Carmax 2006 Infinity M35X 61K miles

[cyberfish2]

Carmax 2006 Infinity M35X 61K miles..I bought this June 29 for $23K, and took it to my mechanic for a confirmation checkup, my wife's idea. The steering rack is starting to leak, it needs drive belts, the front brake pads are @ 25%, and there is some seepage on the valve covers, so it goes back tomorow for these fixes. It seems like a lot for a car that went through a 125 point check list before sale.
Also, the engine air filter was dirty and full of bugs, and the repositioning for the steering wheel is intermittent.

That said, I really like this fully equipted car. We took it on a trip to Truckee, Ca. & back home yesterday, about 150 miles, and got 21.6 mpg, which is acceptable for mountainous, winding roads. It handeled well, somewhere between BMW & Lexus. I didn't push it very hard; my wife gets carsick, unless she drives, so she drove half way, and really liked the car, too.
Carmax filled the gas tank with ?? The manual says this M3.5L engine can use regular 87 o gas, but the sticker inside the gas cap says premium. I'll try both, see if it pings, or the mileage is different. May turn out to be a nice option, with todays high gas prices.

[wingFeather]

Congratulations on becoming an M owner Sorry to hear about the Carmax woes, but hopefully they will acknowledge their mistakes & fix them for free. They gave you a warranty, right?

[cyberfish2]

Sure. 5 day total refund return, 30 days @ 100% parts & labor on "covered" items, which includes most non-mantinance items. Probably excludes brake pads and belts. That's ok, they're cheap, and I can DIY. The steering rack should be covered; it was a near-recall item on the 2006 M35's, and about $1,500 to have it done, according to my mechanic.

[jonlex99]

Sure. 5 day total refund return, 30 days @ 100% parts & labor on "covered" items, which includes most non-mantinance items. Probably excludes brake pads and belts. That's ok, they're cheap, and I can DIY. The steering rack should be covered; it was a near-recall item on the 2006 M35's, and about $1,500 to have it done, according to my mechanic.

Did you check with your local Infiniti dealer? In most cases they will have better deal and cleaner cars... I had a bad experience with carmax and they gave me hell.... Good luck... Other than that Welcome to a great forum...

[cyberfish2]

Yeah, I did. An '06 this nice, with 61K miles, is hard to find anywhere in the US. I did a lot of online research, carmax, eBay, two Infiniti forums (inc ths one), Edmunds, and others. I kept going back to this one at Carmax. They did lowball me on buying my Tunda, $20K for an '06 with just 23k miles, and we were over $6k difference otd, so I sold it on Craigs List for $24.8K. Lots of scammers, but easy t sort out legit buyers.
Anyway, I'll see how it goes with Carmax tomorrow.

[cyberfish2]

Yeah, I did. An '06 this nice, with 61K miles, is hard to find anywhere in the US. I did a lot of online research, carmax, eBay, two Infiniti forums (inc ths one), Edmunds, and others. I kept going back to this one at Carmax. They did lowball me on buying my Tunda, $20K for an '06 with just 23k miles, and we were over $6k difference otd, so I sold it on Craigs List for $24.8K. Lots of scammers, but easy t sort out legit buyers.
Anyway, I'll see how it goes with Carmax tomorrow.

Soooo, here's the follow up: Carmax did $1,500.00 worth of repair under the 30 day warranty for free, with NO hassle. Replaced the steering rack, belts, & valve cover gasket, and the 30 day warranty is extended by the week it was in for repair.
However, there was no explaination for why this wasn't caught in the 125 point pre-sale check.

[autoengr]

I bought my 2008 M35x w/40k miles from Carmax in April 2010 for about $30k. It struck me as peculiar that they delivered the vehicle to me with the rear interior wood trim flapping around. It was litteraly, sticking off the door by a 1ft or so.

It didn't bother me enormously since I knew it was common and Infiniti would replace it for free. I guess I have too much pride to trade in a car looking like that much less sell it to somebody in that condition.

[M-Pilot]

I bought mine from Roseville Carmax as well. Drove off and later realized they took off the plastic grilles (both) where the fog lights are located and actually painted over the cruise control sensor in that area. They took care of all that along with the driver's side mirror not functioning. Pretty good experience all in all...

I'm a little concerned about my steering column though. Past visits to the Infiniti dealer have exposed that I have a seeping column (not sure how bad seeping is). My warranty runs out in 2,0000 miles. I'm hoping it gets worse so I can get it fixed under warranty...