The Saga Continues: A Comparison of the BMW X1, Audi Q3, and Volvo XC40

When it comes to small SUVs, there are several options available on the market. In this test, we put three popular models head-to-head to see which one comes out on top. The BMW X1, Audi Q3, and Volvo XC40 all have their strengths and weaknesses, but only one can be crowned the winner.

The Volvo XC40 is a lot like its bigger counterparts in terms of size and feel. Its big flat bonnet makes it feel more like a 4x4 than a normal car, which is part of why it handles so well on the road. The suspension is very comfortable, even in the R-Design version, which comes with stiffer suspension for a sportier ride. However, this also means that the car can lean quite a bit when cornering. On the plus side, the seats are super comfortable and the engine is punchy, but the diesels can be a bit noisy.

One of the main advantages of the Volvo XC40 is its handling. It grips very well and doesn't lean as much as some other cars in its class. This makes it feel more like a proper SUV than just a tall normal car. The engine options are also decent, with the T5 being particularly fast. However, this comes at a cost, as the engine can be expensive to run and the car only comes with all-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox.

Moving on to the BMW X1, it feels much more like just a car than the Volvo XC40. The grip is there, but it doesn't quite match the handling of the Volvos. The car does feel sporty, however, particularly when cornering, although it's not exactly thrilling. The engine options are also good, with the 1.8-liter turbocharged petrol engine being a particular highlight.

One of the main advantages of the BMW X1 is its automatic gearbox. This 8-speed unit is so much better than the gearboxes found in the Volvo or Audi that come as standard. However, this can be offset by the car's tendency to get quite noisy on the motorway. Additionally, the car doesn't really handle better when approaching corners, and it tends to lean a bit more than the other two cars.

Finally, there is the Audi Q3. This car feels like a proper sports car, with sharp handling that grips and goes around corners with ease. The interior is also very stylish, particularly in the higher-spec models. However, the engine options are somewhat limited, with the T3 being too slow to be of any real use.

The Audi Q3 does feel more sporty than the other two cars, although it's not exactly fun to drive. The car is stable and secure at high speeds, but it can get a bit noisy on the motorway. Additionally, the engine options are somewhat limited, with only a few petrol and diesel engines available.

So, which of these three cars comes out on top? In reality, it's difficult to pick a winner from these three models. The BMW X1 is practical and good to drive, but it's not particularly sporty. The Audi Q3 feels more like a proper sports car, with sharp handling that grips and goes around corners with ease. However, its engine options are somewhat limited and the gearbox can be a bit hesitant at times.

For me, though, the Volvo XC40 is the clear winner. It just looks cool, it's comfortable, and it handles better than both of the other two cars. While the BMW X1 is practical and good to drive, it can't match the handling of the Volvos. The Audi Q3 feels more sporty, but its engine options are limited and the gearbox can be a bit hesitant.

Ultimately, the best car for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences. If you want a practical and comfortable SUV with good handling, the Volvo XC40 is definitely worth considering. However, if you're looking for a more sporty driving experience, the Audi Q3 may be the better choice. And if you prioritize practicality above all else, the BMW X1 is certainly worth a look.

In conclusion, these three cars are all excellent in their own ways, but they each have their strengths and weaknesses. By considering your individual needs and preferences, you can make an informed decision about which car to choose.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ensmall SUVs are all the rage at the moment but if you want one that offers a little bit of extra luxury you'll be needing something German or Swedish but which of the choose between the BMW x1 the new Audi q3 or the Volvo XC 40 now for all of you wondering where the heck the Mercedes is well quite frankly the GLA is just not good enough to be in these cars company to help you decide I'm going to compare their design it looks a little bit snooty critique their interiors the odd see how practical they are it's a bit lively and of course find out what they like to drive you can just get right on your nerves but first of all let's look at how much they cost the Volvo starts from around 28,000 pounds and through car wire you can save an average about two grand off on the new Audi q3 that starts from around 31,000 pounds and you can save about 1,500 quid off on through car while finally the BMW x1 that starts from around 28,000 pounds and like the Volvo you can save around 2,000 pounds I want through Carl Wow obviously the most important price is the one you actually pay from the dealer so make sure you click on the pop-out band on the top right-hand corner of the screen or the link below the video or just simply google car wow and BMW at Volvo or Aldi - check out the prices of these cars and the offers that you can get when you did the maths and compare the cars like for like four engines and equipment and take into account available discounts through car while the BMW is the most appealing well on paper at least but what about in the flesh the x1 isn't the chunk east SUV looks a little bit small tea weights grills designed but it's still quite a smart looking car thing is though it's not quite a smart looking as the Audi the are q3 looks a bit like a blob whereas this one has more creases and angles on it so just a bit cooler especially in this S line which has some added sporty bumpers yeah it's a nice looking thing of this blue paint is wonderful I love it this Volvo may not have such striking paint but overall it's the most stylish of the three I think this is a really good-looking car it's chunky it's got loads of presents it's super cool in fact it's so cool it even makes me look know it's never going to manage that I'm never cool thankfully the Volvo's interior most definitely is the interior the exit forty is just super simple and elegant it's very very Swedish not first at all I like it I like this as well look you've got these driftwood inserts on this inscription model it's really really nice one side complaint is that if you look around some of the bits and pieces and plasticky trims don't feel quite as robust as those in the German cars but I'm splitting hairs or should I be nitpicking anyways got something to do with your head in here and it's a complaint but will there be anything for me to moan about in the Audi surely not seeing as the company's famous for its quality cabins this key through the interior just feels super modern I love the angles on the dash the different surfaces the way you've got this shiny panel here it just looks like a black piece of plastic but when you turn the car on the screen suddenly appears it's all very cool one thing I don't like so much though is that while most the materials are very high quality the dual tops are actually quite hard they're not brittle plastic they just cause closures you'd expect in one of these kind of cars to be odd and that brings me on to the x1 one thing you can't fault them too before is the build quality so everything is very solid and all the materials feel suitably expensive I quite like the design but it's starting to feel it's aged a little bit now compared to the very latest premium SUVs especially the dials if one has digital dolls these days these are actual analogs like old clocks and look at this this is a standard infotainment screen so it's a little bit small with lots of bezel to be fair the BMWs infotainment system is the nicest to use and it's the easiest to operate while you're driving and you can upgrade to a bigger screen for about a thousand pounds and even then the cost or works out a little bit cheaper than the equivalent a DQ three or four fo XC 40 both of these two cars come with large touchscreen infotainment systems as standard and they get digital dolls for the driver and of these two systems the Audi's is stylish to look at and mortally noisy to use in the Volvo's the q3 is also pretty impressive for those in the rear as well I'll find the back seats in this Audi super super comfy you can slide the seats forward if you want to create more boot space but hell no I don't do that I want to make it as relaxing as possible so yeah I'm gonna recline the seats all the way and look at this I can stretch out quite a bit it's really nice the only thing I can complain about is that with this dark interior just really dingy in here this isn't something that's an issue with the more airy feeling x1 yeah it's super roomy here in the back of the BMW I do like it there's especially lots and lots of headroom and it has this function as well look slightly slide II and if you want to recline II reclining there you're always gonna have the chairs in the most relaxing position which is just like this now I'm fine I could go for a very long distance in the back of this car to be fair it's a similar story with the Volvo it's roomy back in the Volvo's definitely roomy I like it I also like this big glass roof as well in the fact that it opens and despite that being fitted there's still loads of headroom as well normally Sun roofs make it really cramped for Headroom but not here I do have two complaints though the first is I can't recline these chair backs and they're a bit too upright for my liking this means the exceed 40 isn't quite as comfy for rear passengers as the two Germans but if you need to carry three people at once in the back it's marginally the best car here dude it's wider body and big foot wells but really there's not much in it fitting a child seat is a donnelly the XC 42 however it's not any harder than the q3 nor the x1 and those two also have ice fix anchor points on the front passenger seat too whereas the Volvo doesn't still the Swede is the best for carrying your stuff the 60/40 has an absolutely massive boot and no load lip at all so yeah slide things in and out dead easy you can fit the parcel shelf underneath the load floor look there it is get it out come on there we go I'm not going to fit it that plate too long don't you getting bored and like this look you can move this divide it into different positions then you've got these hooks which you can hang bags off really really very however there isn't there's not so clever is that you definitely think quite a bit to follow the seats down but then they go down or into some kind of electrical mechanism Shan then they split two ways I'm sure that mechanism again look well it's a bit lively with the seats folded you can carry all you could ever want to in the Volvo and with them up there's 432 litres of space which is easily enough for most families the Audi q3 is almost as big with fortune 20 litres of space and it's pretty much as useful to this Audi has a pretty decent boot nice and square as well and really small load lip but I'll let it off because I do like this shiny scuff plate it looks super posh I love this as well you can fit the parcel shelf underneath the false floor I think I know like so much is this if I want to fall down the seats I have to go all the way around to the back seats themselves because you have to pull tabs near the base to get the seat backs down there and quite frankly I find that a little bit too much like hard work still unlike the Volvo the back seats do split three ways which adds to the practicality and they do in the BMW 2 in fact with the seats down this car has the biggest boot and with them up it's the same story as it has more than 500 liters of space got a nice big boot on this car with absolutely no load lick none whatsoever so you can just sit on it like that absolutely fine and there's loads of underfloor storage it's got some stuff in there I've actually bought this car from a colleague so it's got a few bits and pieces in it as your policy you have this two-stage parcel shelf and I was going to hope to show you that it fits into here but it doesn't it looks like it might but it doesn't quite it's annoying and it's quite flimsy but I do like this look I want to fold down the rear seats yeah an electrically operated tada and for that don't I do I thank you when it comes to practicality then the BMW just edges the other two but once again the differences are small so what's going to decide a winner here is how each of these cars feel to drive let's start with the Volvo a lot of these small SUVs can just feel like slightly tall normal cars whereas this feels like a proper SUV a biggish 4x4 part of the reason for that is that you've got this big flat bonnet which makes it feel a bit like a Land Rover to drive now the suspension is really whatever but it's very very comfortable car this now you can get with two types of suspension this is the normal comfort suspension but in the r-design version you get sporty-er stiffer suspension it's still always comfy the trade-off though is this locker on the corner and it kind of leans quite a bit yes this car is by no means sporty when you're cruising on the motorway it's fine it's secure feels solid it's a reasonably quiet seats are super comfortable as well stay relaxed in terms of engines the diesels can be a bit noisy but they're punchy the petrels well the t3 is too slow the t4 is a good punch engine this t5 and this guy is really fast you don't really need those quite expensive also you can only get it with all-wheel-drive which don't really need and an automatic gearbox and the auto is okay sometimes you put your foot down it can be a bit hesitant but it's not the worst and really overall I think this car is a blooming nice thing to drive it's just chilled just classic Volvo jumping out the Volvo and into this BMW x1 it feels much more like just a car you do notice that it grips a little bit better than the corners and doesn't lean quite so much when you go around one it's reasonably sporty but I wouldn't say it's particularly a huge laughs through the bends engine wise they're pretty good actually I probably go for the one one eight D this is the 20 iso it's got a 2-liter turbocharged petrol engine and it's pretty zippy the best thing about it that is the automatic gearbox oh my god this 8-speed automatic gearbox is so much better than the autos you get in the Volvo or the Audi the manuals alright as well if you want that of course you get the car with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive their higher power versions are all drive they you don't really need any grips well enough perhaps my biggest problem with this car is that when you're on the motorway and you're cruising along at about 70 maybe a little bit faster it gets so much road noise and it can just get right on your nerves after the other two cars the key three is available in front or all-wheel drive as a manual or an automatic and comes with a section of decent petrol or diesel engines when you're cruising on the motorway in this car it's actually pretty bloomin good you know it's relaxing it's very very stable at speed this thing and it's not too noisy toward it don't get much tire noise from the road you get a little bit wind flutter around here but it's not too bad and generally this is a very quiet car to traveling quieter than a BMW x1 now you might be thinking oh yeah but Matt they've been to the x1 will clearly handle better when you approach them corners well actually no it won't this q3 it's sharper to drive since is just grit better and it's more intuitive how it handles it's it's really quite good actually for this kind of car just grips and goes round I'm quite surprised how well this car actually goes around corners to tell you the truth definitely a lot better than the old of the q3 Kompany probably like 54 miles an hour around there couldn't do that in the BMW is it fun well not exactly but definitely more sporting the other two so if it's the sport is car you want is it so then where does all that leave us well picking our winner from these three it's actually really difficult because they're all very very good the BMW I like it because it's practical and it's good to drive the Audi it feels really sporty through the corners and it's got that super cool interior but for me my favorite is the Volvo XC 40 it just looks the coolest and it's the comfiest and after all that is what you want from an SUV and that's why twins this test if you enjoyed this video please click on our logo to subscribe to this channel or to watch more content on the bottom right hand corner however if you want to save money on a car click on the right to go to our deals page to sandwich when you can save a car whilesmall SUVs are all the rage at the moment but if you want one that offers a little bit of extra luxury you'll be needing something German or Swedish but which of the choose between the BMW x1 the new Audi q3 or the Volvo XC 40 now for all of you wondering where the heck the Mercedes is well quite frankly the GLA is just not good enough to be in these cars company to help you decide I'm going to compare their design it looks a little bit snooty critique their interiors the odd see how practical they are it's a bit lively and of course find out what they like to drive you can just get right on your nerves but first of all let's look at how much they cost the Volvo starts from around 28,000 pounds and through car wire you can save an average about two grand off on the new Audi q3 that starts from around 31,000 pounds and you can save about 1,500 quid off on through car while finally the BMW x1 that starts from around 28,000 pounds and like the Volvo you can save around 2,000 pounds I want through Carl Wow obviously the most important price is the one you actually pay from the dealer so make sure you click on the pop-out band on the top right-hand corner of the screen or the link below the video or just simply google car wow and BMW at Volvo or Aldi - check out the prices of these cars and the offers that you can get when you did the maths and compare the cars like for like four engines and equipment and take into account available discounts through car while the BMW is the most appealing well on paper at least but what about in the flesh the x1 isn't the chunk east SUV looks a little bit small tea weights grills designed but it's still quite a smart looking car thing is though it's not quite a smart looking as the Audi the are q3 looks a bit like a blob whereas this one has more creases and angles on it so just a bit cooler especially in this S line which has some added sporty bumpers yeah it's a nice looking thing of this blue paint is wonderful I love it this Volvo may not have such striking paint but overall it's the most stylish of the three I think this is a really good-looking car it's chunky it's got loads of presents it's super cool in fact it's so cool it even makes me look know it's never going to manage that I'm never cool thankfully the Volvo's interior most definitely is the interior the exit forty is just super simple and elegant it's very very Swedish not first at all I like it I like this as well look you've got these driftwood inserts on this inscription model it's really really nice one side complaint is that if you look around some of the bits and pieces and plasticky trims don't feel quite as robust as those in the German cars but I'm splitting hairs or should I be nitpicking anyways got something to do with your head in here and it's a complaint but will there be anything for me to moan about in the Audi surely not seeing as the company's famous for its quality cabins this key through the interior just feels super modern I love the angles on the dash the different surfaces the way you've got this shiny panel here it just looks like a black piece of plastic but when you turn the car on the screen suddenly appears it's all very cool one thing I don't like so much though is that while most the materials are very high quality the dual tops are actually quite hard they're not brittle plastic they just cause closures you'd expect in one of these kind of cars to be odd and that brings me on to the x1 one thing you can't fault them too before is the build quality so everything is very solid and all the materials feel suitably expensive I quite like the design but it's starting to feel it's aged a little bit now compared to the very latest premium SUVs especially the dials if one has digital dolls these days these are actual analogs like old clocks and look at this this is a standard infotainment screen so it's a little bit small with lots of bezel to be fair the BMWs infotainment system is the nicest to use and it's the easiest to operate while you're driving and you can upgrade to a bigger screen for about a thousand pounds and even then the cost or works out a little bit cheaper than the equivalent a DQ three or four fo XC 40 both of these two cars come with large touchscreen infotainment systems as standard and they get digital dolls for the driver and of these two systems the Audi's is stylish to look at and mortally noisy to use in the Volvo's the q3 is also pretty impressive for those in the rear as well I'll find the back seats in this Audi super super comfy you can slide the seats forward if you want to create more boot space but hell no I don't do that I want to make it as relaxing as possible so yeah I'm gonna recline the seats all the way and look at this I can stretch out quite a bit it's really nice the only thing I can complain about is that with this dark interior just really dingy in here this isn't something that's an issue with the more airy feeling x1 yeah it's super roomy here in the back of the BMW I do like it there's especially lots and lots of headroom and it has this function as well look slightly slide II and if you want to recline II reclining there you're always gonna have the chairs in the most relaxing position which is just like this now I'm fine I could go for a very long distance in the back of this car to be fair it's a similar story with the Volvo it's roomy back in the Volvo's definitely roomy I like it I also like this big glass roof as well in the fact that it opens and despite that being fitted there's still loads of headroom as well normally Sun roofs make it really cramped for Headroom but not here I do have two complaints though the first is I can't recline these chair backs and they're a bit too upright for my liking this means the exceed 40 isn't quite as comfy for rear passengers as the two Germans but if you need to carry three people at once in the back it's marginally the best car here dude it's wider body and big foot wells but really there's not much in it fitting a child seat is a donnelly the XC 42 however it's not any harder than the q3 nor the x1 and those two also have ice fix anchor points on the front passenger seat too whereas the Volvo doesn't still the Swede is the best for carrying your stuff the 60/40 has an absolutely massive boot and no load lip at all so yeah slide things in and out dead easy you can fit the parcel shelf underneath the load floor look there it is get it out come on there we go I'm not going to fit it that plate too long don't you getting bored and like this look you can move this divide it into different positions then you've got these hooks which you can hang bags off really really very however there isn't there's not so clever is that you definitely think quite a bit to follow the seats down but then they go down or into some kind of electrical mechanism Shan then they split two ways I'm sure that mechanism again look well it's a bit lively with the seats folded you can carry all you could ever want to in the Volvo and with them up there's 432 litres of space which is easily enough for most families the Audi q3 is almost as big with fortune 20 litres of space and it's pretty much as useful to this Audi has a pretty decent boot nice and square as well and really small load lip but I'll let it off because I do like this shiny scuff plate it looks super posh I love this as well you can fit the parcel shelf underneath the false floor I think I know like so much is this if I want to fall down the seats I have to go all the way around to the back seats themselves because you have to pull tabs near the base to get the seat backs down there and quite frankly I find that a little bit too much like hard work still unlike the Volvo the back seats do split three ways which adds to the practicality and they do in the BMW 2 in fact with the seats down this car has the biggest boot and with them up it's the same story as it has more than 500 liters of space got a nice big boot on this car with absolutely no load lick none whatsoever so you can just sit on it like that absolutely fine and there's loads of underfloor storage it's got some stuff in there I've actually bought this car from a colleague so it's got a few bits and pieces in it as your policy you have this two-stage parcel shelf and I was going to hope to show you that it fits into here but it doesn't it looks like it might but it doesn't quite it's annoying and it's quite flimsy but I do like this look I want to fold down the rear seats yeah an electrically operated tada and for that don't I do I thank you when it comes to practicality then the BMW just edges the other two but once again the differences are small so what's going to decide a winner here is how each of these cars feel to drive let's start with the Volvo a lot of these small SUVs can just feel like slightly tall normal cars whereas this feels like a proper SUV a biggish 4x4 part of the reason for that is that you've got this big flat bonnet which makes it feel a bit like a Land Rover to drive now the suspension is really whatever but it's very very comfortable car this now you can get with two types of suspension this is the normal comfort suspension but in the r-design version you get sporty-er stiffer suspension it's still always comfy the trade-off though is this locker on the corner and it kind of leans quite a bit yes this car is by no means sporty when you're cruising on the motorway it's fine it's secure feels solid it's a reasonably quiet seats are super comfortable as well stay relaxed in terms of engines the diesels can be a bit noisy but they're punchy the petrels well the t3 is too slow the t4 is a good punch engine this t5 and this guy is really fast you don't really need those quite expensive also you can only get it with all-wheel-drive which don't really need and an automatic gearbox and the auto is okay sometimes you put your foot down it can be a bit hesitant but it's not the worst and really overall I think this car is a blooming nice thing to drive it's just chilled just classic Volvo jumping out the Volvo and into this BMW x1 it feels much more like just a car you do notice that it grips a little bit better than the corners and doesn't lean quite so much when you go around one it's reasonably sporty but I wouldn't say it's particularly a huge laughs through the bends engine wise they're pretty good actually I probably go for the one one eight D this is the 20 iso it's got a 2-liter turbocharged petrol engine and it's pretty zippy the best thing about it that is the automatic gearbox oh my god this 8-speed automatic gearbox is so much better than the autos you get in the Volvo or the Audi the manuals alright as well if you want that of course you get the car with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive their higher power versions are all drive they you don't really need any grips well enough perhaps my biggest problem with this car is that when you're on the motorway and you're cruising along at about 70 maybe a little bit faster it gets so much road noise and it can just get right on your nerves after the other two cars the key three is available in front or all-wheel drive as a manual or an automatic and comes with a section of decent petrol or diesel engines when you're cruising on the motorway in this car it's actually pretty bloomin good you know it's relaxing it's very very stable at speed this thing and it's not too noisy toward it don't get much tire noise from the road you get a little bit wind flutter around here but it's not too bad and generally this is a very quiet car to traveling quieter than a BMW x1 now you might be thinking oh yeah but Matt they've been to the x1 will clearly handle better when you approach them corners well actually no it won't this q3 it's sharper to drive since is just grit better and it's more intuitive how it handles it's it's really quite good actually for this kind of car just grips and goes round I'm quite surprised how well this car actually goes around corners to tell you the truth definitely a lot better than the old of the q3 Kompany probably like 54 miles an hour around there couldn't do that in the BMW is it fun well not exactly but definitely more sporting the other two so if it's the sport is car you want is it so then where does all that leave us well picking our winner from these three it's actually really difficult because they're all very very good the BMW I like it because it's practical and it's good to drive the Audi it feels really sporty through the corners and it's got that super cool interior but for me my favorite is the Volvo XC 40 it just looks the coolest and it's the comfiest and after all that is what you want from an SUV and that's why twins this test if you enjoyed this video please click on our logo to subscribe to this channel or to watch more content on the bottom right hand corner however if you want to save money on a car click on the right to go to our deals page to sandwich when you can save a car while\n"