I wanted my new long-termer to be fun to drive but also be able to play the role of the family wagon on odd occasions. Yes, I know some of you think we spend all our time driving supercars up Alpine passes but the reality is somewhat different and the school run/supermarket visit is a frequent event for most of us; even Barker's Clio V6 sports a child seat most mornings.

I wanted something that looked smart, making a coupe top of my choice list, with enough power to post a mid-5sec 0-60mph time, a top speed high enough that it could pass for a good darts score and (being a confirmed cylinder junkie) at least eight but preferably a dozen cylinders in the engine compartment.

A manual gearbox would be nice too, but the most important requirement was that it had to be capable of carrying two kids in the back seats without arousing the attention of the NSPCC.

This is where it gets even more tricky because although cars keep getting bigger on the outside, inside the packaging has seemingly gone to pot.

Take a peek inside the new Aston DB9, for example, and you'll see the rear seats are pretty hopeless. The perch in a Jaguar XKR is even worse, while on the other hand the tiddly flip seats in the 911 work surprisingly well so long as you're under 5ft tall. It's just a pity that the boot's too tiny for four people's luggage (see, there is something wrong with the 911 after all). In fact, I reckon you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of cars out there that'll fit my requirements, which is strange as I'm sure I'm not the only one looking for this combination of abilities. Perhaps the arrival of the 645 Ci on the market could be very timely for BMW.

The ΂£49,200 list price seems pretty reasonable too, although our car has had a number of tasty extras added that bump the price up to ΂£55,805. Chief among them is the Dynamic Drive package that includes active steering, bigger wheels and the anti-roll system with active roll bars. Then there's the adaptive headlights that turn with the steering, plus sports seats and Professional Navigation, whatever that's meant to mean.

There's also the dreaded i-Drive to get accustomed to, necessitating some serious scrutiny of the 6-series' handbook before driving off for the first time. Shocking admission, I know, but I reckon it was time well spent as so many things aren't immediately obvious. Take the strangely labelled buttons on the steering wheel, for example. Apparently they're designed so that you can program them to do your own thing, such as mute the radio or go straight to main menu on the i-Drive if you want to. As far as I can see, the 645 Ci is some sort of giant mobile gadgetron that'll satisfy the curiosity buried within the psyche of most blokes for many months.

Meanwhile, what it's actually like to drive will have to wait until next month as I've been far too busy reading the manual up to now. The kids seem happy enough though.