Advice needed regarding 156 Selespeed....

Hello chaps!

I've currently got a loan of a 2000 (W Reg) 156 2.0 Selespeed, I'm
thinking of buying it.... It's only got 44,000 miles and he wants
=A31400 the only problem (bar a key scratch down one door panel - grrr!)
is:

Occasionally when in manual gearchange mode it get's stuck in 2nd
gear. up or down doesn't work, the only way to unstick is to enter
city mode (which is never affected by the problem) It doesn't happen
very often and otherwise the car is perfect. Should I buy or should I
run away?

ps: it's a Veloce, pearlescent paint, leather, climate control
etc.......and dear god it's fast! ;) .....and I love the throttle blip
on downchange as well....

The real question I guess is, it it a known tiny problem?, the sign of
a huge gearbox bill in 6 months time? can I ignore it? dare I ignore
it? HELP!!

thanks,

Ted