Faults:

All but engine and gearbox more or less.

General Comments:

The car is a dream to drive when it's working. Comfort marks are only matched by the unbelievable performance of this beautiful beast. The car's main components will take any kind of abuse you throw at it. Those are the pluses.

The negatives: A nightmare turning into reality as far as maintenance is concerned. This car is a serious wallet black hole generator. Because the car is so beautiful, owners tend to try and keep them that way, this in turn is extremely costly. In my case simple and not so serious break downs cost me around US$ 15k in the past 2 years to fix, with a bill of another 15k to fix out-standings, the likes of AC pipe leaks, arm bushes, tires etc.

Faults:

Top water pipe split.

OSV valve became blocked.

Air con pump seized.

Traction control sensor failed.

Pixel failure on display.

"Check tail lights warning constantly on".

Used quite a lot of oil, but with no smoke, but BMW said this was normal.

General Comments:

Absolutely amazing vehicle, supreme in every way.

Looked stunning, handled amazingly on B roads and loved the twisty stuff.

Absolute silence at 145mph on the autobahn and felt very stable. The interior was sublime.

Surprisingly economical and not much slower than my friend's Impreza WRX 50mph - 70mph. Great gearbox and was truly a stunning car.

I happily overlooked the minor problems, which were to be expected.

10 speaker stereo was amazing.

Loved this car and will almost definitely buy another.

Had a small accident with another vehicle, which resulted in a slightly dented wing and the other vehicle being written off. Amazingly safe, fast and excellent to drive. Doesn't have the grin factor of the MX5, but an amazing long distance cruiser, and parts are relatively cheap too.

Faults:

Head and tail lights last only a few months.

Cupholder breaks with US size cans.

Radiator upper hose mount tends to break at full acceleration, making for spectacular clouds of steam as you seemingly disappear ahead.

General Comments:

Engine and transmission seem immortal, running as good as new at 140,000 miles with only routine maintenance.

This car is a lot quicker than the specs suggest, puts away some cars with better 0-60 times such as Lexus gs450.

Unbelievably comfortable and good handling car (actually handles better than the 5-series) means you can put away prodigious distances effortlessly.

Drives like a small sport sedan, but is actually sneaky large. Rear seat legroom and the heated steering wheel will spoil you forever.

Faults:

I have had three faults on this car since I purchased it in 2004.

The first fault was the windscreen washers that stopped operating virtually simultaneously. Cost to replace £22.00 each.

The second fault was a squeaking noise from the engine belts when the car was stationery, but still in drive. This was the tension pulley that was squeaking and this had to be replaced. I found this fault myself after the main dealers had tried everything to resolve it.

The last fault was a small leak on the power steering. This was easily rectified and simply needed a new clip on one end of the hose.

General Comments:

This car is an absolute dream to drive and responds without question to everything asked of it. I have recently test driven a new S class Mercedes and the new Lexus LS 460 and neither car betters this model for comfort and performance.

It is powerful and yet quiet and glides like an intercity train on rails on the motorway. Traveling long distances in this car is a joy because when you reach your destination, it feels like you have not travelled at all.

This car also grips the road like glue and although big, handles like a sports car if asked.