BMW X1 SUV (2015 - 2022) xDrive 20d Sport 5d Step Auto Owner Review

I’ve had my 2.0ltr Diesel X-Drive ‘Sport’ Auto since new - in March 2018 and I must say, it has been a genuinely excellent car - comfortable to travel in, quiet, relaxing and fast, whilst proving fairly economical too, returning a ‘real-world’ 45-mpg on average, over a mixture of town, open A-road and motorway driving. The car has proven VERY reliable over the 41k miles I’ve owned it, with only one ‘hic-up’... At around 36k miles, the car started to hang onto its lower gears and became reluctant to change-up, following wider throttle openings...after say - pulling onto a roundabout or, out of a side street onto a major road etc... I took the car back to my supplying dealer who suspected that the gearbox ECU required a software update - however, later that day I telephoned them to enquire when I should collect the car, only to be told that it actually required a complete new gearbox!!! (Luckily for me, it was still under warranty, as I was later told that the final bill would have been well-over £12k!!!) I was a disappointed with its original Bridgestone tyres - which only lasted 24k miles...I replaced them with Michelin’s which are currently wearing much better, with improved ride quality and reduced road-noise at speed, too... There is however, one stupidly annoying ‘thing’ that ALL these cars will suffer from and it’s a really bad bit of design oversight...that could sooooo easily be rectified - it’s the door mirror casings... When the car is washed, the base of the mirror casing fills up with water....that’s not much of a problem you think - but having just handed over your £8.00 or so, and then driven away from the hand car-wash, only to find that a 1/4-mile down the road, your moments-ago gleaming X1 now has dried-on water splash marks all over it and needs fully re-leathering from top to bottom to get them off, becomes really infuriating!!!...all the mirror housing needs is a small drainage hole/ slit in the base and it’d be fine! Overall though, a superb, confidence inspiring car, that’s good on fuel and does everything you’d expect of a BMW - Highly Recommended!