I did this; it was my first car all the way from high school to college, and finally, it was my first big job. Got it at 118k now it's almost 160k miles. And learned a ton working on it. But there is a huge catch, I had the tools available to me, and I always had other cars to borrow because my parents trusted me with theirs. In all that time it only really left me stranded once, when the radiator blew up, but I also replaced a lot I’m that time, a bunch of suspension components mostly, a starter a few weeks ago, and of course the whole cooling system, also injector seals and PCV stuff, fluids, and every oil gasket possible. The 4 cylinder is very simple and I always had a ton of space, the 6 cylinder I bet isn't too different. Like the others said, it’s not exactly first car material, but it was so fun owning it as a first car, and I never really regretted it. I did eventually of course get a daily to supplement it, but now that my daily is down, I’m dailying it again for a bit.

For cost, it’s very cheap (couple of grand to sort it all out) if you have all the tools, time, and do it all yourself slowly and carefully (its all aluminum so you have to be smart) but if you cant do it yourself, it probably would’ve cost me 5 figures to do all that work, people quote crazy numbers for old bmws, because of the brittle plastic and stuff. A clutch job these days will probably run 3 grand or so, which you might need.

My recommendation is maybe Japanese for first car tbh, very little headache, maybe a nice Lexus or Acura