Is It Expensive To Maintain a Q45?

[purplesignal]

Hello,

I am looking at buying a 1996 Q45 with < 110K miles on it. If I buy it, I would like to drive it till it reaches 200K+ miles. What kind of maintenance / general repairs will I probably be looking at aside from the oil changes?

I guess the question I am trying to ask is if I will likely encounter a large expense item (i.e. transmission failure) during that time if I take care of the car correctly.

I currently drive a '94 Mazda 626 with 225K (try not to laugh), but the transmission has been rebuilt twice. Other than that, the car has served me well. I am thinking that if a 626 gets me to 225K miles, a Q45 will get me that far and some.

[Jesda]

I sold my 95 626 (manual though, so it was rock solid) with 250k. I miss it! Such a slick shifter and a really nice chassis, and the driving position was the best of any car I've ever owned.

A 96 Q45 is easier to diagnose, thanks to OBD II, but is missing VVT so you may lose out on some top-end power.

94-96 are the most durable of the G50 platform, and 97-01 Y33 are simpler and a bit more dependable. 90-93 can get very expensive.

Basically, unless the car has been neglected, and unless you go to the dealer for everything, it'll be reasonably affordable to own.

[ceningolmo]

It isn't cheap, I can tell you that for sure.

You will receive the obligatory response from some of the senior members of this forum who are going to tell you that getting the car back to "as new" performance is going to cost from $2K-$10K depending on what needs to be repaired, replaced, rebuilt.

Like most things, it is going to depend on how much effort, time you want to put in to it. If you spend a boat load of time reading and learning how to do this stuff yourself, you can save a lot of money and cut those numbers in half. If you need someone else to do it, particularly the dealership, then you are in for some expense.

Standard maintenance can be at reasonable cost. I'm not going to lie to you and say its cheap, but it doesn't have to be expensive.

Its the restoration that costs a lot of money. However, a fully restored and well maintained Q can get you 250K-300K miles.

On a side note, and this is just my recommendation, I would skip the 96 model and get something that is 94-95. That way you can keep the VVT, but still avoid the chain guide issues.

Welcome to NICO and good luck!

[elwesso]

I mirror ross's sentiments...

Heres the scoop... The correct answer to the question posed is... YES!!!!! however, when you COMPARE it to other cars of its class youll find that the 94-95 Q45 is probably the cheapest to maintain and own than any other luxury car over 40k... (comparing it to a lesser honda/nissan/toyota/etc is not fair at all becaues they cost 1/3 new, who cares what theyre worth now!!!)

97-01 Qs suffer slightly in performance, not so much from a stop, but definitely from the top end... but they are slightly cheaper tomaintain as far as drivetrain related issues, but the suspension seems to be costly as there are no reasonable aftermarket things...

Youll find that once you catch up on your Q45 and sort of play catchup from all the neglected maintenance over the past 10 years, there are very little problems with them..... Sure youll get the occasional injector and what not, but thats something that can be detected before it fails you... Generally speaking, very VERY rarely will a reasonably maintained Q45 leave you stranded!!! With some other luxury cars (MB/BMW/JAGUAR/ETC) you can do everything perfect, even by this forums much higher standards, and still have stuff go wrong.. With the Qs, that is rarely the case, but it does happen (i throw this clause in there so you cant sue me!!!!!! )

Heres the thing.. most times people stop into forums and ask if the cars are gonna be reliable... The members say "oh yeah theyre great, ive put 200k on mine with no problems" (who cares what kind of advice members on a forum give, its not their car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), when in reality that is a very vague qualitative statement... So im gonna tell you this: Any Q is gonna be a HUGE PAIN IN THE ARSE if you treat it like a beater... Trust me, if you try and take shortcuts its gonna bite you HARD.. Ive tried, and given up on that... However if you take care of them, theyll be fine.. I would say that 90% of our forum members here drive their cars every day, and depend on them for long distance travel......

Im gonna go flat out and say it... You will not find a better resource for a luxury car out there than you have here... Im talking about going to a BMW or MB or Lexus forum, and finding info about the respective model... We know our Q45s INSIDE AND OUT...

So onward i go with my mindless babbling, i hope you can extrude some information out of this... the key is finding a good one for starters... Miles are sort of irrelevant, but make sure you have a good one. depending on where you are located, i bet theres a Q guy near you that would come and help you look at one... if you can start out with one that isnt trashed, youll be fine.. HOWEVER, DESPITE HOW GOOD YOU THINK ONE IS, PLAN ON AT LEAST 3-4-5K IN REPAIRS THE FIRST YEAR AND $1000 PER YEAR AFTER THAT!... Some years you wont spend much, some years youll spend quite a bit... if you can do some of the repairs yourself and get parts from Joe at Infiniti of Scottsdale, youll save a ton of money... you can do a lot of annoying tasks that dealers and shops LOVE to make BIG money on with just a basic set of tools and this forum...

Sorry for the long post which may or may not have had any useful information, but welcome to NICO regardless!!!

[purplesignal]

I really appreciate you all taking the time and effort to reply to my questions. I actually went to look at a used '96 Q45 today. You can see the car I test drove at http://www.cars.com/go/search/...ional.

It was quite a smooth ride. The seller told me that it was salvage titled, and that it had been hit on the driver's side. The existing paint wasn't great. The driver side windows do not work. The leather interior was well worn in places. However, there were no leaks, and the A/C ran very cold. I took a bunch of pics with my digital camera if you all care to see.

It's listed at $3500. KBB gives it a value of $3400; Edmunds $4300. Since this is the first Q45 I test drove, I won't make any decisions till I've test driven some more.

[Rex]

I really appreciate you all taking the time and effort to reply to my questions. I actually went to look at a used '96 Q45 today. You can see the car I test drove at http://www.cars.com/go/search/...ional.

It was quite a smooth ride. The seller told me that it was salvage titled, and that it had been hit on the driver's side. The existing paint wasn't great. The driver side windows do not work. The leather interior was well worn in places. However, there were no leaks, and the A/C ran very cold. I took a bunch of pics with my digital camera if you all care to see.

It's listed at $3500. KBB gives it a value of $3400; Edmunds $4300. Since this is the first Q45 I test drove, I won't make any decisions till I've test driven some more.

When you get close to making a pick, please spend $150 a let an Infiniti Master Tech go over it looking for everything. Then take that list back as a negotiating tool. All of it won't need doing the first 6 months, but they should think it shouldn't be driven 6 miles without having those fixed .

[Jesda]

Post pics! Is the paint, by chance, black? Some of the black G50s didnt wear as well as other colors.

[maxnix]

The seller told me that it was salvage titled, and that it had been hit on the driver's side. The existing paint wasn't great. The driver side windows do not work. The leather interior was well worn in places.

Pass.

An astute buyer always examines the Infiniti dealer performed service history first before even looking at the car.

Spend more time reading here and you will save yourself a lot of time, money and misery. Get educated or get taken. Your choice.

[Rex]

The seller told me that it was salvage titled, and that it had been hit on the driver's side. The existing paint wasn't great. The driver side windows do not work. The leather interior was well worn in places.

Pass.

An astute buyer always examines the Infiniti dealer performed service history first before even looking at the car.

Spend more time reading here and you will save yourself a lot of time, money and misery. Get educated or get taken. Your choice.

Good eye Brian, (actually I was posting when he made his 2nd post with that info ...)

There are too many "affordable" (purchase price) 90-96 Q45's out there to settle/buy a salvage title car, unless you're getting it for ~$1000.

[Jesda]

There are too many "affordable" (purchase price) 90-96 Q45's out there to settle/buy a salvage title car, unless you're getting it for ~$1000.

Good point. Dont fall so much in love (lust!) that you lose sight of practicalities. There's always a better deal if you're patient.

[louiegz]

When I first got onto Nico, I spent about $4000.00 in catch up service. Thinng that were due were tune up, ps leak, ATF swap, and filter changes done at the dealer, shocks, bussings, t rods, and adding a rear sway bar done by a freind that owens a Meineke and was done cheap, alinement done by another shop, and fuel pump and window regulator done by me at great savings. Ever since then, it's been just oil changes, so I haven't spent much. If you know how it fix the car yourself, you can save a lot. I don't know much, so I go to the dealer to get things fix when they break. Thanks to Nico, I was able to get the info I needed to do the easy stuff to save money where I could.

[96Qowner]

I have a '96 that I bought for $5500 two years ago with 147,000 on it.

As Wes said, the simple answer to your question is, yes. If the Q45 weren't a luxury sedan, it would be different. But there's no point in owning a luxury sedan that rides and/or looks like a piece of crap. So you find yourself tending to things that you'd let slide in a beater. I've spent more on mine than many others would have, but that's because I really wanted the luxe experience. Most of my expenses went into replacing deteriorated rubber components - engine hoses, suspension bushings, motor mounts, etc. After 10 years and 100,000 miles, these things will need attention if you want the true Q45 experience. You'll probably also have to deal with leaky, smoking valve cover gaskets.

With a salvage title and iffy interior leather, that price is NOT a steal. I agree with others who suggest that you pass on this particular one - you can do better. Check out the Infiniti Cars Classified section of the forum for typical prices and condition. You'd be better off paying $5000 for one that has had some of these things taken care of already by an attentive owner (including the transmission - a $3500 item). You should be able to find a 94-95 in better condition (even if the mileage is higher) for that price. If I had known that the '96 lacked VVT, I would have gotten a 94-95.

But the car is quite reliable and long lasting. More than one NICO member has over 200,000 on his car, a couple with over 300,000. We rarely hear of anyone that gets stranded. Mostly it's annoying maintenance items. And while I have 180,000 on my transmission, most people have had failures before then.

If you want a luxury sedan than rides and drives like an Autobahn machine, the Q45 is for you. But it's NOT in the class of a 626, just as it's not in the class of my amazingly frugal, 381,000 mile Accord.