Bought it...Drove it home

[kingfrog]

SO I rented a car from Myrtle beach to hilton Head to look at this guy's wife's 2010 EX35 Journey

26875 Miles
Pearl White/Tan
Premium Pack
Nav all around
18" Wheel Package
Stainless Steel Illuminated Kick Plates
Cargo Mats
Window Sticker was $42,875
Clean Carfax All Infiniti Service Synthetic Oil

Seller wanted $25,000
Becasue I did not see enough pics of the car on Cars.com I offered $24000 to just come see it.
Only issue I found was one wheel scrape
and curiously the left tail pipe apparently melted some of the tupperware cutout and they cut a small piece that folds in out. I Not really noticeable. But it would bug some people. I'd fix it if it cost less than $300
Otherwise not a Mark in or out
I offered $23,800 cash after inspecting it went to the bank with the seller had the bank draw him a cashiers check and done,

I DO want to replace the tires. They had about 2/3s left but I did not like the noise and they are original. Not his problem. I could go another year with them.

Driving back I noticed a slight what sounded like gear "whine" that was prevalent on my Tacoma as well. I am chalking this up to rear wheel drive noise. Other wise the car was a dream ride and passing 18 wheelers in 3 seconds was good fun.

I got 26 MPG avg driving back on 87 Octane according to the "info center". 238 miles I have 3/4 tank left and will fill it with 93 tomorrow.Although the car ran fine on 87.

The tech had me baffled as far as setting the seats up. ACC to erase. ON to reset.

NAv was excellent (Garmin still better) Garmin will still deliver instructions while on a phone call. But the NAV was really better than expected and the little "ding" at the indicated turn was cool. LOL
Voice recognition is excellent. BUrned a CD to the HArd Drive quickly.
11 Speaker radio was a disappointment (until I stopped listening to 70's music on XM and put some modern musical recordings on)...then I had to turn down the woofers

Questions:
Does this car have auto off lights when you get out or do you have to turn them off manually? I think the latter.
Are the Foglamps easy to replace with LEDs to match the headlights?
Not sure of the whole opening the gas door sequence. I looked like an idiot who stole a car at the gas station LOL and did not have the benefit of the "new plate" tags.

Here in SC I put my sold Tacoma plate on and went to the DMV there and they transferred my plate, copied a new registration and handed me a fresh official Title on the spot after I paid the $300 in "sales tax" (Love the $300 sales tax cap here)

So tomorrow I look for Tires ( I think Michelin Primacy MXV4 Unless anyone has a better idea I prefer a quiet softer ride over handling and long life. )
Windows tinted
Wheel scuff polished out

Not sure I will replace the entire rear bumper skin if the black piece cannot be replaced for the little issue with the cutout. It's $333 plus shipping and who knows what labor would be.

Overall I think I got a great deal and am not too terribly buried

[AWGD8]

CONGRATS on the new RIDE!

--Yes, EX35 has auto headlight on and off. Left steering knob it says Auto. Auto headlight off timer can be adjusted from the Center screen . (Comfort settings etc, but I think you have to start the car in order to have access to this setting. I am not really sure?)

---For FOG LIGHTS , check VLEDS.COM for LED or you can also change it to HID from MORIMOTO. You change bulbs under front wheel well opening, by removing the wheel well cover. I prefer removing the tire one side at a time. I think the fog light bulb size is H8 ..???

---- For gas door release, you turn the inside door switch open or the key (push key open button twice) then push the GAS door cover (towards the rear of the car) to open.

- I highly recommend using at least 89 octane, not 87, 93 is what I always use..

Do you have pic of the rear bumper with that issue?

[meanie]

Congrats. Sounds like a very good deal. If you leave the headlight stalk on auto the will go on and off automatically in relation to the light sensor. Go under a bridge in daylight and they often go on for a while. There is a slight delay (you can set how much) that they stay on when you exit the vehicle at night, but then will shut off. If they are on the light settings the car will beep when you shut it off to let you know they are on, but I still think they shut off when you exit and shut the door (correct me if I am wrong on this one folks). The gas door is easy. All you do is push against the non hinged side and release and it opens (but the car has to be shut off to do this). DK about the foglamps. I like the nav but find the command structure restrictive and unnecessarily long, dislike that you only get speed limits on highways (unlike my Garmin) and also that you can only get traffic through Sirius (the free traffic on the Garmin was better). That's good mileage. I actually got 27 on my AWD once on a 40 mile stretch of highway, but it dropped like a stone when I got onto surface roads with traffic lights. I drove for a few months last winter on regular but found it had a little less pep, and I was getting 1 or 1.5 less mpg, which basically made it a wash in terms of cost per mile. So I went back to hi-test. Enjoy your EX! I find that after almost 2 years and 38k I like mine even more than when I bought it.

[kingfrog]

Thanks I will try to get pics of the rear exhaust issue tomorrow. Thanks for the tips.
The tech is amazing coming from Tacoma TRD

Putting Michelins MX on tomorrow as well.

[NJGuy]

Are the Foglamps easy to replace with LEDs to match the headlights?
Not sure of the whole opening the gas door sequence.

Congrats on the new acquisition!

Here's a link to a video showing how to change the bulbs for the fog lights:
http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/2008_ ... ts/foglamp

As for the gas door, I think that the doors have to be "unlocked" in order to open it. I'm just not 100% sure because my wife does most of the fill-ups for the EX.

[kingfrog]

Put new shoes on, Tint 22 front 5% rear, Had it detailed, Been a busy day.

Here are some pics... Including the flaws I found.

Muffler flaw



Wheel Scrape


Front fender near lamp right side not quite lined up.



The good stuff!!!

[wysguymd]

I've been tire shopping too, hard to find tires to fit the EX. I'm likely going to buy the Perelli Cintuato P7 AllSeason.

[kingfrog]

I found the Michelin Primacy MXV4 at Tire Town, Not much more expensive than Tire Rack Maybe $60 total but they were in stock, I waited for the job rather than wait for tires THEN go done and have them installed. and I feel better knowing I bought locally and would fell better about going back for issues. they also aligned all 4 wheels.

Tires a phenomenal. No more "whine" and road noise was lessened I would guess 80%

Whole shebang was about $800. $176 per tire.