Faults:

Air con won't work, traction control sensors, pixel display a bit intermittent, coolant leaks and problems, all sorted by myself in the one year I have had it. The car has had every oil change since new, and the previous owner had a few expensive problems but nothing serious according to history logs. Rust is appearing on the arches front and rear, but it is 25 years old.

General Comments:

1997 728i in blue with grey leather, massive alloy wheels, I love the look of this car inside and out. The E38 is the best looking BMW 7 series in my opinion. First saw this car in a James Bond movie and wanted one ever since.

First off, how does it drive? Well 740i and 750i owners will tell you anything less than those is useless, but I have had no problems keeping up with modern traffic in my 728i. With nearly 200 bhp I can't see why anyone says these are under powered. Yes the V8 and V12's are wonderful, but the straight six cylinder cars are still worth looking at. They can also achieve something resembling economy, 27 mpg on average, maybe a little more on a long cruise. Not great today, but very good for a large luxury car from its time, and the bigger engined cars will never see anything near those numbers in economy.

Interior is quiet and refined, suspension is surprisingly firm but it does corner very well for its size and weight, and never sacrifices comfort. I like to just cruise in it however and never drive like a maniac, it is not that kind of car. Probably the most comfortable car I have ever had.

I plan to sort the rust and keep it as a weekend/summer cruiser. Buy nothing less than a looked after car, and if like me you know a BMW mechanic, maintaining one of these is still expensive but manageable as a second car.

Faults:

Power locks worked sometimes.

Needed 02 sensors.

Rear shocks squeaked.

Major oil leak.

Extremely bad on gas (due to 02 sensors).

Rough idle at times.

Almost stalled twice with A/C on.

Check engine light on.

Cup holders broken.

Needed brakes.

Cheap plastic console squeaked like crazy.

Starting to rust out bad on the fenders, hood, and doors.

Other various plastic interior pieces breaking.

Left me stranded on the highway after the hose for the radiator came off, due to the plastic piece breaking. Almost overheated the car.

Right side windshield wiper randomly stopped working.

Plastic piece on the hood flew off on the highway.

Lots of wind noise from the sunroof. Probably just needed a new seal.

Needed an alignment.

Leather seats worn out.

Stereo was horrible sounding. CD player didn't work, although the cassette did.

Dashboard pixels not working.

General Comments:

Wow. Don't even know where to start. Even though the car had all these problems, I still loved it. Almost every option you could think of, from front and rear heated seats, to a heated steering wheel. Lots of new cars don't even have this!

The 4.4 was reliable. Started up every time, and the transmission was very smooth shifting. I took a huge chance on this car, buying a 740i with 300,000km on it and no past service history. The car was very good to drive. Other than the console, there were no squeaks or rattles on the inside, and the car handled very well.

The bottom of the doors started to rust pretty bad.

An oil leak turned out to be a plug, which was replaced for $4.

All in all, decided to sell before I really had to put money into it. I'd buy another one, although with lower km's.