Thought I'd share my experience with this car and it's contrast to the Z4. I've got one on loan for a fortnight, a 2.0 TDI DSG Auto. Not sure of the spec but it must be reasonable as it has heated leather etc.

Anyway, the styling of any car is always subjective, personally I find the Eos smart but bland, my mam commented immediately that she thought it looked dull and my dad agreed.

Inside, the dashboard is reasonably functional, you certainly wouldn't say that it had flair but it seems well screwed together, no rattles or squeaks at all.

Apart from the slightly dull design of the dash my biggest criticism is the heater controls. they are so unclear, I don't know how they ever got past the design stage. Whoever thought that the markings for the settings should all be tiny and red obviously didn't think to speak to the person that designed the knobs who also decided that a tiny red marking would be a good idea, without leaning towards them I can't see where they are set. Not like the Zed which is clear as day!

Moving onto the seating, very nice, the seats are bigger than than the M ones in my Zed but still offer lots of support and are very comfy. Rear legroom is slightly cramped but I figure it's certainly better than the passenger lugging abilities of the Zed!

The best bit about the car however is undoubtedly the gearbox, I've never had an auto before and this is ensuring that my next "comfy" car will have auto, it's so easy, click it into D and it just wafts you up the road on a wave of creamy torquey goodness that doesn't seem to run out even when you bury the pedal into the floor. If you fancy some DIY then you can of course click it into the "manual" mode and select your own gears with a click of the stick. Very nice, and it's definitely got me looking at the Audi A8 4.2 TDI V8 Quattro as a possible second car when the Zed is paid for.

Actually, I admit that Mr Statham may have already had me thinking along that line:-

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The thing that has surprised me is that the fuel economy on the short runs isn't significantly better than the 3.0 Z4, the computer seems to reset each time I drive it, on a short cold start run to work I get about 31mpg, the Z4 averages about 27mpg. Once it's warm however and on a slightly longer run you really notice the difference, it's easy to get the computer to read over 40mpg.

So, overall, I like it, and the reduced fuel usage for a fortnight is welcome, but I definitely wouldn't buy one with my own money, it just doesn't have enough character. I can see why someone would want one as a second car for the wife or something. Perhaps my views are tainted by the fact that my Zed has a lot of character (and the engine sounds better!) so maybe not a fair comparison.