Faults:

The car is fun to drive, but expensive to maintain. The options on it are pretty interesting for an older car.

I have had to spend quite a lot of money to keep the car running, which is kind of disappointing. So far, I have replaced the valve cover gasket, water pump, oil filter stand, secondary air pump, expansion tank, radiator and clutch fan.

Just before I bought it, the previous owner replaced the power steering pump, thermostat, rear springs, and control arm bushings.

I have been told that the automatic transmission can fail and the cooling system is also weak. One power window broke, and those are also prone to fail.

The car also seems under powered compared to newer cars, and it's kind of sluggish from a red light.

Although the car is fun to drive and has lots of cool options, it can be an expensive car to repair. I have tried to get work done from mechanics, on the side, and this has saved me some money.

Faults:

Failed to start (one occasion).

Front bushes worn (general wear and tear).

General Comments:

Equipment in the car is to a very high level; electric heated seats, climate control, auto anti dazzle mirror, rear park sensors, multi function steering wheel, cruise control, electric roof etc.

Not much room for those unfortunate enough to be in the rear of the car, but if they are in the rear I guess they are not as important as those in the front (I'm joking).

The back end is very light when pushed; it's stepped out on me a couple of times in the wet.

Ride is fairly comfortable, as best 18 inch wheels with low profile tyres, can be.

The car is relatively fast, but it's never going to set the world on fire; it's a heavy convertible with an auto gearbox.

Fuel consumption is averaging 26.7 MPG (not that I am counting).

Obviously best when the roof is down, turns into a different car when the sun is out. In the dry it handles extremely well and has a sure-footedness that is difficult to find in a lot of other cars. The car still looks good and is always commented on about how nice it is. Orient blue metallic with black leather and blue hood; a nice combination to my mind.

In general, the car is well built, has a good level of equipment, good standard ICE, smooth gearbox, relatively quick, nice tone to the engine, slightly thirsty, but be careful in the wet, the difference in performance from dry to wet is almost staggering.

Faults:

Cooling system.

Alternator.

window regulators.

Accessory belts, tensioners, & pulleys.

Valve cover gasket.

Crankcase ventilation system.

DISA valve.

Cracked lower intake boot.

Oil filter housing gasket leak.

General Comments:

This car drives and handles great. It goes exactly where you tell it to go. Chassis, transmission, and engine all work very well: very smooth with great feedback to the driver. In short, it is the indeed the ultimate driving machine, though this comes at the expense of everything else -- reliability, practicality, etc...

Unless you're a gear head or you're willing to pay for all the requisite repairs and maintenance, unload the car at around 50K miles.

The cooling system is a huge issue -- plastic idlers for the belts and plastic parts throughout the cooling system can fail catastrophically at any point after 50K miles.

In my view, many of the failures are inexcusable. All these items should have a design life of at least 10 years/100K miles. BMW could easily attain this standard if they selected better materials.

I still like the car, even if some of its flaws are inexcusable.