The U06 replaced the F45 in 2021 and ended up the only compact MPV left in the BMW range once the seven-seat Gran Tourer was dropped without replacement. It is around thirteen centimetres longer than its predecessor, noticeably taller, and considerably roomier in the back.
Mechanically it stayed with front-wheel drive and a transverse engine on the UKL architecture. The range covered the three-cylinder 218i, the four-cylinder 220i and 223i, and the 225e and 230e xDrive plug-in hybrids with an electric motor on the rear axle. It is built at Leipzig.
The clearest break from the F45 is inside. The U06 was among the first BMWs with the curved twin display, and with it the rotary iDrive controller gave way to touch and voice. The dashboard was rebuilt around it: nothing from an F45 fits the cockpit.
For used control units that is the binding constraint. A module carries its old car's chassis number and has to be rewritten before it will answer, and whether that works depends on the module. Rear lights, control units and steering columns are what reaches us from this model — on a car this young, almost entirely from accident damage.
