BMW Isetta Buyer's Guide

The Isetta is the front-opening bubble car that kept BMW solvent in the 1950s, and it now trades as the most established of all microcars. Our two sold results, £6,750 for a standard 1957 Isetta 250 and £11,813 for a 1963-registered Isetta 300, bracket the usable market neatly: condition and the larger engine account for most of the gap.

Know your versions

One family, 1955–1962 (UK-market and late-registered cars run beyond, as our 1963 result shows). The Isetta 250 used a 247cc single-cylinder four-stroke of 12bhp, derived from a BMW motorcycle engine; the Isetta 300, from 1956, enlarged it to 298cc and 13bhp, and is the better car to actually use, such as using an Isetta is. Beyond the pack's two catalogue models the type splits into "bubble window" and later "sliding window" cars, and British-built Isettas (assembled in Brighton) are commonly three-wheelers, built that way for tax and licensing reasons; the three-wheeler drives differently and matters to originality-minded buyers. All share the front door that carries the steering column with it.

What to pay

Two sales on record: £6,750 (1957 Isetta 250, standard model, August 2026) and £11,813 (1963 Isetta 300, August 2026), median £9,282. The spread is the market in miniature: presentable, usable cars around the lower figure, restored or better-specified 300s towards the upper. We have no active listings to add, and nothing in our data yet shows concours money, which nationally sits above anything quoted here; treat £11,813 as good-car money, not a ceiling.

What goes wrong

The single-cylinder engine is simple and rebuildable, but crankshafts and big ends suffer on cars driven hard, and the Dynastart combined dynamo/starter is a known weak point with specialist-only repairs. The chain-driven rear end and four-speed motorcycle-pattern gearbox want correct oil and adjustment. Structurally, check the floor, the sills and the door aperture: the single front door must shut squarely, and accident repairs or rot around its hinges are expensive to put right because the whole front face of the car is the door. Perspex and glass, badges and bubble-specific brightwork are reproduction-supported but not cheap. Confirm engine and chassis numbers; plenty of cars carry replacement engines, which the market tolerates but prices lower.

Our view

An Isetta is a poor car and a wonderful object, and the market has long since decided the second point wins. At our £6,750–11,813 range it is affordable for what is now a fixture of every microcar gathering, with strong club support and better parts supply than any of its bubble-era rivals. The 300 is the one to own and keep running; a straight, matching-numbers car at around our median will not get cheaper.