From my experience - look for a car with the lowest miles and best service history you can find. I bought mine with 100k on it, and it would seem that the previous owner dumped it when it started costing money (or just before). I have probably spent $3000 in parts alone over 2 years of ownership, and I did all of the repairs myself.

On top of the repairs, the damn thing has depreciated about another 6-7 grand in the same time frame. When I bought it, it was 11 years old, and I figured depreciation should have leveled off - WRONG!

It's a great car when everything is working, but it seems to have a major issue several times each year. I would not want to have this car without a backup vehicle.

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2001 E53 X5 4.4i Sport
Titanium Silver / Black
141k miles, and broken down more than it runs...

2002 E46M3 Convertible with 28k miles - DD