When I was looking for an 02 plate 320d SE I uncovered a lot of stuff about Turbo failure on the pre-2003 engines. The one that I actually bought was fine on the test drive but the turbo blew up on the way home, but I think I was just unlucky!
I did 50K miles in 18 months in a 2001 320d SE Touring. I thought it was a brilliant car. Just routine servicing and tyres, no problems and it averaged about 46MPG over the entire 50K (I had to keep a log for work).