This was unexpected. The Chariot is having its climate control fixed, and I was expecting something like a 318d saloon. Instead, I have this, and mixed feelings.
Good is that it's easy to get comfortable, with plenty of room for head, knees and feet. It's quiet and very smooth, with a softer ride than my M-sport suspension gives me (hardly a surprise) but, importantly, none of the high-frequency jiggling that made our own 7-seat Toyota Verso such a chore on a long drive.
This one also has the great 8-speed automatic, with sports shifter and paddies - which aren't much use on the M4 but might take me the bendy way back to Taplow this afternoon, just for fun. It has start-stop, of course - except that I was half an hour into my journey before I realized the engine had been stopping at the lights; completely unobtrusive.
Less impressive is the view out: an oddly shaped interior mirror, a smallish rear window and dark rear glass make it more of an effort than I would like to check what's around me. It seems sluggish too, in contrast to the 220i coupé I tried last year, with the same engine and gearbox; the extra weight of all that bodywork, I suppose.
So quite a nice machine, but would I consider one? No. It has seven seats but there's no kneeroom to speak of even in the second row pushed right back. The front seats have nasty plastic tray-tables on their backs, but even without these I wouldn't be able to get in behind myself, nor would either Beestling. I've not looked in the boot but without a usable rear seat, that's an irrelevance.
So it looks like a people carrier but can't really carry people, while the bulk of the body blunts its performance and (probably) the handling too. Pity, because it looks like such a nice machine.
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