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Sedans Infiniti G35 Infiniti G35 Maintenance and Repair
2838 messages, Last post on Dec 04, 2009 at 8:43 AM
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Replying to: ace_coyne (Oct 05, 2009 10:15 am) I have to assume this is an 03 or 04 and is a private party sale at that price and mileage. No? Anyhow, when buying used I always try to take out some of the worry and guesswork by running a Carfax report and paying my mechanic to thoroughly check out the car. Then I negotiate with the seller from there. The Carfax will provide title history with ownership changes and locations of ownership, state vehicle inspections with dates, and in many cases dealer-performed maintenance at various mileage points. A good mechanic can usually give you an arms length opinion on the car's value as it is and what it needs (including repair estimates) to get it up to snuff, including an examination for previous body and suspension damage, replacement panels, and the like. I also like to see a private party's maintenance and repair records/receipts. If the private party doesn't have any, that gets me to wondering if what he says he has done actually has been done. I save all that stuff, but that is anal-retentive me. Many normal and otherwise sane folks skip important and critical scheduled maintenance items like oil changes and timing gears/belts. "Hmmmmm, I think I'll skip a few oil changes and a $400 maintenance item and risk a $4,500+ engine repair." My mechanic caught that one on a used car my son was buying, and the seller, a private dealer, quickly performed the timing belt service and threw in a thermostat, water pump, and belts to boot. I don't have to know this stuff. My mechanic does. He can tell by looking at the condition of the bolts......clean, no evidence of removal. Plus that scheduled maintence was not on the Carfax while all of the dealer-performed oil changes were, on a one owner car! The reason you don't find a lot of 100K+ mile 03 and 04 G35 Coupes kicking around for sale is because they are not the best choice for winter driving for the average person with the G's rear wheel drive, and even with all-season 225fr/245rr tires. Some in snow country garage the cars in the winter. Others use dedicated winter tires and wheels to make the car passable for the snowier climates. Sales types don't drive them if they need to haul a lot of stuff around because, if I am not mistaken, the trunk is under 8 cubic feet (but the rear seat folds down with pass thru to the trunk). Properly maintained, a 100K mile car doesn't frighten me so much if the price is right and it checks out. Consider the lower initial cost, lower insurance rates (if this is an 03 or 04), lower excise taxes, lower depreciation costs, and lower financing costs. The lower cost of ownership versus buying new can be quite attractive and get you into a car you might otherwise just dream about. Check out edmunds.com for cost of ownership info. Personally, I have not been back to the Infinity dealer for my maintenance but did have to take it back for a n/c recall item; and the dealer redid the brakes, rotors and pads, because the manufacturer extended the brakes under warranty to 3 years/36,000 miles. The next brakework, done by my mechanic, steered clear of Infinity parts, no further issues. The Infinity pads don't seem to hold up, and it all goes downhill from there. I change the pads a bit early to avoid the "Your rotors are scored and too thin to be salvageable" discussion too many of us have had. Now for the engine.......you may want to go to www.wardsauto.com and do a little reading which may give you some perspective. Off the top of my head, Wards started ranking the top 10 automotive engines back in 1995, the best engine available in a "for retail sale car" with a base sticker under $50,000. The Nissan VQ and the variants, and which is resident in the G35 you are looking at, was the only engine that made Ward's 10 best engines list every year, for 13 consecutive years, from 1995 through 2007, and has been a nominee since then. The web site will bring you up to date with Ward's selection criteria (power, torque, durability, etc). So if the G you are looking at has been properly maintained, a G with 100K miles may not intimidate you so much. Expect repairs. They go with the 100k+ territory. But you are basically funding the the repairs with the money you are saving (3 paragraphs back). As long as the car is dependable, the sheet metal and interior are clean, you have a "trustworthy and experienced mechanic (I do, for 15+ years), and you want more than humdrum 4 wheels and transportation, I'd give the car a serious look. The G35 Coupe isn't the most practical. But the rear seat is passable for folks under 5'6". I don't ride back there so I don't care. Plenty of luggage space for 2 with the back seat folded down. The fuel mileage is acceptable for a performance vehicle capable of a speed-limited 155mph (18/24 highway mpg). I can routinely top 26mpg on pure highway, cruise-controlled trips at 65mph-70mph. But around town I keep suffering "happy right foot syndrome" and "delayed braking syndrome" on the exit ramps. 12mpg is feasible, less if I tried. These are just my observations and opinions. There will be a lot of folks that may jump in here and disagree with me. Their experiences with the G35 may not have been as positive as mine. I just think the car is a good bang for the buck overall.
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Replying to: eddierae (Oct 05, 2009 10:35 am) 
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Replying to: eddierae (Oct 05, 2009 10:35 am) The answer is: "Always be cautious, patient, and do your homework." If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If automobile salespeople have one irrefutable advantage, it is that car buyers are often rational right up until the moment they step into the showroom. Which of us can claim we went into a car dealership and came out spending less than we expected to? Within a matter of 30 minutes, a switch flips in my brain and I become impulse buyer. Infinity got me. I was all ready to order the exact car I wanted for the price I thought was reasonable, but at the last minute the dealership manager informed me he had the exact car except right on the lot but it had the navigation package I didn't want......they split the $2,200 pricetag up the middle and I drove out spending $1,100 I didn't really want to. Something else to consider. There are a lot of unemployed or underemployed people out there who are shedding quality but unnecessary assets at attractive prices. Motivated sellers, so to speak. The bills have to be paid. And eddieray......I usually buy used cars, low mileage two years old or so. I look until I find exactly what I want down to the colors. That way I can get in a nicer ride for far less money while the first owner got killed on the depreciation. The G was the first "new car" exception in a couple of decades. My wife drives the G35, I drive her hand-me-downs. Currently I drive a 1998 Oldsmobile Aurora (older bigger one) with the Autobahn package and the 4.0 mini-Northstar engine. It has every conceivable option and recently turned 110,000 miles. I plan on driving it a few more years. No payments for the past 7 years, and that can pay for a lot of repairs, and the expensive ones.....BUT, there have not been any for the past 2 years! Should I dump the car because it has over 100K or should I continue to drive a car I really like and ride the financial gravy train? |
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Replying to: pscheid (Oct 05, 2009 12:00 pm)
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Replying to: ace_coyne (Oct 06, 2009 6:49 am) I simply could not afford a newer Corvette when I bought one used. So I bought a five year old one, private party, as my daily driver 24/7/365, including Chicago winters which need little explaining. I assumed that every one of miles on the odometer were very hard miles. I expected I would have an engine rebuild in the not too distant future, a costly repair that indeed arrived 55K miles later. But I was prepared for the risk side and saw the opportunity. I didn't regret the decision because I went into it with my eyes wide open. Eddieray is not wrong when he observes that a car with 110,000 miles carries with it too much risk for him, and his values are valid.......for him, for what his experience has been, and for what he can afford. I was willing to take that risks because for me I felt the rewards outweighed them. It was the only way into a Corvette for me. That scenario works for me. What works for you? Consumer Reports' Used Car Buying Guide might be a good source of reliability information on the 2003 G35 Coupe, the first year of production on an all-new car. Usually the first year of a car's production run exposes a few wrinkles, ironed out in the subsequent model years. Brakes on the 03 and 04 models are a good example. The car exhibited exceptionally good stopping distances and placed the car in the BMW league. But the brake pads that Infinity selected to achieve those impressive stopping stats didn't hold up. Folks in this forum found themselves facing very expensive $900 brake jobs which were not covered by the Infinity's factory warranty, some guys with as little as 7,000 miles on their car! My Coupe made it to 14,000 miles before brakes became an issue for me, right about the time when Infinity bellied up to the mounting consumer backlash and bad press and sent out a "warranty notice" that they would cover the brakes 3years/36,000 miles AND reimburse those who had already incurred the expense, with receipts of course.. As stated previously in my Ward's automotive comments, the engine is fairly bulletproof and has it's roots that go decades back, the product of quite a bit of development and refinement with a zillion miles of owner experience as a guide. I'd also suggest you do a G35 Coupe used car search on www.edmunds.com and see what is out there and at what price for an 03 or an 04. You might not find any at any price with 100K miles. Finally, no decision by you at this time can be a good decision as you continue to search and learn. This G is not the only one out there or will be out there at a similar price and mileage. Another will come along, and sooner than you think. The problem with the Gs is that they rank somewhere around #3 in holding their value.......good for those who have one, not so good for those looking for one. I looked for 6 months for my Oldsmobile Aurora because I wanted one with all of the options and only one color combination! My patience was rewarded with a used 1998 model in July of 1998 with 11,500 miles 26% below sticker and driven by the Oldsmobile dealership manager. Found it about 15 miles from my house and jumped on it! 26% off a $40,000 car may not sound like a great deal with a one year old used car by todays' desperate marketplace standards, but back then it was quite a find. One final note......in my opinion Fall and early winter is the best time of the year to be looking for a RWD G Coupe because of its less than good snow manners. It is also the time of the year when things go dead at the car dealers. And this year will be no exception now that the "cash for clunkers" program has cleaned out much of the new car demand pipeline. Dealers will be dying on the vine, desperate to move anything on their lot with tires on it to anyone whose heart is still beating. Wish you the best of luck no matter what you decide. The hunt can be as rewarding as the kill. |
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Replying to: ace_coyne (Oct 05, 2009 10:15 am)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Oct 06, 2009 4:32 pm)
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Replying to: gooddeal2 (Oct 06, 2009 5:13 pm) |
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I have a 2004 G35 coupe. It is without a doubt the most troublesome, problematic car either me or my wife has ever owned. I purchased it in early 07 with only 25,000 miles. Since a month after purchase I have had problems after problem. It's never ending with this car. It started a month after purchase with the power locks. Then it was the speakers, the CD changer, the cruise control, the navigation system, the steering wheel audio controls.....and OH MY GOD WITH THE BRAKES!!!!! Bad rotors, bad pads, bad calipers...and I can't begin to describe the crap that was fed to me by both Infiniti and Nissan dealers. I just replaced my rotors in November 08. By July 09 I needed new ones!!! I contacted Infiniti Consumer Affairs to notify them of all my issues...as well as the problems that could not be fixed (cruise control, noise from moonroof, water leak onto my floor during heavy rain, ticking from dash when I step on brakes during a hot day). Do you know what they did? They offered me $200 toward $550 cost of the new rotors and pads I need! HELLO!!! I just paid for all of this stuff 8 months ago!!!!! I have owned three Chevy's, a Pontiac and a Mazda previous to this car. My wife has had a Honda, Saturn, BMW, GMC and currently a Pontiac. All of those cars COMBINED have not had the amount of problems this car continues to have. Needless to say, they only way I would drive another Infiniti is if it were GIVEN to me with a lifetime warranty. I love the look and performance of the car. But this experience has been just awful. I'm sure most G35's are great cars....but mine just flat-out sucks.
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Replying to: cchirico (Oct 07, 2009 12:07 pm) |
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