BMW 1 Series Review & Prices

As far as posh small hatchbacks go, the BMW 1 Series has been a go-to choice since its launch. The latest version is stylish outside, feels premium inside and it’s fun to chuck around on a good road, but it’s not very spacious in the back and not all that comfortable in town.

You’ll likely cross-shop the 1 Series against the Mercedes A-Class or Audi A3 if you’re after a posh badge to stare at in traffic, or the excellent Honda Civic for another fun-to-drive proposition.

Think of the little BMW as a pair of Hugo Boss running trainers. Both sporty and practical, it feels at home in a wide range of scenarios, yet it's fancy enough to blend in amongst posher, more expensive company.

Watch: BMW M135 review

While it was an ungainly looking car when first launched, the updated 1 Series now has a very flattering front end, with slender, pointy headlights and a neat grille at the front - almost resembling a cat’s nose. The side profile is simple with only a pair of sharp creases down the side and intricate taillights at the back.

The interior is just as upmarket, with an eye-catching dashboard that slopes down, away from the windscreen featuring jazzy air vents integrated into the design. A 10.7-inch driver’s display and 10.3-inch infotainment screen sit on top of the dashboard in a dual-screen setup, which is crisp and clear but a little overcomplicated to navigate.

Material quality is largely very good, with a squidgy dashboard and solid feel to all of the interior surfaces.

You get plenty of space up front, with highly adjustable seats and steering wheel; easy to find a good driving position, as well as lots of storage space for odds and ends. Back seat passengers aren’t quite as well catered for, and three adults might find it a squeeze. The 300-litre boot is a long way down on the Volkswagen Golf and Audi A3.

You can only have a 1 Series with a petrol engine, and there are two versions to choose from: the front-wheel drive 120 or the quicker 123 with four-wheel drive - both with mild hybrid tech. If you’re feeling spicy, the hot-hatch M135 is also available.

Around town the 1 Series is easy to drive, partly because you can only have it as an automatic, but also because the steering is pleasantly light and all-round visibility is decent. It’s not very comfortable though, because its sporty emphasis means the stiff suspension jiggles you around on rough roads.

It settles down on the motorway where the well-insulated cabin keeps things quiet, but the 1 Series really excels on a twisty road. Aside from the Honda Civic, it’s the most fun you’ll have in a sensible family car without stepping up to a bona-fide hot hatch.

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The entry-level BMW 1 Series Sport starts at just over £32,000, almost £1,000 more than the equivalent Mercedes A-Class and Audi A3. For that you get the 1.5-litre engine, cloth upholstery and fancy interior trim with in-built ambient lighting, plus LED lights, gloss black exterior trims and a parking assistant package.

M Sport cars are fitted with a more aggressive body kit, as well as diamond-cut alloy wheels, sports suspension and racier seats inside.

M Sport Pro adds darker headlight bezels, red brake calipers and seatbelts with BMW’s racing colours in the stitching. The trim starts at almost £38,000 with the smaller engine, while you’ll pay over £40,000 for the 123 xDrive M Sport Pro.

Even in basic form the 1 Series feels like a hot hatch to drive, however it’s not as comfortable as some alternatives

In town

Around town the 1 Series is pretty easy to drive. All cars get an automatic gearbox as standard so stop-start traffic isn’t too much of an issue, although it can be a little slow to respond when you put your foot down unless you’re in sport mode, which is annoying if you’re trying to nip out at a junction.

The suspension is also quite firm and jittery at low speeds, with large potholes sending a thud through the cabin. An Audi A3 is more comfortable for bumbling around town, as is a Volkswagen Golf.

It’s easy to manoeuvre thanks to the light steering and decent visibility, with only the chunky rear pillars getting in the way at some junctions. The standard-fit assistance helps overcome that, with parking sensors front and rear as well as a rear-view camera, and even a self-park function.

On the motorway

It’s on a winding back road that the BMW 1 Series really shines. It may not be rear-wheel drive like the 1 Series of old, but it’s still great fun to chuck around corners. The firm suspension does a great job of minimising body lean, and the responsive steering weighs up nicely at higher speeds.

If sporty driving isn’t your priority in a sensible family hatchback, the Audi A3 is still more comfortable for a relaxing waft home, but the BMW can settle down nicely when you don’t feel like being a hooligan.

The M135 model is suitably rapid for a range-topping hot hatch, but while the normal model is more fun than its alternatives, the sporty version isn’t. We’ve reviewed it separately.

On a twisty road

It’s on a winding back road that the BMW 1 Series really shines. It may not be rear-wheel drive like 1 Series of old, but it’s still great fun to chuck around corners. That firm suspension does a great job of eliminating body roll, and the steering is really responsive as well. The Audi A3 is still more comfortable if you just want to relax and waft home, but the BMW can settle down nicely when you don’t feel like being a hooligan.

Despite this, the M135 model isn't actually as much fun to drive as alternatives such as the Honda Civic Type R and Volkswagen Golf R. It's fast and perfectly capable of going round corners quickly, but the brakes are too squidgy, the steering gives little feedback about what the front tyres are doing and the gearbox is a bit slow to respond. You just don't get the urge to have fun on a twisty road, which sort of defeats the object of this model.

There’s loads of interior storage in the 1 Series, but the rear seats are a bit tight and the boot isn’t massive

There’s loads of space up front in the BMW 1 Series, and all drivers will be able to find their ideal driving position because there’s plenty of adjustment in the seats and the steering wheel.

You also get an abundance of cubbies to keep your bits and bobs out of harm's way. The door bins will easily swallow a large bottle with room to spare, and you get a decent-sized glove box. There are a couple of cupholders in front of the gear selector and there’s even more storage under the armrest.

Charging your various devices is no bother either. All cars get two USB-C ports up front and a 12 volt socket, and a wireless charging pad can also be added as an option.

Space in the back seats

Moving to the rear seats the 1 Series is fairly average. Kneeroom is decent, however headroom could prove to be a bit tight for taller adults. It’s a squeeze to get three in the back as well because of the way the roof curves in at the sides. The boxier VW Golf is better for carrying three.

Fitting a baby seat is easy though. The doors open wide enough to get it in without too much faff, and the ISOFIX anchors are really easy to access. There’s just about enough room for a rear-facing seat as well without pushing the front chairs forward.

Storage in the back seats is good as well. You get a couple of cup holders in the centre armrest and door bins which will fit a large bottle. Rear passengers won’t be fighting over charging points either thanks to the two USB-C ports.

Boot space

The amount of boot space you get in the 1 Series changes drastically depending on what engine you go for. The standard 120 and 123 are mild hybrids, so there are batteries under the boot floor which means they rob you of space. The M135 on the other hand doesn’t have the electrical gubbins to contend with, and as such it gets a 380-litre boot capacity.

With 300 litres on offer the 1 Series is 80 litres down on an Audi A3 and it has 50 litres less than a Mercedes A-Class. If maximum boot space is a priority for you, then the Skoda Octavia has 640 litres on offer, if in a less-premium package.

With the seats folded you get 1,135 litres to play with in the mild hybrid models, or 1,200 litres in the M135. You can through load thanks to a 40:20:40 folding rear seat, and they lie almost flat so sliding heavy items towards the front is easy. You also get a couple of bag hooks to stop your shopping from rolling around.

The 1 Series has one of the most premium-feeling cabins in its class and technology is great, however some of the controls are a bit fiddly

The BMW 1 Series has an interior which feels like it’s from a much larger car, thanks to the excellent build quality and posh-feeling materials. Everything feels properly solid to the touch, and there are plenty of soft touch plastics around you. The only questionable bits in the cabin are the blower direction controls, which are made of rubber and feel a bit odd to the touch. Not bad, just a little…weird.

You can also get some funky-looking ambient lighting which livens things up a bit. The overall design may not be as elegant as a Mercedes A-Class, but the BMW blows that car out of the water when it comes to build quality - on par with the Audi A3.

All cars get a 10.7-inch touchscreen infotainment system as standard, and it’s pretty easy to use. Some of the menus are a tad confusing, but the screen itself is bright and responsive and you’ll probably just use the standard-fit Apple CarPlay or Android Auto most of the time.

The touchscreen climate controls are irritating to use on the move; far less intuitive than physical controls and prone to a miss-press. You’re just as likely to end up on the home screen as you are turning the temperature down.

It’s a shame that BMW has also done away with the rotary controller in the centre console, because that was much easier to use on the move than prodding around at the screen. You get voice commands though which work well enough, but even then it’s not a perfect system.

The standard-fit 10.3-inch digital driver’s display is also very good, with plenty of options to customise it as you want - and it’s really easy to read at a glance.

The engine lineup for the 1 Series is very simple, because there are just two petrol options to choose from. The entry-level car has a 1.5-litre engine with 170hp, and it is more than sufficient for most people’s needs.

It’ll do 0-60mph in 7.8 seconds so it feels nippy enough, and it’ll return up to 52mpg. There’s also a 2.0-litre model with 218hp which does 0-60mph in 6.3 seconds, comes with ‘xDrive’ four-wheel drive, and has a claimed economy of 48mpg.

Of those two engines the basic 1.5-litre unit is your best bet for the better fuel economy, but if you want proper hot hatch thrills then you’ll need the M135. That car has a 300hp 2.0-litre engine with all-wheel drive, and it’ll do 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds.

The 1.5- and 2.0-lire engines are fairly road-tax friendly, emitting around 123g/km of CO2 from the smaller unit and 140g/km in the 2.0-litre. With no plug-in hybrid or electric models on offer, company car drivers may want to look elsewhere to get lower benefit in kind rates. Something like a Cupra Born may be a better bet, or the Audi A3 TFSI e with its staggering 88 miles of electric-only range.

If you’re modest with your optional extras, you can avoid the luxury car supplement in all 1 Series models, bar the 123 version in M Sport Pro trim which starts at over £40,000.

The BMW 1 Series scored the maximum five stars when Euro NCAP tested it back in 2019, however the updated 2024 model hasn’t been put through its paces. This doesn’t matter too much though because the car’s basic structure is the same as before, so you can rest assured that it’ll protect you and your family well if the worst should happen.

To prevent an accident from happening in the first place, all cars come with autonomous emergency braking, a reversing camera and rear parking sensors. Adaptive cruise control is an expensive option to add, but it does make motorway cruising less stressful. The 360-degree camera and parking assist options are also worth going for to keep you safe from those pesky curbs and bollards.

BMW came eighth in the 2025 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, an impressive result. Mercedes came ahead in second place, but Audi is lagging behind with a poor 19th place result.

It comes with a three-year, unlimited mileage warranty - better than Mercedes and Audi - which can be extended for up to 100,000 miles after the initial three-year period. There are three levels of cover, from fully comprehensive to a basic driveline option which covers the main engine and driveline components for work up to £5,000. You also get a 12-year anti-corrosion warranty as standard.