I recently bought this car with a known defect. it had an auto gearbox fault. it would not drive forward, but would drive backwards. I am a diy mechanic and have a lot of experience with big cars.

As I have previously repaired a bmw gearbox, (a zf 4hp22 4 speed) common to range rovers, jaguars and volvo’s, or the 1990’s I decided to have a go at repairing etc. the car was in near mint condition with 120k on it. full dealer service history too. imagine my surprise when I found that only the selector cable had broken! -it sounds unbelievable, but somehow it was pushing the selector arm out enough to engage the reverse and then neutral, but not the forward gears. how it got out of reverse is just weird, but I’m not complaining! hell knows who diagnosed it in the first place, but if it was via a telephone call to a gearbox shop they would have suspected the box I’m sure.

I replaced the cable for £15 the car is a dream to drive, tight and quiet, as it should be, everything in tip top order except the aircon is ’empty’ it has two tappets that require adjustment, but these are straight forward to adjust, with just an allen key and feeler gauges when the rocker cover is off. (one hour) this is the M30 3.0 six engine. - a bullet proof engine, IF you change the BMW brake fluid, oil and more importantly check the water level. if these cars lose a pint of water, they get too hot at the thermostat housing, and do not operate the temp sender (as its not now touching coolant) this overhates the engine, but doesn’t necessarily tell you till a hose bursts It gives symptoms of head gasket failure, but the head cracks before the gasket goes, and you’re in for a wallet busting repair. (replace head)

This car drives a dream. it corners so well, like it should be smaller. I have had bmw 7’s in the past and they were good too. and such value from a stupid showroom new price. -i got this one for just £200! not a mark on it, apart from a few stone chips. has anyone any comments on driving with an lpg kit on this exact model? as I intend to keep it for a couple of years. - avoid cars that still have metric tyre sizes. they cost too much, around £190 a tyre! many will have replace the alloys for 16 inch ones, however mine were nearly new.