Perry P M3W said:

“However, the idea of more cabin room, spec'ing a car again etc still lingers.”

It is easier to get in and out of but once inside it feels smaller than a trad Plus 4. There is no room for anything. The extra width of the body is lost by all the extra padding on the doors. The glovebox is tiny and there are no elasticated door pockets. No central tunnel to put things on now as this is all wood and handbrake.

“It's a fantastic car yet has it's flaw. One very odd one that sticks out was the constant running of the radiator fans which came on in full force within mins of driving. It's all I could hear which took away from the experience.”

I have done over 2000 miles in my Plus Four and I think I heard the radiator fan come on once. Even then I had to really listen for it.

Sir P

Interesting Sir P re: the radiator. I did find it odd that the fans were on. I am now wondering if I had the AC on which maybe triggered this?

Whenever I have driven or ridden in a cx car I havent been aware of the fN being on all the time.

I have wondered how feasible this approach is on any modern-ish car. To what extent are things like abs, traction control etc built into the engine ecu. Or immobilisers and alarms not to mention instruments.

I understand the old style 12v wiring system for cars of the 60s / 90s, but I dont understand the canbus interlinked systems

It's tricky/impossible to do it with a stock manufacturer's ECU, but it can be done with an aftermarket system like Omex or MBE and a custom engine loom. Not a trivial undertaking, but not beyond the realms of possibility especially with a well-known engine.

Omex No longer exists , and their ECU’s weren’t sophisticated enough to support the BMW V8 as in Peter’s Plus 8

Blimey, didn't know that. Presumably an MBE ECU could be made to work? They can handle pretty sophisticated setups (CANbus, fly by wire throttles, VVT etc)

Looks like they're still going here..

OMEX