Diesel can still win

Given the current furore over the running of diesel-engined cars, I thought I would share a few figures with your readership.

These were generated during a business trip from Beverley, near Hull, via the M62, A614, A620 and A1 – a nice mixed route – to north London last week. It was a 206-mile trip at an average speed of 47mph and with indicated fuel consumption of 55.7mpg.

That might sound nothing to write home about, until you consider the car I drive: one of BMW’S finest – a 335d with 313bhp and a 0-62mph time of 4.8sec.

Fantastic or what? If we want to save money, we take the Beemer, rather than my wife’s petrol-engined Mini Cooper 1.6.