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2014 BMW X1 sDrive28i - Review Blog

16K views 44 replies 20 participants last post by  aldosterone 
#1 · (Edited)
Because Bimmerfest is such a resourceful site for many, including myself, I decided to join and create a three year blog highlighting my wife's new 2014 BMW X1 sDrive28i. My intention is to detail our impression(s) of the vehicle throughout our lease - this way many of you can read/review our experience, and I can use this thread as a historical journal.

I'm not an expert when it comes to reviewing cars, but please feel free to ask questions and share ideas. By the way, I do not work for any automotive company, including sales or mechanics. My profession is very distant from the automotive industry, so I hope to present an unbiased review.

Day 1:







Day 1 Impressions:

Exterior: Love it, or hate it. I tried to convince my wife to get a 3 series instead (perhaps the wagon), but she insisted on a SUV. She was shattered when I told her she's essentially driving a peculiar station wagon/SUV hybrid. We specifically did not want the Lighting Package. The projector lamps do an excellent job illuminating the road ahead, and if we do decide to purchase later on down the road, we'll have one less maintenance cost to worry about - although we've got a long time to even begin considering that proposition.

Interior: Typically BMW. We do prefer in in-dash navigation system over the newer "tablet" like screens in other models. The seats feel relatively nice and the cockpit has plenty of room for each of us. The view through the windshield is very nice, and no major blind spots. The passenger side cup holder is are very basic, (arguably cheap), but if you're one of BMW's cheapest models, and expecting top-line luxury, then your preconceptions are entirely messed up. I consider this a "brand" car, where it is priced just above domestic models that are entirely loaded. So, would you rather drive a loaded Ford Fusion, or a base model BMW? That being said, the driver side cup holder, and respective "storage" underneath the armrest is pretty basic for some, however I find it to be just the right size. We tend to keep the interior of our vehicles very empty, basic, and clean. Only disappointment? The mats seem very cheap, even for an entry BMW. Lastly, Max AC is wicked loud relative to past cars we've owned. It does get the job done, especially in 100 degree Texas. Thankfully, the vehicle is garage kept and is rarely in direct UV exposure. When we do park outside, we always use a sun visor to protect the dash and limit heat transfer.

Electronics: First, pairing the Bluetooth was slightly annoying. Once we paired it up, we had to go out of our way to select "audio" for Bluetooth audio streaming. This seems a bit redundant since most people pair their phone to talk or stream audio anyways, right? Why did I need to find this "hidden" option? Oh well - it works great now. Second, we love the gear shift. Some people find it odd, but it seems pretty intuitive, and its identical to our X5. Third, the navigation screen is excellent. We really enjoy the newer iDrive interface.

Ride/Drive: Many of you may disagree/agree, but the ride is not like the 3 series feel we tend to think of. Perhaps it is because we got the Servotronic steering assist package, although my wife loves this feature? We definitely feel connected to the road, body roll is very minimal, even for this "SAV" model, and it is a blast to drive on curvy roads. The suspension feels great too, granted the X1 doesn't hide the road bumps that's for sure. I've read online it may soften up with age, but I'm not buying into that. Tires? I'm not a huge fan of run-flat tires, but I'm sure the ride would improve significantly with some Michelin Pilot Super Sports instead.

Engine: We specifically wanted the N20 engine paired up with the RWD. Here in Texas, we rarely need AWD. Plus, I'm a firm believer in keeping it simple. The more complicated the drive train, the more likely things are to fail and/or need maintenance. If you didn't know otherwise, some people might be fooled into thinking it has a larger engine underneath the hood. For our needs, the engine has plenty of pep for merging, passing, and accelerating off the line. Now . . . if the car is in EcoPro, everything I just said is a lie.

Maintenance: None thus far, obviously. Although I'm going to personally change the oil once we hit 5,000 miles. I know today's oil technology is significantly advanced compared to years past, but I refuse to wait for BMW to cover the tab for the first oil change. The intervals seems ridiculous. Personally, I think BMW should schedule the first oil change after 6,000 miles, and then perhaps extend it out to 12,000 mile intervals. Regardless, since we may or may not keep this vehicle for years my intentions are to treat it as my own until the day comes. Matter of fact, I refuse to let anyone detail/clean any of our vehicles besides myself. As of now, my wife's X1 has already been hand waxed and sealed, including the rims (makes it significantly easier to clean brake dust off).

Gas mileage: As expected, or better. We're averaging 24 m.p.g. in the city and 33 m.p.g. on the highway. I have an extremely light foot, and always fill up with 100% ethanol free gas where I can. Nevertheless, I keep every gas receipt in the glove box verifying 91 octane or better. Since we live directly across the street from our employer, we average an unheard 400 miles a month here in the Dallas-FW metroplex.

Ignore the typos and errors, but if you have any questions please let me know! Otherwise, I'll check back in a month or so.

Thanks!
 
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#2 ·
Nice choice. Are those leather or vinyl seats? I assume leather since that color was only available in leather, I believe. They look less grainy than my Oyster seats. Did you have to order that color combo? what color are your mats and seats trimmed in? looks like you have backup sensor, where are they placed on the rear bumber? do you have the pano roof? why no paddles? Based on your MPG, I guess your driving style doesn't justify them.

To me the ride is much like the E90 3-Series Sport, and thankfully unlike the F30.

Driving in EcoPro does not decrease power, it only makes the engine less responsive to minor inputs of the accelertor. It is just as powerful if you lay your foot down all the way.

Agreed, the fan excessively loud on the highest setting. I'll have to compare it to an E90 with which it shares much of its parts.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Nice choice. Are those leather or vinyl seats? I assume leather since that color was only available in leather, I believe.
We have beige Sensatec (leatherette) in our X1 (xdrive 28i). Like the leatherette in our 318ti, it's very realistic--nicely pebbled. The leatherette will never crack, although the seams can still split (as they are on the driver's seat of the Ti--after 150,000+ miles). I really wish BMW offered nice cloth or even velour seats; laugh all you want, but fabric is warm in the winter, not sticky in the summer, and holds up as well as anything else.

Re. MPG: I'm still in the break-in period and am most often using manual mode to shift--so I'm revving the engine a lot, up to (and a few times just a hair past) 4500 RPM. I may or may not have hit 5000 on rare occasions. The MPG indicator says 18.6 mpg now. But that's not only mostly city driving; it's aggressive city driving in a very hilly area (Northern Virginia). I see no reason to doubt that the car can get 22 city if driven normally.

(We've turned off that infernal engine-shutoff thing and have no plans to turn it back on--ever.)

Aldosterone--great blog; thanks for sharing your experience. The S drive will not be offered in future years, so you may end up with a fairly rare car as the years pass.
 
#3 ·
Love your choice. I love my X1 and it handles great for an SAV. I completely agree that it handles a lot like the E90. You sit a smidge higher but like a good BMW it still drives like its on rails.

Hate Eco Pro but I understand it's purpose. I drive mine like a bat outta hell because I can't stand going less than 60mph zipping around town. But it's not so bad on longer trips where you know you'll be cruising around for hours and could use the economy.

Enjoy the X1! It's everything that you would want in the "tweener" class! Good room, small enough to zip around traffic, great tech, and of course, it's a BMW!


2014 BMW X1 sDrive28i "Black Betty"
2013 Mini Cooper S Countryman "Penelope"
2011 BMW 328i "Heidi" (past)
 
#4 ·
Good review!

I got the base halogen headlights also, and they work very good.

The cats eye lights look cooler, but I buy basic function mostly (only add on was M Sport)

I changed my oil at 5K miles so I could sample.

Sent it off to Blackstone labs, and my opinion as a former oil distributor was that the oil is very good.

It had no wear in metal like some cars get or even excess molybdenum which some manufacturers use in assemble grease.

I needed to sample to know, but from what I saw, I would have just left in until they wanted to change it.

After I get my free changes, and run my Mobil 1 0w40 for 10k miles, I'll change and test to know exactly what works.
 
#5 ·
I agree in keeping cars as simple as possible if you plan on keeping them for a while. I had the adaptive xenons in my 2008 328xi coupe. They both failed after a year and a half and were both replaced under warranty. My SA said they would have been $1200 each! Ouch!!! I skipped the lighting package. The angel eyes do look cool but the standard lights work just fine.


Sent from BimmerApp mobile app
 
#6 ·
Less is more and I don't miss anything.

The base radio is a dream already.

I can use ipod that's hard to sort, but I have some cd's with about 100 mp3 songs each that make it real easy.

I only listen when waiting in car so I can enjoy car sound while driving or lack thereof.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Day 5:

Complaint: Gas tank "thumping" noise when the fuel gauge reads below 3/4 of a tank.

You can hear the fuel inside the tank slush, bang, or thump - you pick the best word - while driving in city traffic. Thinking we may be hyper sensitive, we can still hear it over the AC on low and XM radio up a little bit.

This is the first car where I can hear the fuel physically moving around in the tank. . .

What should I do, call the dealer and have them investigate it? Is this an isolated issue, or has anyone else on here noticed this as well? For full disclosure, we're not that family that calls to complain about loud neighbors or barking dogs. . . It's pretty noticeable.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Day 39:

Wife mentioned an unusual noise coming from the driver side door. Figuring she was being dramatic, thinking she bought into the "my new car should never make a single noise" mentality, I let it slide for a week or so. Decided to take it out this afternoon. Sure enough, what a horrible noise. . . You cannot hear it when you go over any "rough" road, but it seems to annoy you the most on "normal" roads. I inspected the lock mechanism/door area, windows/glass, and mirrors with no luck. I'm sure it is something simple, but it is very annoying.

Honestly, part of me thinks the door is resting too much on the metal hinge protruding out from the frame, and it rattles over certain terrain? My father told me to ditch the run-flat tires because those surely do not help absorb any stress from the road.

Interesting. . . after a quick forum search, do you think the increase in rattle noises is correlated with the use of run-flat tires? When did BMW introduce run-flat tires as OEM? I couldn't find anything definitive.

P.S. The dealership is giving my wife a loaner. Although we're in no position to bargain over a loaner, do they traditionally let you pick from an available inventory of loaner vehicles? If so, my wife wants to get behind a 528i.
 
#14 ·
It depends on the dealer and the time of day. I've read a few posts on here from some east coast guys who get crappy Sonics and Corollas as loaners.
Thankfully, my local dealer has TONS of loaner cars available. If you get there early enough, they will usually let you pick from what they have. But if you go late in the day, you're kinda stuck with what they got (which is usually some kind of 3 series).


Sent from BimmerApp mobile app
 
#15 ·
Subscribed! Thanks for sharing. Beautiful X1 too.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Day 88:

Door Rattle:An area BMW dealership did investigate the door rattle noise - P.S. I was given a 2014 328 as a loaner. As expected, the dealership did not replicate the noise, nor do anything with the vehicle during a road test. Although I still occasionally hear the rattle, I understand their lack of action. Any noise is tough to diagnose, let alone replicate! They tried, and unless it becomes too big of an issue, we're willing to live with it.

Fuel Economy: Anyway, the X1 has been great, however the gas mileage continues to dissapoint. I monitored the usual things - tire pressure and driving habit(s) - during a test interval, per se, and still didn't get close to published EPA numbers. Mind you, I engaged both ECO PRO and Start/Stop. Plus, I of course ran premium fuel. Why can I not get remotely close to EPA m.p.g.? I even went to the extreme of using "hyper-miling" techniques, which did help of course.

Road Noise/Suspension: The road noise is still louder than both the e46 and e90. The X1 is less forgiving when going over road bumps, misc. grooves, and other hazards. Also, back to the road noise, the interior cabin noise is significantly louder too. Initially, I thought the tires were to blame -RFTs, but the e90 has RFTs on too - mind you the suspension components are different. The e46, albeit with the highest mileage and wear of the bunch, dampens the bumps and transmits signficantly less noise than the X1 into the cabin.

Steering: Bored, I drove each vehicle in sequential order of production around my aparment complex. The hydraulic steering of both the e46 and e90 provide me much joy, whereas I definitely sense the "heavy steering" engineer BMW's are known for. Or were known for? The X1 on the other hand feels disconnected, numb, and relatively boring compared to the e46 and e90 - e90 > e46 > >> X1. Worth mentioning, I personally replaced the steering pump in the e46. This may have influenced things?

Unscientific MPG Comparison:

2001 BMW 328ci - (126,717 miles) - 5MT - RWD - 2.8L - EPA: 18/21/26

2009 BMW 328i - (69,685 miles) - 6SPD AUTO - RWD - 3.0L - EPA: 18/22/28

2014 BMW X1 sDrive28 - (3,993 miles) - 8SPD AUTO- RWD - 2.0 L - EPA: 22/24/34

Unscientific Real World MPG:

2001 BMW 328ci: X/26.7/X

2009 BMW 328i: X/25.5/X

2014 BMW sDrive28i: 13.9/23/26

Believe me, take these numbers with a grain of salt, but my little experiment did confirm what I suspected all along. Question, if the X1 is equipped with "modern" fuel saving features - ECO PRO, Start/Stop, and even an eight speed automatic transmission coupled with a newer engine design, why does it perform so poorly compared to previous models gas mileage wise? I understand the weight may be different, as well as the aerodynamics, heck even the gearing and etc. plays a role, but those things aside, isn't this already accounted in the published EPA m.p.g. rating? If so, does it seem logical that "fuel saving" gimmicks - ECO PRO and Start/Stop - is more so about increasing said numbers on paper, and less about real world application?

Just a rant.

Here are a few pictures of them side-by-side. Guess which one is getting ready to hit the market? The freshly detailed one, of course!

Comparison Shots:











One last comment, I'm pretty sure the m.p.g. infopanel in the X1 is not a "real-time" as the other two vehicles, despite larger navigation screen. Even the 3-series loaner we were given why the X1 was in the shop seemed to report better "live" m.p.g. and/or quicker cumulative information.

I call BULL on the X1's EPA m.p.g. numbers. Period.
 
#17 ·
Quick note. In the first post you'll find me mentioning 24 m.p.g. in the city and 33 m.p.g. on the highway. Given the new information, those numbers had to have been wrong. At the time, I felt as though they were correct. But, in retrospect, the data was taken immediately following a long highway drive from the dealership. So, I'm pretty sure the numbers skewed toward the high end, as opposed to true mix driving.
 
#20 ·
My grand average so far, 9k miles or so (with large proportion of bumper to bumper on DNT) is 20.6mpg. Which is quite worse than what I had with my manual e46. I think it is mostly the weight of the car and the auto tranny.

In regards to the steering - that's why I went with xdrive, it still has the good old hydraulic steering. Otherwise, as you said no real need for it here. Well, ok, except in the next ice storm.
 
#23 ·
Recap:

2001 BMW 328ci:

Theoretical EPA Combined: 21
Actual Combined: 26.7
Percent Error: +27%

2009 BMW 328i

Theoretical EPA Combined: 22
Actual Combined: 25.5
Percent Error: +16%

2014 BMW X1 sDrive28i

Theoretical MPG Combined: 27
Actual MPG Combined: 22.8
Percent Error: -16%
 
#24 ·
My scanguage shows that I can drive through town getting 40-50 mpg. Now the trick averaging that. I got 34mpg once at 55-60 mph and no AC. I also got 28 mpg average last week with 30% AC and 70-80 mph. Several times I got 23 mpg average on a long trip with wind at 80 mph and hot with AC on. Starting your drive, and idling in traffic can ruin mileage on any car, but It bests any mileage I've ever had on a car and the power is OMG.
 
#25 ·
I would venture to say that just because your particular numbers for mileage don't match what BMW publishes doesn't necessarily mean they are lying. I can look at my numbers which are actually better than what they publish and say that they should in fact be higher. The point being that a single vehicle can not be the sample size. I would guess that if everybody checked their mileage closely over a given period of time it would probably be close to the published numbers.
 
#26 ·
As far as I can tell EPA does not test each car. They calculate the MPG based on facts report. That said, I don't think their formula is very accurate. They've published different figures for the N20 F30 since it was released and they decreased the City MPG on the N20 S-drive by 2 MPG.

I've been able to get the published numbers if the car is fully warm and by driving no faster than the speed limit, which is almost never. Our long term average with an average speed around 29 MPH is about 25.5 MPG. This is about 2 MPG better than the E46 330i that we have when driven in the same manner. On longer trips with almost all freeway I'm consistently gettting 31.5 MPG at an average of 74 MPH.

Agreed the X1 has way more wind noise than the E46. How many MPG did you get in the loaner F30. We were getting approximately 3-4 MPG more in the F30 compared to the X1 and that difference is prob due to aero alone.
 
#27 ·
As far as I can tell EPA does not test each car. They calculate the MPG based on facts report.
"Facts report"? I have no idea what this means.

Each unqiue model of car (basically each combo of body style and drive train) is tested on a dynomometer following a trace of road speed vs. time that is preset and designed to somewhat duplicate a real world trip. There are several different tests and they are brought together to produce the final numbers. Since the test is indoors, it cannot take into account aerodynamic factors which are brought in by doing additional coast-down testing which applies aero correction factors.

I believe the key point folks miss is that these tests are done as a comparative tool for the buyer to compare different cars, not an absolute tool to predict the precise mileage that any individual motorist is likely to get. If your driving conditions are especially favorable, you might meet or possibly even beat the numbers, but this is not likely; most drivers get poorer mileage than the tests. The tests have been revised several times over the years to try and be more realistic and a change is being considered now, but one needs to understand that the EPA mileage tests are a political football between the government and the mfgs (e.g., CAFE requirements) and the goalposts can't be moved arbitrarily without considerable debate and consensus.

The EPA tests do a pretty job of predicting that Car X will do 2 mpg better than Car Y, but the do a lousy job of predicting that Car X will get exactly 25 mpg in an individual customer's hands.

- Mark
 
#28 ·
Interesting topic.
I was just thinking about this the other day how car manufacturers calculate their MPG for each vehicle they produce. How exactly is this done?

I would love for there to be some private track somewhere where every car gets its rated MPG by driving the track. Driver must follow speed limits, there are up hills, down hills, stop signs, straight stretches, passing lanes, slow spots, fast spots, and curved parts.
A start line and a finish line. Keep weather and wind in check.(which means don't test a car while its stormy out) ;)
I would love to even see the same track be run with trucks, and then with the same trucks pulling a standard weight, so the sticker at the dealer would show 2 different results.

But I suppose that's wishful thinking. :angel:
 
#29 ·
Interesting topic.
I would love for there to be some private track somewhere where every car gets its rated MPG by driving the track. Driver must follow speed limits, there are up hills, down hills, stop signs, straight stretches, passing lanes, slow spots, fast spots, and curved parts.
This is pretty much how it is done, only the "track" is indoors with a driver carefully following a trace of speed vs. time which is designed to duplicate the things you mention above. The problem is not that the test isn't outdoors.... it is that no test can duplicate exactly what any particular driver does or where/how they drive.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/the-truth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates

- Mark
 
#34 ·
Perhaps each car is tested, but it seems there may be a waiver if it is for the same engine/transmission/gearing because in theory the dyno trace would be pretty similar. Only thing different could be the input of the weight of the car. All other factors are taken into account mathematically and therefore are not obtained through the dyno test. Without taking aero into accurate account, it's difficult to predict MPG, but I'm surprised that just inputting the frontal area isn't more accurate. However, I'd be surprised if the EPA relies solely on mfg reported numbers. If that were the case, it'd be difficult to compare across manufacturers.

For the Most part I think EPA numbers are pretty fair though. I'm usually able to achieve them pretty easily if I'm conscious about saving fuel and don't drive super aggressively. In the X1 however, I can only get EPA figures when I try my hardest, like driving near the speed limit with my mother-in-law in back. Unfortunately my driving style does not take advantage of the potential efficiency of turbo engines, in general. In another turbo I had I also had a harder time achieving the EPA figures.

OP, I can definitely get better MPG in our X1 over our E46 330i; perhaps its all about driving styles and ours are polar opposites.
 
#36 ·
Day 114:

In retrospect my goal was not to undermine the X1's real world gas mileage, but instead shine light on how the book/published m.p.g. numbers do not always match the real world application. Because of this, I decided to "hyper-mile" from Dallas to a small town in Oklahoma. During the commute, I a) always used cruise, b) tail-gated (safely, but close. . . ) behind semi-trailers, and c) increased speed down hills for momentum. Anyway, here are the numbers:



40.5 m.p.g. on the highway I-35! Given Dallas does not sell ethanol free gas and I did not check the tire pressure before the trip, given 100% ethanol free premium fuel and max tire pressure, I earnestly believe I could have easily achieved 43 m.p.g.+.

P.S. This had to have been the most boring drive.
 
#37 ·
I too have gotten high 30's traveling out West (S-Drive) with occasional hyper-miling down the long hills. It is so easy to do in this car, run the speedo up to 80 MPH and then tap it into neutral. On most grades you will hold or maybe drop to 70 MPH. I am sure the BMW enthusiasts in this forum think we are crazy. Also I get a little better MPGs with 89 Octane non-ethanol (called off-road gas here) than I do with 91 octane with 10% ethanol and it is $.20 cheaper per gallon. Not that any of this matters in the big scheme of things but it is kind of fun to game the system and come out a little ahead.
 
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