I have a pair of whispbars (S46) with "328" fitting kit taken off my old 4.8iS which has now been sold. Used for about 3 years and left on top for the last year as so quiet. Anyone on here fancies them for £40 (currently retailing new at £170) and can collect in Central London just let me ...

Mogsyman, Very interesting thread and thanks for sharing. I am about to go into bat for a new 50i later this month. Interested to hear how you get on with Coast2Coast cars. For the V8, they are currently showing 19.5% discount which is a very good starting point. It takes the base price down to what...

Condor, Just picked up this thread. I am in a similar position. My 2004 4.8iS has just gone through 100k but starting to pick up expensive problems. I love it too particularly the big V8. I went a slightly different route in not renewing the BMW Used Car Warranty at £1,200 a year back in 2010 but,on...

My Mother-in-law has just bought a 2013 X1 which doesn't have the satnav/idrive controller. I had a quick look at retrofit (primarily for a rear view camera) but it is simply wholly uneconomic even if you could find someone to attempt it. When the car turns up next week, I will measure the glovebox ...

I'm looking at a F15 50i SE to replace my much loved E53 4.8iS. Best brokers currently are Broadspeed and Coast2Coastcars. Petrol is currently showing around 16%, diesel a little tighter. The other question is whether the LCI comes this year (ie for 2017 year) or next which is unclear. My ideal is t...

I've decided to sell my 20 inch alloys and tyres and leave my winter set with 18s on year round. I only really use the car for winter driving/skiing so makes sense. Wheels are in good condition but with some kerbing and tyres are Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta. Looking around, these wheels are ridiculou...

I have the similar Wispbars fitted. I have the ones that don't protrude over the side like the Thules above.
They are so good, I simply leave them on permanently. The efffect on mpg/windnoise is negligible.

My tuppence (and I have a 4.8iS so biased) 1. I would go for a 4.8 if you can. There are benefits in having a facelift in that some of the earlier niggles have been ironed out. 2. Mine has been reliable other than the air suspension which at this age is likely to be an issue. Rubber deteriorates ove...

At the risk of sounding like a pedant, always worth doing some planning for euro trips particularly given how large the tank is. I drive out to Austria via Belgium then Luxembourg (cheapest fuel in Europe) aiming to be almost dry when I get there. Then drop down to French Autoroute at Metz - saves m...

Interesting report - thank you. I use mine for a couple of ski trips to Austria (with large roofbox) and a few trips to Scotland. I find it fantastic for high speed driving and it happily sits at around 100 mph even with roofbox. Interested to hear about mpg. Even driving in the 80-100 range with ro...

Interesting gadget - I may invest. I do an Alps skiing trip a couple of times a year and the amount of salt (or other road treatment residue) from 4 different European countries stuck to the bottom/side of the car is incredible. Two years ago I followed a snow plough on the French autoroute in a sno...

On the skiing trips to Austria, I do it a couple of times a year. If  I really push it, I can get just over 400 miles range but normally rely on 350 miles. On this last trip, I went out via Belgium and filled up in Luxembourg (250 miles from Calais) at 82p a litre and this got me (via Munich) to Aus...

My 4.8iS is now at 94k. Every year (for the last 3) I've thought about buying a new one. Quite fancy an F15 50i. However, each time I look at it, I can't justify dropping £60k on a new car with questionable added value over what I have already. My car still goes well (with a remap some years ago fro...

I use Lidl screenwash - claims to work down to -60 neat!
£4.99 a large bottle which fills the reservoir.

I think I'm on my eleventh trip to Austria this year. My thoughts - 1. With a good set of winter tyres on a 4WD, the chances of you actually needing to use your chains is minimal. The performance of winter tyres in all conditions has to be experienced to be believed. 2. The Germans and Austrians are...