 The reason being is you don't know how it was treated, and boy has this car been costly. Worst car I've ever owned in terms of reliability. Not worth the "privilege/pride" of "...but it's a BMW." Seems there's 2 kinds of reviews here, crummy car & I love it but it's expensive to maintain (wait till you get more miles on it)! Bought used at 72,500k miles and in 3 months we were moving/driving from Seattle to AZ. We'd had it checked before the move & I asked the mechanic "is summer heat in the desert a factor with reliability at all?" He chuckled at the question. 1) paid $400 to check car & replace oil cooler seal & filter stand gasket. 2)&3) 15 miles into the moving trip the transmission slipped & did so 5-6 times on trip to AZ. Over $10k repairs for this & replacing the catalytic converter, and the mechanics said 4) it desperately needed a "system update" which had it in the shop an extra 3 days. 5) The USB port went out right away. The A/C is kind of annoying because you never feel the left drivers side vent on you unless it's blasting. 4 months later 6) the water pump went out at 81k miles along with 7) thermostat assembly: $1300. 8) The suspension needed work signal by one of many times warning light come on: about $1000. If you worship a car & devote much money to it- this is the car for you!