Thread: First drive review: BMW 120d xDrive

Adaptive four-wheel drive adds winter safety and dynamic interest to the BMW 1-series solid base at a potentially attractive premiumIt's a BMW 1-series with four-wheel drive. UK orders for the BMW 320i xDrive since its book opened in June have been encouraging, and have had us eyeing Munichs other non-SUV four-wheel-drivers with interest. In Germany, most models can be had with xDrive, including the 1-series hatch in sprinting M135i form and in workaday 120d guise as seen here. The model answered demand from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and joins an expanding xDrive range that already accounts for a third of BMW's sales. Germany, the USA and China all buy more xDrives than Audi quattros, so, clearly, that leaves room for improvement in the UK. Most of Audi's quattro-equipped cars use a Torsen centre differential to apportion torque but, like the A3 and TT, xDrives use a multi-plate wet clutch instead. BMW claims its system is the most quick-witted, reacting in 0. 1sec, and anticipating wheel slip via the DSCs myriad sensors. Torque can be totally redistributed fore or aft from the default 40 per cent front, 60 per cent rear setting. The 120d xDrive is largely identical to its rear-drive counterpart that was packaged to accommodate four-wheel drive from the start. The extra 40kg or so, plus friction increases, means a 4g/km CO2 penalty (theoretically adding 70 to the road tax bill on the smallest wheels), while fuel economy drops less than four per cent to a still-superb 60. 1mpg, and performance is barely affected. BMW chassis engineers have aimed to maintain the rear-drivers sporty-yet-supple set-up using revised springs and dampers.