We have covered around 15000 miles since early December and the BMW 520D and I may have come to an understanding. I referred elsewhere to how I compared her to an ugly woman, able to do the business without question but I could never love her.

As a mile munching machine she is without peer, crossing the M62 and plugging along the A19 without missing a beat, averaging 48mpg at a steady 75(ish) there are few cars as capable. Using my new Mileage Calculator I am paying 11.5 pence per mile in diesel costs which for a very large estate is remarkable (the Merc would be about 37 pence). The only fault is with the rear suspension, these big Beemers are riding on big rubber balloons at the back and one of them popped, the ride home being particularly hard! £400 with a local Beemer Specialist sorted that.

There are other annoyances though. I cannot get used to the indicators, the stalk has no travel and I often find they stay on after an overtaking manouevre only for me to overcorrect and therefore confusing other traffic.

I am not happy with the climate control, I am forever fiddling with the temperature to get the system to react, it never seems to work hard to achieve MY desired setting. The AirCon was regassed but although the cold is colder, it is not working as it should.

I don’t like the gear selector, it seems wrong to press a button for park rather than move the lever all the way into P. As a driver who sometimes rests his hand on the lever it is all too easy to slip it into neutral whilst on the move. (It’s a little point, I agree, but you did ask…)

Why does she also not let me move the car with the door open? I’m sure I’m not the only driver who occasionally wants to reverse close to an object and opens the door to lean out and check? Nanny BMW won’t let me, she goes into neutral when the door is opened.

There are other little foibles that sometimes exasperate me, but as I remarked at the beginning of this entry, she is growing on me, a little.