I must say I'm still a petrol fan given the choice. I don't luckily have to do a lot of mileage so economy isn't a huge concern. If i did, then it would have to be a Diesel Six.

Four pots are rough IMO, even in something new and German, Six's are a different ballgame, the difference in refinement from a 4 is astonishing, much more so than moving from a petrol 4 to a petrol 6.

I owned a 335d for a while to do some development work on and it made pretty much the same numbers as above. I was a little disappointed to be honest. It was a fast car but I think I expected too much. Probably due to tuned diesel owners constantly banging on about how fast they are!

Turbo petrol six's are where it's at for me, power, torque and refinement - they are just a little out of reach for most.

Rick