Whoever designed the current 5 series should be taken out and shot-in front of their families.

Sorry unthrottled i have Unison on the phone right now. They're telling me about how shocked and offended they are by that comment and how in some countries, car designers actually are murdered in front of their families - with any luck it'll be the person who designed the Ssangyong Rexton - so we cant joke about it here.

Avant, its always easier to stuff up a saloon design than an estate one. I agree with Superb and C-Class estate but not E-Class, well not the current one. I do like the previous one, the 211.

Unthrottled, 5 series estate, I like the Chris Bungle one. I had a client who had one. The more I looked athe design, particularly the details, the more I liked it.

RT, last scooby Legacy had an understated elegance about it.

jamie, there's an XF estate on the way. Here's hoping its as good as the saloon.

General estate gripe, far fewer today have the seats folding down properly. This results in either.............a sloping load space, a shallower than necessary one, and the squab creates a natural barrier behind the front seats when the seats fold properly. Either designers or the public are becoming lazy...................maybe both!

There's no doubt in terms of load lugging my B class is far more practical than the X type estate it replaced. It is shorter than a Focus (previous model which was shorter than the current model) so compact enough for town centres and getting into tight car parking spaces (and my tricky second parking space at home), but it has more load space than the current Mondeo Estate which to me felt as long as a narrow boat!

My B class doesn't have the full flex seating system option which enables you to remove the rear and passenger seat, but the rear seat squabs tumble forward and can be removed if required, the floor is flat once the rear seat back is pushed forward (unlike the X). The boot floor can be raised leaving a gap under the floor which, even with a spacesaver on board can hold a lot of gear. Remove the spare and it will hold a week's shopping. The only aspect of the X type I would like back is an opening rear window - very handy for packing the car to roof level as the closed rear door holds the items already loaded.

On my old Skoda Estelle, you could take the back seats out and lay the flat for camping.

That was good design.