opinions/ideas-buying 03 G35

[yourbullit]

I went to a family gathering this past Sunday and had an interesting conversation with my brother-in-law. Turns out he absolutely hates his 2003 G35 sedan, it did that thing where the radio stops working and a/c has a mind of its own. Also has an issue at times with the sunroof not wanting to close. So jokingly, i ask him to give it to me. since i've been looking for a newer car. The 240sx with no airbags bothers the Girlfriend. And to my surprise he went for it (sort of)

He said if i take over the payments i can have it. He only owes another 2-3,000 on it, which in my mind is a steal. I've trolled here the past couple days and googled the problems i do know of. So i found the radio/AC fix, which is going aftermarket radio/ac control trim piece. And the sunroof issue, i think i just may need to reset the motor or replace it. Nothing major in my book.


He is in advertising sales and drives around quite a bit, it has over 100,000 miles on it. I'm not sure of his maintenance records. We are waiting a few weeks for him to find something else. I haven't really taken a close look at since he didn't drive it that day. He lives about an hour away so i'm thinking i may have to head that way this weekend to officially check it out.

I haven't seen anything that would steer me away yet but we'll see.

wish me luck

[biggie]

Get it and tell the gf to suck it up about the S13.

[kmckis1029]

a steal!!! if the car was maintained pretty well... there are people on this forum with more than 100k on their Gs and riding fine.

[yourbullit]

i hope he maintained it somewhat even though he hates the thing

@biggie- i always say what do you want me to do, it didn't come with airbags. maybe i can strap some extra padding to the wheel

[biggie]

Tell her to get bigger 'personal airbags'.

[yourbullit]

if thats all it takes she should be fine

[biggie]

Indeed. That should get more people looking at this thread as well.

[tollboothwilley]

LOL

Dude, if you don't want the car tell him i'll give him $4000 for it right now. 100K miles is nothing for these cars. THose problems are an easy and quick fix.

[yourbullit]

Update

we picked up the car a few days ago, since he was in such a hurry to ditch it. He bought himself a nice M35, i hope he takes better care of that one. the car officially has 140,000 miles on it and was serviced by my uncle. My brother in law has no clue on the service history so i will have to wait til the weekend to ask my uncle a few questions.

well i started off by washing it (cause it really needed it) and under the hood looked like he had driven through the Sahara Desert. Dust was caked on that thing, i've never seen an engine that dusty, the only thing i can think of is that the foam around the air intake is pretty busted and its letting a lot pass into the engine bay.

then an oil change cause it was looking pretty dark.

Next on my list is:

-drive belts
-getting crap to clear foggy headlights
-spark plugs (how hard are they really to change?, seen videos online and it looks like a bastard to change)
-Tires
-then the radio/ AC thing (sucks with no AC, but the sunroof is nice)

so basically a good tune up.

[SVTCOBRA]

3M makes a plastic cleaner that works great on the headlights!!! they will fog up again tho.
spark plugs aren't too bad, just take your time and loosen up the wiring harness that wraps around it...can't miss it...
And Congrats!!!!

[soul_hfk]

congrats and what svt said the 3m works great. a freind used it on his VW and it took a couple cleanings (they were really foggy) they look brand new

[yourbullit]

i was looking at this


i've used a similar type (cheap) from harbor freight and it worked pretty well. i don't know if i've seen a write up around here for it or not, i guess its just common sense. i'll post some before and after photos.

[pae9132]

I now have over 129,000 and it still pulls pretty hard....I drive it like a race car but I also take care of it...you might want to change-up your list a little though...i suggest; oil change, drive belts, spark plugs, air filter and then whatever else you might need....have fun!

[audtatious]

On a properly maintained car I would say 140k is well broken in. I've seen Maxima owners with the VQ35 do upwards of 300k and I had almost 160k when I traded my 2k2 in and it had never had any form of malfunction.

[yourbullit]

Good to hear,

car is running great. Oil changed- next is drive belts
i've always like the goodyear gatorbacks. Are these cars the type to only like OEM parts? They cost pretty much the same

so far, so good

[audtatious]

Nope, you can pretty much put on what you want. At least from what I've done that's been the case.