I'd imagine this kind of car would make its through a few owners due to being a cabrio, therefore in my mind the history is more likely to be a little chequered.

I'd be going over it in detail to assess the current condition. Some people will say "what else was neglected if they couldn't be bothered checking tyres before the mot?". I'd agree, but would still take a look.

£2.9k seems a bit rich to me, though.

This is a 17 year old car, so i think your expectations may be a little high with regards to what you are going to get for under £3k. Not sure exactly what this would have cost new, but i'd guess in the region of £30k, and while it is now substantially less, the running costs are still going to be as per what they were new (adjusted for inflation). Yes, the 6 cyl petrols may well be the most reliable of the engines available on this car, but it is still far from certain that you are not going to encounter expensive problems to rectify. How many owners has the car had during its 17 year life?, and how well have they driven and looked after it?, especially once its value dropped below £10k. Will owners have gone to a specialist, or someone who knows how to look after one properly, or just the cheapest local back street garage?.

All things considered, the MOT advisory items you mention don't seem to bad, and i'm not sure you should be jumping to conclusions re the sellers price without having checked the MOT histories of cheaper cars.

Edited by SLO76 on 31/03/2019 at 13:18