Scared Possible Buyer

[Searching4APath]

Ok, so my family and I have owned nissan vehicles for a very long time. I have owned 2 maximas, my parents an old pickup, a maxima an altima, my wife parents a maxima and a g35 coupe. Here's the situation. I just sold a honda odyssey that we bought brand new and loved it. we just needed to lower our payment a little. We are looking at a 2005 LE 4x4 that looks absoutely beautiful. The dealer is asking 16500 with 72K. Anyway, 2 problems. When we are driving down the road everything is great. We noticed when we got on the freeway the 4wd display would go out and the 4wd light came on. the switch was in the 2wd position when this happened. i would switch it to "auto" the light would go out the display would come back on and then switch it back to 2wd and it would work for a while and then repeat.

THE DILEMA (sorry this is getting lengthy)

I came on here to attempt to find a solution for my problem, but after spending about 2 hours reading on this forum, i am completely terrified to even buy the vehicle because of what could go wrong. i have done nothing to my other nissans and my honda other than change oil and tires. i can't afford to spend an additional 2 grand on a warranty and even worse have them deny 1 claim that will cost me.

Are my fears unfounded, or should i go look elsewhere?? Please HELP!!!

[macbell7]

If your buying from a dealer, have them fix it and warrant the repair. If not then just forget about that car and go find another one. Theres too many used cars out there to just settle on one thats not working completely.

[skinny2]

There's more to vehicle cost than a lower payment. I would probably shy away from the early R51 Pathfinders particularly with higher miles just because of many of the issues you see here and unknown care. Why not just pick up a cheaper Odyssey? You can probably pick up a fairly low mile '07 Odyssey for the same money unless you want a higher-end model. We've had our '05 Ody since new and my wife has no intention of getting rid of it. Or find a lower-end PF as the LE's seem to command quite a premium. If you need to save money...don't be foolish and buy the most expensive vehicle you can possibly afford. You'll possibly be in worse shape at some point and all this buying/selling ends up costing you more in the end.

If you're set on a PF and that's your budget, I'd shop for a private party that way you may have a better chance knowing the history and care. I bought my '08 from a private party and got a much better deal than I could find on a lot. Most on the newer ones are rental returns as well which I'm not interested in.

[Searching4APath]

Our odyssey was an 07 EXL-DVD we absolutely loved it - we actually could continue to pay for it, but we are trying to be premptive. The economy has really hurt business and income for us. As we live in utah, I was trying to find her something that would be 4wd. The odyssey did ok in the snow, but i thought i would get her something with better traction. we have 3 kids in car seats so we needed the 3rd row as well. anyway, because of my nissan loyalty, i thought to start looking and we have driven quite a few, and we really like them. Long story short, i agree with you guys that im not going to make a deal without having them take care of the issue. I guess my concern was that if i am buying something that almost guaranteed is going to have future problems, ill just go back to my odyssey

[skinny2]

I think it would be tough to buy anything with 70k miles and not expect there to be some problems. Probably more than average for one of these. The killer about having three kids/carseats and 3rd row in the PF is there's hardly any cargo space with the 3rd row up. Nevermind the difficulty accessing the 3rd row. We rarely take the PF on trips with the kids because I have no idea where I would put our bags. Even trips to the grocery store are tough with 3rd row in use, whereas the Ody has gobs of space.

We run Blizzaks on her Ody in the winter and she's never wanted for a 4x4 at this point. We live out some nasty backroads in very hilly area as well and while the Ody is no 4x4, it gets around quite good with the Blizzaks. I would probably consider an AWD Sienna as well but they just don't drive as nice as an Ody (or PF for that matter).

[Searching4APath]

Found a 05 ODY EXL-DVD low miles great condition for 13900 - talk 'em down a bit and check it out! I apprecaite the opinions.

[08 pathy]

Found a 05 ODY EXL-DVD low miles great condition for 13900 - talk 'em down a bit and check it out! I apprecaite the opinions.

Dude if you have three kids in seats stick with the Odyssey. The rears in the Pathfinders suck compared to the Ody. And every car has it's problems, go to odyclub .com and read all the horror stories about the Odyssey tranys etc.
When I got my 08 Ody EX-L I found that site and was shocked about all the problems they have.