The M Coupe has been in for its biannual brake fluid change and to have the throttle control valve replaced. At long last it looks like BMW have got to the bottom of cars idling problems. I suppose replacing the Vanos and power steering rack didn’t hurt either. Thankfully the BMW warranty saved me bearing the brunt of the £4000 bill. BMW gave me the 5 Series pictured above whilst they had the Coupe. After spending a few days with it this really was the best picture I could take without making it look like the ugly behemoth it is. I’m not a fan of the new ‘Bangle’ inspired cars and whilst not as bad as the new 1 Series and X3 it’s still no old painting. It has the traditional BMW build quality and is relaxed and comfortable to drive but BMW seem to have learnt little from the rather excellent car it replaces. Shouldn’t all the controls point in the general direction of the driver? To accommodate the sweep of the dashboard you have to lean over to see the settings on the heater controls. Being a gadget addict I was looking forward to the iDrive system which controls the AirCon, Stereo, on board computer and phone if fitted. It’s all a bit if a mess to use, especially whilst moving and some of the most basic actions are buried in the semi intuitive menu system. So buried in fact BMW have many of the functions duplicated as buttons on the dashboard. I could go on about the Auto box which requires about 24 hour’s prior notice before kicking down and the super tanker handling but suffice to say BMW seemed to have taken a step back as regards a driving experience compared to the previous model. It takes about 5 seconds after locking the new 5 Series and turning away before you forget you even drove it. I wonder what the new Audi A6 is like.