Q45 Reliability, Third Generation, 2002-2006

[jacob_coulter]

I recently joined the NICO site because I wanted to do some research on the Q45. I can get an incredible deal on a 2002 Q45, but my concern is how reliable are these cars? It seems the previous generations are fairly reliable, but what about the last generation?

I want a big sedan, but I'm usually hesitant to buy a "flagship" car, but my previous Infiniti was incredibly reliable, so I know they make solid cars. I wouldn't even consider this if it were say a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes, they can be absolute money pits.

The car in question has high miles (120k), but he commuted on the freeway quite a bit for business out of state, so they're highway miles. The car is clean and has the proper service records.

My fear is something like a transmission going out and the repair being close to what I paid for the car. I was going to buy the car and "budget" around $2,000 for repairs in case it has issues. Even if I spend the $2,000 for repair work, this deal would still be a great bargain.

What is your opinion on this generation of Q45?

[Q45tech]

We haven't replaced a 2002 Q transmission yet [as the 6 year PT warranty] , but we like the 5 dealers in metro ATL have few modern Q customers.

With older Q we recommend $3,000 minimum to repair.

The best thing is to pay an expert on that year model to perform lots of testing at $85> $125 hour against the potential of a $4,000 transmission replacement or $5,000 used engine replacement.

Spending $500>$1,000 to make sure you are not looking at $9,000 in quick repairs is wise.

Buying a running spare [wrecked or not] is a useful spare parts option if you really love the 2002.[best MPG model in 2002-2006 Q range]

[jacob_coulter]

I appreciate the reply.

I'm definitely hesitant on this particular model because it's such a low volume car and it has so much "technology". I actually can do quite a bit of automotive work on my own, but a car like this scares me away from most repairs outside of the basics.

The particular car I'm looking is smelling fishy, the owner won't agree to take the car to a dealership for inspection, but he said I could bring a mechanic out to see it. I told him I would agree to his price and buy it at the dealership if it checked out first, but he said no. Definitely not a good sign.

This doesn't necessarily mean something's wrong with it though, I can actually understand being reluctant. Selling a car is a pain in the a$$ anyway, and the nearest dealership is a bit of a drive. I actually was selling a car years ago, a really inexpensive Honda that was a great car (should have kept it). A guy took it to his independent mechanic and told him not to buy the car, gave him all kinds of dire nonsense. My guess is he had one he wanted to sell to him. I sold that same car to someone I know who said it was absolutely trouble-free. I've also had cars inspected and they did a horrible job looking it over, barely doing anything.

[qship96]

i think the similar year Lexus LS is a much, much better car all around than the 02-06Q......better built, more luxury, more durable, and more of them {much more} produced, so more options down the road of obtaining parts both through the dealership and junkyards.Even if you have to purchase a slightly older LS to stay within your budget, it is a overall better choice than the 02-06Q......sad, but true.

[jacob_coulter]

i think the similar year Lexus LS is a much, much better car all around than the 02-06Q......better built, more luxury, more durable, and more of them {much more} produced, so more options down the road of obtaining parts both through the dealership and junkyards.Even if you have to purchase a slightly older LS to stay within your budget, it is a overall better choice than the 02-06Q......sad, but true.

That's actually what I'm looking at also, I like the LS, but even ones with a lot of miles are pricey.

A Q45 of similar vintage is literally about half the price. That usually tells you something (like stay away), but sometimes certain cars have horrible resale values for different reasons. Some cars are just not really desired despite being well built and reliable. I was hoping to get some more insight if that was the case with the last Q45, and it was a hidden gem.

Lexus does make an amazing car, their just incredibly boring imo .
My wife has one, and it's been great, and the resale value is unbeatable.

At the end of the day, II would rather spend more on a better built car than throw money for repairs towards a money pit. You can also usually recoup more back on putting money towards a better car, whereas you usually won't get a penny more for putting money towards keeping a car running.

[qship96]

I dont think the 02-06 is a bad car,despite evidence of lower quality standards compared to older Q { common to have oil burning problems and engine replacement under warranty, early wheel bearing failures, short lived overpriced HID component failures,etc} but after sitting in an LS and 02-06Q back to back, the LS feels like a true lux car, and the Q a overpriced enlarged Altima.....they really do not seem like equal competitiors at all as far as fit/finish/quality of materials used.

[djwarner]

I bought an '02 Q45 this January - but with only 47K miles. I paid a fair price for a vehicle in its condition and have had only one problem. The automatic seat pushback loses counts and pushes the seat forward too far when I re-insert the key. So far it hasn't bugged me enough to swap the drive units between the driver and passenger seats.

The fact that the current owner will not let an Infiniti mechanic check out the car is a BIG, BIG FLAG. He obviously knows something he doesn't want you to find out. For the model year, piston ring failures caused a lot of engines to be replaced under warranty. As for mine, I burn about a quart every 3,000 miles so as far as I know, the ring problem may have been a design or a break-in problem.

The vehicle is an electronic car. Everything down to the power seats run through a microprocessor. The FSM is oriented towards using the onboard electronics to isolate and troubleshoot everything. If this doesn't bother you, the Q might be a good option if you can find the right car.

From what I've learned here, the transmission is subject to damage if the car is towed with the rear wheeels on the ground for any length distance - even when the transmission is in neutral.

I would not put the Q in the same class as an Altima. And the V8 still puts a smile on my face. I've always considered Toyotas to emulate the ride of a GM car and Nissans to emulate Ford (which I prefer).

[Q45man1]

I have owned my 02Q for 5 years now and I would say it's reliable. You have to follow the basic maintenance schedule (oil, trans fluid, etc). I still have the original HID, which is a fairly common problem with this model year. The problem is the inverter, a poorly designed driver which lacks proper rated ballast caps thus reducing the life hours of the light tubes.

Then there is the oil burning issue, mine burn 1/2 quart every 2500 miles. At 60K miles, replaced my shocks/bushings, belts, battery. At 100K miles replaced, plugs, belts, starter - not broke but decided to replaced it. My car is running strong as ever.

I would take the advice of Q45Tech and pay an expert to look at the car and performed full diagnostic. If I'm the seller and I know that my car is well maintained I would be glad to have an expert look at it and says this car is properly maintained and worth more.

If you have an extra funds I would also consider an 05-06Q. Infiniti cleaned out the bugs that plagued the earlier 02-04Q.

Good luck.

[loystock]

I have an 03Q and is running great with no oil consumption issue.

[Q45tech]

"the transmission is subject to damage if the car is towed with the rear wheeels on the ground for any length distance - even when the transmission is in neutral."

As far as I know EVERY RWD VEHICLE since 1980 has had the same situation!!!!

Just shows few people understand the lubrication system in AT.

[jacob_coulter]

I've definitely written off the specific car I was looking at, no way I'm not letting the dealership take a look at it first. I could understand an owner being reluctant to take the time to do this with a casual buyer, but if someone had a firm agreement that they would buy the car if didn't have any major issues, it's a no-brainer.

But even in general, this generation of Q45 with high mileage is a real risky bet, at least for someone who's a little more cautious and has been burned by high-end cars in the past. The car in question was a 2002 Q45 for $7,500 with around 125k miles. Obviously a screamin' deal, but I could easily see it becoming a money pit. If something like an engine or transmission went out, I would probably just part the car out and move on.

I think it's unfortunate, but most flagship cars being made today are disposable imo, with the exception of a select few Japanese makes. There's just too much exotic, "prototype" parts that have zero aftermarket support and only the dealership can service. You'd probably be lucky to even find some of these parts at dealerships. And with a car like the Q45, it's going to be extremely difficult to find any parts from salvage yards since so few were made. I've saved some serious money buying salvage parts that the dealership wants crazy money for. I remember I had an automatic climate control cluster that went out on my car. I got one off a salvage car for around $40 and installed it myself. The dealership wanted nearly a thousand. Solutions like that are going to be tough with this car.

Thanks for the feedback.

[jacob_coulter]

Just for the board's amusement, I thought I would share the seller's response to when I told him I would pay his asking price as long as I had an Infiniti dealer check out his car first. Here's part of his response:

"Does it matter who serviced it? I have the receipt for you to look at. I never take my car to dealers because they overcharge by 200% to 1000%.
The service done was: Oil-change, transmission fluid/filter change, new air filter, new belts, coolant power-flush for $270.
I can make your job easy regarding Carfax because I checked it before buying this car. It was a well-maintained corporate-leased car in Nevada and Arizona. I purchased it from the last officer. They did regular dealer maintenance and car is in nice shape mechanically.
Regarding driving the car to Infiniti dealership unfortunately I have to say no because first of all I canceled the insurance and tag on it because I don't drive it, it's stored out of sun in my garage, plus, the nearest Infiniti dealership is 20 miles from here, just imagine letting every buyer take your car 40 miles away then say "I'll think about it", it just doesn't work. Also no mechanic can check the car without pressure-testing, pulling plugs off and messing up the whole engine and I don't want them to touch the car."

This guy has sent me all sorts of angry emails for making this offer, it's laughable. He then goes on to tell me I don't have to worry about the mechanical issues because it has a CarFax done on it, and that will cover any issues that may come up.

Here's a link to all his ads on Craig's List, I've been flagging them so other consumers don't get taken:

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/search/ct ... A&hasPic=1

[marksport]

I think they are fairly neat cars, I do own a few of them

[andrewcconti]

I was in the same place as the original poster last September. I got pre-approved for a auto loan "blank check" up to $30k at a super low rate. Initially I had my heart set on a 02-05 Lexus LS with the Ultra Premium package. After studying the Lexus forums I learned all of those "cool features" literally air conditioned seats, reclining rear seat, massage seats were all very problematic along with the air suspension. So I decided to look into the mid and base level Lexus LS's. I wanted one with less then 75k and I had a hard time with the 20k++ asking prices for a 03-04 LS.

I stumbled on a 02 Q45 at a local Acura dealer. It had 65,000 miles and was amazingly clean. Same colors as the car the original poster is (was?) considering. The local Infiniti dealer was nice enough to run the vin and the car was originally leased to a local Oil Company and the leasee ended up buying out the lease. The car had the CPS recall, replaced both front wheel bearings, both HID ballasts replaced, all services by the book all oil changes at the dealer, original keys,(both) books complete, Navigation. The car had a matching Michelins, always good sign of a caring owner. The dealer was having a Columbus Day weekend sale and I ended up getting the car for $10,500.

The car uses about a quart of oil every 2500/3000 miles. I had to laugh when reading the posts on here from others on the Q45's from owners and non-owners. I had a number of Porsche 911's over the years. The factory spec is 1 quart every 800/1000 miles. My 2002 BMW X5 5 speed used 1 quart every 1k-1500 miles. The Q has a high performance engine I do not find the oil consumption excess at all.

I could not be happier with my 02 q45. Actually Consumer Reports recommends the 02 Q45 as a good used car buy $8500-$10k

I probably would have passed on my Q had I not researched the service records, (as I would have on any car I was considering)

[M35 Eagles fan]

I had 2002 Q45 for 4 years and it was a great car. Bought it used CPO with 68k in May 2006 and only got rid it in February with 129k miles this year because of an accident with too much front end damage to make it worth repairing. I had the normal maintenance done at Superstition Springs Infiniti and a few warranty items done at 97k miles - transmission mount and a front strut replaced. No other issues at all and I was planning on keeping for a few more years. Very comfortable car to drive, plenty of room and getup when I punched it. I looked for a newer one to replace but ended up buying a new 2010 M35 sport instead. Great car but I do miss the V8...

I'd look for a 2005-2006 model with low mileage and CPO if possible. A lot of things that can go wrong - everything is electronic or computer controlled as mentioned above - and nothing is cheap to fix.

[OwnerCS]

He might have been given a low ball offer by a dealer on a trade in somewhere.

When I put my 1979 280 ZX 5-speed coupe up for sale in 1986, my independent Datsun/Nissan mechanic got wind of it and had his step dad buy it for asking price.

Sometimes I really regret selling that one. I think that is why I'm really into Infiniti ownership -- it just feels right.