I worked out that over my 20 years of car ownership I’ve averaged a new car every 8 months.  Frankly I was surprised at this, I fondly remember a number of cars I’ve owned and thought I’d had them for a considerable amount of time but it turns out this ‘considerable’ amount of time, even for a car I really liked, was about 1 year.  So, imagine my dilemma when given the opportunity to have a company car for 4 years.

At the time I was 2 months into owning a 2006 BMW 535d which was proving to be a lemon, but more on that another time. So I had been debating whether to finance a newer car, possibly a BMW 3 Series Touring, when the opportunity came along.  Although constrained by CO2 emissions and list price my choice was still fairly generous, and after spending an inordinate amount of time trawling reviews and test driving cars I had a shortlist; Audi A6 Avant 2.0 S tronic Black Edition, BMW 325d M Sport Touring, BMW 520d M Sport Saloon, Mercedes C250d Estate… you get the idea. 

After being impressed with the interior and look of the A6 I was left numb after driving it. I’d also spent 6 years working at Audi where I’d driven pretty much everything with 4 rings on it and I was keen for something different. I don’t play golf, so quickly ruled out the Merc. I was left with the two BMWs. The 520d was nice, however I was just a month or two into being a dad and after being shocked by the amount of accessories our son required I decided we needed the practicality of an estate, sorry touring.  So that was it, I was set on a 3 series touring. The mainstay of company cars throughout the country but just before I pulled the trigger, or fisted the kumquat, if you’ve ever talked with people interested in car leasing, a new car list came out. Hang on, what was this, a BMW 330D M Sport Touring… RWD, 3 litre diesel engine, 0-62mph in 5.something seconds, yes please.

After deciding on a few options – M Sport package (xenons, privacy windows, upgraded Harmon Kardon stereo and bigger brakes with blue calipers – for when I take it on track days don’t you know…), Comfort pack (netting on the back seats, which never got used), Professional Navigation (big screen so you don’t feel that you couldn’t afford the ‘big screen’ version but with no other difference), heated seats (no explanation needed!) and that was about it.  Finished in Silver with a restrained black interior and brushed aluminum inlays I was set and convinced I’d spec’d the perfect 330D Touring. What I failed to do properly at the time was calculate my car tax, but we’ll come to that later.

When delivery day came I couldn’t have been happier with my choice, it looked fabulous, was comfortable, quick, well spec’d and most importantly could fit all of the accessories that came with our son in the electrically operated boot.  Over the next months I grew to love this car. On a run down to Cornwall it averaged over 50mpg, giving a range of 600 miles to a tank, yet when you put it in Sport+ mode you could hustle with the best of them. What more could you ask of a car?  It even sounded reasonable, for a diesel.

Over a period of 4 years it travelled nearly 50k miles, transported my pregnant wife to hospital and our baby daughter back home, picked up a few parking tickets and was regularly loaded up with a roof box with trips to Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Norfolk. It had a speaker and door seal replaced under warranty but mostly required only routine maintenance and helped create a number of my young families early memories together.  

Truth be told 4 years of hasstle free, stress free driving went by very quickly, but when the time came to hand it back the landscape of company cars had changed significantly.  Gone were the 3.0 diesels…. The horrible oil burning 50+ mpg engines replaced with new and more efficient (!) hybrids, including the new BMW 530e hybrid, an XC90 T8 hybrid and various others but it wasn’t only the automotive landscape which had changed but also my personal situation.  My wife now had a family-friendly car and the prospect of not having to change car seats every Friday and Sunday night was just too much to resist. On top of this the financial implications of two young children and increasing Benefit in Kind tax meant that it made more sense to step away from the company car scheme and go back to privately owning a car.   

I have no doubt that the 330D will remain the longest period I’ve owned, or driven, one car.  I have no regrets about this, I really cannot think of another car more suitable for that period of my life.  A comfortable, spacious, economical, reliable, fast car which was perfect for our young family. 

It was a really special, swiss army knife of a car.