[glangford]

Hello, noob here. I will potentially be a soon X1 owner. I've got a couple of questions for you guys. I'm looking at a 2014 X1 sdrive with the N20 engine. i'm coming form a 2007 mini cooper (Base - normally aspirated). My back problems are just making ingress/egress from the cooper a problem.

I read alot about carbon build up for DI engines. (The nice thing about my cooper it is not a DI engine). Has BMW done anything specifically to address this issue on the N20 or its other engines? If not do you just plan an occasional walnut shell blasting and on what mileage interval? What can be done to help prevent it? You sure can't avoid it, any interesting car seems to be DI these days.

What is the general feeling of the 8 speed auto? I'm coming from a 6 speed manual in the cooper, but that novelty is wearing off. I also drove a new mercedes CLA with a 7 speed DSG tranny. The MB tranny was nice, but I felt the 8 speed in the x1 was the smoother shifting of the two.

Is the gas mileage really as disappointing as I read on this forum. CR's testing shows 32 hwy for the x drive N20. I'm not looking for cooper type mileage, but would like to be able to achieve 30+ on open hwy and the low to mid 20s around town. That would be a massive improvement to my beater 99 CR-V I kept for hauling days. (it's about 20/25 with a zero to 60 of a minute and a half downhill with the wind at your back!)

That's about all my questions for now. I'm looking at a base model X1 in alpine white. The only installed option is heated seats. I want the dealer to install and activate Sirius/Xm. They say that is 500 something. Is that reasonable?

Thanks in advance for any guidance forum members may have!!