Xoutpost.com - 03 4.6is or 04 4.4i???

I went and looked at a 03 4.6 today.*
Presented reasonably well. Looked nice and clean inside and out.
120000kms on her and no visible oil leaks ( couldn't get fully under the car though).*
The only thing i could really find visually was the *rear roof mounted DVD player wouldn't open freely.
I didn't take it for a drive as we discussed price pretty early but was on idle for 15 maybe 20 mins and I noticed the thermo fan didn't kick in and I'm not sure if that is normal or not???
The things that concern me are he said, he (the dealer) was driving it and noticed when slowing down when it changed down to 1st you could really feel it. He said he sent it to a transmission guy and had it fixed for about $3000.
The other main thing he said when it was on the hoist at the trans workshop "they must of left the keys on accessories and the compressor pumped up the rear airbags and when they put it back down the rear was very high so I took it to a mechanic who has one of those code readers and he reset it for me to sit level again".
I'm worried that airbags may be on the way out.
But more importantly, the gearbox got a quick fix and didn't get 3 grand spent on it and may have trouble down the road...
Service history ok, but due to 20000km service intervals it hadn't been BMW services in about 3yrs....
The car does come with a 3yr warranty that covers the gear box, engine etc for 3k a piece.
Also new tyres (nitto invo) had been fitted.
Price wise I could pick it up for 23k (aud) *with six months rego, which is a touch above my budget (2-3k) but it does look rather nice...

In case you can't tell I'm hopeless at making decisions!