Kia Sportage vs BMW X1

What's the difference?

The Sportage still feels like a super solid offering in its segment, plus the addition of more hybrid options is only going to help.

It does feel a little under-specced in the lower grades, though, considering the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach taken by its Chinese rivals.

I feel like I should almost whisper this bit, given it's a dirty word at the moment, but that diesel engine, it's a real peach, and if I wasn't afraid of being run out of Sydney's inner west with pitchforks, that's probably the one I'd be choosing.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

This new BMW X1 feels like it's been built by a team of parents because it’s one of the most practical and easy to use small SUVs my family and I have ever lived with and, trust me, they’ve seen a lot of test cars come through the Berry garage.

We loved the roomy interior with high ceilings, the clever storage everywhere from the giant door pockets to the floating centre armrest up front and big boot for our pram.

Entry and exit is easy through the tall and wide doors, something my back was thankful for every time I had to put our baby into her car seat.

Driving is easy, with great visibility and the engine that comes in the xDrive20i M Sport makes this X1 sporty and fun to pilot, too.  

The only drawback is the price, it's a bit expensive but at the same time you are getting a high-quality feeling SUV.

All new Sportage models feature a redesigned front and rear end, but they actually have a slightly different look. There's one look for the cheaper models and then one for the top-spec cars, the SX+ and GT-Line.

The changes aren't overwhelming, though. There are fog lights in the more expensive models, but also just more use of black edging, as opposed to the silver edging that frames the bottom of the grille and rear end in the cheaper cars.

Either way, I still really like the way the Sportage has come together. The front end looks bold and powerful, mostly because of the vertically stacked headlights and and the DRLs that really frame the front end, but they've also done a good job of making a fairly big and spacious SUV feel small and not too imposing.

Now, inside the top-spec cars it’s very modern Kia, with a big twin-screen setup, and the dual-function bar beneath them that handles things like climate control, but also mapping and media and those kinds of functions. The cheaper models also get the same look, but swap the second 12.3-inch screen for a smaller driver display.

It means you don't have to dig through the screen for everything, which is always a nice touch. And I also like some of the materials used in the GT-Line, too, like the synthetic wood grain that’s actually nice to touch.

But there are a couple of key downsides. Not quite so much in the top-spec cars, but in the cheaper versions. I hate those constant reminders that you didn't spring for a more expensive model, and there are plenty of those in the lower-spec cars.

In the more expensive models, there are buttons alongside the gearshift, but in the cheaper cars, those buttons are still there, just blacked out and inactive. And even the cutout for the head-up display still exists in the cheaper cars, but of course, there's no head-up display.

All of that combined with some hard and scratchy plastics front and back makes you really want to dig deep for a more expensive Sportage.

This current generation of X1 arrived in late 2022 and finally looked more like part of the BMW SUV family with tall and boxy styling rather than the sleek, but raised hatchback it seemed to be before.

My test car had 'M Portimao Blue' metallic paint - a flattering hue that showed off the X1’s lines as you can see in the images.

I like the X1’s oversized grille which suits the angry looking front bumper that comes with the M Sport inclusions, but balanced by pretty headlights.

Inside, the X1 xDrive20i M Sport is modern and minimalist in design. I like the floating centre armrest in between the driver and front passenger and the way it creates a feeling of more space and adds more storage.

The double screens are nice, but we’re seeing this same design and tech now in budget cars such as the Chery Omoda 5 and Haval H6. BMW needs to be even slicker and more stylish if it wants to maintain its edge.  

If you like your SUVs sporty looking then check out the BMW X2, X4 and X6. These are coupe style SUVs (but with four doors).

The Sportage measures 4685mm long, 1865mm wide and between 1665mm and 1680mm tall, depending on the trim.

Slip into the backseat of the Sportage and you’ll find legroom is ample, at least for my 175cm frame, and headroom is ok, without being great - though our test car had the sunroof fitted which could be eating into the space.

Elsewhere in the back though, even the top spec GT-Line just doesn't feel that plush. And by that, I mean some of the materials are a bit hard and scratchy, you don’t get your own temperature controls for the air vents, and it generally just lacks a premium air.

Now, to the all-important point in this segment, and that is boot space. The official VDA numbers are 543-1829 litres for the petrol and diesel cars, and 586-1872L for the hybrid, but the real-world reality is a boot that is deep and wide and really has enough space to carry plenty of groceries.

But there is an important caveat. Under the flat floor there is a temporary spare wheel in the hybrids, where in some of the ICE cars, you get a full-size spare wheel.

My family found the X1 xDrive20i to be one of the most practical small SUVs we’ve lived with thanks to its spacious interior, clever cabin storage and plenty of convenient features.

I need to point out the door pockets - they’re the biggest I’ve ever seen. They’re more door buckets than pockets and super helpful over the week not just for bottles but for everything else that I needed to dump out of my own pockets and into them.

The floating centre armrest up front looks like an ironing board and has a tonne of storage underneath.

The wireless charging is handy but the holster is a bit un-user friendly in terms of access, but it held the phone tight and stopped it becoming a projectile when driving, which is what you want.

There are power outlets galore, too, proximity unlocking, and a gesture tailgate.

Legroom in the back is excellent and there’s so much headroom throughout. 

The X1’s 540-litre boot capacity is excellent for the class and meant we could fit our baby’s big pram and the seven-year old’s scooter and still have room for the grocery shopping.

In the space of driving this SUV and writing this review the list price of the X1 xDrive20i M Sport has risen from $68,900 to $73,400. 

That price hike was part of an increase across the model range and all grades now cost more, even the entry-level sDrive18i which is now 13K less than the xDrive20i M Sport.

But you’re paying for the more powerful, athletic and only all-wheel drive one in the X1 range. 

You’re also getting loads of standard features in the xDrive20i M Sport. 

There’s the 10.25-inch instrument display with three different styles for your speedo and other gauges, while flowing into that is the 10.7-inch media screen with sat nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and digital radio. 

There are LED headlights, plus proximity unlocking, a head-up display, dual-zone climate control, a power tailgate, sports seats (the front ones are heated and power adjustable) and adaptive cruise control.

As the name suggests the xDrive20i M Sport is fitted with BMW M Sport goodies as standard. These include adaptive M Suspension, M leather steering wheel, M roof rails, M headliner and M interior trim. 

My test car also had $8900 worth of options fitted including the sunroof, Harman Kardon stereo, the ‘Vernasca Black’ leather seats and 20-inch M light alloy multi-spoke wheels.

Is it good value? Well, you do get a lot of nice things here but at a $13,000 premium over the entry grade, plus the $3500 price jump in the past few weeks, I’d say the value isn’t great.

If you’re trying to keep the cost down, the sDrive18i is the budget pick. 

The big news about this mid-life update for the Sportage is the expansion of Kia’s hybrid powertrain, which is now available with AWD, and the inclusion of an eight-speed automatic for the 1.6-litre turbo-petrol variants.

Elsewhere, the 2.0-litre petrol option produces 115kW and 192Nm, pairs with a six-speed automatic, and drives the front wheels. The other pure petrol option is a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol unit that produces 132kW and 265Nm, paired with an eight-speed auto and powering all four wheels.

Then comes the diesel, which is a 2.0-litre unit making 137kW and 416Nm. It pairs with an eight-speed automatic and powers all four wheels.

Finally, there’s a hybrid option, now with two- or all-wheel drive. It pairs a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine and a six-speed automatic with an electric motor and a 1.49kWh lithium-ion battery to produce a total 173kW and 367Nm.

The X1 xDrive20i M Sport has a more powerful engine than the grades below it in the range - it’s a 2.0-litre, turbo-petrol, four-cylinder making 150kW and 300Nm.

A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission does the shifting for you.   

This is also the only all-wheel drive X1 currently in the range.

All pure ICE Sportage grades are fitted with 54-litre fuel tanks, while the hybrids get 52-litre tanks. But the hybrids more than make up for it when it comes to fuel efficiency, with the FWD sipping a claimed 4.9 litres per hundred kilometres on the combined cycle, while the AWD drinks 5.3 litres.

The diesel is the next most-efficient, using a claimed 6.3L/100km combined, while the turbo-petrol needs 7.5 litres, and the 2.0-litre petrol requires 8.1 litres.

Our calculations suggest that, taking the fuel claims at face value, a 2.0-litre petrol Sportage should carry you 666kms on a full tank, while a turbo-petrol will take you 720kms. The diesel should deliver 857kms, while the FWD hybrid (1061kms) and AWD hybrid (981kms) will take you the furthest.

BMW says that after a combination of open and urban roads the X1 xDrive20i M Sport will use 7.4L/100km.

In my own testing my driving was mainly city and suburban, which uses quite a lot of fuel. We did dashes to birthday parties, the grocery shopping, school drop offs and all of it in busy traffic.  

I recorded 8.9L/100km, but that’s not overly thirsty considering I was carrying two car seats with children, and all the gear that goes with them. 

A small 45 litre tank means the xDrive 20i M Sport has a range of about 608km, which is on the shorter side.

I want to start this with just a small caveat. It hasn't been the most comprehensive drive of this car so far. And remember, there are a lot of variants.

Petrol, diesel, hybrid, two-wheel drive, all-wheel drive – we haven't driven all of them, and so I feel uncomfortable giving you my rock-solid verdict across the whole range. I can, however, give you my first impressions.

The first of those is that whoever in the vast Hyundai group came up with adding a long-hold function to the stereo mute button deserves a medal. By far the most annoying of the modern safety systems is the overspeed warning, which inevitably reads some signs incorrectly, others not at all, and has no idea when school zones actually start.

Thankfully, Kia, like Hyundai, now has the shortcut to mute it. You just long-hold down mute button and voila, the bing-bongs vanish.

Now elsewhere, as is pretty typical of modern Kias, the ride in this car feels properly well sorted. We've taken it through the city, onto the freeway, along a little twisting road section, and on some typically coarse and broken country B-roads, and the Sportage handled them all really well.

And even when you're getting a little frisky with the driving, there's little in the way of body roll, with the Sportage feeling planted and solid.

I wasn't totally blown away with the refinement in the cabin. On the wrong road surface, you definitely get a bit of road noise in the cabin – mind you, that is pretty hard to avoid on the coarse chip stuff – but you can also hear the engines revving away and working hard when you put your foot down.

That said, the way the gearboxes channel that power is smooth and easy, and when you put your foot down in each of the powertrains we tested, there's certainly enough urge to get you up and moving.

And that is especially true in the diesel, which I do think is a bit of a peach of a powertrain – super torquey and super easy to get the Sportage up and moving. It might find itself on the endangered species list, that engine, so get it while you can.

Now, one small downside. While the ride hasn't changed, at least for any of the ICE-powered cars, the steering has changed for all of them, and at speed, it's really lovely. It's quite direct, confidence-inspiring, and nicely weighted.

But at low speeds it can feel a little bit darty, like it takes a really big bite when you put a little input in, and it takes a little bit of getting used to.

Only a week before testing the X1 xDrive20i M Sport I’d been reviewing a BMW 330e and going from the 3 Series to the SUV was like changing my seating position from being in a bathtub to sitting on a bar stool. 

Actually, the X1’s seat is far more comfortable than a stool and the refined quality is what you’d expect from BMW.

But compared to the low slung 330e the visibility and the upright driving angle of the X1 is very different.

It’s something you want in an SUV that puts practicality before performance.

As much as I liked the sporty sedan, as a dad I preferred being able to see better when parking in the X1, and this made life a lot easier.

Easy is a good word to describe what the X1 xDrive20i M Sport is like to drive - from that visibility to the light steering, comfortable ride and that great engine with all-wheel drive.

That 2.0-litre four-cylinder has more than enough grunt to run up the steep hills in my neighbourhood without struggling, the transmission is smooth and the all-wheel drive system adds a bit more reassurance in the wet weather.

All of this makes for an easy, enjoyable drive. 

The X1xDrive20i M Sport like all X1s scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2022.

A score of 88 per cent was given to child protection and the ANCAP report found that a 10-year old and six-year old in the second row had adequate to good protection in a front offset collision and a side impact. 

For child seats there are two ISOFIX points and three top tether anchor mounts across the second row.

As you would expect from a model that’s hasn’t even been around a year yet, the X1 xDrive20i M Sport has the very latest in advanced safety tech.

There’s AEB which is operational from 5.0km/h to 210km/h and also works at road junctions. There’s lane keeping assistance, blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert. 

There are curtain airbags for front and rear passengers, a centre airbag for the driver and co-pilot along with frontal airbags plus side chest and side pelvis airbags.

All Kia models also get the brand’s seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, seven years of capped-price servicing and, should you service with Kia, eight years of roadside assistance.

Turbo-petrol and hybrid models require servicing every 12 months or 10,000kms, where the rest are 15,000km intervals. The Kia website has the full costings for each powertrain choice, but for reference, seven years of hybrid ownership will cost you a not-insubstantial $4510.

The X1 xDrive20i M Sport is covered by BMW’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

A five-year/80,000km service plan through BMW will cost $2150. You’ll be looking to pay an average of $430 per service every 12 months.