BMW X1 M35i xDrive 2024 Review

The 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive is the high-performance flagship of the brand’s best-selling model range but that still doesn’t take the sting out of the hefty list price of $90,900 plus on-road costs.

Add a few extras like upholstering protection and you won’t get much change from one hundred large.

That said, swing your attention over to its direct rival, the Mercedes-AMG GLA 35, and the price of admission is $7000 higher ($97,900 plus ORCs) while the feisty five-cylinder Audi RS Q3 opens the ledger at $105,300 plus ORCs.

If a luxury badge is not a prerequisite, then the Volkswagen T-Roc R (from $63,490) may appeal, especially given it’s priced around $27,000 below the ballistic X1 M35i and is currently available with a generous discount.

Backed by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, owners of the BMW X1 M35i can opt for a $2500 pre-paid capped-price service package lasting for five years or 80,000km.

Service intervals would normally occur every 12 months or 16,000km but BMW uses a condition-based service monitoring system to ascertain if and when car systems need attention.

Spending close to $100K on a small SUV might seem exorbitant but the 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive packs a lot of goodies into a compelling compact package.

Headline features on the baby German SUV include bold 20-inch M ‘light alloy’ wheels, quad 80mm exhaust outlets and a sports body kit with aggressive front and rear bumper designs integrating high-gloss ‘Shadowline’ black finishes for the front kidney grille and rear valance, tying in nicely with the two-tone wheel designs.

Bigger side skirts, a unique roof spoiler and aero-style M mirror caps are part of the package, while 15mm lowered M Adaptive suspension and bigger, stronger brakes improve aesthetics and dynamics.

The interior equipment list makes for a pleasant read, with power-operated, heated and massaging Vernasca leather-upholstered sports seats, a large power-operated panoramic sunroof, M Sport leather steering wheel, GPS-based satellite navigation, a drive recorder (using the car’s camera systems like a dash cam), anti-dazzle mirrors and grey Anthracite-coloured M headlining.

BMW Australia also fits a 12-speaker Harman Kardon premium sound system, digital radio, several seat/interior decor colour options, a trio of digital screens, dual-zone climate control and a powered tailgate with hands-free operation.

Keyless entry and push-button engine start are part of the ‘Comfort Access’ and ‘Digital Key Plus’ systems and are welcome time-saving options, plus there’s a wireless phone charger and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay functionality.

Popular options include metallic paint, which is priced at $1800, $2500 or $5000 depending on the hue, unique BMW Individual 20-inch alloy wheels ($500) and an M Compound braking system with grey callipers ($3000).

Buyers can also opt for the M Sport Pro package which doesn’t add cost but deletes the massaging seats and adds eye-catching M Sport seats (with illuminated M logos), M seat belts and an M Sport brake system with red callipers.

The 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive is chock-a-block with advanced safety features, including autonomous steering, accelerating and braking via the ‘Driving Assistant Professional’ package.

This includes things like active cruise control, a blind spot monitor, steering and lane control systems and an impressive head-up display.

Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) is there, along with adaptive LED headlights that provide very good nighttime illumination on low and high beam settings.

The small SUV also gets seven airbags, including a central front airbag.

All BMW X1 models qualify for a five-star ANCAP safety rating based on testing conducted in 2022.

BMW may not have the compelling depth and mind-boggling functionality you get from a modern Mercedes-Benz infotainment set-up, but the brand has been slowly but surely beefing up the computing power of its vehicles – and the 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive is no exception.

This little firecracker features BMW’s OS9, the latest operating system being more intuitive and responsive to use than the OS8 system the X1 launched with in late 2022.

It comes with BMW’s ‘Intelligent Personal Assistant’ that responds to verbal commands and can, um, do stuff for you. You can ask it anything like what are the fuel and oil levels or simply request the heating or stereo be turned on or off.

There’s also a time-saving ‘automate my habits’ function that’s pretty cool and not dissimilar to the ‘routines’ we tested recently on the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class. You can pre-program the car to crank up the heater and turn on the seat heaters automatically when the outside temperature drops to a certain level, for instance.

Most physical controls have been removed, which is an unwelcome development in my view, but at least the basic climate controls are always displayed at the bottom of the gorgeous 10.7-inch central touch-screen.

This very pretty screen is joined at the hip by a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, both of which sit behind a single pane of curved glass. The driver’s display is very good and allows you to configure it to your tastes, with regular road speed and engine stats or navigation.

The head-up display is also a nice touch, painting speed limits and even navigation instructions onto the windscreen.

Fitted with an e-SIM, the BMW X1 provides a number of live updates, from a five-day weather forecast in your region to real-time traffic congestion alerts, but anecdotal evidence suggests most people will just flick over to wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay for a more connected smartphone experience.

Over-the-air (OTA) updates are available for the vehicle’s infotainment system and bonus features like a self-parking mode and surround-view camera make parking the 4.5-metre-long SUV a breeze.

A ‘35’ badge used to refer to a six-cylinder engine, and although the 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive is propelled by a four-cylinder engine, it’s still a rowdy, punchy little SUV that has grin-inducing powertrain dynamics.

BMW’s B48 2.0-litre four-cylinder has been around since 2014, but this latest iteration gets loads of extra hot sauce to bring power and torque to an impressive 233kW from 5750rpm-6500rpm and 400Nm from 2000rpm-4500rpm, making it the most powerful 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine to emerge from Munich.

As well as adding direct and indirect fuel injection, a new combustion chamber, reworked intake ports and camshaft timing, not to mention improved intercooler and turbocharger performance, the B48 engine still has a delightfully revvy nature but a meatier mid-range power band results in unexpectedly rapid acceleration for the M-badged X1.

It has a claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time of 5.4 seconds and there’s no question it dips under the 6.0sec mark, which is not hanging about.

Engine power feeds to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (DCT Steptronic) and BMW’s xDrive four-wheel drive system. A limited-slip differential at the front axle is also provided for white-knuckle driving.

Not very, it turns out. The problem is not so much the 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive but the driver, because when you put a 43-year-old car journo with three kids and no life in a vehicle like this (which is more engaging than most), fuel conservation becomes an afterthought.

The official combined city/highway fuel consumption figure is claimed to be 7.8L/100km.

After a week of driving the kids around, shopping and visiting the beach – a four-hour round trip – the trip computer insisted we were using 12.9L/100km.

Most owners will probably land on a long-term figure that splits the difference between those two numbers.

If you asked me 20 years ago whether small SUVs would be more popular than hot hatches, I would’ve baulked. Vehemently.

But here we are, living in a country where more than half of all new vehicles sold are SUVs. As such, there’s going to be high-performance model grades given the overwhelming demand and, thankfully, SUVs like the 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive are genuinely engaging and fairly agile.

On a winding coastal road – the Great Ocean Road, to be precise – the most powerful X1 ever conceived reveals a tenacious character with the M Adaptive suspension set to road warrior mode.

Sure, the steering doesn’t have much feel, but it is light and direct and the grippy Pirelli P Zero (245/40R20) tyres give it scads of mid-corner confidence.

Because the M-tuned BMW X1 sits a little lower and the suspension has been fettled for fast driving, rapid changes of direction don’t upset its attitude too much and it’s surprisingly fast and fun point-to-point for a 1665kg wagon.

The distinct lack of body roll is appreciated in most scenarios, and together with bigger, stronger brakes than your garden-variety X1 – cross-drilled 385mm front discs with four-piston callipers, and 330mm rear discs with a single-piston calliper – the SUV is more than happy diving deep into corners.

Adding a bit of excitement to most driving occasions is a raucous exhaust note that leaves no doubt as to what this vehicle was designed for.

Then again, some folks may buy this vehicle simply because it’s the top-spec BMW X1 and will seldom rev the engine to its 6500rpm redline or compress its suspension during fast cornering. But that’s okay because they will be encouraged to know the X1 M35i is a good daily driver as well.

Set the adaptive suspension to comfort and ride quality isn’t overly firm, which makes it a good highway mile muncher and means it’s savvy around town and in the suburbs, too.

The turning circle of 11.7 metres isn’t great but all the parking cameras help in tight spots.

An upright seating position, clear sight lines and a diligent transmission make it effortless to drive at pedestrian speeds and handle the commuter crush as well.

The only criticisms we can draw from this test are slightly higher-than-average tyre noise and wind noise, the latter most prominent around the big side mirrors.

Course it can! It’s an SUV. But given the 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive’s road-biased 20-inch alloy wheels, sporty Pirelli tyres and 15mm lowered suspension that drops ground clearance from 205mm to 190mm, it’s probably a dirt road devil at best, not a rock-crushing, mud-slinging madman like the Suzuki Jimny.

The exterior design of the 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive is striking but it’s the interior that really shines and it all starts with the lavish sports seats.

The regular sports seats are very impressive and upgrading to the M Sport seats may not be the smartest move, given how comfortable and supportive the regular chairs are, with surprisingly deep side bolsters to keep torsos from moving around under intense manoeuvres.

That and the fact the massage function and adjustable head restraints go bye-bye with the M Sport seats.

A quick glance around the driver’s seat reveals a pair of pretty digital screens and below them a very thoughtfully designed wireless phone charger that has a spring-loaded clip to keep it upright and secure.

Storage solutions are very good, with a large EV-like cubby under the central arm rest, and the ‘floating’ design is rather handsome, as are the various performance controls stylishly integrated within its leading edge.

Twin USB-C cables are nice to have, because whenever I found myself using the wireless phone charger and wireless Apple CarPlay, the smartphone became alarmingly hot.

Back seat room is best described as acceptable rather than ample – big, boofy humans will find legroom a little wanting.

But the panoramic glass roof makes it feel less claustrophobic in the back and cargo room is impressive at 540 litres, expanding to 1600 litres with the rear seats folded down.

That said, the commodious boot does not include a spare tyre, which might make interstate journeys a little risky.

The 2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive is an impressive vehicle that’s much more than just a show pony with a bunch of M-stickers.

It has substance and it’s fun to drive but also a pleasant companion for cruising and commuting.

At half the price of a BMW X3 M Competition, it certainly doesn’t feel half as fast or half as dextrous. And given how much the new X1 has grown, it is very much knocking on the doors of slightly bigger mid-size luxury SUVs.

With impressive powertrain performance, engaging drive dynamics and a high-end interior package, this is a compelling and entirely apt flagship for BMW Australia’s top-selling vehicle.

2024 BMW X1 M35i xDrive at a glance:
Price: $90,900 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 233kW/400Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 7.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 176g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)

* Overseas model pictured

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