Hi All

My son is 16 and has asked for a Q45 as his first car.
We have found this one in very good shape. 115,000 miles. Its a 94. My questions are would $2500 be a good price to get this car for? How will it be in the snow?
Thank you for any advice.

Ahhhh im having trouble adding the photos
Stay tuned

The Q45 has a dual overhead cam 4.5L V8 with 278hp delivered to the rear wheels. When new it was one of the fastest sedans on the market, with a 0-60mph time of 7.3s, and a top speed of 150mph. It is way too fast for a 1st car. It is not going to be great in the snow either.
Not to mention the growing cost of repairs on these older Infiniti vehicles. If you're footing the bill, you want to let him learn on something cheaper to repair.
That being said, $2500 would be a great price for a Q45 in nice condition.

If you have the maintenance records for this car and thousands of dollars have been spent on regular repairs, it might be a good deal.
If not, you will be spending at least 15 grand to get it and keep it running great for the next few years.
Parts are becoming impossible to get.
All this is from experience.
My '95 Q, since new has cost $26,000.00 in repairs and maintenance.
I love my city car, but parts are now a key problem.

Almost any 30 year old car is going to be a challenge to maintain, and a Q45 isn't what I'd consider to be an extremely reliable vehicle - it's better than some, but worse than others. Parts can be difficult to find and often have to come from Japan, which means it's probably going to be down waiting for any parts beyond typical maintenance stuff. Finding somewhere that's willing to work on it can be a challenge as well, since it's not familiar like a typical old Camry or Accord. Not sure if you've checked with your insurance company yet but I would be surprised if premiums weren't exorbitant for a teen driver in a V8 powered car (my insurance guy always said "4 doors, 4 cylinders" to keep teen premiums down).

That said, it's a car with character far beyond most any newer vehicles, with great build quality, performance (for it's day), and attention to detail. If your son is a car enthusiast and plans to wrench on it himself it's a great vehicle to start on, because it's not OBD2 and he'll need to learn to diagnose any issues like a real mechanic, instead of just reading codes and throwing parts at it like most modern "technicians" do.

Find one with as much maintenance history as possible, because one that's been ignored is going to end up needing a lot of work to keep it running.

I can't add much to what's already been said. I think it depends on your son. Snow performance is a real problem, especially for an inexperienced driver. It could be a fun car to tinker with, but be prepared to keep "mom's/dad's taxi" up and running, because you're going to have some down time when you're waiting for parts - if they're available at all.

Your son has very good taste! I've owned my '95 since 2019 and it was my first car and I got up to some shenanigans in it. RWD, limited slip differential, and 278hp V8 makes for a fun combo. There are certainly better cars out there for teens. These cars require a lot of love. Parts can be expensive and/or hard to find. Keep in mind that it's a 30yo car so things are just going to break. They are also terrible on gas and need 93 octane which gets very expensive. That being said, this is far from the worst car for your son.