Potential Acura to 07 M35x convert - high mileage concern

[third3y3]

Hello everybody, new here but good to see as active of a forum on the Infiniti side of the world as it was on the acura side.

My story: I own a 2006 Acura RL with 103,000 miles on it which I paid $15,000 for 1 year ago, it now needs about $3,500 in maintenance. I've read that once this maintenance is done this car should last another 100,000+ miles.

I originally wanted to get an Infinity when I bought my Aucra a year ago but couldn't find what I wanted in my price range. Now a year's gone by and and I'm about to sink $18,500 total into this almost 8 year acura.

Well, it just so happens I found a sweet 2007 Infiniti M35x with the same mileage for $13,800. Three previous owners with a clean carfax. Instead of paying the high maintenance cost on my Acura, if I can get the dealer to agree to give me $11,000 to trade it in (not gonna be easy) I'll come up about even but will have the Infiniti I always wanted at the same amount of miles, 1 year newer than my Acura.

So my question is ... Do Infiniti's generally require a big ticket maintenance item when hitting the 100k mile mark like the Acura does (timing belt, water pump, etc)?

I've been reading up on the recall issue, but is there anything else I should be concerned about?

Thanks in advance everyone!

[Partysan7]

Well hello and welcome.
We are a small crowd over here but I am pretty certain each member here
has nothing but good things to say about their M. To be a best help I would definetly check out the "whos got the highest mileage" thread and do some research on this site. You can really gain some usefull info ,as far as the car your looking at I would definetly find out about the maintnance history as this is the key. Good luck

[stm37s]

welcome aboard, pretty much what Partysan7 said, this is a good site with loads of information and people on here are always willing to point you in the right direction man, good luck and keep us posted

[third3y3]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I have been reading up quite a bit, both here and other places. The M35 gets really good reviews and seems to be valued higher than the RL, I'm just concerned that as soon as I buy it I'm going to have to do a huge maintenance item like with My Acura :-/

The dealer, the Infiniti dealership, and research online all indicate that this isn't the case, I guess I'm just skeptical.

The only major bad thing I've been reading about these M's is engine problems, but that is few and far between.

BTW, the Infiniti dealership said that the first owner (3yrs), had all of his maintenance done at an Infiniti dealership, so its all on record that he did what he was supposed to do. The second owner (2 yrs) did not go to an Infiniti dealership, so its not on record that it was well maintained. The third owner (1 yr) maintained it at an Infiniti dealership and but only had a headlight replced.

I'm going to take a look at her today and see how she rides.

[Larz]

Welcome to Nico!

Just a couple thoughts: As with your Acura, a car is often traded when a high cost item needs attention. Secondly, I'm assuming there is no warranty or near no warranty included with the M you are purchasing.

I'm definitely NOT a qualified auto mechanic, but I recommend the following: An M of this age and mileage would likely have had spark plugs, belts, hoses, suspension, steering parts, rotors, etc replaced. I would check these items out first. Some of these are not high priced items, but if ALL of these item have been ignored, then you may be looking at a big repair bill. As for engine problems, seems to me the M45 is more likely to have issues than the M35, but mostly I reckon that depends on how the car was driven up till now.

I firmly believe that a well maintained M will run forever. As with your Acura, you have to rember it's a higher quality car than American cars, and cars of this quality will cost more to maintain.

[stm37s]

very good point, a car will only last as long as you keep up the maintance FULL time

[sin1505]

My car is currently at 129 xxx miles, and has been well maintained by Infiniti since new.
I am the second owner, and I have not experienced any surprise so far. However my car came with 1 year warranty and 3 years of free oil change or 12 oil change.
I was skeptical as you were and lurked this forum and others for weeks before I came to a verdict. I have had my car since early august and have been loving it. I would say don't shy away from having the car fully inspected. Once you get the green light hop on it!

I would also assume that the 3rd owner brought the car to Infiniti, and probably check all parts and components of the vehicle. Do you know the mileage of the second owner? With that kind of information you can probably check what servicing he might or might not have missed.

good luck!

[svard75]

3 owners on a car could be a sign. How long did each of them own it? Short=not good.

Our engines are chain so no replacement concerns around that.

Some maintenance items
Transmission flush every 60k kms
Rear differential oil change, transaxle change every 30k kms
Coolant flush every 2 years
Power steering drain and fill every 4 years
Brake fluid flush every 2 years
Engine air filter replacement every year
Engine spark plugs replace every 100k kms
Engine oil replace every 5k kms
Radiator cap replacement with every coolant flush
Internal cabin filter replace every year
Under seat filter replace every 4 years
Alignment, depending on the road conditions. I perform this once per year
Check the Tire Pressure Monitoring System

Less frequently
Check the AC condenser in the front for any significant dents or damage
Check the backup camera and all electronics
Check the memory seat system

Initial Inspection
- Walk around the car in sunlight and watch for any dents, dings, orange peel look, oversprays rust.
- Check the rims for scuffing or cracks.
- Run your finger across the brake disks and feel for rough or smooth
- Check brake pad life
- Check tire tread wear by having the steering wheel turned to both extremes. Uneven wear means no alignment which equals no maintenance.
- Put the car into ON (Do not press the brake pedal just press the button until it's ON).
Make sure all the systems lights work.
- Test the HVAC system while the car is ON without the engine running so you can hear the various HVAC doors working. Cycle through the different modes on the panel.
- Check all internal electronics.
- Pop the hood and trunk and check for alignment issues. Remember just because the carfax is clean it doesn't mean the car wasn't in a major accident.
- Open the hood and have someone start the engine from cold. If the engine feels hot then the dealer warmed it up ahead of time (Not a good sign).
- Listen to the engine. Have someone rev it while you're listening to it.
- Go and smell the exhaust. Sweet smell means your engine is burning coolant. If it's warm outside and you're seeing smoke it means the engine is burning oil quicker than it should. (Our VQ 3.5 engines are known to burn small quantities of synthetic oil moreso than dyno oil)
- Perform the standard compression at all 4 corners and watch for bounce to assess the suspension.
- Drive the car over bumps a little quicker than you normally would with the windows open so you can hear any suspension noise
- In a large parking lot perform a tight turn in both directions and listen for any noises. It may indicate steering linkage problems.
- Use the manual mode transmission and test shifting and downshifting.

These are just some of the most apparent things you could check for yourself. Good luck and welcome to the family.

[pedsemdoc]

third3y3:

I think msvara brings up quite excellent points.

you may want to check out this thread: post6500817.html?hilit=m problems buying used#p6500817 for some specific things that folks seem to complain about more with the M.

I have a 2006 M45 with 89k and it has been pretty much trouble free, I had a problem with filling up the gas tank once (only half full but pump kept shutting off) I gave up for a day and went to fill it again and haven't had the problem since.

I also agree with Larz, overall I think the VQ engine has had prolly fewer cases of the dreaded oil consumption issue (but you should check to see how much oil is being used with changes if you can get that info) and I really love my V8 rumble and power. (even louder now with the R2C intake on)!!
I get my oil changed at the dealer, but have done many of the maintenance items myself: changed belts, brake pads and rotors, drained and filled the transmission fluid, changed in cabin filter (super easy), and just changed my spark plugs.

good luck and keep us updated if you pull the trigger...if not, keep looking and you might find someone on the forums who is looking to upgrade and wants to sell.

[pedsemdoc]

maybe if the second owner went to a nissan dealer for service? would that show up in the Infiniti database?

[TXT]

All comments above are too true. I also had issues with filling up and the pump stopping. I found that the 5" (approx) diameter rubber stopper that is on the gas pump is placed flush against the car's gas tank opening, it stops the pump, but I pull it out a bit and I never had a problem since then.

M45 do have more of an Oil consumption issue but the M35's are pretty damn solid compared to all the posts I've seen on here. You shouldn't have a problem as long as you can be sure of the maintenance history and be sure everything is in order and on track.

I also went from an Acura ('99 TL) to my current car. I can see why you are worrisome of the transmission, on the previous forum almost 80% of the people that had my generation car had their transmission replaced at least once.

This car having a timing chain and not a belt is a big plus!

Let us know what you think when you drive the car.

[pedsemdoc]

I also went from an Acura ('99 TL) to my current car.

I went from a 2000 TL to my M45... (like minded individuals!)

no offense to Acura because it was a decent car, but my M, although bigger and heavier, I think handles better than the TL. Of course, that was before the TL got Super Handling All Wheel Drive. I'd like to drive a much newer generation TL and see what it's like as a comparo.

[svard75]

Funny I took a few detours along the way but went from an 01 cl-s to this car. Honestly though I miss my 2 door vtec screamer. I bought it for 18k and 2 years later sold it for 18k. Unfortunately 3 months later the guy that bought it emailed me saying his transmission blew. Acura did increase the power train warranty to 170k kms but after experiencing it once it's always going to be a lingering thought.

Just one final thought. Unless you can pull all the maintenance records for a used car you should always expect to perform higher mileage maintenance items. Budget an additional 3-5k for the first year then settle down. The good thing about doing this is you create a new starting date.

[TXT]

Yea the transmission was pretty bad. It had an extended warranty of 100,000 miles or 8 years whichever came first.

People would notice the transmission acting up, and shortly failing after getting transmission fluid changes, flushes etc. I bought the TL with 88K miles and traded it in for this current car when it had 164K miles. Didn't change the transmission fluid once. Reason for that is because most people on the previous thread were convinced that the transmission fluid contained metal shavings that was holding the transmission together! Not to mention the horrendous clacking noise and feel it made when I put it into reverse

When it was traded in, it had a transmission leak from the case seam, and an oil leak that was difficult to fix. Total price to fix it all was more than the car was worth. Plus, re working that s*** transmission would probably be cause for it to fail even quicker which most people also experienced. I bought the M45 on a Sunday. The service dept. was closed and didn't do a normal inspection to my TL that I traded in. If they would have raised the car up, they would have seen the leaks.

All in all the car was great to me (I was lucky). Never broke down on me and always turned on for 7 years straight. When I finally got rid of it, I was able to breathe easy and know my car wasn't going to randomly break down and have a huge repair bill!

Compared to my previous vehicle, this is why I believe this car is great and bullet proof as long as maintenance is kept up. The amount of car that you get for the price you pay is incredible! The car still looks great in 2013.

[lastig21]

I'm really surprised at the big maintenance expense on the RL. I researched those cars closely for a couple of years, but wound up with a TL instead. They are solid cars, and taking a bath on the trade-in may not be a good idea if you still like the car. I own an 07 M35 Sport, and like the RL just as much.

If you are only due for the 105k service, I would definitely shop for a better service price. If there are some repairs needed as well then I might change my tune.