Price: £40,810
On sale date: Now
Road tester: Keith Collantine

Car manufacturers keep coming up with new market segments, and this one is the latest. Another car in a class of its own, Keith Collantine has been driving the BMW 5-Series Gran Turismo.

BMW claims this car is pitched between a traditional estate and an SUV. But what's really telling is that it shares its underpinnings not with the 5-Series, but the 7-Series.

It's this which allows the 5-Series GT to offer comparable legroom to a 7-Series, with headroom more like an X6's.

Meanwhile, the coupe-style roofline helps disguise the size of the boot, which is plenty big enough. With all the seats in place it has a generous 440-litre boot, and a whopping 1700 litres with the seats folded. The rear hatch opens in two ways: fully for maximum access, or as a saloon-style aperture for quick loading.

Behind the wheel you sit 8cm higher than in a regular 5-Series, giving a better view all round while easing entry and exit. The rear seats are fabulously luxurious, offering a wealth of adjustment and excellent leg and head room.

The GT's swollen size makes it another BMW that's likely to polarise reaction, though not to the same extent as the X6. It looks imposing from the front, but the back is less successful, with a mish-mash of lines colliding around the light clusters.

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Inevitably the car's generous dimensions have an effect on its handling, but it still has that distinctive BMW feel of well-weighted, precise steering. Despite the extra height, body roll is reasonably well-controlled, even during quick changes of direction.

Three engines are offered; all come with a new eight-speed automatic transmission as standard. So far the only diesel on offer - the 530d - is the cheapest, and expected to be the most popular. It promises 43.5mpg - which we didn't achieve - and an impressively low 173g/km CO2 emissions.

We tried the 530d, which cruises beautifully, with plenty of power in reserve for overtaking. It's expected to be joined by a twin-turbodiesel in the near future.

For the time being at least, there's no obvious rival to the 5-Series GT. The closest competitors include the Mercedes ML, S-Class and R-Class, Audi A6 and Q7 and the forthcoming Jaguar XJ.

Potential buyers might struggle to make a case for a GT when a 5-Series Touring, X5 or X6 can be had for similar money. BMW's reasoning is that buyers want the size and practicality of an X5 but without the stigma attached to buying an SUV. If that is what you're looking for, then it's not difficult to recommend the 5-Series GT.