Looking into low-mileage 09
 

I'm looking at a 2009 Z Touring with the 7AT. The car has less than 7k miles, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. CarFax lists it as having 2 owners (each owned it 1-1.5 years and both low mileage drivers, go figure). First thing I'll do is check the tires to see if tread wear is aligned with this kind of usage (i.e. no ODO fraud). The first owner registered it as a commercial vehicle.
Only one service entry is listed for an oil change, which is a possible red flag since the owners may have though there's no need to change it if they aren't driving it much. But it's possible the owners changed the oil somewhere that doesn't log this information.
Any recommendations regarding general and/or Z-specific things to look for?
Thanks!

With such low miles... it was probably registered as a commercial vehicle so the owner can pay insurance relative to vehicles in his small business fleet. (discount)

Get a high quality synthetic oil, consider an oil cooler(if needed?) and check for 09 tsb's in the tsb section. Steering lock, ecu whine, oil consumption etc...

I'd pass but that's just me. Machines are designed to run. If they don't run regularly, they'll get rusty. The car is probably out of the 36K/3yr warranty anyway.

I wouldn't buy it because it's an auto, not because of lack of useage in three years.

If the tires have flat spots it has not been moved, and must be deducted from price.

I just bought one same scenario a couple of weeks ago with 5808 miles on it, 7at. Been fine so far. Titled as dealer car twice. I'm not worried about it. Plus for an additional $1200 I purchased Carmax 6 year 100,000 mile pretty good warranty on it. Buy an extended warranty would be my advice.

Not always true! I have 4 car in my house with only one driveway plus I also have a truck, the other 2 are a SUV (old lady) & car (daughter).

My car is 09 and has a little over 10,000 miles. I have been 3 times to ZdayZ and plus different car events. However to get my car out of the garage I have to back up 2 car and then put then back in de driveway since I lived in a Cul-de-Sac where the parking is premium.

So most of the times I jump on my truck and go to work. I drive the car more often during the Fall, Spring and some mild Winters because they leave before me to go to work and school.

So my car is not rusty and gets regular maintenance, and at least I drive it twice a month. Is in better condition that some 10, 11 or even 12s models. :twocents:

Cars built mid 10 and on seem to have better odds with oil consumption, ecu whine and other small issues. I'd consider trying to get something past a year one car. Lots of people have 09s that are flawless but it's still a crap shoot in my opinion. Plus most 2010s have a bit of bumper to bumper left. Something you might not have with an 09.

I don't really have an opinion without knowing the price.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm currently looking into the Z-specific issues. The biggest one seems to be the oil consumption, but I guess there's no way to tell if it has this problem from a simple test drive.
Price is $26k

Low mileage, eh? 1/4 mile at a time? J/K. If drives ok and the price is right, then buy it. Any warranty left?

haha, yeah. I'm hoping the fact that its 7at means it was a cruiser. My understanding is that the powertrain warranty of Nissan is fully transferrable, so I'd have a little over a year of that.

I bought mine as a low mileage 09 and I've been driving it for nearly two years now. I have never had an issue with it... As long as it has been taken care of, I don't see what the issue would be.

My car has only had like 2-3 dealer services and none have been from me. So, I wouldn't put that has it not having the oil changed.

Ask the person that is selling the car for more information on it. If the car has never been wrecked and looks as if it's in good overall shape, I don't see what the issue is.

If you get it make sure that you pull the fuse before you have the steering lock issue (or check to see if it has been done) that alot of 09ers have so it does not leave you stranded, there is a post with a write up on how to do it.

:iagree: :tup:

Thanks for the replies. I checked the car out. It drives great. The tire wear seems in line with 7k miles worth of use (i.e. they are half bald :D). Another thing I noted is that the average MPG is at 23 MPG, which I think suggests it was driven conservatively. Haven't decided whether to get it or not yet...

Obtained ours new 01/10. Currently have 4810 miles on it. HVAC garage kept. No problems.

Don't get hung up on 'dealer services'. My cars only see the dealer for warranty work. Either I do my own maintenance, or I take it to a local shop for something I can't do.

Just curious how do you quantify if yours is in better condition than newer 12 models?

True, but there's about 15 months of powertrain warranty left and without documentation I wonder if I will be able to use it if something goes wrong.

Is this a certified Pre Owned Z? I have a 09 and it has been great with no problems.

Picked up my 09 with 15k on it last year and i'm the 3rd owner. 0 problems

Took a closer look and noted a few red flags:

TLDR: uneven wear and rear tires need to be replaced, no record of oil change, poor mileage over the last 450 miles of use.

1. The rear tires are actually not as good as I originally thought. I did the penny test and you can see all of Lincoln's hair on the right rear. The left rear has a little more. I know these are performance tires, but this seems wrong.
2. There's no service records, except for an oil change. Also, I looked at the upper windshield and there's a faded out sticker from a quick lube. It was hard to read, but I think it said next oil change due on 5/2012 or at ~10k miles. The 10k miles bit is weird because the car has less than 7k and they usually recommend oil changes every 3k miles in these kinds of places.
3. In an earlier post I mentioned that the avg. mpg was ~23-24, but apparently this was wrong (maybe this was the mileage during the previous drive?). After pressing the menu button a few times I saw that the avg. mileage was ~14mpg(!) and avg. speed was ~24mph(!) over ~450 miles


Looks like I'm walking away from this one :(

1) Most of these tires only start out with ~10/32" of an inch. Not a whole lot.

2) What services should be done at such low miles? Granted, if it was my car, being 4 years old, everything but the coolant would probably be changed out by now.

3) Sounds like it was driven in the city only. I only reset my trip meter these days. Record the mileage/gallons in the phone and call it a day. Maybe on a long road trip i'd reset everything else.

Consider the car as a whole. You can tell if it was kept up or not. If something bothers you about it, then by all means walk away. Otherwise you'll be forever bugged by it :)

Market should be ripe with 08/09's, maybe even some '10's. You'll find what you're looking for eventually.

$26,000? I paid only $29,000 for my brand new '09 7sp auto brand new in November '09. Think about that price a little---it's 4 model years old already.

Is it normal that the rear tires of rwd cars wear much faster than the front with regular driving? You don't think the fact that the right is more worn than the left is an issue?
an oil change a year would be nice :)

Does the city mpg sound about right?

It has touring package and sport package, which increase msrp several thousand. I'm indifferent about the facelift, so I don't mind it being older as long as its in good condition.

Uneven rear wear can be caused by a number of things. I was going to ask if the car had the sports package (with the vlsd). Looks like you answered that in the post above. I'm not sure why the wear is uneven. It would help to know the type of uneven wear. For example, is the inside more worn than outside. Could also be the road crown, but I would think this would be noticeable on the front tires too. And yes, rwd vehicles will wear the rears faster. Just how much more are the rears worn than the fronts? Maybe those 7K miles were harsh/abusive miles...

Agreed, an annual oil change at the least. But then again, you don't really know if it was done or not. How's the color of the oil? Light honey, or dark honey, or black? To the day, it's been exactly 6 months since my last oil change. 3200 miles later, the oil is a dark honey color - not very dark, but more darker than lighter. I'll do an oil change after my road trip (1K miles).

City mileage on these cars is bad. I think I can squeeze out 14-17 mpg by granny shifting and being in 5th gear by 35-40 mph. If mpg is a top concern, you're looking at the wrong car :). There is a price to pay for all that power.

The fronts I could see Abe's head, but not his hair :). For the rear right tire, it was worn more on the outside. Didn't check this on the fronts.

Hmm, didn't check it

Yeah, that's understandable. I was just checking :)