Pricing revealed for BMW 2 Series Active Tourer

BMW has revealed that its new front-wheel drive 2 Series Active Tourer will start from $44,400, excluding on-road costs, when it goes on sale in Australia from November this year.

The new model’s starting price is $3500 dearer than its most obvious rival – the Mercedes-Benz B-Class – which is priced from $40,900 plus on-roads for the base B180 hatch.

The 2-Series Active Tourer is the first front-wheel drive for BMW, however, the German car-maker’s British off-shoot Mini has been producing front-wheel drive cars for more than a decade.

This knowledge and expertise gained from the Mini experience has gone into the development of the 2 Series Active Tourer, which shares the UKL1 platform with the third-generation Mini hatch that arrived in Australia in April.

While a front-wheel drive car is a break in tradition for BMW, it has opened up new possibilities in vehicle design for the company and the 2 Series Active Tourer is the first example of more to come.

With the front wheels doing the driving and the engine transversely mounted, BMW says it has been able reduce the size of the engine bay and increase the size and flexibility of the occupant space.

While other may call the body-style a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), BMW is calling its new baby a Sport Activity Tourer (SAT).

The aforementioned entry price of $44,400 is for the base 218i, which kicks is powered by a 100kW/220Nm three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine matched with a six-speed automatic transmission.

It is the first time, too, a BMW has been powered by three-cylinder engine and the car-maker claims it sips fuel at a combined average rate of 5.3 litres per 100km on the combined cycle.

Next up, the 218d is priced from $47,800 which gets a 110kW/330Nm four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine and with the eight-speed transmission is able to return a fuel figure of 4.2L/100km.

At the top of the range is the 225i with its 170kW/350Nm turbo-petrol four cylinder petrol unit from $54,900, again paired with BMW’s eight-speed sports auto, offering fuel use of 6.1L/100km.

Standard features on the 218i and 218d include 17-inch light-alloy wheels, leather sports seats and steering wheel, air-conditioning climate control, automatic tailgate, Bluetooth connectivity, fog-lights, navigation, front and rear parking sensors, rear-view camera and automatic parking system.

Also standard is Performance Control for improved handling and BMW’s Driving Assistant with lane departure warning, forward collision warning and Light City Braking.

The 225i gets all these features standard and adds dynamic damper control, variable sport steering, the Visibility Package which includes anti-dazzle exterior mirrors and LED headlights, and it swaps the 17-inch hoops for 18-inch alloys.

Measuring 4342mm long, 1800mm wide and standing 1555mm high the 2 Series Active Tourer is 17mm shorter than the Mercedes-Benz B-Class but 14mm wider and 2mm taller.

Mercedes-Benz is currently working on a facelifted version of the B-Class which is expected to be revealed at the Paris motor show in October this year.

BMW 2 Series Active Tourer pricing*

*Excludes on-road costs.