This weekend saw a little bit of a road trip, and in a successful attempt to empty my wallet I chose to take the M5. On Thursday evening I drove to Monmouth to collect a pal. On Friday morning we drove to Bath for an eye test, then to Newquay for a stag weekend. On Sunday I returned with three passengers – delicately – via Monmouth.

Fact and figures – average speed of 47mph over 800 miles at 26mpg. On the strength of those there’s absolutely no justification for choosing this vehicle over the extremely competent 330d.

However, it did do two things the 330d couldn’t. Firstly it provided a superior level of comfort. It manages this in a variety of ways. Its boot is enormous – which means that large amounts of luggage don’t restrict rear visibility and damp camping clothing and materials don’t stink out the cabin. It’s also more comfortable due to it being more roomy, and the general £35K vs £55K things you’d expect such as reduced road noise, increased luxury of seating and space etc.

The other thing it did, once we were in Cornwall, was to travel preposterously quickly, making a beautiful noise, with an attitude so easily adjusted with the throttle that its motion could be sublime beyond belief considering its mass. It also looked most comical in the camp site:

In conclusion I’d say I don’t regret taking it, but given I now estimate it costs over 10p per mile more than the 330d to fuel, if I were making a return trip in the near future it’d be staying in the garage!

The trip provided an excellent shakedown. Over the last 1,000 miles the car has used about 200ml of oil. Given some of the reports I’ve read of over 1 litre per 1,000 miles on cars with considerably less miles, this is relatively good news! My spider senses suggest that the propshaft donut wants renewing, and indeed that the clutch is pretty old – it will slip if really abused, but is still strong under all gentlemanly conduct.

Otherwise, no gremlins, so I’m pleased. I’ve been blessed with a cold and I note the evenings are now dark so early they’re almost useless, so I currently plan on giving both me and the M5 a rest until the weekend.