At first glance, the 2er Active Tourer is the opposite of a typical BMW. But despite the front-wheel drive and a staid family coach design, the compact van is a true BMW. This is also reflected in the impeccable TÜV balance sheet.
While almost all other manufacturers were already shamefully shoving their vans into the last corner of the SUV-dominated dealership, BMW only got into the business with classic family cars in 2014. The 2-series Active Tourer was supposed to be the sporty alternative to Touran and Co. and thus attract especially young customers with children to the brand. But older people have long since discovered it as a cheaper alternative to SUVs. As a used car, it is accordingly popular - and not exactly cheap.
Body and Interior: BMW has tried to paint the 2er-Van a little character in the sheet metal, as beauty would not designate the van but probably fans of the brand. There are inner values for this: the variable, high-quality interior, the flexibly usable luggage compartment and the good space. The latter applies at least to the long version "Gran Tourer", which surpasses the Active Tourer by 20 centimeters and offers a third row of seats on request. Despite their front-wheel drive, both body styles suffer from a wide transmission tunnel that makes sitting on the center seat in the rear uncomfortable. If you are looking for maximum space, but the vans of other manufacturers anyway better served - the Munich traditionally set priorities rather in driving behavior and appearance. The tourer is no exception.
Engines: The 2er Van uses Mini's front-wheel drive platform and was the first model of the rear-wheel-drive brand at that time. However, there are on request the all-wheel technology from the Mini Countryman. And the engine range also has large overlaps. The entry-level engine of the BMW is an 80 kW / 109 PS strong 1,5-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine, which does not quite want to fit the streamlined chassis and dynamic demands of the van. The version with 103 kW / 140 PS is already much brighter, with two 2,0-liter four-cylinder engines featuring 141 kW / 192 PS and 170 kW / 231 PS, making the 2er a family-car racing car. Even with the diesels there is no shortage of power: the 2,0-liter four-cylinder come on 110 kW / 150 PS and 140 kW / 190 PS, the very economical 1,5-liter three-cylinder with 85 kW / 116 PS still relatively neat for this class motorized. Since 2018 is also a plug-in hybrid variant with 165 kW / 224 PS to have, but on the second hand market does not matter. The more powerful engines can be combined with all-wheel drive, for the power transmission there are automatic transmissions with six to seven gears used, manual transmission is available only for the weaker engines.
Equipment and safety: BMW has deliberately sorted the Active Tourer in the noble 2er series, in which there is also a coupe and a convertible. Accordingly high is the equipment level of the van. The basic version includes air conditioning, an audio system with Bluetooth hands-free system and alloy wheels (except for the two entry-level engines). The list of options is nevertheless long, offers comfortable as an electric tailgate, in this class rare such as LED headlights and an adaptive suspension or practical as a roof rail. In addition, there are four preconfigured lines: "Advantage" offers above all technical equipment, "Sport Line" and "M Sport" rely on a dynamic appearance and sports seats, "Luxury Line" brings leather seats and similar amenities on board. In all variants, six airbags provide security, and there are also various assistants on request - from the lane keeping aid to the emergency braking system. In the Euro NCAP crash test, 2014 was enough for five out of five stars.
Quality: The first BMW on a front-wheel drive platform has no weaknesses. At least after the first HU round, its test statistics are in the green in all categories. The suspension rated the TÜV report as "legendary solid", the steering without blemish and blame, the brakes in excellent condition. Overall, the number of faultless copies is well above the average. Only in the AU, the BMW performs slightly worse. Anyone looking for errors in Internet forums will also find rattling panoramic roofs, confused navigation instructions and rust on the doors.
Conclusion: The 2er Tourer is not only sportier and nobler than the common family van, he is technically as confident as it should do a premium car. In return, the Munich is relatively expensive, under 14.000 Euro is on the used car market hardly anything useful to do.
