Faults:

Water pump replaced; faulty.

Thermostat replaced.

Starter motor replaced; faulty.

Head gasket replaced.

Minor electrical faults; indicators, connections dirty L/R, as well as brake light connections L/R.

General Comments:

I bought this M535i from a family friend. He had it parked up for nearly 4 years on his drive, yet every time this car started, it was first time, every time. That's when I knew this car had to be mine.

Although it's on a "C" reg, it stands out from a million miles away. It's an M535i, it's the standard M front and back bumpers, M side skirts, but the previous owner lowered the car on fully adjustable Spax suspension shocks and springs, and then he put it on 18 inch, 3 spoke alloys, and to top it off, he put a straight through exhaust system from a company called Pacific Performance Company; it's unheard of to me, but the car sounds so deep, I have never heard anything that sounds like that, it's amazing.

When I acquired the car, the airbox was standard, so I spent £89 on an HPI cold air induction kit, I had the head rebuilt and the gaskets all replaced.

I'm running it in at the moment. I just had it failed the MoT on 6 things:

1. Rear brake lights faulty.

2. Number plate light faulty.

3. Front indicator faulty.

4. Passenger footwell hole.

5. Driver footwell hole.

6. You won't believe this! The noise emitted from the exhaust system is too loud compared to a standard M535i.

The above things have been sorted now:

1. Replaced.

2. Replaced.

3. Replaced.

4. Welded.

5. Welded.

6. Well I sorted something for that.

But all I have to say is it's surprisingly the car is in very good condition; a few spots of very minor rust, nothing to worry about, but I will be dedicating all my time and money to the metallic Polaris Silver M535i, which I truly believe it deserves. Let's just say, due to this car I have put the women on hold!

Faults:

Disabled one rear electric window because it wouldn't always wind back up.

Central locking stopped working and driver's door lock doesn't work at all. (In fairness to the car, I attribute all this to the aftermath following some scally punching a huge hole through the driver's lock!!)

Heater thermostat failed - £90.

General Comments:

Fantastic and I'll be sad to see it go, but it hasn't got long left.

I inherited from my father when my 205 packed in and was not keen on the old 'crusty' wagon. But then, it's a driver's car and the power is awesome. It's also the only car I've never need to call the AA for.

Actually really cheap to run because little goes wrong and zero depreciation makes up for the fuel costs.

Faults:

No rust on the body (aside from the odd stonechip spot), but there's some holes on the inside of the doors.

Boot refuses to unlock when central locking is activated on driver's door, however you can lock/unlock the whole car from the bootlock. Very odd.

The driver's seat has worn through on the side squab - this appears to be a common fault on 80's German cars. New material is still available from BMW - impressive, but not cheap.

Inspection light is continually on - batteries are dead on the Service Inspection PCB.

Front door panel cloth had shrunk at the edges - rectified by dismantling the door panels, stripping the cloth from the backing, stretching, and stapling.

Stereo is not mounted correctly, so it will pop out to meet the gearlever during hard acceleration.

Brake pad warning lamp is constantly on - suspected duff sensor.

Gearlever tends to vibrate in second gear, but there are no problems with shifting in and out, and it doesn't jump out of gear.

Car has recently developed a recurring misfire, and can be hard to start from cold - suspected duff HT leads, although I did spray the engine bay with Gunk to clean off the dirt, then forgot to cover the plug leads when hosing off. WD-40 sprayed around the plug leads appears to have helped, but the car still hesitates at around 4000rpm under hard acceleration.

General Comments:

A very rapid car, although thirsty (20-25mpg average), and handling demands serious respect in the wet.

My 528i is unusual as it's a manual, and has a Getrag close-ratio box at that. Reverse is where first is on a normal gearbox, and first is where second would be. There's no lockout for reverse, so you need to reprogram your brain before driving or you tend to take off backwards from the lights.

Car has M-Tec sports suspension (firm ride, but feels very solid on the motorway), sports front seats (comfortable, but driver's seat is worn), limited-slip differential, and an M-Tec steering wheel (great, but mounted too low, so you can't see the tops of the instruments).

Typical German engineering - car has 150k miles, but no interior rattles, minimal wear on steering wheel rim, pedal rubbers and gearlever. The car has a full service history, so I had no qualms about buying.

Roomy interior - rear seat resembles a sofa! Beige interior has cleaned up really well, rear seats and carpets are like new.

One potential downside - the car has the original TRX metric alloy wheels, so getting decently-priced replacement tyres may be difficult.

Faults:

Nothing other than routine servicing.

Fitted new tyres.

Fitted new springs front and rear.

General Comments:

Superbly engineered car.

Fast as heck but heavy on the fuel, 30mpg is the most I have got out of it!

The growl of the engine and 'aircraft take off type acceleration' are too addictive!!

Interior trim is a bit fragile (but then mine is 15 years old!!!)