Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Culture

The BMW Active Tourer Outdoor Concept is a Gorgeous Abomination

By

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
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 10 best comedy movies on Netflix
From Netflix Originals to much older comedy classics, these are the best you can stream on Netflix
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

 

Finding a great movie on Netflix is hard enough, but it can sometimes feel like finding the best comedy movies on Netflix is nearly impossible. While Netflix certainly makes plenty of comedies of all stripes to choose from, they're often less than excellent. We're not here to judge, of course, but if you're looking for a comedy that has actual production value and some decent jokes, you may need to get just a little bit choosier. Thankfully, we're around to help you find the best comedy movies that Netflix has to offer.

Read more
Hugh Jackman on playing Wolverine again: ‘It literally doesn’t matter how I answer this’
Hugh Jackman isn't sure whether he'll be back as Wolverine
Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Deadpool & Wolverine's arrival in theaters is imminent, and with it, the return of Hugh Jackman's Logan. Jackman has been playing some version of Wolverine since all the way back in 2000. In 2017, it seemed like he had hung up his claws for good with the critically acclaimed Logan, which sees the character meet what seems to be a permanent end.

Seven years later, though, he was drawn right back into the fray. In a recent interview with Collider, Jackman was asked whether he would be playing Wolverine again, and he seemed to understand that fans could no longer take him at his word.

Read more
Steven Spielberg is to blame for the lack of kissing in ‘Twisters’
Steven Spielberg wanted to keep things professional for the Twisters leads
The cast of Twisters.

Fans of disaster movies are relishing in the news that Twisters made more than $80 million in its opening weekend. The decades-later sequel to Twister had an opening weekend that wildly exceeded expectations, and left many wondering whether we may eventually get another sequel.

For all of the movie's critical and commercial success, though, some notice that this disaster romance was lacking something that the first Twister was sure to include. Namely, the movie ends without Glen Powell's Tyler and Daisy Edgar Jones's Kate sealing their new relationship with a kiss. Some people naturally wondered why there was no kiss in the film, and it turns out that legendary director Steve Spielberg is the one to blame.

Read more