I have to say, I'm a performance car nut, and I wouldn't ever class BMW among good performance cars (with the exception of the M3 and M5 which I have raced a few times and are quite good fun)

I would class them as executive or luxury cars - they are comfy and look and feel nice, but they don't handle, corner or accelerate well compared to a performance car.

It's really a case of paying vast sums of money for some nice wood and leather, a shiny badge and some soundproofing.

For me, the BMW fulfils a part of the market I don't understand. The Toyota, whilst not classy, will get you where you want to go very efficiently and cost-effectively, a proper performance car will get you there fast and quite cost-effectively, but the BMW is at neither end - it will get you there comfortably, but nothing about it is cost-effective.

As a devout petrolhead I can't understand why you would pay that much for a car which pretty much removes the driving experience.

- nah, it's all about timing. We're on here because our racing genius wasn't spotted at age 4... :-)