Potential purchase

Hello, new here and streched it a little--working a deal to buy the 325CI convertible, but questions. Car is an '04 with 50K miles, nice shape, had it inspected today by Autoscope. Interesting finds, listed below:

Carfax was clean, no obvious bodywork, but had some paintwork on it. Inspection said rear shock and differential bushing showed some trauma, think somebody clobbered a curb and took out the plastic on lower body side, reason for paint and trauma on shock etc.

Motor mounts collapsed, 4 rims bent--Mount just wear and tear or abuse I think, rims I wonder--are the stock alloys the type that should be hand broken down when changing tires? That might explain 4 wheels...

Other maintenance items, belts, lower cotrol arm bushings, oil was filled to the top of the dipstick :-(. If you don't know how to work on this type of car, don't try it :-(

Car has no manuals, no spare, no jack, and about 1/2 the tools--are these hard to find? Like to keep it original for a while... How important are the little covers that slide back & forth on the top cover where the leading egle of the top comes up? These are missing.

Car drives nice, feels tight--any comments on above or thoughts?

Thanks,

Chris

I don't like the rims bent / damaged shock story...sounds like someone ran off the road into a field. Probably needs every suspension component known to man.

Control Arms
FCAB's
RTABs

on top of the rear dif bushing, shocks, struts. Then you need to worry about the cooling system, CVV etc. I would look for a car from a fanatic that has maintained it somewhat so you do not have to start from scratch.

I wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole.

Think you are right,low mileage does not necessarily mean a good car! I really like the 04-05, most I see though are in 100k plus range. Would like to find one that has been maintained nicely, and had the stuff that normally goes in the 50-100k range, so just continue looking.

Thanks,

Chris

Seeing a lot of nice 06's 3 series convertibles out there, but not crazy about those. Also read CR reliability reviews, not favorable on 06... Don't want to offend the many 06 owners, but did they have more issues than 05's?

Thanks,

Chris