A history of costly mechanical woes has led to the decision to scrap the Premier's car and replace it with a new BMW, Works Minister Derrick Burgess told the House yesterday.

He said current GP1, a Peugeot 607, was bought in December 2000 for $61,300 but in the last four years $40,000 has been spent on repairs.

A faulty transmission system led to mechanics quoting another $10,100 to get it fixed so Government decided to buy a new one said Mr. Burgess.

His Ministry recommended a BMW 750Li similar to the model the Governor bought a couple of years ago to replace his Daimler which also had a long history of mechanical trouble.

Mr. Burgess said the new vehicle would normally cost $188,000 with shipping and duty included but Bermuda Motors had offered Government a reduced cost of $90,000.

Mr. Burgess said: "The GP1 is not an inexpensive vehicle, but it is our expectation that a quality automobile of this nature will serve the office of Premier well for many years to come." He said John Swan had used a BMW for most of his Premiership with the car lasting 12 years in official service.

Premier Brown has been using GP2 or GP4 since GP1 went off the road, said Mr. Burgess. The absence of GP1 has led to a rumour frenzy in recent weeks which Mr. Burgess said was without foundation.

The new vehicle arrived on Monday and is set to be handed over to the Premier at the end of the week.

The new BMW has a 4.8-litre, V-8 engine with 360 horsepower and rear-wheel drive that gets 23 mpg while the interior features soft leather seats.

Mr. Burgess said the rest of the Ministerial fleet of Peugeot 406's was also fast approaching the end of their careers.

The purchase of that fleet, by former Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott, was surrounded in controversy when it was revealed they broke the island's car restrictions.