Is it normal for an engine cover to be this grubby?

[MitchT]

OH is looking for a 1 Series. This one for sale at a car supermarket type place ticks all the boxes but the engine cover, to me, looks like the car's been submerged in flood water and then it's gone down and left it covered in silt. Might be me overthinking and might be perfectly normal, but all the cars I've looked at for myself (mostly 4 Series) have had a pretty spotless engine cover. Car is a 68 plate with 59k miles. Any thoughts?

[Kawasicki]

Looks normal to me, obviously hasn’t been cleaned!

[Pica-Pica]

It’s OK. Probably similar to the majority of cars under their bonnets.

[MitchT]

Thanks both. I've maybe been misled by the realitively clean condition of all the 4 Series I've looked at and wrongly assumed all BMWs stay clean under the bonnet!

[Jimjimhim]

Looks totally normal

[Mad Maximus]

Normal really unless you’ve been cleaning it. Check it over down the sides to the engine and you’ll soon tell if it’s been submerged.

[Collectingbrass]

Looks normal, but probably indicative of not much TLC being spared on it. Check the inside edges of the tyres for excessive wear.

[Simon_GH]

I’d be more suspicious if it was pristine.

[SteBrown91]

My 66 plate golfs engine bay is filthy compared to that.

Always prefer to see a grubby engine bay on a normal car as it shows nothing is being hidden- you will obviously see coolant/oil leaks etc when the engine is dirty.

[r3g]

I'd say it's looks grubbier than 'normal' for the age imo, but you can easily accumulate that if you work on a dusty building site for example. If all the interior is clean, dry, no stains or I've-been-submerged-in-a-lake smells then it wouldn't put me off, personally.

[Pica-Pica]

MitchT said:

Thanks both. I've maybe been misled by the realitively clean condition of all the 4 Series I've looked at and wrongly assumed all BMWs stay clean under the bonnet!

How exactly does that happen?

[Summit_Detailing]

That looks like someone has attempted to clean the engine bay but has got bored of the cleaning bit and not rinsed properly.

[ZX10R NIN]

As above.