Time to act like a grown up…

I loved my Golf and had many fun days on the drive to Christchurch, like dropping down from the A35 to the roundabout into Ringwood in a four wheel drift (three? The Golf GTi is famous for lifting it’s inside rear wheel in tight corners) and then nailing it as the town disappeared and the countryside started, and the journey home along the fantastically curvy Hurn Road with it’s dips and troughs. I remember on one occasion drifting sideways up a snow covered hill perfectly balanced using the throttle and steering to maintain progress.

But in the October of 1997 I made the big mistake of visiting my friend who had a pair of BMW 520is on his driveway. His Dad was driving a white one and his was black.

The one thing wrong with the Golf was that the power comes from the wrong wheels. A proper car is rear wheel drive and the BMW 5 Series was a good looking comfortable cruiser that was also fun to drive. At this point in my life I was making numerous trips to Hertfordshire and back so I decided it was a time for something more grown up and so I purchased the Black one.

What a great car. I maintain to this day that the BMW 5 Series is the best all round day to day car (ideally an M5 Touring), the combination of its abilities to smoothly, silently, effortlessly cruise at speed with it’s smile inducing, beautifully balanced rear wheel drive chassis is unparalleled. It’s a Porsche 911 for the whole family.