I have had good experiences with the car salesmen in the car. Most of them, if not all, have told me to go ***** out. I test drove the mazdaspeed6 and the guy directed me to some curvy a$$ roads and told me he wanted to hear the tires squeal
Hopefully your next test drive will be like that.

 

It seems like a clean car, I would offer 18,500 and go from there.

 

when first test driving a G last year i was driving my 96 cobra and was very much into the performance. i was already sold on the luxury/interior, and told the salesman, if you want me to buy this car im gonna need to drive it like its mine, i pointed to my car and said, if its anywhere near as fast as that u have yourself a deal. I drove it like i stole it, dropping gears, runnin to redline and quick shifting. Salesman **** himself when i put it sideways around a corner(thats soo much fun hahaha) got back and said.. sir if u have this car in IP, with Graphite interior/premium/nav/aero w/ less then 10k miles ill take one.. they obviously didnt so i waited till i found the best deal 3 months later.. what im tryin to say is.. your going to be spending YOUR money on the car.. drive it the way you want. dont settle for less then what u want! theres tons of cars out there man

 

Dean, I'd definitely try and go with at least an '05 RWD if at all possible, the brakes are better, the front wheels don't get black and the interior is a tad classier, IMO, because you are trying to impress clients.

 

Yeah- I may wait a bit until I can get into an 05. But I'll keep an eye out.

 

Dean407: dealer should give you approximately 20,000 for your car.......that's how much its worth,and i am guessing you kept the car in good condition with no acciedents. that's how much it's worth anyways.......i am telling you this because i work as a sales person at a infiniti dealership ....

 

The brakes on a 05 would be better but the one thing if you find an 03 or 04 with low km then you shouldn't worry too much.... and also it all depends on how a person drove the vehicle .......... if a person is constantly driving fast and breaking alot then that would make a difference.........

 

Yes sir, I'm actually a moderator for the ES sub-forum on the ClubLexus forum. After 10 years of owning and experiencing with 2 ES300's (1996 and 2001), I still know those great cars inside and out. Now having owned a G35 for a couple months so far, it's a huge night-and-day difference between that and the ES. The ES is a sweet car for cruising and feeling comfortable while driving but has no sport-like personality. I'm now at the point where I don't necessarily need the extra comfort in a car anymore and could sacrifice some for aggressiveness, and the G35 certainly has the best of both worlds. I love it

BTW, nice to hear you've owned a few ES's in the past and currently have a RX in your stable. That is just as nice of a car as the ES, and would love to have one (perhaps a used RX330) when we have kids.

 

I test drove an used GS300 before I bought the G35, and i could probably have been happy with it. The one I test drove had more miles on it than I was interested in at the time (and I had got it into my head I wanted a Navi, which made it hard to find used cars back 3 1/2 years ago).

Not as powerful as the G35, but I don't need all that power. Would have been quieter, but probably not as much fun over the longer term

It is too bad that the price for a newer vehicle was more than I was willing to spend.

I don't know if I want to go back to a FWD car unless I am just looking for transportation, and if I do, it will probably be used.

I liked having a new car for a change, with my G35 being my first ever, but I might be more willing to experiment with an used car, being cheaper, than a new car. For instance, I'm beginning to wonder whether I want a MT. But thinking for a 6 year purchase is intimidating. In 3 years, maybe a 3 year old 2007 MT could be something I try. If I don't like it, I missed the higher depreciation of the first 3 years. If I really really like it, keep it 4 years and still come out ahead money wise.

 

got an 03 sedan used past spring..
i made sure of getting one that had a little bit of warranty left and got rear bushings, front left control arm, and some rust fixed all under warranty.
my friend got the same car a week apart from me and he had to get the driver's seat fixed.

we both got extra warranty because we wanted to be prepared against luck playing with our g35s but it doesn't seem like we'll be using much of that warranty. either way, it helps me sleep better

coming from mx-6, i don't enjoy driving around city streets as much (mx-6 was very nimble imho). but highway driving makes up for everything for me. don't get me wrong, g35 handles city streets excellent as well. but all the power we have plus rwd really comes alive in highways for a conservative driver like me. u gotta go to a highway during ur test drive!

hope this helps~

 

I wonder how a dealer would react to having a car bought elsewhere come in for a lot of warranty work?

There are a lot of TSB's on the G35- a good bit minor...but I'd probably check all of them. LOL.

I may try to go test drive a few nicer examples over the next week.

I have to admit that I really love my Navi. I used to rag on my friend for getting a navi a few years ago. But it's great to just get a business phone number, pop it in and find what ya need.

Also, searching various interests by distance is great too.

I have to go all over creation and being able to just click a point on a map and have directions is great.

But- nav is very very rare on these cars. Searched a bunch of threads and the pioneer looks cool.

 

my dealer didn't seem to care at all.. from my discussions with the service manager, they get to bill infiniti anyways for the work (with minor differences) so they were happy as long as the work can be justified.

as for the quality & shape of the car, i've seen opposite ends of the spectrum.. some were in ridiculous shape, some were in almost new shape. u just have to spend time and pick one u'll be happy with.

mine was in almost new condition in terms of interior. she had a few minor dents on the exterior but a trip to paintless dent removal shop fixed all that.

 

I would think that the smart behavior would be to treat you well, so you come back for further services, and buy your next car there.

 

I bought the exact same car (except mine's an AT) for $21,400, with 22K miles...Your's seems reasonable...Talk em down.

 

That would only work if all employees were rated over several years of performance and that they all kept their work there for several years.

Long term vision is great but with people that jump from jobs to jobs every few months it's almost inexistant.