Altima purchasing advice needed

[SynisteR6]

Hi Guys and Gals;

I'm on the nico site mainly on the pathfinder forum but now I'm looking at trading up our civic to a 2005 Altima 3.5 (not sure if its S/SE etc)

The car looks in great shape, haven't driven it yet. I should mention I'm in canada, the car has just shy of 140,000 kms and they are asking $10k for it. The car seems fully loaded with bose/leather/moonroof.

My questions are what are some trouble areas I should be looking for? Should the higher mileage worry me? How long are these cars good for? is that a good price? and well, any other advice is greatly appreciated.

[big_rig]

sounds like a steal to me. get a car fax and see what the car has been through. 63,636 miles is nothing at all. when it gets over a 100k mi, that is when i would start to be turned off by it. but for 10,000 and the loss of a honda...sounds like an awesome deal to me. but remember, the devil is always in the details

[SynisteR6]

Well took it for a test drive last night and for the most part was very impressed, the car was tight, no rattles, the interior and body were absolutely mint.

My only gripes were that it didn't have near the power I thought a 3.5 would have, floord with TCS off, would not even chirp the tires. The 3L taurus I'm driving for work gets up and goes quicker. There was a hum in the front end that made me think CV/Bearing something like that, and 3 mins into the test drive the check engine light came on...

[RicerX]

I would stay away from it, if that's the case. Cleanliness doesn't necessarily guarantee solid mechanical operation. That check engine light is a bad omen. Car might have been ragged out.

You should be able to s*** and get with a 3.5 Altima, especially with TCS off (I can burn rubber with VDC and TCS on in mine, but only for a short distance as they kick in to regain traction). Something's not quite right.