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Here's my situation.... I always owned sports cars. I've had a couple of BMWs in the past, Acura NSX, Mitsubishi 3000GT, etc.
I suffered a back injury a couple of years ago, and I just cannot get comfortable in a car with a low seating position anymore. I need that higher up "command style" seating position or else I start to experience pain after about 20 minutes of driving. I finally got tired of stopping every half hour to stretch my back on longer trips, so decided I need an SUV.
What I was looking for is a vehicle with that high seating position, but with the driving ability of a sports car, if such a thing is possible to find. And as long as I was going to get an SUV, I figured why not get one with AWD so I can drive in the winter weather we get around here.
So over the past few months I have driven every small SUV out there. Of the cheaper ones, the Ford Escape and Mazda CX5 are the best, but even both of them were a little larger than what I wanted. The perfect car IMO was the Range Rover Evoque -- I love this vehicle, but it's overpriced. With the same equipment, it's priced about $6-7k higher than the X1.
In the end I could not find a single car that came close to the X1 in terms of the fun to drive factor, and still have a comfortable seating position for me, unless I spent considerably more money. So I placed my order an X1 last week.
Yes, it's not going to drive like an M3. But it will drive better than anything else that is an SUV and is in the same price range. If you don't need an SUV, then maybe you should look at a 3 series sedan, as they are similar in price and probably a little sportier in terms of handling. But you won't get that higher up seating position, which is what I needed. If you are not in a rush, then maybe wait until next year and check out the Mercedes GLA... It looks like a very nice vehicle, but I just did not want to wait any longer.
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