‘It’s a lovely family car, but it’s just not quick enough’

So says reader Ben Plank of his BMW 330d Touring, and that perhaps isn’t surprising – he’s a man well used to travelling quickly. A former fighter pilot who knows his way around a Harrier, he spent four years in the Red Arrows and now works as a commercial airline pilot.

His car history is speedy, too: ‘Prior to the 3-series I had an Audi S5 two-door coupe – it was great but the kids didn’t quite fit in. Four doors are now a minimum requirement.’

BMWs and Audis are frequent entries in Ben’s car-buying past; from Munich a 730i, 530i, 330i and Z4 (‘a 2.0-litre – the wrong choice’), and from Wolfsburg a TT and the aforementioned S5. A Range Rover Vogue preceded the S5, which fulfilled the space requirements but su ered from a few reliability maladies, and prior to that a Mazda RX-8, Subaru Impreza Turbo, a Mk2 Golf GTI and assorted motorcycles. Not a bad record, in all.

‘I used to fly high-performance aircraft and now fly what is basically a family plane, and I feel like I’ve gone through the same transformation with my car. My commute is from Lincolnshire to Stansted airport, and my wife and I have worked out we can probably have one performance car, which we’d both drive, alongside her BMW 4-series. The other option is to keep the 330d, and maybe get something really special, like a two-seater sports car – but I fear it would mostly get left alone apart from the occasional weekend. So a four-door performance car is the most logical choice.’

The BMW M5 is a car he’s been considering for some time: ‘It’s always been a dream, and I’ve been mulling one over for the past few years. But it’s a big step…’

Could driving Munich’s super-saloon convince Ben once and for all – or could a new, in-warranty AMG or a curveball Lexus make him think twice?