Opinions on purchase of 2006 M45??

[nachokiller]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and have been a Lexus owner for the past 15 yrs.

I could use feed back on a 2006 M45 sport that has 110k miles.
Selling for $12.5k.

Seller indicates that it has regular oil changes and no issues.

What are the major areas or issues that I should ask the seller about?

thanks to all

[Larz]

Welcome to Nico! I'm not a mechanic and my M is only at 80k at the mo, but I'm happy to run my pie hole and give some advise.
First, you must already know that after 100k miles, any car will be approaching a higher frequency of repairs. That said, The maintenance projects that should have already been done:

Coolant system flush and fill with inspection of the radiator
Transmission fluid service
Differential fluid service
Front and rear suspension if needed
Belts and hoses
Spark plug replacement
Brake fluid change
Power steering fluid change

I mention these because I have already done these at least once and my M is newer with less miles than the model you're considering. I firmly believe that these M's will run forever so long as maintenance is not ignored.

[bejjutsu]

Keep in mind though, the 35s have a slightly different (better) reliability history than the 45s.

I don't have a number on the oil burning issue, but I seem to hear about it a lot.

edit: (I do love this car.)

[atlM35]

I've had two 35s and now a 45.
The only work that I've had to do were belts, front brake rotors, front struts, spark plugs, and a couple tpms sensors. All of which are considered normal wear and tear maintenance. Keep an eye on the oil level every couple weeks and you should be good.
These have been great cars for me.

[pedsemdoc]

I know the SEARCH function gets a lot of complaints from folks, but this question has been asked before and it can be your friend to help look up these specific issues:

But a few topics that have seemed to come up for the Y50 M45 2006-2008/09 (I think):
1. There is a thread right now about a rattle under acceleration which is caused by micro cracks in the Y-pipe...you should take the car out and listen to it at idle, accelerating slow, hard, going into a turn, etc.
2. Some folks have had issues with the driver side seat rails breaking causing the seat to wiggle, rock, and move
3. There is a TSB for adjusting the Bluetooth microphone
4. The M has an issue with tramlining for some with certain brands of tires
5. Oil consumption (I would want to see records of oil changes and regular maintenance items, especially if done at the dealer)
6. Problems with filling up the gas tank only halfway before pump shuts off
7. Warped rotors from OEM setup, try Brakemotive kit, you won't be sorry

these are the major issues that seem to garner the most attention that I can remember off the top of my head. That being said, my car did the gas tank thing once, but never again and it's been absolutely awesome since I bought it used with 41K miles--now at 84k.

good luck with the purchase, just do your homework (think about an Infiniti Elite warranty if you're not mechanically inclined, but maybe more so for all the electrical/computer stuff, that is super pricey if it breaks)

Craig

[nachokiller]

Hello, thank you all for shedding some light on purchasing a higher mileage M45. The price is $12.5 for a Florida owned car? The seller is firm on the price. Does this seem fair? If purchased, all fluids, plugs and belts will have to be changed.
thankz

[nachokiller]

Pic of the 2006 M45

http://i.imgur.com/FEgbwqm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/C9h0BpN.jpg

[06M4.5]

If the car is in really good shape it would sell for a lot more than $12.5 in my area (NJ)

[bejjutsu]

Well, you can see it wasn't owned by some old lady that just used it to get to the grocery store!

Get all the records. See if he even kept good records to begin with.
You should probably also have an Infiniti specialist take a look at it, IMO.

[Larz]

Pic of the 2006 M45

http://i.imgur.com/FEgbwqm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/C9h0BpN.jpg

The car looks great, mate! The wheels and brake callipers are a great accent to the colour of the car. You also have the aero kit which itself was a small fortune as a mod. The only pessimistic idea I have is that those mods lead one to believe that car was NOT driven just to the hair dresser and back at 30mph. I second the wise advise of bejjutsu - have a mechanic check for any codes that might come up on his reader and have him look the car over.

[pedsemdoc]

I'd second Larz's and bejjutsu's recs.

Car looks to be the diamond graphite color--that's the color of mine (I like it, some folks don't)
You also want to see if what packages it has--tech/journey/etc.

for example:
speakers on the shoulders of the seats mean you have the 14 speaker Bose system vs 8 speaker system, which was part of the technology package (intelligent cruise control was also part of that too)

Look at it really closely (maybe even under magnification-lol) at door edges, the bumper, etc. to see if body work has been done, especially at the seams where body panels meet. If you pay outta pocket, you don't have to report it to CarFax, etc. so don't just assume if it's not in those records that it wasn't involved in a fender bender. if you can't tell, then even if it was repaired, it was prolly done by someone with an attention to detail and done "right"

have someone else ride in the car with you when you take it on a test drive, preferably a mechanic.