Is it just me or are cars becoming a little too overcomplicated these days? Take my M4. It’s something of a barnstormer – bumps in all the right places and very, very fast.

Twenty years ago that would have been enough for an enthusiastic driver, always  ready to put his foot down at the slightest opportunity.

There was no need to press extra buttons to set the vehicle up in sport mode, heighten the revs or firm up the suspension (let alone make the exhaust sound LOUD).

So when I came to overtake a line of three cars today, it was a damp trouser moment when I suddenly realised the BMW was quite set up right for a straight line dash.

This was, as you might imagine, not good. Surely if a sports car IS a sports car, it should be ready to go at the press of the right foot – and not at the press of a right foot and assorted buttons and oh, bugger, it’s too late.

Pure, unfettled fun is hard to come by these days. Maybe it’s time to buy a new Mazda MX-5 instead…

Forget all the whistles and bells on the M4 – whether or not you might be persuaded to part with £60k + for the convertible might well come down to the badge on the bootlid.

Image is everything with a car like this. You might question whether there are other brands with a more luxurious tag that tempt you to flip open the wallet.

I’ve own at least three BMWs but still haven’t been able to shake of the business-like feel that is associated with the brand. Brilliant Middle-Management Wheels is what those three letters stand for, right?

As much as I love the performance, growl and driving pleasure that comes with the M4, the BMW brand just doesn’t have the same cache and emotion associated with it as say, Maserati, Porsche or Mercedes, who all sells cars for this sort of money…