BMW 2 Series Active Tourer Review 2026

The 2 Series Active Tourer is to cars what a Brazilian Ronaldo at Real Madrid was to football. It looks chunkier and less athletic than its teammates in BMW's line-up, but regardless, this car is quite capable of producing moments of brilliance that betray its ungainly appearance. Find out how in our full BMW 2 Series Active Tourer review. 

In recent years, SUVs have become the default choice for those looking for a practical family car. As such, there aren't very many MPVs left on the new car market these days, but the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is proof that this type of car should certainly not be overlooked. 

Okay, we concede that in the style stakes, the Active Tourer isn't exactly the last word in elegance, with plain details, boxy dimensions, and lines reminiscent of an over-inflated hatchback. But that ungainly appearance shrouds what is, in a variety of other ways, an excellent family car.

Let's get its most obvious attribute out of the way first: it's impressively practical. There's easily enough space for four very tall adults inside the BMW – although it's not available in Gran Tourer seven-seater form any more like its predecessor was – and a fifth person will squeeze in relatively comfortably for shorter journeys.

The back seat can slide back and forward on runners, and also recline, and the cabin is awash with storage areas and USB-C plugs. The boot, meanwhile, is fairly large and well-shaped.

You'd also expect that a BMW would feel high in quality, and the Active Tourer delivers on that even better than you might predict. It's beautifully made, with soft-touch plastics almost everywhere, and most versions have sumptuous unvarnished wood finishes or machined metal trims to choose from.

The Active Tourer's cabin also feels pleasantly high-tech thanks to BMW's twin-screen curved infotainment system. Ok, so there's no iDrive rotary controller, but the touchscreen's layout – broken up into large tiles and a smartphone-like home screen – is easy enough to use on the move, and it looks great. 

The powertrain lineup is also as sensible as the rest of the car. It's been offered with a variety of different engine options throughout its life, but the ones that remain today are either 48V mild-hybrid petrols or plug-in hybrids, all of which deliver an impressive balance of power and low running costs.

What you might not be expecting, though, is how enjoyable the 2 Series Active Tourer is to drive. With stonking grip levels, tight body control and weight, responsive steering, this is a genuinely entertaining car to thrash around in when the kids aren't on board. And regardless of this liveliness, the ride is still easily comfortable enough to ferry the family without fuss.

Like we've said, the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer doesn't have too many MPV rivals left these days, but it still competes with cars such as the Mercedes-Benz B-Class. It's a much more enjoyable, characterful car than the Merc, though, so if that's what you're looking for from your premium family carry-all, then certainly give it a look.

Even basic versions of the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer handle neatly with positive, weighty steering and brakes that are easy to modulate despite the interference of their regenerative system.

M Sport models are the ones to go for, though. Their suspension is lower by 15mm and comes fitted as standard with adaptive dampers that make the car feel more nimble in corners. M Sport models also get larger 18-inch wheels with wider tyres that help the BMW cling to the Tarmac like a suckerfish. The result is a car that feels genuinely sporty to drive with minimal impact on comfort.

In town, the BMW's loftier-than-average ride height means it deals well with speed humps and potholes, and the sheer size of the windows gives you an excellent view out. The standard reversing camera makes squeezing into tight spaces easy, but you can also spec a 360-degree camera if you want a little extra reassurance.

While the BMW's tall ride height gives you a better view out than you get in a lower hatchback, the 2 Series Active Tourer doesn't suffer from the intruding motorway wind noise you get in many SUVs, and there's barely any engine noise, although there is some tyre roar to contend with.

Throughout the majority of its life, the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer's engine range has consisted of three petrols – the 136PS 218i, 170PS 220i and 218PS 223i – plus a 150PS 218d diesel and two plug-in hybrid models with either 245PS or 326PS. As yet, we've only had a proper go in the 220i and 223i.

The 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine in the 220i manages to be all things to all people: brisk enough, while not costing a fortune to run. However, it never feels as quick as its performance figures (0-62mph in 8.1 seconds, 137mph flat out) suggest, it's not that keen to rev out, and it doesn't have the pleasing thrum you usually get from a three-pot.

Sadly, the 223i doesn't deliver a performance revolution, either. Its four-cylinder engine is noticeably quicker and pulls more consistently to the red line, but again, it doesn't feel as pacey as you'd expect given its seven-second 0-62mph time and 150mph top speed.

A brief drive of a prototype 326PS PHEV confirmed it to be both quick (0-62mph in 5.5 seconds) and willing to run on electric at far beyond town speeds. It's a combination that could make the top-of-the-range model hard to resist. 

These days, the engine range has been slimmed down to include just the 220i and 223i petrols, and the two plug-in hybrids. All are fitted with a slick-shifting automatic gearbox.

The BMW 2 Series Active Tourer has been crash-tested by Euro NCAP and was awarded the full five-star rating.

You get plenty of standard safety features, including automatic emergency braking and airbags, a speed limit warning on the dashboard, lane assist and attention assist.

An extensive suite of autonomous driving aids is also available, but in true BMW style, these are optional at extra cost. They're effective, though, feeling like a next-generation system, making smoother inputs than the system you get in the Mercedes-Benz B-Class. The BMW's system can brake and accelerate autonomously, as well as steer you around corners and observe speed limits automatically.

If you're looking to tow a trailer or caravan with your 2 Series Active Tourer, it's worth knowing that the 220i is only rated to pull a maximum of 1300kg worth of braked trailer.  The two PHEV models do a little better with a limit of 1400kg, while the 223i is the best of the bunch for towing, with a limit of 1500kg.

The BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is about as practical as five-seater family cars get. Passenger space is excellent, so even if you're a tall driver, someone of a similar height will have loads of room to sit behind you. There's also plenty of adjustment for the seat and steering wheel, helping you to get comfortable, with further features like electrical seat adjustment, lumbar adjustment, a massaging function and a heated steering wheel being available on the options list.

You don't get quite the same number of toys in the back seat, but it does have touches you won't find in a regular hatchback. You can slide the seat forward and backwards on runners and recline it. Back seat passengers also get their own USB-C plugs and air vents.

As noted, rear-seat kneeroom is excellent, as is headroom, although the lack of three separate seats means the Active Tourer will probably feel more restrictive than a Volkswagen Touran with a trio of people sitting abreast in the back. You also only get two back-seat Isofix points for mounting a child seat, unlike the three you get in the Volkswagen.

That said, there's no shortage of storage spaces. You get the usual large door bins and glove box, a large open tray under the front centre armrest, a smaller tray in the armrest itself and another tray in front of the gear selector. The car is available with wireless phone charging as an option, and if you go for that, it also comes fitted with a clip that holds your phone in place like the safety bar on a roller coaster. 

The boot is acceptable for size rather than game-changing, with 415 litres of space in petrol cars and a slightly smaller 406 litres in plug-in-hybrid models. It'll be fine for most families, though.

While the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer might not look like a BMW saloon on the outside, it certainly feels like one from the inside. Material quality is excellent, with dense soft-touch plastics used where you'd expect to find them – on the front doors and dashboard – and also where you don't expect to find them, like on the tops of the back doors.

High-end models get fancier trim finishes, so while Sport cars have fabric seats and unassuming trims, Luxury models have leather seats and unvarnished wood. M Sport models, meanwhile, get all the sporty bits: body-hugging sports seats finished in Alcantara and vegan leather, a sporty steering wheel and machined-metal trims.

The BMW 2 Series Active Tourer's infotainment system is the icing on top of a beautifully constructed cake.

It has a curved finish first seen in the BMW iX EV – with a pair of large screens designed to look like one single display – which stretches from behind the steering wheel onto the centre of the dashboard.

There's no iDrive rotary control between the front seats – a cost too far on a front-wheel-drive BMW, we were told – but there's no need for one. The centre display is organised into tiles that are easy to swipe through, and the home screen looks very similar to the one you'll find on your smartphone.

As well as being crystal clear and colourful, the sat-nav has neat touches like augmented-reality directions – that have point-by-point instructions hovering over an image of the road ahead – and an augmented parking view that makes tight manouevres and parking a doddle.

Amongst all the clever stuff, you'll find infotainment stalwarts such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which mean you can project your smartphone's screen onto the car's large display.

Prices for the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer start from around £36,000 for the 170PS 220i petrol in entry-level Sport trim. The 218PS 223i petrol in the same trim level starts at around £39,000, meanwhile.

The cheapest PHEV version, the 225e Sport, starts at just above £40,000, while the more powerful 230e version starts at around £45,000.

As usual, shopping on the used car market holds the key to some pretty sensational savings. Used examples start at around the £20,000 mark, and a variety of different engines, trim levels and mileages can be had for this money.

You have to spend a bit more if you want one of the plug-in hybrids, but not a whole heap more, in fairness. Around £22,000 should do it, and it'll have a very decent mileage, too.

All of the powertrains left in the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer are hybridised to some degre, so running costs are very competitive. The base-level petrols are both 48-volt mild hybrids, with the 220i version achieving a maximum average figure of just under 50mpg according to official WLTP tests, while the more powerful 223i achieves an equivalent figure of just under 48mpg.

The two plug-in hybrid versions - the 225e xDrive and 230e xDrive - have even more impressive figures, but as always, be very sceptical of these because the official WLTP tests are unrealistically flattering to PHEV powertrains. The fact that official figures were initially given at more than 200mpg, but have more recently been throttled back to around 105mpg, shows just how unreliable these figures are.

In the real world, the return you get will depend on how often you plug in and whether your journeys are short enough that they can be completed on electric-only power. Official figures put the all-electric range of both PHEV powertrains at upwards of 50 miles, which is good, although several newer PHEV models have this figure comprehensively beaten. The car will become a lot more thirsty when the battery power runs out, although official figures state that you should still get around 49mpg with a fully depleted battery.

BMW says that the 14.2 kWh battery in the PHEVs takes 1 hour and 45 minutes to fully charge on an 11kW AC hookup. It's very unlikely that your home will have the three-phase electrics needed to facilitate such a connection, though, so your maximum home charging speed is likely to be 7kW through a home wallbox charger. On a connection like that, expect a full charge to take around three hours and cost around £4.

With the now-defunct engines previously available in the 2 Series Active Tourer, the basic 218i petrol – which did without hybrid tech – had the worst fuel economy at around 45mpg despite having the least power. The 218d diesel had a figure of around 59mpg, and if you do lots of long drives, it could be worth looking out for one of these on the used car market.

The pricing of the car is such that most versions of the car – including all plug-in-hybrid versions  – currently cost more than £40,000 when brand new, and so will be liable for the 'luxury car surcharge' on VED road tax. Where this is the case, you'll pay an additional £425 per year on top of the regular flat rate of £195 per year, between years two and six of the car's life. Prices weren't always as high as they are now, though, so if you buy an early example on the used car market, there's a greater chance of it escaping this steep additional cost.

Insurance ratings for the 2 Series Active Tourer range between groups 22 and 33 (of 50) depending on powertrain and trim level.