BMW 1 Series 118d ES

Fair warning: I am writing this review not as a long-term owner of this car but as someone who used one for two weeks as a hire car in France during the summer of 2009.

We hired this BMW 118D ES model for a two week stay in Provence and the Cote D'Azur from Sixt Car Rental. There we four adults on the holiday and we wanted something that was going to be big enough to carry us all and our luggage but also not so huge that it was going to be impossible to drive through the narrow street of southern France!

We opted for this BMW 1 Series. From the outside it looks smart, solid and compact but not tiny. On the inside it felt spacious even with four nearly 6-foot adults plus luggage.

Our car was equipped with a top-of-the-range audio/visual dashboard with radio, GPS and video which was cool and exceptionally handy for finding our way around. Exceptionally well integrated, it's didn't at all look like a temporary add-on.

Handling was superb, even on the 45-degree driveway to our house. We felt a little buffeted on the major motorways but I suppose that's to be expected. Fuel consumption was amazing - we went through half of one tank all week which was all the more surprising given how many time we were stuck in traffic jams. Oh yes and the air-condition was great which helped in those situations.

The one quibble would be the car was quite difficult to get into reverse. For some reason the gear stick kept catching but that might just have been out car.

Overall I would seriously consider buying one of these to drive in London