THERE are four different bodystyles in the BMW 2 Series range - two of them sporting two door models and the others five door people carriers.

The range is also unusual in that the five door models are front wheel drive while the coupe and convertible two door are rear wheel drive in the company's much longer tradition.

I'll concentrate on the Active Tourer five seat, mainly front wheel drive MPV, which is probably the biggest seller of the bunch.

Now we all know that the BMW MINI is front-wheel-drive and comes with superb handling and roadholding.

So it's a great starting point for the Tourer to find that it comes on the same brilliant chassis, despite being a wide, spacious, five seat family car.

My brother-in-law leased one about five years ago, and he loved it so much that he's now on his second.

He likes the huge interior - with no transmission tunnel down the centre to restrict movement - and says it's the ideal family transport as far as he's concerned.

Comfort is good overall, so that it takes speed humps without ruffling the feathers of occupants, but it can be unsettled over porly surfaced town roads and also on similar country roads at speed.

The engine range encompasses two diesels, two petrols and a single petrol/electric plug-in hybrid.

This last is the one to go for if you do most of your driving around town, since it will do around 30 miles on electric power alone.

If you charge it at home therefore, you get around so cheaply its damn-near free.

The hybrid comes with a very good 216bhp, which gives a zero to 60 miles an hour sprint of 6.5 seconds with around 170 miles per gallon economy and very low emissions.

The 1.5-litre 218i petrol, which is also used in the Mini range, has 134bhp and can dispatch the sprint in 8.9 seconds.

Its rated at 57mpg while the 2.0-litre 220i above it still manages 50, and with 189bhp, covers the sprint in 7.2.

The slowest model is the 216d 114bhp diesel 1.5, which gets to 60 in 10.3 and can do 72mpg.

And finally there is a 218d 2.0-litre with 147bhp. It does the benchmark acceleration in 8.6 seconds and can reach 65mpg.

All the engines are smooth and quiet in the BMW tradition, and top petrol and diesel models are available with x-drive four wheel drive, and a standard automatic gearbox.

All the other models in the range are also available with the auto.

Every variant comes with parking sensors, audio remote, loads of airbags and other electronic safety, alarm, traction control and excellent seat and column adjustment.

But many items like sat nav were only available as extras in most, so simply make sure that any car you're interested in has everything you want.

The back seats fold in a 40-20-40 per cent pattern for maximum versatility, and the front passenger seat also folds flat to get long items in.

Pay about £10,300 for a '16 16-reg 218I Sport or £17,050 for a '19 19-reg 218d Luxury.