mad4slalom
Senior member
lively debate over this one,a car that could be described as a lemon is a car that a dealer such as synter would normally pass on within the trade rather than risk their reputation by having it on their forecourt. so maybe a bit ott describing it as such. service history gives people peace of mind but does not mean the car is better maintained than one without. my m and many other owners cars on here benefit from interim oil and filter changes carried out for peace of mind and the pleasur of fettling our pride and joys .an owner with a degree of mechanical knowledge will most of the time do a much better job than a technician racing against the clock and his foreman and with the "its just another car" mentality. mine goes to a specialist indi m specialist , paddock motors in exeter for history services and repairs such as myrecent diff flange seal, but other fun jobs such as cdv delete, gearbox redline mtf change, plugs etc, i enjoy doing myself. a car that may have full service historystamped by main dealer , will be less well looked after and cosseted than mine i am sure, just look at the service schedules most of the items start with check, so are just looked at , there is very little or no old fashioned preventive maintainence carried out by garages these days, they just wait till some thing breaks then replace it. you would think that ins2 would involve stripping brakes and cleaning and greasing caliper pins etc but it doesnt., they will offer to sell you new brakes at the earliest opportunity tho because yours are below bmw min thickness, when they really have thousands and thousands of miles left in them , becausev they are quick and easy to do and are a high profit job,.so personally i would suggest you read between the lines where service history is concernrd, speak to the previous owner to judge for yourself how something has been looked after. 
