Buying advice

[Cdumitru78]

New to the forum, but long time Nissan enthusiast. Looking at a 1998 pathfinder with less than 30k miles, one owner. This is a one owner car, base model with no options at all,manual. Inside is flawless, outside has a few door dings and scratches, car being black is hard to hide them. Owner wants $6500.00 firm. Is it worth it, I would use it as a daily driver, camping, fishing car, something to take my dog around in. My other car is new wrx hatch, so trying to keep miles low on it if I can. Any suggestions?

[Cdumitru78]

I forgot to add - car is sitting on original tires and timing belt hasn't been done. I am thinking both should be done fairly soon if I get this car. Thanks for any advice.

[Buzzman]

Couple of questions come to mind.
Where are you located? Is it a warm climate, or a snow belt?
Have all the mandatory recalls been done? (Especially the strut corrosion recall).
Has it been fairly well maintained re: fluid changes?

Original tires would be a little scary. I would certainly replace them.
As for the timing belt, maybe someone that has the same engine can chime in with some advice.

Even with the low mileage, the price seems steep.
Is the owner willing to negotiate?

[Cdumitru78]

Thanks for the response. Car is in OR, so the strut corrosion shouldn't be an issue. I will certainly double check on that with Nissan, I have the vin number.

Car seems to have been maintained, oil changes and so forth, but it is clear that is hasn't been driven a lot. Price wise, he was at 7500, so came down to 6k now, don't think he will go any lower.

[Cdumitru78]

Does anyone in the NW have experience with the corrosion recall, I dont seem to find any evidence of any OR/WA cars that had any issues. THat would obviously be a no-no for me. Besides that, even if I overpay a bit, I know a Nissan V6 is a solid engine and if well maintained will last for a while. The more I learn about these cars, the more I am liking them, they seem to be very simple and reliable.

[Chuck Tribolet]

That sounds like a fine daily driver.

Timing belt is a function of miles, not time. I wouldn't worry about (assuming the 30K is real).


Chuck

[ltsnotme]

Sounds ridiculous, since its KBB value in "very good" condition is only $1538.

[Chris.m]

That does seem really expensive,

You should be able to pick up a 01 LE for that money (Better engine, more modern styling, leather, power everything)

It will probably have at least 100k miles, but still...

Also, if you need new tires, thats 600-1000 from the get go.

[Cdumitru78]

Thanks for the advice guys. Seems like the asking price is high, although I understand how the original owner of a car thats been barely driven wants to get some cash out of it. I have to admit too, I am a sucker for low mileage clean cars, and older/simple sounds more appealing to me than a new car. Plus it will be easier to sell my wife on a car with lower miles! I will try to talk him down some more, I have a feeling that 6k is the lowest he'll go. Valid points though, tires might be my biggest/most immediate concern, I want to be safe.

It would be fun to get back into a Nissan, having owned a 300zx and a 350Z, plus my wife drives an Infiniti.

[hotdawwgman]

Pass. Way to over priced

[Cdumitru78]

That sounds like a fine daily driver.

Timing belt is a function of miles, not time. I wouldn't worry about (assuming the 30K is real).


Chuck

Thanks, that was a bit of a concern. I know I can do a lot of maintenance myself, but wouldn't tackle a timing belt job. Belt looked to be in great shape when I checked it out, but just a visual inspection. Ideally I want a daily driver that I will never modify and hopefully drive for a while. Many seem to agree that price is high, so I will try to talk the seller down. I have been on the receiving end of the "but KBB price is xyz..." and while it is a good negotiating tool, I dont pay attention to it. I had a 1987 turbo rx7 with 21k on the clock, 100% original and immaculate, KBB was $2800.00 on it. I probably got 20 KBB offers for it, ended up selling for more than triple that amount.

I will try to talk the seller down into mid 5's, I think thats a fair illustration of the car's worth, at least to me.

[Buzzman]

Belt looked to be in great shape when I checked it out, but just a visual inspection.

Normally you wouldn't be able to see the timing belt without removing covers etc.
Maybe what you were looking at was the fan/serpentine belt????

[Cdumitru78]

Yep, you are correct!

[ltsnotme]

I have been on the receiving end of the "but KBB price is xyz..." and while it is a good negotiating tool, I dont pay attention to it. I had a 1987 turbo rx7 with 21k on the clock, 100% original and immaculate, KBB was $2800.00 on it. I probably got 20 KBB offers for it, ended up selling for more than triple that amount.

Well, when you've got something that's rare and desirable, you can hold out for a better price, and the KBB might not reflect that desirability very well. But a Pathfinder is neither rare, nor, with current gas prices, very desirable. So I would think the KBB value to be more relevant here. But then, if this one happens to be exactly what you wanted, I guess it's whatever you're willing to pay

[Cdumitru78]

Very true itsnotme, you are making some good points. This is what I want, but KBB x 3 is a bit steep, I think you are correct in that statement. I will try to let the seller know, I am sure he won't care much about it, but thats OK, there should be some other Pathfinders out there. Good advice though, thank you.

[hirk]

I recently picked up a 2004 with 130,000 on it for 4,300 in excellent shape that passed a safety and only needed 150 in exhaust work done, there are deals out there, I looked for a few months and test drove or looked at 8 or so before finding mine. Keep looking you will know when the right one comes along.

[Cdumitru78]

Just a quick update on this one, seller is now down to $5300.00, he seems to want to sell the car. I am weighing next offer. I think the fact that the car is stick shift helps me, he told me he had several potential buyers that walked away because they wanted automatic.

[kerrton]

No kidding that helps you, not to mention this is a bare-bones vehicle with zero options. This guys price is WAY out to lunch, this is a 15-year old car with zero options and some work needs to be done. MAXIMUM this thing is worth is $2500. Yes miles are low, important detail but not that important. Cars need to be driven, this thing has been sittin around for the past 15 years and going on what I guess were lots of short trips, you could have engine sludge issues, dried out seals, leaky engine, leaky brake cylinders, leaky head gasket, who knows. It's hard to say, but when vehicles are not driven with sufficient loads and on long trips it can cause issues, whereas you get a nice comparable vehicle with say 125,000 miles, lots of highway trips, the engine got lots of higher rpms, higher load work to keep those seals conditioned - that car with 125k could be in much better shape than the one with 30k. No guarantees, its always hard to say, I'm just saying don't assume that 30k miles over 15 years is automatically gauranteed to be in great shape. 3 year old vehicle with 30k, yes I'd be good with that, but 15 years of time can really take its toll even if a vehicle isn't driven, so don't overpay!!!

[Cdumitru78]

Thanks for the reply kerrton, appreciate it! I am in no way paying that price, not after all the research I have been doing. While I like the simplicity of this particular car, and I am willing to overpay a bit of the low miles, you are correct - there could be so many hidden headaches associated with this car. It is pretty obvious the car has been sitting and it will at minimum need some work in order to be daily driven. It would be a dog/kid/fishing/camping type of car, something that I can drive without much of a worry. I am biased towards Nissan, but not really willing to overpay that much. I will keep talking to this guy though, sounds like he is slowly realizing what the market is for his car.

[kerrton]

Hey good luck, it might be a great find if you can get this guy to realize that cars depreciate every year regardless if you drive them or not, this is still a 15-year old car regardless of how much it was driven and you can't stop depreciation!!

I would take it out on your own and drive it HARD, not like an idiot, but really put it through its paces for a solid 20-30 minutes to see if you can flush out any problems. Get the revs up high for some sustained loads, shift hard and see if you notice any odd sounds or feel anything unusual, and of course make sure no CEL warning lights come on. Take some hard corners and some hard bumps and see if you hear/feel anyhting unusual with the supsension or steering - even though it wasn't driven much time can take its toll regardless. Then give the undercarriage a good inspection some time afterwards, preferably have your mechanic look at it after you put it through its paces to make sure nothing is leaking.

[Cdumitru78]

I was able to test everything just as you said. No leaks of any kind, even after HARD driving. Gearbox actually feels very tight, almost new and definitely not like an used car. Pulls hard 1st through 4th, no noise when pushing in and out of corners, brakes are great. Car is a bit noisy, or at least to me, but I really dont have a something similar to compare to. 15 years old tires are not helping either I am sure. Seller will not come down from $5300 though, so we are stuck there. I might let him repost it and try to sell it for a few more weeks, hopefully he warms up to my price.

Thanks for the help, appreciate your suggestions, let me know if anything else comes to mind.

[Cdumitru78]

well, here we go again... I found a Qx4, 2001 model, with 60k on the clock, one owner going for $8500.00. based on pics it seems to be really nice and has quite a few options. I am going to check it out tomorrow, excited about this one.

[Buzzman]

No brainer. Go for it.