Let me make this clear .... I WAS STUPID ... I WAS GAMBLING.

I flew in looked at the car for 3 minutes and drove to a AAA to do the title transfer signing. I gambled and got what I got. I really couldn't schedule airfare and rooms in Yosemite, and have the seller hold it for weeks.

if the car very obiviousy had a problem as I drove it and looked at it under the hood the option was to rent a car to Yosemite and arrange airfare back to Austin. I do have the semi-free airfare miles on my credit card to burn.

Here is what I would tell someone ... if you want to be sure it has no problems you will need to find the deal very near to you and then you will need to try and arrange an inspection with the seller. Likely you may need to pay for inspections several times on several cars for said inspection if you seek no significant issues! These cars leak a big leak is a problem to avoid. Having to pay BMW service to fix anything significant is expensive.

OK now the good news and part of the reason I was willing to gamble .... I personally with my tools and brains ... can fix the leaks ... and actually can do a lot. What I am happy I do not have is broken parts like valve train or worse ... of course it wouldn't run for **** with broken parts. MY plan is to do all the service on this car, except in the rare case I can't do it, and then give it likely to a highly rated INDY nearby do the work. This way I should be able to have an X5 which does not cost much going forward and I also will know what it's mechanical state is! FYI not impressed by BMWs world class stuff. BMWs interest seems to primarily be to get the money, not to reduce the cost of ownership. To reduce the cost of ownership I will do a full inspection do full fluid services, and look for anything that should be replaced before it causes more costly damage.