Hi Kev,
Dont know whether this is of any use, but I bought mine (RHD) through autotrader, a dealer in Birmingham.
Despite the hype surrounding the 8 I have had absolutelty no problems with mine and use it as my daily car. It is a 840Csi August '97 so it is a late model. It had only done 23.5K and was in wonderful nick.
At the same time there was one for sale in Leicester 42k, same age with 2 years BMW warranty on it.
There are always several about so the choice is yours and read the forum for handy hints and tips, also the clube31.com site is full of useful bits and pieces.
But most of all get one LHD or RHD, they are wonderful to drive and they dont half get you noticed.
Oh well Back to the caffeine
and good luck
Henners