2000 323ci - no maintenance history
 

This is my first post. I own a 2007 328i Coupe (love it). Way back, owned 1980 528i. The car is for son.

I've test-driven a 2000 323ci at a small used-car dealership. It has 97K miles. Steptronic, Sport and Premium, etc. Very clean inside and out. Tires in good shape. Engine smooth and responsive - compared better than expected. Tested alignment highway taking hands off wheel and car tracked straight. Handling on a fast run around highway exit ramp seemed good. However, going over a patch of rough pavement, the bumps felt harsher than I expected. I've checked enough forum posts to be aware of subframe issues, especially with coupes. The salesman says he does not have ownership / maintenance history on the car.

He wants $13K. The KBB is $15,140.

Should I pursue purchasing this car, if it checks out OK in an inspection?
Is there a way to find out the car's history through the VIN?
If I can't discover it's history, and the subframe, etc. checks out ok, are there still enough unknowns to make purchasing an extended warranty a good idea (not normally a fan of these)?

In short, am I taking a big maintenance risk here, or should I be ok, if car checks out?

you can look up the car on carfax........ALOT can go wrong on a car at 100k especially if the cars maint was less than perfect... and the sport pkg makes the ride more harsh fyi..... i would get the war for piece of mind:woot

If there is any chance it was serviced at a dealer you might be able to get them to pull that info up on the vin? A carfax is probably not a bad idea either.

i probably wouldn't purchase it. with that many miles you dont know what happened to it. even more than that, the gearbox and diff oils were probably never changed, and if thats the case, the gearbox will most likely fail somewhere between 100 and 150k miles.

the M pack is an upside to the car, tho...