‘ I BOUGHT ONE’ JASON CROSS

‘ I’ve had my E92 M3 for three years and 40,000 miles now. I bought it privately as an immaculate four- year- old example with the DCT transmission and EDC suspension.

‘ Compared with the E46 I owned before, the E92 is an upgrade in almost every sense: more refined, more comfortable, faster and, to my ears at least, better sounding. That said, when hustling along B- roads the E92 does feel its weight. It definitely prefers fast A- roads to tight, twisty lanes.

‘ Some feel the E92 is too torque- light and it’s true that if you put your foot down in the wrong gear at 1500rpm it’ll take time to wake up, but it’s certainly poky enough from 3000rpm upwards and gets steadily more urgent through to the manic 8k red line. I still tend to shift up early most of the time as the mid- range is lovely, but it is satisfying to wait for the change- lights and really stretch its legs occasionally.

‘ Drawbacks? Not many. It likes a drink: 22mpg on average and a litre of oil every 3000 to 4000 miles. Road noise is inescapable, especially on poor surfaces. The throttle actuators on my car failed at about 60,000 miles and I had them replaced with an upgraded set by rebuild. co. uk for a fraction of the BMW price. The driver’s side seat- belt extender, which passes you the belt, broke recently but was fixed easily for less than a fiver with some Araldite and instructions from Youtube. Apart from that, it’s all good; an almost perfect all- rounder.

‘ For my next car I’ve been considering a 911, but they don’t seem especially good value in comparison, costing nearly twice the price for a car of similar age, mileage and performance. I’m not really taken with the F80 M3/ M4 so I’ve started looking at the F10 M5. Maybe in the spring…’