It was a 2002 with around 190k miles still running solid and most likely I will be getting a check from the insurance company for the retail value of the car ($7-8k roughly) so I was looking for a replacement and it seems like an 03/04 G35/G35x might be the best replacement (other than another IS, but that would be boring :P).

I want to just pay for the car outright. I don't want another loan. I just want a car of similar quality to last me another few years. I've test driven a few G35's in the past and loved them.

With my price range I know I will easily be going over 100k in mileage, possibly 150k so I was wondering what I should look out for. A friend of mine who has been working at a shop for years advised me to stay away from Infinitis due to the tires needing replacement very often (every 9-12k miles) and transmissions every 30k miles.

One thing I loved about my Lexus is I barely ever had to replace anything from the 46k miles from which I bought it to the 190k that it is now that it's smushed. I've had to replace rims due to pot hole incidents and I had to replace a starter/alternator once. Nothing more. I don't want to get into a situation where I am replacing parts every few months. I might as well just have a car payment then.

Am I still safe as long as I do thorough research/checks on whatever G35 I go after if I'm going for the 03/04 100-150k mileage range?

 

Your mechanic friend has no idea what he's talking about. The transmissions in these last 200k easy and the tires last just as long as they would on any other sports car with negative camber

 

hmm, my first set of Nitto 555's lasted me 30K miles, i guess it depends on how you drive lol and IDK about tranny's needing to be replaced...does your friend work at a stealership?

 

I think your friend is confusing our cars for a Dodge Caravan. The G35 Trannies have been rock solid. I think some of the newer G37s took a hit on Consumer's Guide for a marginal trannie in 2009, but the problems were firmware related and Infiniti has since addressed. The G platform uses fairly aggressive caster/camber settings stock, so that may contribute to the car going through tires faster (and handling extremely well stock) than say a Camry, but overall it's very comparable to other performance sedans. I have seen more complaints about how fast the brakes need replaced than the tires.

I think you can find a clean 03-04 Sedan under 10k (coupes will be several thousand more for the same mileage), but I would probably try to stay in the 100-120k range as opposed to >150k. However, if you check the 'Mileage' thread here on Driver, you will see that alot of folks on the board have exceeded 150k with little or no major mechanical issues.

The rock solid reliability of these cars is one of the things that makes them very desirable on the used car market, similar to the IS.

 

Good advice from socketz. I shopped the IS300 and still love those cars. The G sedan just had more room and more power for a similar price or less. A well-maintained 100-120k-miler should do you for a very long time.

 

Thanks for the responses. I can't wait to go looking this weekend

Are there any big routine maintenance jobs that need to be done at any certain mile range? I know on my IS there's a standard 90k mile maint that needs to be done and was costly at the time.

 

These cars tend to eat compression rod bushings every 20-30k, but Infiniti now makes just the bushing available for the sedan (I believe the coupe still requires the entire bushing/rod assembly). Also, if you use your windows alot (I keep mine up most of the time) you may run into problems with the window motors coming loose. Other than that I change the oil/air and cabin filters regularly, replace the trannie/diff fluid every 30k, brake fluid at least once every two years, flush the radiator once a year, replace the power steering fluid every couple of years, etc.

There are a ton of threads on the subject...

 

I will search around. Thank you for the continued info.

 

05 sedan here with 117K miles (and heavily modified). I've spent less than $600 in her lifetime to replace the front lower control arms and lower ball joints (went with roll center adjusters as replacements) and other than that just routine maintenance. Your mechanic friend is mis-informed, might want to let him know he's trippin' about a whole lot of nothing.

 

Look on craigs list for austin tx. There is a nice silver coupe the guy is selling cheap! I think hes asking 7500 or 7800

 

Just like everyone else said, the tranny on yhe G is solid. I'm sure your mechanic was talking about the older infinitis that had tranny problems just as the j30 and the old school q45. Usually big body cars that take a toll on the tranny. Other than that just make sure to listen for any thud coming from the front of the car since the G's sometimes have the front bushing problems

 

2004 6MT Sedan here. Just rolled over 150k miles. I don't hesitate to get behind the wheel for my 200 mile daily round trip commute to work and back. The G35 is a solid car. I do need to replace the compression rod bushings and ball joints as mentioned previously by someone. I'm still on the OEM cam and crank sensors as well as the OEM Ignition Coils.

 

2005 g35 coupe just rolled 155k and never had issues with the tranny, did replace the door actuators with aftermarket ones, did the rear dif., oil change every 5k, cabin change every 6 months, and that's it for the last year. No issues at all, it runs really strong.

 

My transmission is just fine. There are very few on this board that has more drag strip passes on their G than I do. 30-50 in one night. My transmission literally has well over 1,000 passes on the strip. See my videos in the link below.

 

you'll probably have to budget ~$1.5k to bring a 100k mile car up to speed.
when you test drive, make sure the drive seat moves back and forth ($50 fix).. cd changer works ($250 fix).. go over a speed bump with the wheel turn almost fully to the left or right, if it creaks new compression rod ($350).. if the steering wheel is not aligned, more than likely lowe tie rod ($350).. struts/shocks ($300)..

FYI.. the brakes on 03/04 are very solid... but the cost is the OEM pads wear out every 20k-40k.

good luck man... personally.. i would spring for a 05/06... the updates on those models are worth it.