Quick Spin: 2011 BMW X1 xDrive28i

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Filed under: Europe, Crossover, BMW, Quick Spin

A Compact Crossover For The Wagon-Averse

2011 BMW X1 xDrive28i - Click above for high-res image gallery

My wife hates wagons. Loathes them with the kind of passion and fervor normally reserved for sexual predators and real estate agents. But despite this, she drives the prototypical wagon-on-stilts, a Honda CR-V.

That unbridled disgust for any low-riding hatchback is something I've been trying to figure out for the last seven years, but it's a problem nearly every European automaker peddling its wares in the States has been dealing with for decades. The solution, it seems, is to downsize the standard CUV into a more compact package, while still providing the elevated ride-height and commanding view that consumers in a post-SUV world crave.

For BMW, the answer is the X1, the Euro-only-for-now crossover that slots in where the X3 used to reside before it blew up to near-X5 proportions. And fitted with BMW's new turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, which U.S. customers will sample for the first time in the Z4 sDrive28i roadster, it makes a compelling case for itself. So much so that BMW's Leipzig, Germany plant is tapped out, meaning importation into the U.S. isn't going to happen anytime soon.

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Gallery: 2011 BMW X1 xDrive28i: Quick Spin



Photos copyright (C)2011 Damon Lavrinc / AOLContinue reading Quick Spin: 2011 BMW X1 xDrive28i

Quick Spin: 2011 BMW X1 xDrive28i originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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