I had a bit of M-sport envy recently, when another 5-series came into the office. As lovely as our silver 520d SE is, parking it next to the black M-sport-clad version made me wish my car was adorned with aerodynamic kit, special sport alloys and plush interior.

It costs £3300 for the privilege, which certainly isn’t cheap, but that equates to an extra 3p per mile over three years and 60,000 miles, and £20 per month on a higher rate taxpayer’s BIK. Logically, the 520d SE is all the business car anyone would ever need, but the M-sport version really is appealing.

BMW 520d saloon SE manual
Mileage 9411 miles
Our average consumption 43.4mpg
Forecast CPM 62.7p
Actual CPM 64.6p
Positive Classy, comfortable
and efficient
Negative Electric steering,
start-up procedure