Is the 2002 Q45 really the most unreliable Q45?

[Victor]

I found this website that rates just about every modern car, and for Infiniti Q45 (look under Nissan, part 3) the only year they show as being unreliable is the 2002. They didn't rate a few years so there may be others.I notice in the used car ads there are more 2002 models for sale than 2003 through 2006 combined, and at much lower prices. Is this because the owners want to get rid of them, or because the waranty just ran out, or what?I read a few threads on that year and the third generation models and there seem to be a lot of problems.My daughter just bought a 2000 Q45T with only 49,884 miles on it for $8900 which we thought was a pretty good deal, even though she wanted a third generation model because of the 340 HP engine. But the third generation models cost several thousand more to over fifteen thousand more, depending on the year and mileage. But after reading about the third generation reliability problems, especially with the engine, maybe we should be happy we bought the low mileage 2000 second generation instead. Link:

http://www.autooninfo.net/Reli...e.htm

[maxnix]

The VH series V8 are a little more conservatively built and the RE4 transmission is a little stouter than the RE5.

Unless you want to cover a lot of electronic doodads on your dime, the FGY33 is not a bad choice.

There were many changes below the skin in the 2003 MY on the F50. Calling the 2002 F50 unreliable is probably not accurate either. Compared to a MB or BMW or Audi with a V8? Probablyl markedly better.
Modified by maxnix at 6:21 PM 4/6/2008

[Jesda]

Calling the 2002 F50 unreliable is probably not accurate either. Comapred to a MB or BMW or Audi with a V8? Probablyl markedly better.

I agree with that. Plus, 2002 was the first year for a complicated car with a lot of new-to-Nissan technology. I think most of the F50 owners on this forum are quite pleased.

[ahmed_wasim]

I have owned a 2002Q for about an year now. It has about 110k miles on it. There are few problems with the car but once they are fixed its pretty reliable. You'll have to watch the oil level every 1000 miles as the engine eats oil.

[NightRiderQ45]

Great website!! I've never seen this site before. My car is rated at a 0.9 which is great!! I plan on putting 250k easily on my baby. By looking at that chart, the only companies that held their own was Toyota Lexus and Nissan Infiniti and Honda!. GM, BMW, and of course Ford was covered with Red marks.

[Qproject]

with this engine burning problem, so does the vk45 engine get so hot that it starts to burn the oil ? and do u get a burning smell coming from the engine bay ? why does the vk45 burn oil ? what makes it different for it to burn oil ? does it burn oil or is the oil just leaking ?

I have owned a 2002Q for about an year now. It has about 110k miles on it. There are few problems with the car but once they are fixed its pretty reliable. You'll have to watch the oil level every 1000 miles as the engine eats oil.

[maxnix]

Need to read some more Q45tech posts.

Major speculation rests on the looser rings for less friction in the VK and improper break-in procedures combined with extended OCI.

[Q45tech]

Unfortunately CR nor any magazine or web site has a good formula on what is reliability.

How do you compare a car with a 36k warranty to one with a 60k warranty?

True Cost to Own [edmunds] isn't even close on many lux automobiles [look at estimates for transmission repair or electronics rehab, dealer services].

I'm not sure any estimates are valid after 100k, we have lots of quasi accurate historical data [out of warranty repairs] from 60k to 300k for Lexus and Infiniti.

We have only 9 Q45 2002+ customers between all 3 shops and none of them burn more than a quart between 3750 mile/90 day changes and as far as we know none have had their engine replaced.

But the sample is too small, so few 2002 were actually sold [less than 3000] that it is doubtful that any ONE dealer would have enough customers to make a statistical evaluation................only Nissan knows for sure whether it is 1 in 100 or 1 in 30.

I believe nationwide they have replaced 50+ engines not 300 or even 150.

50 engines would be 98.3% reliable, 100 engines would be 97%.