ive got an 06 with no oil consumption problems what so ever.

go with the 06

 

Conflicted... You own car's NAV is "boo boo?"

Respectfully don't agree, and I've used mine a LOT. BTW I since ditched my cord for the passport and wired into the powered mirror with a $14.95 well-done kit, no more cord. You cannot do that unless you have the auto-dimming home-link mirror, you need the right plug with empty power lead spots. Plus it opens my garage doors, etc. I like my dash uncluttered.




Loaded 03' is a much better buy if you intend to flip the car anyway. In three years both won't be worth much, why pay more for less? If there was a warranty reason, or a big mileage diff, that would be one thing.

IDK if you keep your NAVI up to date with updates but I've used mine extensively for work for 3 years and just drove 1000 miles last weekend through completely unknown territory, other than something built last month, it was spot on. You do need to figure out how to work around the lock out while driving, I reserve first 5 address book entries for Home plus 4 empty slots. Put in intermediate destinations on a long trip, then select the next one. Then you can select an intermediate destination in case you get the "cannot calculate route" which I have seen, but not often outside very congested NE/Mid-Atlantic East Coast. It is stupid that passenger can't use it while driving. Updates are expensive, just make sure it's up to date or you face the choice of signficant $$$ for map upgrades (or gray market copies of dubious origin, not a good idea).

We used a portable Magellan as a backup, and on very noticeable flaw was its voice guidance only thought one step ahead - "turn right in 3 miles" vs. "turn right in 3 miles onto I-80 East and then continue on the current route" or "then stay to the left", etc. It couldn't string together two things at a time verbally.

My only beef is w/o live traffic data, "fastest route" is sort of a joke, a problem common to most NAV's on the market. Once you've used one with live traffic volumes and accident alerts, it's hard to go back.

I may use my center console with a double-DIN conversion someday to put in a truly intelligent system that includes full broadband internet, etc. I do not like the G37's setup, they've put too many non-navi functions there, and almost created Son of iDrive in the process.

But for almost 6 years the OEM NAV with 3 updates has served me very well. Worth $2k? Maybe not, but then again I did not pay anywhere near MSRP on the car as a whole, either. Worth getting in a used car as part of the package? Absolutely.

My '04 has literally every option available when I bought it, and because of the way they were packaged, no ala carte choosing other than NAV and the underbody aero kit plus wing.

Basically all this was "standard" in '04, probably the same in '03:



Now that's funny, classified as "compact"?

These options were not:



If the last parts are not important, buy the '06.

Otherwise it's an easy choice, save some money and get a low miles '03, get better wheels and superb brakes, something you will actually notice while driving...

 

I was in the same place a month ago when i was choosing my car.
I went with an 05 because of the sleeker interior, imo it looks more lux.
To be honest wait and you will find an 05+ with navi just search a little outside of your city. I live in Houston but i drove 4 hours away to get the best deal possible...

 

I was in the same place 6 years ago choosing my car...oops, the '05 didn't exist in Nov. 2003.

Other than dumping the brakes which was a seriously flawed decision, I would concur the 2005 interior has cleaner lines, but you are talking about subjective issues as none of the major flaws were addressed (seat control switch position, no memory for the seat back position which even the i30t had). If you got the 19's you got some nice lighter RAYS-manufactured wheels, but you exchanged an excellent braking system for one that wouldn't last two laps on a track day. Stopping distance once or twice was just as good, ~122 feet from 60-0, but from 70-0 worse, and after repeated stops, forget it.

I would have understood if Nissan had put something more like these on there and dumped Brembo, but they didn't:



vs. "can you find the brake in this picture?"





They were replaced with same underpowered brakes I had on my 350Z, which were all done by 11k miles, not nearly enough brake to handle a 3400 lb car.

Just my $3000' worth

 

I appreciate all the help, but I found a good deal on an 04 LR 5AT with 25k miles. Only flaws: no navigation, no spoiler. Guy at the dealership said he could put one on for $400-$500. Should I go ahead and let him do it?

 

Well, an 04 is even better than an 03 assuming your paying around the same amount.

$400-$500 for the spoiler or the nav, or both?

 

i would go with 06 IMO

u can pick up a navi for around 200 bux. thats what i did.


GOOD LUCK!

 

yeah you should, if the guy knows what hes doing, putting a spoiler is not that big of a deal.

Im assuming you were talking about the spoiler lol

 

+++1 on that. I decided on my 04 for that very reason (as well as black interior, tinting, and all new tires and brakes from dealer).

I still have a few cassettes from the 80's, most sound like *hit, but are out of print and hard to replace on cd (thanks Columbia House LOL)