Why 100,000 km Is the Threshold
In most modern cars, the first major service of components (timing chain on certain TSI engines, clutch on manual cars, DPF regeneration on diesel models) happens between 120,000 and 180,000 km. Vehicles under 100,000 km are typically far from these costs, so the buyer gets 2–3 years of worry-free driving without major investment. In premium brands (BMW, Audi, Mercedes), this threshold pushes the lower price limit significantly higher than for older examples of the same models.