Excellent post OP! Very impressive. I probably should have read it before buying my 2007 E93 328i.
I have a couple of questions.
1) Are there caveats or things to watch out for when looking at older cabriolets? I'm sure there must be, and it might be nice to list some in your post. One that pops into my head right away is the motorized glovebox door, which apparently fails with alarming frequency.
2) I specifically wanted a 328i for the N52 motor. My 2007 Z4 3.0si coupe has the 255HP flavor of that motor and I absolutely adore it. However the car I bought has the N51, which based on my research is a SULEV'd N52. It's still the happy revvy motor I was looking for, but is it less reliable than the N52? Any special good/bad features? Is it worth differentiating the two in your post?
Thanks all for the compiled knowledge found here. I've already fixed my glovebox door.
