From the 2014 New York International Auto Show, Cars.com's Kelsey Mays takes a look at the 2015 BMW X4.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Kelsey maze for cars.com and we're here at the 2014 New York international auto show with BMWs sleek, new X4. It's a new X model that BMW calls a sports activity, coop that's in the same vein as the X6. So let's see what differentiates the 4.
The X4 is about eight inches shorter bumper to bumper than the X6. And just like the X6 is kind of a butched up sleeker version of the X5, the X4 has a similar relation to the X3 about a half inch longer, about an inch and a half shorter here. You see the sleek roof line just kind of comes back and ends here in the tail. No styling, very similar to the three series and the four series kind of put it all together and it looks a lot like BMW's other SUV's, which I refuse to call it for the record sports activity vehicles, similar dash layout and center stack orientation as the X3 the 2015 X3 with BMW's latest version of I drive here, which has a finger pad. You can kind of write things out on if you want to. Some of the controls, you're not as nice I think, as in the 3 series in the 4 series, those have more of a three-dimensional control look, these are kind of more ordinary looking, notice that the lower roof line means you sit about an inch lower BMW says in the front seats and the rear seats. The other obvious issue is visibility. Eight pillars kind of thick here in the rear window, very, very small. Let's take a look at that backseat. You really do get a sense of sitting a little bit lower in the back seat of the X4 I'm six feet tall that's where I would sit to drive. Knee clearance. Pretty good here, but the seat sits a little bit low to the floor of the vehicle. So my knees are a little bit elevated. Now, despite the low roof line, I've got pretty good headroom back here. Let's take a look at the cargo area. Here's where the roof line really hurts things if you're looking to pile in cargo about 18 cubic feet of space here behind the second row, that's about down 10 cubic feet versus the X3. You fold those seats down. You're looking at about 50 cubic feet. Now those specs are about comparable to a lot of hatchbacks that sub-compact SUV's. The X3 has 63 maximum cubic feet so you're going to have to weigh that against it a little bit. All wheel drive is standard on the X4 and there are turbo-charged four and six cylinder engines, but the Forrest cylinder still hits 60 miles an hour in only about six seconds BMW says, so even the base X4 is going to be a pretty quick vehicle. Now pricing is about $45,000 for the base X4. That's about $4,000 more than the X3 similar pricing scheme between the X5 and the X6 and that hasn't gotten the X6, that many takers. So does the X4 make much sense? Well, decide for yourself. It hits BMW dealerships in summer of 2014. (Engine Roaring)
