Long-term report: Reflecting on our time with the BMW 4 Series

The long-term test car is a staple of automotive media. A manufacturer delivers a car to a journalist, usually for between three and 12 months, so they can see what it’s like to live with.

From the outside, it looks like the ultimate blag – and there’s no getting away from the fact this is an incredibly privileged position to be in.

However, it serves an important purpose, because when a new car is launched we write reviews after a few hours behind the wheel at a carefully prepared launch event. This is enough to get a great idea of what it’s like to drive and what the interior is like, but perhaps not enough to notice niggling ownership issues that may arise.

Having attended the launch of the BMW 4 Series last year, we were offered the chance to run one for six months. I was looking forward to it, because at the launch I was hugely impressed by how it drove and how comfortable it was, so it felt like a car I could happily live with for a while.

And perhaps more importantly, angry internet commenters were up in arms about the styling, with the front grille drawing many complaints. I thought it looked fine in person, so was intrigued to see whether six months with the car would eventually warm me to it.

Running one of these cars is a two-way street. BMW doesn’t just give us the car out of the kindness of its heart. During our time with the long-termer, we run it as our own and write about the experience.

Unfortunately, my test car was delivered just as the UK went into its third national lockdown in January. That would mean that at least half of my time with the car would be spent under heavy restrictions.