The advent of Christmas has meant that there has been a shorter than usual interval between this and my last report, so yet again only one fill up and a few hundred miles of activity to report on. Even so, after last month’s whining about its lack of involvement, the 330d has to some extent redeemed itself.

This process began when I finally gave the car a wash in one of the rare moments of late that it hasn’t been raining during daylight hours. I had been letting the car get filthy in a one-man protest against the pathetic hose pipe ban harassment still being levelled at the residents of the drenched home counties this winter, but I decided that the car deserved better. So armed with a watering can and some buckets of water, I gave it a winter wash.

What a transformation! From an unloved work horse to a smart, sleek and sporty estate car within half an hour, well worth the effort. I refitted the black kidney grilles, loaded some fresh music onto the iPod, vacuumed the interior and suddenly I was once again proud of my car. I even almost got around to repainting the semi-repaired kerbing on one of the alloys, but my jack was and still is on loan to a chum for various E30 repairs, so I’ve neatly avoided that again this month.

As the majority of my recent mileage has for once not involved much motorway work, it appears that my car’s ‘memory’ has adapted to this different routine, and the car definitely feels nippier. I do confess I always drive in one of two modes (‘economy’ and ‘pants on fire’), so the car’s ECU must have quite a job trying to second-guess me. That said, it does frustrate me that the car seems to interpret full throttle as ‘quite quick please’ if I’ve been pottering around; full throttle should always mean maximum effort, no matter how dopey the driver has been up until that point.

Speaking of pottering around, this month has driven home the startling revelation that the 330d is now The Family Car. I took my parents out for a birthday meal, and this year my car was the natural choice. A week later we went out with the practical in-laws, and again, my car was chosen by default. The M3s neatly avoided these ‘honours’, but the 330d did an excellent job of cosseting the oldies in tranquil comfort, while still allowing me to reach our destinations in good time and without boredom. More bluntly, it can go really quite fast without anyone noticing, and that gives quite a freedom.

So the 330d is back in my good books, but like any modern man, I’m still not satisfied. This weekend my jack-borrowing friend fitted a Limited Slip Differential to his E30, and some new front tyres. I’ll leave the physically aware amongst you to deduce the appeal of this selection of alterations! I’ll merely say that I’ve just spent the evening running some errands with him as his driver, and his car is quite immense fun. I’ll definitely be browsing my favourite online car showrooms for LSD equipped BMWs to fend off the winter blues.

A final whinge for this month, this time about the car’s audio system. Firstly, it does such a bad job of modulating the volume level in proportion to road-noise (speed), that I wish it simply wouldn’t bother. Secondly, the signal to the rear of the car appears to be devoid of any treble and clarity (is this normal, or is mine broken?!), and thirdly I really wish there was a line level output available somewhere. I suppose that this is the rough which must be taken with the smooth that is the wide-screen satellite navigation system, but it just seems a shame that BMW have come so close to a complete solution, yet failed to iron out some small creases.

Total Mileage: 94,052
Mileage since last report: 304
Cost this month: £nil
MPG this month: 37