Future Owner of a 2003 M45... I hope!

[ackrite]

Hey guys im planning on purchasing a 2003 M45 in a few weeks and i need some advise. The dealer is selling the car for 16,500 w/ 93,000 miles on it. The price seems a bit steep for that many miles. I forget which trim it has, but i do know that it has navi, factory cassette deck and air cooled seats. The only flaws are 1 pinhead rust spot, driver seat squeaks, and the temp switch for the driver seat doesnt stay in the on position. Overall, the car, paint (besides the very very small rust spot), body, and interior is in great shape! Is this a good buy or should i look elsewhere? TIA

[THT]

Way too much for a car with that many miles. I would pass on that car. For reference, I bought a black on black, fully loaded (minus the bird's eye maple) Georgia 04 M45 w/ 22K miles on it for $25K out the door.

[CakeDaddy]

hmmm. 03 pushing 100k. I'd pass. I'll sell you mine for 21 w/32.5k miles and it's hooked up.
Modified by CakeDaddy at 6:07 PM 6/8/2008

[M45Caliber]

I'd agree with the votes so far. I just bought my '03 M45 2 months ago. A Cali car, 1 owner, all dealer maintenance, clean carfax, 28.5K miles, all options EXCEPT Nav, chrome wheel upgrade, new tires, brakes, belts, etc. Pearl white, without a nick or scratch anywhere -- and paid $18,000 for it (plus a one-way ticket from Phx to LA - $100!)

I passed up a locally (Scottsdale) owned/for sale titanium gray M45 (03) without the chromes, but it had Nav. and about 36K miles. It was Missing one key and no owners manuals, so I didn't pursue further - but I could have purchased that one for $18K as well.

LOOK at Autotrader.com and Cars.com (that's where I found these) you can also try eBay.

The car you described is maybe a $12K car - MAYBE! I just looked this up on KBB (using my AZ Zip code) and trade in is around $9K - 11K... and a dealer friend says they buy them on trade at about 4 Grand back of wholesale, so unless this dealer overpaid for this car (very doubtful) he probably has NO MORE than 9 or 10K in it.

Keep looking - they are out there!

[Mark Linkous]

Hello,Agreed. Way too high. M45Caliber, that is a nice price on your M. Pearl White is a nice color. Have you added tint? Prices have dropped a good bit lately. I purchased a 2004 C.P.O with 20,000 miles for 28,000 including the Elite warranty as well in February 2007. It has both the Technology and Luxury package. But still, killer price these days.Cheers,M.L

[ackrite]

Yeah I think i might pass this one up. I spoke to the dealer (a big stubburn slimball) awhile back trying to convince him to come down on the price. He swore up and down that the car was worth that amount, his initial asking price was 17,000. Im gonna give cars.com and autotrader a shot, i didnt think about that. Thanks for the advise.
Modified by ackrite at 6:23 PM 6/8/2008

[lfj2025]

I want to sell mine to buy a new one. 63K, I have it listed for $17,950 and is perfect inside and out.

[saeedakobiakov]

i'll sell you mine for 16500 with light weight racing wheels,exhaust 61k. fastest 03 m 45 on this forum. blk on blk.

[nmgoodthing]

You guys are killing me with wanting to sell you M's.

One day you will look back and say... Why did I sell that car.

[candymanfb]

I only looked at new car dealerships, and stayed away from used car dealerships. I was able to lower the "internet price" by at minimum of $1000 on the three vehicles I looked at before buying my M. The internet price is usually lower than the price at the dealer.Take your time and good luck!

[xxNite]

definitely be careful of the non-dealership used-car lots.A lot of them bought from the dealer-only auctions when Infiniti financial leasing services sold their lot of off-lease M45 returns. That doesn't quite make them "certified pre-owned", but they come from every where. A large number were company cars and poorly dealer-manitained (oil changes at 7,500 miles, etc...)

What you DEFINITELY HAVE TO DO is schedule any car for a 110-point inspection at an Infiniti dealership (even a rival competitor). It will cost you $89-$115 for the one hour service. They will find any service-record glitches and truly inspect your car.

Also have your insurance agent see if there were any comprehensive Insurance claims on your VIN number. a lot of times, "Comprehesive Claims" don't make it to your CARFAX reports. a Comprehensive claim can indicate vandalism (crazy-exgirlfriend keying, to broken windows, to Hit-while-parked), or even Hitting a deer!

When I was looking, I nearly inked a deal with one of those second hand lots. I came to find out the car was repainted through a thorough dealership inspection!?!? the azz at the used car lot didn't disclose this information. How was I to know if I hadn't gotten the car fully inspected?

So all of this to say: use caution when buying your M. It can be a great purchase if you find the right one.

Good luck.

[Mark Linkous]

That is great advice indeed. I really wanted a 2004 with the tech package when I purchased mine. At the time, there were not too many available. The town I grew up in happened to have one so configured, thus, I drove 750 miles, saw the familia, saw the car, paid too much for the car. In Florida there were tons of 2003's for six to seven thousand dollars less. C.P.O along the Elite warranty definitely gives a security blanket. Knowing how many were leased and thus invariably thrashed, I decided to pay more.Cheers,M.L

[maxnix]

No to rust! In Georgia?

You also want to view the Infiniti Dealer performed service history even before you look at the car. In particular, verify 3,750 mile OCI or walk.

[Q45tech]

Remember a 60-100k+ car will need new shocks all around and lots of replacement rubber bushings this can add up to $2-3,000 in the blink of an eye.

Plus you are well on your way to total transmission and ac replacement [$6,000+] soon or at least before you pay it off with a 5 year loan.

[M45Caliber]

Q45Tech -- will you please elaborate on the "well on your way to full transmission and A/C replacement" comment? What's the typical failure profile for both (as to mileage...) Although I only have 32K on mine now, it would be nice to know what to expect in the future. Have you seen replacements of both @ 75K or 100K or ? ? ? thanks --

[maxnix]

Well, without the aggressive maintenance G50 owners have learned are necessary, transmission life is less. Remember the dealer and OEM only care if it makes it past initial warranty when failure is on your dime.

Depends also on owners tolerance of fall off from as new performance standards. It si so gradual, most don't notice until they drive a new car one day and decide theirs isn't up to snuff any more. It's all about preventative maintenance vs. deferred maintenance.

[szh]

Q45Tech -- will you please elaborate on the "well on your way to full transmission and A/C replacement" comment? What's the typical failure profile for both (as to mileage...) Although I only have 32K on mine now, it would be nice to know what to expect in the future. Have you seen replacements of both @ 75K or 100K or ? ? ? thanks --

With proper care, and regular transmission flushes (at every 30k miles is my recommendation - I think that Dennis likes to do it at 25k mile intervals), the transmission ought to last well past 150k to 250k miles. (But these are high-powered cars, plus I don't think the real longevity information on these new transmissions is in yet!)

Without care, the previous generation of transmissions (as used in the first and second gen Q45) have been known to fail relatively early ... sometimes as low as the 100k to 125k mile mark. This is not a common occurrence though, just happens enough that it should be worried about. The problem being the high replacement cost.

On my 1995 Q45's, which I bought used in 1998 (came off a lease), the damage had already been done early. Even though I did a transmission flush at 90k miles, it failed at 104k ... . That transmission replacement cost me $2750 (parts + labor) for a Nissan rebuilt unit - I suspect that these newer ones are more expensive.

I cannot comment of the A/C issue, since I have not seen that per se.

Z