The vents and pods for audio and climate controls drop down from the center of the dash to the console, with a new armrest for 2002. The power bucket seats felt a bit hard and wide, compared to the fantastic optional sport seats in the BMW Z3Coupe we had just climbed out of, but they felt better as that memory faded. When we drove the SportCross hard through the curves, there was adequate lateral support, and the suede-like cloth-like Escaine surface was good and grippy.
A very attractive stitched leather three-spoke steering wheel (spokes at 3, 9 and 6 o'clock) tilts manually and contains left and right sets of finger buttons that enable the driver to shift up or down one gear at a time without removing his or her hands from the wheel. The front button downshifts with the thumb and the back button upshifts with the middle finger.
The sedan's firm rear bench will accommodate three in a pinch, and has a fold-down armrest that conceals a small pass-through portal to the trunk.
The SportCross model's five-door configuration, with the 60/40 rear seatbacks dropped, produces 21.8 cubic feet of cargo space, more than twice as much as the trunk of the sedan. The wheel wells protrude quite a bit into the cargo area, making the space hourglass-shaped, which reduces cargo capacity. Next Page