Rear collision avoidance and warnings, Rear cross-traffic alerts, Parking and reverse assistant.

BMW iX1 L Review: Interior

The digital premium package is free for the first 3 months and then charged at ₹5000 a year. It includes Complimentary for 3 months, then charged at ₹4999 per year. It Includes: Junction View, Satellite Image view, 3D visualisation, Real time traffic visualisation in colour, welcome light animation, And the drive modes - Digital Art, Expressive and Relax. 

The cabin is very much like the iX1 that you've seen, so again, I'm not going to stress too much on it the styling the layout, and even the brown seats, the mocha vegan leather, as they call it, and the two tone is exactly the same, there will be some other colour options coming on that. The deck is very similar, you get the new curved screen, you get the big layout with the 9th generation of the operating software and then you also have this little vertical, very convenient wireless charger, option too. a little bit of a floating console space below it, 2 USB-C points, and again, all those usual buttons that you're used to on the new BMWs. But really the big thing is about going back there.

The whole stress here, of course, in the back is about the space. I'll come to that very quickly. It's also about comfort and uh the seats have been redesigned specifically for India, specifically for this model according to BMW. So, the seat back, as well as the bottom, a little bit more plumped up, a little bit more comfortable, you of course, have the drop-down armrest. And on the whole ergonomics are pretty good, under thigh support, like most cars could be better. But you also get the rear AC events. You also get 2 USB-C points back here and a little bit of I'm not really sure if you want to call that storage space because mostly anything you keep in there is going to bounce out. And that tends to look a little plastic. I don't know why this is finished in plastic that looks a little bit tacky, but everything else is really upmarket and it looks like a premium luxury car.

Now, the space, the long wheelbase, all of that space coming here in that floor, that's very obvious, so tons of room, nearly flat floor, thanks to being an EV, and really gives you a sense of space despite being this dark interior palette. And that's because of two things. One, the headliner, it's been finished in this really light colour, smart, and you already have a good sense of that headroom, but that also gets further enhanced by this huge, fixed glass roof. I mean, the glass coverage there is nine square feet. that's obviously bigger and it's obviously longer than on the regular wheel-based car, and it gives you that extra sense of space.

But the one clear miss which, again, when you're thinking back seat is the really important place to be, where is that retractable sunshade? Come on, BMW. you should have had that on this car.

BMW iX1 L Review: Verdict

Still, it’s a lot you DO get. And the price staying under 50 lakhs is certainly enough to sit up and take notice. Even the petrol X1 starts about 1.8 lakhs higher. So, it’s a great move from BMW. Let’s see if this converts more people to electric, or entry luxury – especially since the co is offering a 2–8-year buyback on this model.