Eventually I got fed up of hearing the promises from BMW and Motorola that they’re working on the problem and sold the BMW in July 2003. My main criteria was a car which was reliable and also had a decent telephone (in my mind there’s only one decent mobile phone manufacturer with a decent hands free unit and that’s Nokia...)

My choice was influenced by a colleague who always swore by his Mercedes. After I’d had it a few weeks, I also swore by mine.... “Why the bloody hell did I buy this car?”

Bad? It was disastrous. Every time I switched on the ignition, something else electronic failed. Firstly it was the cruise control. Then the Xenon lights. Then the navigation system. Then the telephone hands free unit. Then the brake lights... the list just kept growing so I got rid of it.

I used to think that Jeremy Clarkson was very unfair with his slating of Mercedes quality but having owned a new Mercedes I can seriously say:

“Jeremy: you aren’t doing enough. Keep slagging them off until they learn to build cars again.”

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