Prices are going up for low mileage ones.

We have good experience owning an E53, 3.0i and 4.8iS. Mostly because I did all the maintenance, mostly preventative, myself.
Biggest issue with the 4.8iS is the valve stem seal which results in smoking after extensive idle. Our iS isn't that bad, maybe the Dinan software helps a bit.
Air suspension is also a headache to some. We only need to replace passenger front air bag so far. If any of them start failing, I'll put on a set of BC Racing coilovers.
The sunroof panel starts to rattle a little bit. Tilting it up eliminates that. I'll check it out in Spring.

I'm tempted to pick up an Imola Red "iS" with 2-tone interior with 138k miles for $9.99k

^I need those front flares... :(

Good looking X, and that's considerably cheaper than I paid.

Thanks Tam - Good information. Usually, the indication of the valve stem issue is the smoking on idling. If the car is able to pass Smog in CA, that valve issues cause the SES light to come on and that is an instant fail here.

That Imola Red one is nice, I just can't do tan interiors anymore. Is that one in CA?

The valve stem seal will not trigger SES light.
That IR one is closer to me in GA

Interesting. Thanks for that heads up. Will it create any error codes at all? Any way to detect the issue other than smoke?

There is literally an identical one to that 4.8 in California

No other issue other than smoke after extensive idling. No SES either.

The later 4.8is supposedly had improved Valve Stem seals adding during the production run. There is a posting somewhere on the forum that shows improvements added during the model years. An old story in all models, by the last one as the engineering team finally talked with the service side and approved all the bug fixes, then the production guys kill off the model. OR they wait until the next model change and add all that learned stuff to the newer model.

Meanwhile, my fingers are crossed that my 5/10/2005 unit had the newer version seals installed. :dunno:

Thank you guys, and thank you tam. My buddy who is an experienced Tech went to see the car with me. There were issues with the wheels, which were not the worst. The car passed Smog and the INPA scan showed no errors. Suspension worked fine and all. When the Seller arrived, my buddy asked him to leave the car running. Turned out to be a smart move. Just as they were about to leave for a test drive - a huge plume of oily smoke bellowed out of the exhaust. Needless to say, I walked away from it. Think I'll just take a break for a moment from car shopping

That's the common sight of valve stem seal issue on the iS