I went to another used car supermarket a few days ago. They had a couple of 3.0d X5's coming in stock soon but only had a 3.0i on display. I still had a good look around it and took a test drive to get a feel for the driving position etc. The interior was again very tatty despite only having covered 35k miles. I think this is a characteristic of all cars in these places as they are mostly ex company cars brought from auction. The steering wheel trim was peeling which I saw on both the previous X5's I looked at. I'll look to buy privately or from a small independent dealer (then I'll be covered for 6 months for any major failures under the sale of goods act).

Before taking a test drive I spent a while sitting in the car and getting a feel for it. Something I noticed about the driving position; the arm rest seems to be quite a long way back, even when slid to the forward position. If I tried to rest my elbow on it, the side of the sport seat really dug in under my arm. Not sure if this is due to me setting up the seat position in a strange way or whether other people under 6ft notice it too? In a 4x4 I don't want to be laying back in the seat, I want to have a more upright position so I can see what's going on around me.

On the test drive I was actually very impressed with the performance of the 3.0i engine, it was responsive and not underpowered as I had imagined it to be. I didn't notice the armrest position while driving but it was only a short urban route. With no lurching issue that does make the 3.0i tempting but after doing a little research they are no cheaper to buy and would cost me an extra £800+ in fuel cost despite the higher price of diesel.

The 3 hour round trip through central London did help me to come to terms with selling the Boxster. After hours of sitting in traffic and being buffeted around over bumps I had an aching left knee and my back needed a good stretch! On the topic of seats I don't think the X5 is sporty enough to benefit from sport seats, remembering that the sport seats in my old E46 coupe were exactly the same as the E53 sport seats I wouldn't mind finding one with the comfort seat option. Apparently BMW ran out of comfort seats for the E70 because so many of the E53 owners trading up to an E70 ordered that option. My back would certainly appreciate it if I could find a car with them.

Giving some last minute consideration to buying a soft-top rather than a 4x4 I test drove a 2005 Audi A4 Convertible yesterday. It was a nice car but having the roof down just wasn't the same without two seats and the roar of a tuned 6-cyl engine. The X5 it is.

Typically just as I'm seriously looking to buy it seems prices are either going up or supply is slowing down right now. There don't seem to be half as many available for under £18k as a couple of weeks ago. Guess I'll have to get used to not having a car for a while.