1992 BMW 850i

Going by the extensive history (photographed below), the car passed through a few appreciative owners during its first 20 years, all of whom used it and serviced it with considerable care. The vast majority of the car’s 75,000 miles were completed by 2010, and in the last decade it’s had much more of a classic car lifestyle – very limited use, long rests in the garage, plenty of polish.

It was bought by the vendor just a couple of months ago from a gentleman he’s known for 30 years, and has not yet been re-registered. That’s because he’s now found an 850i in his dream colour combination of dark blue paint and cream leather and is keen to find a new home for this car so he can acquire that one.

This 850i presents extremely well. It’s nearly spotless throughout, it’s clearly had a pampered life and it must be one of the best of its type on sale.

‘Gletscherblau’ translates to Glacier Blue, a good name for this icy metallic shade. The paint looks to be the original factory coat, bar an expertly-blended area around the scuttle near the windscreen wipers. It’s in excellent shape throughout, with a lovely reflective shine that has none of the orange-peel finish that manufacturers now seem to think is acceptable on new cars. The vendor says there is a stonechip on the bumper but we confess we didn’t spot it – it must be miniscule.

The panel gaps are all straight and consistent and there are no door-dings, scrapes or ripples to be found. The alloy wheels look box-fresh and all are wearing good Continental Sport Contact 235/50 16 tyres.

Those huge rear lamp lenses are undamaged and the glass looks perfect all round. And that’s pretty much all there is to say – it looks great and needs nothing.

If you’ve never driven an 8-series, you might not know what an atmospheric place it is. We’re in a cabin styled in the mid-1980s but looking forward to the 21st century, and it’s firmly in the ‘as many buttons as possible’ mode. This combines with the unusual one-sided headrests and the wraparound feeling that continues through the door mouldings to give you the sensation of piloting an earth-bound space ship. Rather a luxurious one, too.

There’s a trip computer with many functioning toys including a timer (if you don’t trust the factory acceleration figures!) and there’s a serious-looking factory stereo, which is losing clarity from its LCD readout. Everything else seems to work well though, including the electric sunroof and windows, which achieve the trick so many other pillarless coupés did not – good looks combined with proper weather-sealing and low wind noise.

There’s a tiny spot on the driver’s seat where the stitching has let go – an easy fix – but otherwise the grey hide is immaculate, as are the original carpets under the protective M-sport mats. There’s lots of storage, including the unusual two-compartment glove box that contains folding cupholders.

Hidden in the extremely smart boot you’ll find a new-looking battery in one side compartment and another Conti Sport Contact on the spare wheel, which sits over BMW’s odd boot-mounted reservoir for washer fluid. There are some small spots of surface corrosion in a couple of places.

It’s a low-slung car and not easy to get under, but everything we could see of the sills, floors, arches and door bottoms looks very sound. Some new underseal has been applied to the spare wheel well.

There is only a surface bloom of corrosion on some of the car’s many suspension and axle components; nothing to worry about but if anyone were intending to use the car through a British winter they’d want to add a coat of paint or some other protection. The exhaust looks good and doesn’t blow. The engine bay is clean but not detailed; a bit of elbow grease and some shiny new hose clips would leave it show-ready.

It’s currently on SORN so we were only able to drive it short distances on private land, but it selects gears promptly and quietly, steers nicely and the immense V12 is as silky as you’d expect. The vendor says that on his one trip in the 850i – heading home on the day he bought it – it drove like a new car.

There’s an excellent printed history combining many main dealer receipts for parts and servicing with some stamps in the book, plus a long thread of MoTs supporting the mileage. The car is currently MoT’d but that expires later this month, an extension from the original expiry in May that’s occurred automatically following the lockdown.

Previous owners have obtained a BMW Approved Used Car check in 1999 and an Experian Vehicle Data Check a few years later, both confirming a clean and honest past and both remaining in the file. There’s also the original owner’s pack with service books, warranty, manual, radio instructions and so on.

The V5C is in the previous owner’s name, not that of the vendor. The retained part of another older V5C is also present.

The BMW 8-series took rather a long time to make the transition from ageing luxury coupé to modern classic, but it’s certainly there now – buying guides have been appearing in the classic car press and prices have risen steadily from a low point perhaps five years ago. All these guides say the same thing: they encourage you or rather they urge you to buy a good one. Numerous electronic features and general complexity means that tired, ill-maintained 8-series can be money pits.

This, then, is a strong one. We think it will fetch £16,500 to £22,000. It should provide seriously impressive continent-crossing abilities (when such things are allowed again) with the reassurance that it never passed through the hard-up ownership that some examples, especially 840Cis, have suffered. It also has the potential to appreciate… modern classic BMWs have seen some amazing rises.

And whatever the model, it’s the good ones that go up first, isn’t it?

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the vendor in Perth, Scotland. To arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

This vehicle is not with us at The Market’s HQ, which means we have had to rely on the owner’s description of it, in conjunction with the photographs you see here, to compile the listing.

With this in mind, we would encourage potential bidders to contact the owner themselves and arrange to view the car in person, or to arrange a dedicated video call in which they can view the car virtually and ask questions.