BMW X5 4.4i V8 5dr Auto (2000)

Everything a car could possibly need to be

The beauty of this car is that it'll do off-road reasonably well and it can also deliver good performance. At the same time, it can carry a whole family and its luggage - it's sort of an all in one. The X5 4.4 which we have is seriously powerful and you make some incredible progress with it, even if you just lightly tease the throttle. It means you can have a good time on the backroads and then take it off-road should you need to, its no Rangey but it makes a pretty good effort.

One thing worth noting is that the BMW X5 is quite a huge car, it isn't very easy to manoeuvre into a parking space because there is a tendency to forget just how big it is, it really is colossal in size. The flip side of this is that there is a massive amount of space on the inside, four can go in comfort, no matter how tall they are, five is a bit of a squash but still possible. One thing that has proved particularly popular in my household is the split tailgate which is very handy for slinging in little items and then providing easier access for the larger ones.

The X5 came with air-con but little else by way of options, if you start adding to the equipment list, the price rises considerably. It is also quite a costly car to run in terms of insurance and fuel in particular.