Takumi Design VVT-iE 136 e-CVT Auto Start/Stop 5dr

Decent drive, comfortable and quiet … if you want fast and sporty, this is not your car.

As the summary, though only really a two seater with limited room in the rear and luggage room for two. Previous car was a 2022/72 BMW320i M Sport which had uncomfortable seats (hot/sweaty, even with - apparently - the heated seat set to off) and a ludicrously vertical menus to toggle up/down control screen which was dangerously distracting. Comparatively we enjoy the LBX much more and there are some buttons and switch (which is one reason that we like our Cooper S).

There are several gripes. One is though having an electric/memory driver seat, it’s cheapskate having the passenger seat as manual, especially for an expensive car (for what it is). The other is the 12v battery rapidly goes flat and in 1,200 miles we’ve had roadside assistance twice. The battery problem is, apparently, a combination of a lot of non-powertrain electrical stuff working in the background, low capacity batteries and sub-optimal prioritisation of the 12v charging programming, Being advised we need to drive more and regularly, which we do not need, want or can do, we’ve bought a trickle charger. I quite bemused by having to keep a modern car on regular charge and it took me back to my father’s first car when I was 10 which was ancient, very basic, far from the best and needed the battery charging nearly all the time; progress, eh.

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