I would really appreciate some advice. I am set to take delivery of a 6-Speed Manual G35 Sedan next tues.

I test drove this particular car twice....kinda aggressively. I am sure that I rev'd over 4K rpm's on a couple of occassions, along with one emergency stop.

I obviously don't know how the other 250+ miles were put on.

I had not worried about a couple hundred miles on the clock until I did some reading here about the critical break-in period.

Bottom line is a got about 2K off sticker, and if I want a different model from another dealer, I'll pay closer to sticker, and it would take 90 to 120 days and some lot monkey would likely be the one driving the car around 100 miles to my dealership.

Should I take this car, or pay $2K more and wait a couple of weeks?

 

Somehow I think you have more options than you think you have. Not knowing where you are from in the northeast 2k off sticker is not an unusual deal, however you may have to wait awhile for another to come in. The car appears to have been used as a demo and I for one would not get involved with a car with 258 or so demo miles on it. Sounds like quite a few people have demo'd the car and one bad apple could have a long term negative effect on the car. I use the word "could" because it might not have a long term effect but I would not take the chance.

 

Please remember any car (almost EVERY car) you buy at a dealership has been BEAT. I previously worked at a dealership and know whats goes on.

the first 50 miles or so are most important and in some cases its been proven driving a certain way will break in the engine faster and better then owners manual.

the only thing i'd be worried about is having any of those 250 miles on cruise control. From what i've read, this is the worst thing to do to a new car. However if the car was driven hard from the start and shortly after cruise was used imo not as big a deal.

if you can get another car with low miles @ the same price... go for it !
I dont think the 250 miles are a deal breaker though

if your concerned about it... mention it to the dealer and work a deal for an extended warranty for little or no cost (will be tough). 80k or 100k miles security will put your mind at ease

gl

ppp

 

Eeaton,

258 miles on a 6MT is about 250 too many in my opinion. Here's why:

1) A lot of folks who think they know how to properly operate a manual transmission in reality have no clue. And if we're talking about various people test-driving a high-performance sedan with a tight little clutch and 298 horsepower, well, you can close your eyes and imagine what kind of foolishness may have gone on in your prospective car. Twenty-seven stalls from a dead stop may be the best of the lot from a purely mechanical perspective.
2) The clutches in the 6MT 350Zs and G35s seem to be a little on the weak side. Various reports of prematurely worn clutches and actual clutch disc failures float around this forum and the 350Z forums. A dozen knuckleheads can put a lot of wear on a clutch in 258 miles.
3) The transmissions in the 6MT 350s and G35s seem to be a little on the weak side as well, particularly the synchros. (See [2] above.)
4) Should we even talk about break-in? You're just asking for oil consumption and other thorny issues with a VQ35 that hasn't been broken in properly. Running a green motor to redline a few times during break-in may or may not hurt anything, but the dozen knucklehead factor comes into play here.
5) Virgin 6MT sedans are around. You can find them if you're patient. You know why? Because nobody buys the things. My dealer had a DG/Stone 6MT with nine miles on its odo trucked in 150 miles on a flatbed without me giving him so much as a penny of guarantee I'd buy it. (I did tell him I'd buy it, though.) When it arrived five days later I looked at the thing and said, "You know what? You've got a white one here, right? Give me that one instead." He didn't flinch a bit. (Incidentally, the white one I ended up buying had seven miles on it, the same number that Mr. Tamamoto in Japan signed for on the final inspection slip when it left the factory in Japan. Hadn't been driven by a single knucklehead until I hopped in and drove it away. It's now a one-knucklehead car. I don't count my wife; she can drive! )

Three totally personal stories in which YMMV: One, in September 2001 I decided I had to have the new 3.5 SE Altima that had arrived on showroom floors a week earlier, and it had to be a 5-speed. And I had to have it now. So I found one with 120 or so miles on the odo that had been shuffled back and forth by leadfooted salesgeeks to the Dallas Auto Show. I bought it. A few thousand miles later, the clutch started doing a really embarrassing death howl when taking off from a standstill.

Problem? Warped/blued flywheel and glazed clutch. Cause? Not me or my wife, who bought a seriously fast car and drove it like a Century most of the time. Fingers were pointed at idiot dealer sales staff and knuckleheaded customers who'd never test-driven a 14-second family hauler before. Fix? New clutch, flywheel, throwout bearing, etc. at less than 4000 miles. Frustrated customer who had no one to blame but himself? Me.

Second story: The VQ in my Altima, despite excellent maintenance done exclusively by yours truly that involved way overkill Mobil 1 oil changes every 3500 miles, always burned about a quart of oil between those changes. My opinion of the cause? The dealer monkey hotshoes and knuckleheaded test-drivers in (1) above who killed the break-in period before I even had a chance to start it. One or more oil rings never had a chance to seal properly.

Final personal story: $2K off sticker is nothing special for a 6MT sedan. Did I mention they don't sell all that well? I did? Well they don't. Find a dealer who's got a few on the lot and he'll be thrilled for you to take one off his hands. I paid $2300 under MSRP on my car and the dealer threw in an extra set of factory floor mats, touch-up paint, and wheel locks on top of that.

Good luck!

 

For what it's worth...I bought a "new" coupe with 763 miles...no problems yet. I got $3600 off sticker, which sealed the deal for me. On top of that, the debate about how a car "should" be broken in has NEVER been settled, IMO. Obviously redline clutch drops aren't good (never are, breaking in or not), but no one really has any proof that revving a new engine causes damage. There are websites dedicated to doing just that TO seal the rings. Others will say don't...but who has rock-solid proof that their way is right? No one, or else we wouldn't be having this discussion. The smoothness of the shifting is more important than the RPM's it was taken to, I would think. Basically, I'm saying that the clutch is probably all that may be "worn", and that is likely not very much. Also, you can be sure that if someone beat on it hard enough to really matter, the problems will surface long before your powertrain warranty (6 years, 70,000 miles) is up. So I guess I don't think it's that big a deal, as long as you get a discount because of it...you can definitely use it as leverage.

 

JKRight's post above is right on the money IMHO. Well done. I'd also walk from a car with those 'new' miles on the ODO simply because there are other fish in the sea. Why by an unknown when knowns are out there?

As for break-in. Of course there is a right way to break in the car. You can read all about it in your owners manual. That's all the 'rock-solid' proof or guidance I need. if it were an airplane and could fall out of the sky, would you do other than what the book told you just because some guy walking across the hangar told you it would be okay? I wouldn't. He won't be there in the cockpit as the ground is rushing up to meet me.

All the 'bubbas' who think they know better and start all the aforementioned debates didn't engineer the car. They also won't cover your warranty when you have a problem. If you do it other than the way the manual states and you have problems you'll always wonder if doing it as the engineers described would have been a better idea. It's really that simple.

People here are very quick to tell you that doing things contrary to your owners manual won't hurt your car. That it makes no difference. Those people won't be anywhere around when your car decides to take a $hit because you were so impatient to 'feel the power' that you couldn't restrain yourself for 1200 miles.

Buy a new 6MT (less than 10 miles on the ODO) if you can find it (you can) and make YOUR decision how you want to break the car in. Don't let someone else make that decision for you.

 

I'd personally take a pass on a car with that many test drive miles on it. I've got a 6MT that had 6 miles on it at delivery, and the thought of 10-15 people taking test drives before I got it makes me cringe.

Funny thing, because I've previously only had high-mileage used cars ... go figure. Guess making a $30K committment has made me a little over-protective

 

I really think you folks are making much to do out of nothing. Would an 8 mile new car be better than a 258 mile car? Yes.

But if you are getting a good deal for the 250 miles, I would take it. Seriously, what do you want the dealer to do, set aside 5 or 6 cars for test drives and expect you to buy one without test driving it? How many 6mt cars should be set aside accross the country for test driving? You then need a 5AT with sport and one without sport. What if someone is out in it when you want to drive? Maybe the dealership needs two with sport and two without sport? What should the sales people do - they need to drive one once in a while to make sure they know what they are selling?

I don't think 250 miles of routine test drives is going to cause ANY long term damage to a car. If a test driver is really abusing a car I am pretty sure most sales reps will put a stop to it quickly - or they get fired.

I'm sure someone will point out an anecdotal exception to this but I just don't think most of these cars are damaged in any way at all. Which one of you will buy the 5000 mile test driver? No one?

I would hate to live with some of you picky so and so's.

 

Most sales reps encourage a customer to "let her out", to help them sell the car. "Don't be afraid to give her the gas" is what I was told. You can buy the car with 250 miles because I sure won't. I could care less about how the dealership deals with their demos. As far the 5000 mile demo that will be marketed as "executive driven" and some schlub will buy it for a nominal discount.

 

I wouldn't buy a car with more than 10 miles on it when I bought mine. I was so **** about it, I got mine off the truck and picked it up with 7 miles on it and not 1 test drive. I sure as hell was not going to buy the one I test drove...even the sales guy beat the **** out of it because he had "never driven the 6speed" before.

 

Funny that you make this all seem so unreasonable because what you describe is EXACTLY what my dealer does. Drive a DEMO and then pick your new ride from dealer stock. I didn't actually drive my car until we had all the paperwork ready to sign. It was weird to make a deal on a car I hadn't driven... No signatures or money changed hands until the test drive was over, but until I showed true intent I couldn't drive anything but one of his DEMOs. I didn't have a problem with it.

 

I guess none of you guys will never buy a used car, which I find hard to believe. I think it's just a matter of your sub-conscious. Most people want to know that when buying a new vehicle, the miles that are on it was all/mostly put on there by them, which I think is perfectly normal. I bought my new 04 G sedan about 28 days ago with 72 miles on it. This is my 4th new car and all of the ones I bought had miles ranging from 22-85.I feel just great about them, except for my stupid fuel door that just broke 4 days ago. Actuator replaced under warranty of course. I now have 1180 on my car, HHHHHHhhmMMM come on 1200.

 

Was the car a dealer swap? If so, it was most likely driven from the originator to the other. Just check the dealer's name on the Monroni lable (window sticker). Is it the same as the dealer you're at or another? If it's different, it's a swap car. And, if ya gotta a problem with the miles on it...stop the analyzing and move on to the next. What's the biggie? There's PLENTY more where that came from...right ?

 

My dealer wasn't that strict -- if I'd asked, I think I could've driven every G35 on the lot. But like Gee and Corgidog mention, they had a few '05 models set aside as customer and salesperson drivers. They'll beat the heck out of these cars then sell 'em as demos. Which brings us to...
Exactly that. Instead of beating on half of their stock, a dealer who knows what he's doing and gives a flip about the product he sells will take a representative slice of his product line and designate them as testers. Happens all the time. It's the way business is done, particularly in the higher-end marques. Think about it: Do you really think that the majority of people who plunk down $35K, $45K, $55K or more for an upper-tier vehicle are gonna simply overlook the odometer reading on a supposedly "new" car that reads triple digits? I think not.

In my case, I tore up the test-driver to see if I really liked it, picked out a car, agreed on a price, drove the car in question after they'd run it through make-ready to make sure the engine wasn't gonna flop out of it, signed the papers and took it home. I wouldn't have it any other way.

In my opinion, paying premium money for a premium vehicle at a premium dealership should get you a premium buying experience that includes a virgin or nearly virgin automobile. We're not buying Impalas here.

 

I really appreciate everyones thoughtful responses to my question and concern.

I am going to call the dealer tomorrow and tell him i want one with less than 15 miles on it period. I might be ok with the 258 miles, but I'm spending alot of money and don't want the doubts that I already have. I want a silver w/ black, but I would almost rather have the black on black they have on the lot over the miles at this point.

I am concerned that if it takes ordering one from the factory, that I will not be able to get the 2.9% that is only guaranteed until the end of the month.

On a side note: I am giving up my 2nd and last Ford SHO for the G35. The SHO on-line community was strong and very willing to help each other out. Looks like the G35 has just a great a group of guys on this web site.

thanks again.

BTW - BOTH my test drives of the 258 mile car were without the sales guy. they literally just threw the keys to me and said enjoy!