Good lord, ya man, you're most likely buying the wrong car for a first vehicle then. BMW's aren't cheap to own, you'll have to use premium gas, insurance will be higher since it's an SUV and AWD, not to mention that they're never cheap on maintenance.

Unless you've got understanding parents w/ a decent urge to help you, you maybe getting into a vehicle that requires maintenance beyond your means. I was making a little over 70k a year before I bought my first BMW back in 99, and it was a 91 M5. Fortunately is also an I6 and excellent on maintenance, but X5's don't fall under that category...they all share many of the same failing components across the board, from the I6's to the V8's. I'm guessing this rig will be over to around 100k, so right from the get go you're going to need/want to do a full cooling system overhaul, tuneup, transmission and diffs service, on top of whatever else could be potentially wrong that is found on the buyers inspection.

Forgive me for assuming here, but I hate seeing people buy vehicle beyond their means, then nickle and diming what could be a great vehicle because the person who bought it simply can't afford to keep it. I see this ALL DAY on the Bimmerforums w/ kids your age buying 540's and 740's, first thing outta their mouth is something along the lines of something being to expensive to repair, so they immediately jump to finding a cheap bandaid fix, or else they drive it w/ pre-existing condition until it gets worse and worse, then 6 months later it's being parted out.

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