I'm specifically thinking of a fully loaded Track for $29K but it has 9,000 miles on it already. I would have liked to buy new, but the savings is significant and its a step above what I would have bought new.

So in terms of reliability how many miles is too many?

 

Give the guy $26k

Dont worry about mileage. No way to tell reliability by looking at miles. Furthermore, several here have bought demo models with 2k+ miles already. Their dynos are the same and they're not having any problems

If the car has an extended warranty, there is nothing to worry about. Standard warranty, I'd think twice. But that's just me

 

A couple thoughts:

The more miles on the car, the more you'll know how the car will last later in life. Many of the squeaks and rattles will already be there, many initial problems will have been discovered, the weakest links would have been found. I think the engine will be very strong, unless the person has run poorly tuned aftermarket stuff (N20, S/C) but there are a couple things to look for:

A. TRANNY - Many people (but not me) have had tranny problems. The telltale sign is a grind when going into 3rd. My car has a slight "clunk" when going into second, but only when cold and it has felt the same since I got the car.

B. Drivers seat - check for side to side shifting in the front where the underside of your knees hit. My car has this.

C. Rattles - if rattles bug you, take a drive on a bumpy road with the windows closed and the radio off to see how solid everything feels.

D. Service records - Did the previous owner get his oil changed? This is also critical, especially when new, so as long as the person had his oil changed around 3K miles (and hopefully at least once since then) I'd think you should be fine.

E. Window Grease - This is a minor issue to me, and there is a TSB from Nissan to fix it (I don't want them messing with my car though). You may want to roll the windows up and down a couple times to see if any grease appears and if that would bother you.

Overall, I'd rather buy a used car with maybe 20K miles than one with only a few thousand. I think you'd get a much better understanding of how the car will last.

As far as the price goes, I don't know how good a deal that is. You don't have to pay tax, so you gain a bit there (unless it's from a dealer I guess) so a new Track would be probably about 39K OTD, so that seems like a good savings. Unless you already don't need to pay tax on new cars, in which case the difference isn't as significant. If you were buying new, you could get a base model for about the same. Are the differences enough to make you buy used? Also, you can always buy the extended warranty up until the original runs out. Not sure if that is tranferrable to a new owner, but if you had any major concerns you maybe could work something out with the current owner so he could transfer it to you.

Good luck!

-D'oh!

 

depends, look at the driver. is it an older guy who strikes you as the kind that bought it as a mid life crisis?

or is it some 22yo crazy guy with tattoos who tells you how much smoke the tires can make?

that would determine, if it was reasonable driven itd be a great deal. if it was raced for the last 9000miles, then no...

 

Sorry I should have been more clear, this car is from Carmax and supposedly has been through their full inspection process. Of course I will be driving it and checking it out first, but this is not a private party deal just to clarify. Thanks for all the responses, great advice.

 

$28 still sounds fair, talk them down though. $26K offer sounds good, they may drop some $$$ off the $28K

good luck!

btw, my car has 9,500 miles & I wish I would have waited a while & bought a used one. Love the car, just wish I would have paid less $$$ (I paid MSRP Nov/02)

 

carmax WILL NOT haggle, end of story, if its carmax, thats it.

as for their "inspection" its a quick look over and a test drive, not very in depth IMO. a carfax report is more indepth.

sadly you cant tell anything about how it was driven.

 

Dude check out the Z's for sale in this sites classifieds. There are some better deals then yoiur carmax one. Later.

 

When I sold my 01 Preulde to buy a Z, I felt really sorry for whomever ended up with it (I traded it in). I dogged the crap out of that car every day for two years... buyinging used is risky and you are saving money for a reason.