Skip to main content

The BMW Active Tourer Outdoor Concept is a Gorgeous Abomination

BMW has just unveiled the all-new Active Tourer Outdoor Concept that you see above. It’s both very good and very bad. We’ll explain why.

Recommended Videos

Slathered in an exclusive Gold Race Orange paint color, the Active Tourer Outdoor aims to be as stylish as it is versatile. On the inside, BMW says the interior is “hard-wearing” and easy to care for. In fact, BMW designers have even included a carrier system for two bicycles in the boot, which is rather sporting and clever.

Under the hood the sleek new compact concept hatch features a transversely mounted 1.5-liter gasoline engine, which is mated to an electric motor and a battery pack. The Active Tourer Outdoor also features an electrical plug so that owners can plug it in at night, making it a plug-in hybrid much like the Chevrolet Volt.

So to recap: the Active Tourer Outdoor is chic, handy, and eco-friendly. What’s not to love? Honestly: pretty much the whole thing.

BMWs – save the Isetta – have always been rear-wheel drive ultimate driving machines able outpace and outperform the competition. Turns out, though, most BMW owners just don’t utilize their car’s driving potential. In fact, BMW buyers mostly want the badge and a bit of luxury in order to justify the sky-high sticker price.

In response, BMW will be offering a whole slew of new front-wheel drive models like the Active Tourer Outdoor with more interior room than performance. Instead of track-day dynamism, the new BMWs will instead be fuel-efficient and family friendly.

This, to us at The Manual, is upsetting. We’re sorry but there’s nothing manly about front-wheel drive fuel-efficiency. Don’t get us wrong; by no means are we opposed to plug-in hybrids – quite the opposite in fact. We love cars that don’t melt the polar icecaps and can haul a couple Labradors – and look good doing it. We, however, also want a car that can get our pulse racing.

Just last week Jaguar proved with the C-X75 that rear-wheel drive plug-in hybrids can be both earth-friendly and powerful. BMW could easily do the same. It is well within the BMW’s reach to build rear-wheel drive fuel-efficient cars that are as suited to a pre-school carpool as they are a hotlap on a racetrack. Seems, though, it probably won’t.

The Active Tourer Outdoor Concept stands, then, as a glimpse into the new, neutered BMW model lineup of front-drive eco-hatches with beautiful lines, useful interiors, and no souls.

Nick Jaynes
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Nick Jaynes is the automotive editor of The Manual. When Nick isn't behind the wheel on the open road, he can be found…
The first trailer for Vince Gilligan’s Apple TV+ show Pluribus is here
The show now has a name and a release date.
The trailer for Pluribus.

After spending more than a decade in the world of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Vince Gilligan is finally branching out into something new. The new series, which is coming from Apple, is called Pluribus and stars Rhea Seehorn, who also starred in Better Call Saul.

Now, we've got our first teaser for the new show, and it's just as baffling as you might expect. In the teaser, we see a woman licking every donut in a box of donuts, as well as a sign that says "Help yourself" along with a smiley face. The teaser is just 30 seconds long, and we don't see Seehorn or have any context for what the show is about.

Read more
The ultimate guide to cigar wrappers every aficionado should read
Why the wrapper is the most underrated part of your cigar
Guardian of the Farm Cerberus cigar from Aganorsa cigar tasting experience

If you’ve smoked a good variety of cigars, you’ll eventually have discovered a difference between wrapper types. Besides being just pretty packaging, that thin outer leaf can account for 60% of your cigar’s flavor! I’ve smoked cheap bundles and limited editions, and I’m telling you that the wrapper makes or breaks the experience. So, let’s delve into cigar wrapper types and change how you select your next smoke.

Why cigar wrapper types matter

Read more
Ted Lasso season 4: Everything we know so far
The show is coming back three years after the last season.
Jason Sudeikis in Ted Lasso

After plenty of questions about its future, Ted Lasso is back. The Apple TV+ hit seemed to be done following its third season, but production has officially started on the fourth, with much of the cast set to return for this new installment.

Now that we know Ted Lasso is coming back, there are still plenty of questions about what that means for the show, and how it might change moving forward — and everyone has opinions on what they'd like to see from season 4. Here's what we know so far, including when we might see that fourth season:

Read more