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I've been running an iX3 since April and i've been very impressed with it, but it's not the car i ordered. I ordered an i3S but there was a problem and so i ended up with this iX3 M Sport.
It's a great car but i do miss some of the items in M Sport Pro trim - though not enough to order one of those to replace this car.
I have now ordered an iX1 though, and it will have the spec i want which takes it close to M Sport Pro, but without the driver assistance stuff that i don't want, as a result it's coming in at almost £8k cheaper than an equivalent M Sport Pro (£59k versus £66,700).
That's not a light spec, it will have HK, comfort access, pan roof, towbar, heated memory seats and steering wheel and so on.
Admittedly i haven't driven the new U11 platform but i have driven a variety of Mini's and the previous gen 2 series Active Tourer and whilst i'm not a huge fan of fwd i couldn't help but be impressed by how well those cars drove. Even the 3 cylinder 218i Active Tourer was genuinely fun to drive (if a little underpowered).
As per the original post, i found the interior of the new X1 to feel every bit as spacious as my iX3, but the outside of the car is noticeably smaller. Where i live, with tight country lanes, that smaller external footprint is useful.
I'm also looking forward to the improved performance (60mph coming up in 5.6 instead of 6.8, combined with 4wd for inclement conditions) and the range reduction isn't of concern to me.
The i3S in winter seems to use more range than the miles it covers (a 60 mile journey takes 90 miles of range) whereas the iX3 seems to do the opposite (the same 60 mile journey takes less than 40 miles out of my range). I'm hoping the gen 5 battery management in the new iX1, along with the 200kg weight reduction compared to the iX3, means that the real world range difference should be negligible for my use case.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to provide another perspective.
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