Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

@Fixedwheelnut

A friend is looking to pick up an E87 118d SE as a cheap runaround. He's found a nice looking example albeit with 90k already on the clock.

Two questions:

1. Anything that he should be worried about or check in the service history?
   
2. It's missing its engine cover - why would it be missing? Here's a shot of the engine bay in case you can spot anything out of the ordinary: