Bye bye BMW

A sudden end to a long relationship... This was my new company car way back in September 2008. Nearly five years and 140,000 miles later, I expected to have it until I finish at HS at the end of August.

But there's been a bit of a gear selection problem developing, along with a couple of other niggles so I put it into the garage on Friday. The diagnosed solution was a new gearbox, brake calliper and fan, at a cool £3958.67.

Not altogether surprisingly, the lease company and HS agreed this wasn't worth doing, so it's getting picked up this week and I've handed it back, replaced today by a perfectly capable but not as likeable (to me at least) Peugeot hire car.

I'm sorry to see it go.