anyone...anything...similar?

Ive had an 04 "3" for a little over a year now... its got about 60k on it so far.
my question/point: is the car just supposed to randomly fall apart at any given moment?
i think the chick who had the car before me must have beat the crap out of it because all of a sudden the damn thing has all these little things wrong with it...
last saturday my check engine light came on. so i figured it was prolly my gas cap (again) and im just going to go to auto zone to get it checked anyways. so he said something about the thermostat was going and needed to be replaced... then he was like "wow, this is a pretty young car for that to be going - i wouldnt sleep on it if i were you."
so i went to get my oil changed later that day and they were like "you need a tune up, you need a thermostat but i cant get it til next week and you need spark plugs and your back brakes are going"
f'in hell.
i mean this isnt my first car and i know how to "maintain" a damn vehicle... but c'mon now.
so, any opinions or suggestions would be appreciated before i get rid of this thing and get something else.
thx in advance.

Cars age. Things start to wear out. Sixty thousand miles and four years tend not to be to easy on them. Could be worse. My BMW breaks were worn down twice before 50k miles, and those aren't cheap breaks to replace. Sixty thousand is also a pretty common time for a tune up, from my understanding.

you only need a tune up if the car is missing, you only need a brake job if your brakes are squeeking reeally loud, mechanics like money and like to charge you for things you don't need....you van get a thermostat at autozone for like 5-10 bucks take off the thermostat houseing(when the car is cold) replace thermostat...done

i wouldn't say that your car was falling apart if it needs a thermostat, new plugs and brakes...it's got 60k on it

Bad thermostats are a chance occurance. There's nothing the previous owner could have done to cause that short of dropping shards of plastic or metal into the radiator.

Bad plugs at 60K (when they're supposed to last 100K) is odd, but really doesn't reflect on the car itself if the P.O. did stupid things.

I don't think you're facing anything that you wouldn't be facing with any other car. I'm on my 17th car since 1986 and believe me..they all have something strange going on. (Well, except my 91 Civic which seemed to be without flaws). Just take them for what they are..imperfect mechanical devices. Fix and move on.