03 M45 with 109,000 appropriate daily??

[esbrittanybish]

Hello guys, new to the Infiniti portion of the nico forums. Have been a proud nissan owner for the past 6 years with my 240sx's but am now in the market for a daily in hopes of retiring my soul-less ranger.

Came across a good deal at a dealership in LA with an 03 M45 with only 109,000 miles, for a decent price; they are asking 4,900 and I'm confident I can get them down to 4,500 with a 1000 down and easily take on the payments from there especially once I sale the ranger.
Have always loved the 03-04 body style, and being a valet driver I've had the chance to drive a few of these and many of the generation that followed, and all of them had decently high mileage. Actually drove an 07 with 305,000 miles on the clock about a month ago and she still moved swiftly and felt solid.

My question is to the owners of the 03-04's at 109,000 miles do you feel the car is well suited to still be a daily? I have always done all my own maintenance on my 240s and have heavily modified them and performed motor swaps, and am actually about to swap an Rb20 into my 90 hatch. So I was curious to see if any of you perform your own maintenance/repairs on your m45's?

I don't have wads of cash to blow as I am 22 doing valet and moved out on my own, but have never had problems fixing my old cars and keeping them on the road, though I am hesitant in the cost for parts and the potential of me not being able to take care of everything mechanically on something with so many electrics. I've read about the complaints in regards to oil consumption, faulty gas gauge, and puffing smoke at start up, but are those all pretty common amongst the community?

Any feedback from owners with over 100,000 miles would be greatly appreciated!

[Ilya]

I never owned this car, but based on other threads, it doesn't seem as reliable to me as the 06+...

Welcome to the forum.

[BlackCat81]

No offense, but if you can't afford a $4,500 car without a loan, you definitely shouldn't be driving an 03 M45. They are very costly to repair and a nightmare to work on. Go with an 06+ from a reliability and maintenance upkeep standpoint.

[EdBwoy]

... Actually drove an 07 with 305,000 miles on the clock about a month ago and she still moved swiftly and felt solid.

My question is to the owners of the 03-04's at 109,000 miles do you feel the car is well suited to still be a daily? I have always done all my own maintenance on my 240s and have heavily modified them and performed motor swaps, and am actually about to swap an Rb20 into my 90 hatch. So I was curious to see if any of you perform your own maintenance/repairs on your m45's?

I don't have wads of cash to blow as I am 22 doing valet and moved out on my own, but have never had problems fixing my old cars and keeping them on the road, though I am hesitant in the cost for parts and the potential of me not being able to take care of everything mechanically on something with so many electrics. I've read about the complaints in regards to oil consumption, faulty gas gauge, and puffing smoke at start up, but are those all pretty common amongst the community?

Any feedback from owners with over 100,000 miles would be greatly appreciated!

Say, this 305k miler, do you recall if it was an m45 or an m35?

On the big questions, not sure if you've pulled the trigger or not yet, but here's what I think. I don't think they are any less reliable than the next generation m45s. Oil consumption could be ongoing, gas gauge should be taken care of by a recall, and oil at startup after a long hiatus can occur too. Just check your oil levels.
I mostly work on mine by myself and for what I've gotten into, components seem more accessible than in the 06 m45.
What will get you is the rarity of the car as components could be hard to come by cheaply. Some of them were pretty unique designs too e.g. comined front strut + hub unit, hydraulic cooling fan + water pump housing combo.
Also, pretty difficult to mod as cheaply as it is to mod a 240sx. Very limited aftermarket support in the states.

But I am never afraid to fix a car if I know that that fix would lengthen its useful life. So I feel like a well-maintained y34 can be a good daily.

That asking price isn't unreasonable. Consider that at some point you might need to plunk 1000 bucks, say for the suspension. Maybe it has been done already, who knows, but some of those are one time deals. It's not like a y34 will be in the shop everyday.

Btw, be warned the y34 will not haul anything close to what the ranger can. Despite the size of its rear end, the trunk is pretty small and so is the rear seating area. I've had to completely switch cars for a trip because i just didn't want to scuff it up.

[Double E]

Search in my posts on the 100k mile review I did awhile back.