Should you buy one?

In a word, yes. If you’re after a sleek driver’s car, but you also need to shift people and luggage around on a long-distance basis, then this is a great alternative to a family SUV or estate car. The two closest rivals are the Audi A5 Sportback and Volkswagen Arteon, but the BMW drives rings around them both on back roads, while still being a great motorway cruiser.

And that’s why we rate the 4 Series Gran Coupe so highly. Although its star attraction is its dynamics, it scores for being such a good all-rounder and making you feel great about driving it, it quietly gets on with dealing with the day-to-day stuff impressively well. Do you really still want that X3?

What we like

The way it drives marks it apart from its rivals, while the connected infortainment tech is easy to use and very useful. Although it’s sleek, it’s also practical with enough interior room for most familes and a large, well-shaped boot for those who need to carry luggage regularly.

We also rate its engines and efficiency – but the star of the show is the M440i, which is not only fast and sounds great, but also acceptably economical for a car that sprints from 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds.

What we don’t like

Very little, really. The rear room is less impressive than the Volkswagen Arteon, and some will find the infotainment set-up complex and difficult to master.