Thinking about an E46

Greetings:

Currently looking for a "new" (to me) BMW. I'm not selling my E30 cabrio, but needing a daily driver I can trust - and with better air conditioning. The e46 looks like what I want, cos the newer ones have more gizmos than I want (not all that sure I don't want an e36, to be honest). Any advice?

My questions - what to look for - what goes wrong, leaks, blows, fritzes,etc? (I have intimate familiarity with control arm bushings from my e30)

Just about everything available around here has an auto trans, so I gather that low miles is a priority, but not any guarantee. Are there material differences from year to year?

Anybody feel strongly about the 325 vs 330? How about packages, wheel sizes, etc?

I know that's a lot of very general questions, but I have been out of the market for a long time - just got out of an e34 sedan with 300k miles.

Thanks for any and all input.

Mike