Start seriously thinking about buying a new car and you'll very quickly arrive at a stark realisation. Your money doesn't go very far. By the time you've added options and on-road costs, you begin to realise that the monthly repayments have stacked up so far, all you'll be able to do is polish the thing and protect your residual values which defeats the object of buying a car in the first place. The ideal package would be a good looking car that was fun to drive, kept hold of its value well, was so economical you'd drive it just for the fun of it and which gave you a kick to own. Oh yes, and didn't cost the earth to buy.
That sort of wish list has often remained just that, idle wishes, but with the launch of the 2 Series Coupe, BMW has brought a car to market that might just fit that bill, especially in 218d diesel form. Priced from less than £25,000 and shot through with all of BMW's engineering right stuff, the 218d looks the real deal.