Hi Everyone,

I've been looking for a good BMW forum for quite some time and here I am, was a member of the similar Merc forum (Benzworld, I wonder if anyone here has heard of it), anyway I had a W124 1990 230CE and was just looking for more power and a brand change (the Merc was great just wanted to know what Bimmers are like) I have been looking at BMWs for quite some time and almost came close to buying a beautiful blue 1994 318is twice !!! but I don't know why everyone I know is against these cars (BMWs), when I asked them the reasons I got were.

1) Not as reliable as Mercs or japanese cars of the same era (early 90s)
2) Outrageously expensive parts compared to Mercs.
3) Very common overheating issue (very important since I live in the Middle East - Dubai and summers are scorching here).
4) Airconditioning isn't any good (important for the same reason as above).
5) Here in Dubai most small - medium workshops don't take BMWs in but will look at Mercs, according to them the fuel management system and electronic are too complex prone to fault compared to W124s or W126s.
6) Most BMW workshops are run by arab expatriates and labour charges are phenomenal in these places.
7) Resale value (due to depreciation) is crap.

Anyway I've bought this 1993 BMW 525i M50 (By the way how can I tell if my car has VANOS or not) end of Jan and the used car dealer had promised to fix all minor faults and handover the in 3-5 days, guess what it's still in the workshop, I was hoping with your help I might be able to just take the car back and diagnose some of these things myself, problems are

1) All doors open only from the outside inside door handles don't work.
2) When I release the accelerator to change the gear the car backfires (loud bang), louder at higher engine speeds.
3) Steering vibration gradually increases at over 60mph (90kmph) even after twice balancing and aligning the wheels.
4) Very manual shaky gear stick.
5) Mysterious oil leaks the guy claims to have repaired the engine and transmission oil leaks thrice !!! and it still leaks.

Please someone help me, by the way can anyone give me any info about my car with the VIN No. which is WBAHD51050BG50725,
Thanks