2024 BMW iX1 eDrive20 review: We understand why BMW’s cheapest EV exists, but should it?

If you want to understand why the single e-motor front-wheel drive BMW iX1 eDrive20 exists look no further than the federal government’s Electric Car Discount, which awards Fringe Benefit Tax concessions to EVs (and plug-ins until April 1 2025) that are priced under the Luxury Car Tax threshold,

At $78,900 plus on-roads, the iX1 eDrive20 is the cheapest of six BMW EV variants from four different model lines – the iX1, iX2, iX3 and i4 – that qualify for a concession that can save eligible companies and individuals thousands of dollars.

The strategy has been a spectacular success and helped propel BMW back to the top of the luxury segment sales charts over arch-rival BMW for the first time since 2012.

To the end of July sub-LCT BMW EVs accounted for 23 per cent of all sales for the brand in Australia in 2024. The iX1 eDrive20 alone acocunts for four per cent of those sales, headed only by the iX1 xDrive30 (five per cent) and the spectacularly successful i4 eDrive35 (seven per cent and more than 1000 sales).

Alright, now we understand the logic of it let’s get to the emotion of it. Would you actually want a BMW like this?

READ MORE: BMW iX1 xDrive 30 review
READ MORE: BMW iX2: Is this the EV bargain of the year?
READ MORE: New BMW iX3 breaks cover

Well, if you could look past the price of the 2024 BMW iX1 eDrive20 it would genuinely seem like an attractive, enjoyable option for someone seeking a small SUV with green credentials, plenty of EV-punch potency for carving through traffic and a nice sprinkling of Germanic ride, handling and steering feel. 

But if you can look past a price like $78,900 plus on-road costs for the entry-level version of an electrified BMW X1 (that gets you just one electric motor, the dual-motor iX1 xDrive30 gets two for $84,900 plus on-roads) you’ve clearly got enough money to buy something flashier, like a Porsche. You can also get the same underpinnings and drive system in the BMW iX2 eDrive20, which gets a sleeker and more aggressive design and the FBT concession.

If you’re a more typical consumer you’re probably going to look at this and ask the obvious question – is it really worth that much when compared with a Tesla? At time of writing a Tesla Model Y can be had from as little as $55K plus on-road costs, but as we know Tesla prices can change regularly.

If you’re an enthusiast, or a fan of the BMW brand, you’re going to ask a less-obvious question – why on Earth is the single motor fitted to the front axle, when the entire Bavarian brand was built on the inherent superiority of the rear-wheel drive platform, and does being front-wheel drive ruin this X1?

Personally, I’m old enough to remember a senior BMW exec swearing blind that the company would never, ever build FWD cars, but that was probably last century.

2024 BMW iX1 eDrive20 price and equipment

Yes, we’re back to that price again, and I have to say that for $78,900 this does not feel like a lot of BMW, or even a lot of small SUV. 

Frankly, I was a bit shocked when I found out what BMW was asking for it. Consider that you can have the admittedly smaller Mini Countryman, built on the same platform, from $49,990 pus on-roads, albeit with one of those dirty old petrol engines, and it really does feel like a lot. To be fair, the EV Countryman is $67,990, and a lot uglier than a BMW.

I was also a bit shocked by just how tinny and thin the doors felt when I shut them. That whack-thwack thump you normally get from a German car, the kind of thick, dense sound that reminds you why you’re spending Euro-spec money on a premium-brand car on a daily basis, was distinctly missing here.

On the plus side, the iX1 is a good-looking beast, particularly when parked next to my neighbour’s gosh-ugly and otiose BMW X7. I really like what they’ve done with the solid-looking BMW kidney grille on the EV. It keeps the traditional look while cleverly modernising it and stamping it instantly as an EV because there are no cooling vents for the non-existent radiator here.

Inside, the touch and feel remains relatively premium and up-spec and you can choose various moods and modes through the touchscreen. I also like the upright phone charger below the screen, which is easy to use and locks your phone in tight so it won’t slide off the charge pad. 

What I hate, in this and all BMWs, is the fact that you have to reconnect your phone and the Apple CarPlay two out of every three times you restart the car if you’re attempting to use the wireless connection. Sure, you can use a cable, but if they’re telling you you’ve paid for wireless CarPlay you shouldn’t have to. 

The fact that BMW can’t make this work would be reason enough for me not to buy a modern one. Which is shame, because when it comes to EVs I think BMW is perhaps the brand that’s doing the best job of transitioning to the next stage of motoring, and doing it the fastest. I’ve said it before, but I would be seriously temped by a BMW i4 as a driver’s car.

My favourite feature in the wintery week I had the car was the heated steering wheel, but that was actually a non-standard extra and part of a $5154 Enhancement Package that also included metallic paint, massage function and a better stereo.

Standard kit on the entry-level iX1 includes 18-inch alloy wheels with tyre repair kit, adaptive LED headlights, a power tailgate, an excellent head-up display, leather-wrapped sport steering wheel, ’Veganza’ synthetic seat upholstery and Sensatec synthetic leather-look dashboard.

Safety assistants include adaptive cruise control with stop and go, autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist, lane centring assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a 360-degree camera, reversing assistant, front and rear parking sensors and an in-built dash cam.

The iX1 eDrive20 can charge at 22kW AC (which requires three-phase power) and a modest 130kW DC. A flexible fast-charge cable (Mode 2) and a public charging cable (Mode 3) come standard.

While we’re on all that, BMW claims a 10 to 80 per cent DC recharge time of  29 minutes. Using the AC socket, a full charge would take three hours and 45 minutes.

You also get a 12-month Chargefox subscription, which sounds good until you remember that lot of other companies give you multi-year versions of the same thing. BMW does too, for more expensive models.

2024 BMW iX1 eDrive20: What we think

The 2024 BMW iX1 eDrive20 is powered by a single electric motor developing 150kW and 247Nm that’s hitched up to a 64.7kWh battery pack. It claims a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 8.6 seconds and a top speed of 170km/h (which just sounds embarrassing for a BMW) and, vitally, a range of between 430 and 475km in European WLTP testing.

By comparison, the dual-motor iX1 xDrive 30 delivers significantly more grunt at 230kW and 494Nm, plus all-wheel drive for a zero to 100km/h time of 5.6 seconds. But it does only claim “up to 400km” of WLTP range.

On paper, then, this iX1 should feel a bit underpowered, underwhelming, perhaps even a bit poo, but here’s the thing. I got into this car after spending a week in an iX3, which I found so boring and unremarkable that I can barely remember a thing about it.

Getting out of that into the iX1, for some reason I just felt instantly more enamoured with the smaller car. Perhaps it’s the wheelbase, or the lighter weight, but the iX1 just felt insanely more like a BMW, more alive, more talkative through the steering in that particular Munich-made way, and just more German in general.

I liked this car, except for the fact that it turned me, according to my family, into a bad Uber driver. I’d like to blame the fairly brutal regen of the iX1, which did make modulating your stopping tricky to get used to, but the fact is I drive lots of EVs, so I have no excuse.

I came to think that it was just the zippiness of the iX1 making me drive a little too enthusiastically, which is strange because 150kW and 247Nm isn’t a lot, and one motor is obviously not as good as two, and yet at no point did this car feel sluggish. Such is the genius of torque delivery in an EV.

It certainly didn’t feel sporty, but this is a shopping-trolly, school-run version of a BMW, not a sports car, and as my city vehicle and commuter for a week I found it a genuinely enjoyable companion.

I didn’t take it out for a blast on country roads – why would you bother? Nor did it rain during the week, so I have to say the front-wheel-drive set up didn’t bother or alarm me, although I’m sure it would make it a lesser vehicle in some ways. Particularly to an enthusiast. But then enthusiasts shouldn’t really be buying small SUVs.

2024 BMW iX1 eDrive20: Verdict

As I said at the start, it’s hard to go past the price here, and I guess it’s all relative. This BMW iX1 eDrive20 is now the cheapest way to get into a BMW EV, and that makes it important, if not exactly tempting to everyone (although judging by sales, clearly enough to justify).

If it was, say, $10K cheaper, I think it would be a hugely tempting proposition and for some buyers, BMW types with more cash, it might well still be one.

What did surprise me was just how much I enjoyed driving it. Despite its local existence being driven by logic, there’s definitely some of the old BMW magic here.

SCORE: 3.5/5

BMW iX1 eDrive20 specifications
Price: $78,900 (plus on-road costs)
Basics: EV, 5 seats, 5 doors, compact hatchback, AWD
Range: 430-475km (WLTP)
Battery capacity: 67kWh
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Energy consumption: 15.7kWh/100km
Motor: 1 front synchronous, 150kW/247Nm
AC charging: 22kW, Type 2 plug
DC charging: 130kW, CCS combo plug
0-100km/h: 8.6 seconds