Hi all, I just test drove a 03 G35 sedan from a private seller and need your input on whether I should keep proceeding. Before all that I did some research on the topic, so I'm aware that 03 G35 is not the best choice, and there were some common complaints such as the radio+climate control and the brakes etc.

Here are the basic info for the car:
03 G35 base, 76K miles, two owners (the current owner has not paid off the lien yet, but it did not show up on autocheck records), tan leather on black exterior, all the basic options (power seats, heated seats, cd changer, bose audio, auto dimming rear-view mirrors, reclining back seats, dual zone climate control, rear spoiler etc), seller asks for 9k firm.

Pros:
1. low mileage and relatively good overall condition
2. relatively low price to start with. Edmunds trade-in for this one is about 9200 with good contion
3. 99% of the bells and whistles work
4. Drives well, gear changing and braking are smooth. The only difference I felt was stiffer steering compared to my 01 taurus.
5. not much carbon accumulation at exhaust pipes and stuff coming out of the exhaust seems and smells normal (no white/black/blue smoke)

Cons:
1. Owner has parked this car outside the garage for a while judging from the dust and stuff. And it's not a frequently driven car as well.

2. Owner seems to be bad at keeping records, and claimed not use dealer for the service too. I only saw two receipts one for changing two accessory belts one for oil change.

3. Radio unit cannot display some of the station name (strange problem, but owner compared it with other G sedan and noticed the difference). Had the dealer changed the radio unit twice, but hasn't fixed it. However, the unit works just fine, so does the climate control. I think the infamous problem either hasn't happened yet or has been fixed during the first ownership (before 2006).

4. Also the power window motor used to have the problem at when it rolls up all the way to the top it drops back a notch leaving a gap. Owner said it always acted up in spring, and had dealer fixed it by changing the motor.

5. Above two repairs are the only ones that has been done in a dealership and also no receipts whatsoever.

6. Car has been listed for 1.5 months, and dropped from 10k to 9k asking price. But only 4 people came out to test drive. Owner gave sort of valid/reasonable explanation why there were no deal.

7. Owner is not a car person and seems not take special care of the car. The oil hasn't been changed for a while from what I could see on the dipstick, but owner said oil got changed recently.

8. No major maintenance/repair work has been done on the car, such as time belt replacement based on owner's words.

9. a few shallow scratches on the rear left bumper cover, and some minor defects inside, for example the heated seat button is worn and the indicator light on the driver side button is not working.

I haven't taken it to the mechanic check yet, but based on what I've disclosed here, do you guys think it's a good deal that I should not pass or it's so so? My budget is actually 8-8.5k, so if you guys think it's gonna be a trouble maker in the long run in terms of repair/maintenance, I can always look elsewhere. It's just kinda rare to see an G sedan go near trade-in price from a private seller and yet the car is not in a crappy condition.

Thanks.

 

do you mean 7600 miles or 76000 miles.

considering 76000 miles, $9k is a dime and dozen deal (ie not a steal at all), if anything, I think a bit high for an 03.

I think you have done a lot of research and you know what you're talking about. However, I'd be a lil weary on the fact that owners are not car enthusiasts, and might've been a bit lazy on the maintenance.

At the end of the day, you seem like you are very interested in the car and have done your research. go with your gut.

 

I'd pass on this one hands down. Based on the information you have gathered and observed about the G35, I wouldn't feel comfortable at all about pursuing this vehicle.

 

Since your budget is 8 to 8.5 k, and he wants 9k firm. I will pass on it and find someone else that takes better care of their G.

 

it's 76k mileage sorry about the extra decimal point.

I haven't even tried to negotiate the price with the owner. My routine is get the mechanic check results then tried to split the repair cost, but it might not work and I'll just throw the inspection fee into the water. Anyways, I think I'm not very good at negotiating price and easily got speechless and had no good come back lines when owners said no to my reasoning. I was amazed by several friends of mine who can even cut the price by 2-3k (sometimes even below trade-in) just by talking over the phone. sigh.

It's really a bad year for car purchase. Based on my observation on CL in DC region, 70% of the time it's either ancient cars (199*) or newer cars with ridiculously high mileage (claiming low mileage of 120K and above, gosh). I was a bit interested and decided to drive 30min to check this one out because I really haven't seen any private selling G35 with such low mileage and price and yet the conditions are not total crap (judging from the clean autocheck records and the pictures shown by the owner).

 

Pass.

Or talk him down to less than $8000.

For reference: I bought mine in 02/09 for ~$8700+tax ($9300 "out the door")
It had 99k a small dent on the rear bumper, and a jammed CD player, but was single owner, and a full service record from Infiniti.
I've put over 30k more miles on it with very minor issues (broken AC belt, etc...)

Thing that concerns me about the one you're looking at is the owners sketchiness on servicing the car.

 

^Listen to him. This car does not sound like a good deal.

 

plus tax? So you got the car from a dealer then? What was the kbb/edmunds price back then? Problem now is KBB/edmunds has raised their appraisal price under this tough market, so even an identical condition (same package, same age) car is estimated higher than before. I haven't looked into the dealership at all, but a quick scan online showes that they do want to make a ton of money on one car

I was amazed by people that can actually snag a deal out of the dealership.

And btw, since most of you guys do not think it's a good idea to proceed, I think I'd pass on this one too.

 

^The dealer was a small-time used car outfit, not a brand dealership.
For whatever reason he couldn't move the car (99k miles I suspect) and was about to send it to auction. (Actually called him up and met him at the auction, if I had flaked on him, he'd have just auctioned it off same-day)

 

I would pass. Maintenance is pretty important with these cars and without the records to show what the previous owner has done it would make me a little uneasy with 76k miles on the motor and transmission.

 

I'd pass for the same reasons the other guys have given

 

I left a msg yesterday at the infiniti dealership for the records and just got a phone call from the service dept. Apparently they can pull up the service records just by VIN. Basically the car has not been serviced (oil change type of general maintenance stuff), but only came in for warranty issue. The two repairs (radio unit replacement and window motor replacement) were indeed performed at the dealership. There is an open recall about seatbelt for this car as well. Anyway, it now sounds like the owner is not too off despite the bad records keeping.

another finding is that the odometer reports stops at 39000miles back in 2007, then it only shows registration renewal without mileage report. Autocheck seems not solid for this case then.

 

i got mine at 78k miles but the only problem it had at that time was that some lights were out n it was showing the air filter sensor light...i took i to my mechanic to get it cleaned n it became ok....

I have had the car for about 8 months n the following is the list of problems i have had..

SES- Camshaft postion sensor circuit malfunction -bank 2

Radiator leak after coolant flush which caused overheating-- Had to replace the top part of the radiator

Heater was blowing cold air when at a stop light but would become hot when moving --It fixed it self after replacing the radiator...

My car went of while at a stop sign and all abt three lights lit up on the dash board n when i pulled the code it said MAF sensor,,,I noticed a significant loss of power......Solution: Turn off the ignition abt 3 times..the sensor should reset and all the warning lights will out......

I passed a bump once and my dash light and radio light went out intermittently with the a/c stuck on full auto.......I figured out a way to fix this by wiggling the key when it occurred n it automatically reset n fixed itself after abt 2 days

Currently my A/C sounds like a lawn mower if my car is parked under hot sun for a long period so i always park it in the garage because of this problem.....whenever it is parked in a shade the sound would be normal until i go out and turn the car off somewhere that has no garage or shade........Its been working for me........Also, another way to bypass this problem is to rev the car to abt 4000rpm while driving before turning n the a/c..

Due to this problems i have a Bluetooth obdII scanner in my car just in case.....Once u get a hang of how to bypass some of this problems the car is a blast to drive....I currently have a magna flow muffler n it is really deep. I also have a rear lip spoiler.. ..Just like i wanted...

NOTE....All the problems above has been fixed except the a/c issue.

HOPE THIS HELPS- THE CHOICE IS URZ..

 

...Well, my gut is telling me no on this one for you, unless you have the skill and know how to work on your own car. I was kinda in the same sort of a situation as you....found mine last year in march around $8800, 04 6mt everything but navi, @ 57k, BUT...I had been looking for mine for almost 2 years, the dealer was kinda one of the side road type deals with about 15 or so cars on the lot, he told me it was in an accident not totalled, but repaired, and didnt have a lot of records eithers. My budget was 10k, so I figured if anything was really wrong with the car I would take care of it myself, I bought the car for modding and having fun (MAJOR DECIDING FACTOR) now with 83K the only problems I have had out of the car is my yaw sensor went out (dosent bother with me) ac compressor went, and rack failed (partial fault driving low from WI to GA)...so took it to my buddys shop, $300 bucks and a half a day later, I learned how to put in a rack. Only Infinity did my ac because NOBODY can get it around here...So it all with what you want to do with it,

- build it, run it, mod it -eventully break something cuz your going to replace it anyway and can save yourself labor by working on it...go for it!

- want it to last, rim it, maybe even lower it...take your time and keep looking.

p.s. the recall may be the pass air bag if im not mistaken...$0.50

 

Do you guys honestly think it's possible to get a less than 100k miles G sedan 03-05 with clean title and no accident around DC region within my budget? Haven't seen anything like that below 10grand on CL, it's either accident car below 10grand or 10g for a G with 110k and above mileage, both from private and dealer.