Hey everybody,
Real basic intro: My name is Travis I'm 20 years old and from PA. I'm real into DSM's (Mitsubishi Eclipse's, Eagle Talons, and Plymouth Lasers for those who have no idea.) I currently drive a '92 Talon TSi AWD. I'm not gonna lie I love the car but I'm starting to grow up and out of the "Tuner" stage. The talon is finally in the range I'm happy with so I've been looking at Xterra's for a daily driver. I love goin off-roading with my buddies but have always put speed before it. Anyways, I recently found an '02 Xterra SE S/C at a local dealership and became very interested. So here are my questions:

1. It's got 71,500 miles. Is it gonna be reliable everyday (above 90%)?

2. You all obviously like Xterra's, but any good or bad points to the Supercharged model? Or that particular year?

3. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it almost has to take Premium fuel with forced induction?

4. What would you say it's worth? (more like what would you pay for it?)

Thanks to you all, sorry for all the newb questions and the long intro. Hopefully I'll be talking to yall soon.

First off welcome, I bought mine back in september. Its an 03 SE S/C with 77k miles. I bought mine for 12600 out the door. I would say your x will be very reliable, just take care of it and keep up on the maintance. My gf put regular in the tank once and it ran fine, but I normlly run premium just because it calls for it. Maybe another guy can help you with that. The S/C is still very slow...I heard a different pulley to up the boost helps quite a bit when passing people. if you get it for a good price, you wont be disappointed, good luck

Thank you sir. Anybody know what's involved with upping the boost on these? I'm a turbo guy, but I think it should be along the same lines... add some fuel and find a way to control it? What kind of boost does it run stock and what kind of pulley options are available? All I've seen are different diameters, but I have no Idea how that converts into psi?

I believe stock is around 6-7psi...I know when putting a different pulley on your charger oil needs to be changed. Other then that you just need a pulley puller and your set. with the efi on the truck it should automatically take in more fuel with larger boost. But I could be wrong. heres the calculation for pulley size...

2.4 = 10psi

2.3 = 12psi

let us know what you decide!

Good stuff... I'm just trying to learn all I can about these things. Doesn't really effect my buying decision. I like the Xterra and I need a daily, so as long as I can talk the dealer into a fair price I'll be picking it up. I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon.

Welcome to the club!

I have an '04 SE S/C and I love it. If you're wanting an X for a daily driver then you might want to reconsider upping your boost because when the charger starts whistling that gas needle starts dropping... fast!

Yeah the 1st. gen's are slow (even the supes) but I've heard they have a really strong axle and sound rear diff as well. A weak point in the first gen's is their steering linkage but for $30 you can pick up an idler arm brace and help that problem a lot. Upgrade the centerlink and it's nice and solid.

Yes the supes require premium fuel only.

With 70K on it, you are still good for another 30K before the recommended full maintenance (timing belt change, etc.) BUT definitely inspect the timing belt before you buy just to be on the safe side.

And something I do/did is inspect the undercarriage and engine compartment well for signs of offroading abuse. You can wash mud off paint but the muffler and engine block will tell all.

Hope you land a good deal on it and drive away with it because I absolutely wouldn't trade mine for the world!

welcome to the club.... i know alot of people say they are slow but you also have to consider its not a tuner!!!!!! everyday this week i have been driving back and forth from houston ( 120 miles round trip ) and i have been crusing at 80-85 almost the whole way... yes the fuel isnt great ( 240 miles and im empty ) but i still to this day think they have plenty of power for what i need..... post up some pics when you get it.....

also is the one you are looking at 2wd or 4x4??????

Gas mileage isn't a problem really. My talon gets about 2-3 mpg under full throttle (25psi) so I've learned to behave ha ha... Timing belt shouldn't be too bad, it's right up front which should be a lot easier than on a 4 cyl. crammed in a tiny bay sideways, but we'll see when the time comes. the frame looked pretty clean to me but I'm gonna go get it on a lift tomorrow so I'll be sure to check out everything you mentioned. Thanks!

4x4. I need it for where I work in the winter.

I used to have a 1995 Eagle Talon ESi, WORST CAR TO EVER OWN IN THE WORLD. As are all most DSMs.

Oh... so you got all the un-reliability without any of the Turbo fun? I would have to agree with you on that one.

ha whatever any car running 25lbs of boost is definatly not going to be the worst car in the world. Have you raced it to see your time?

Nope. It'll be the track slut this season. The engine management is telling me 376.8 hp and 384.7 ft-lb. It just got a brand new 2.3L stroker bottom end so it's beginning to actually out flow the current turbo setup. My best friend has pretty much the same bottom end with a different intake mani, methanol injection, and a bigger turbo and is running 11.5's on 25psi with 93 octane and a terrible 1.9 60'. So I think with my current setup a low to mid 12 is about right, as long as I can get a decent launch.

Alright guys. New question. I noticed that when I drove it today the the front right seemed like something was wrong with the suspension or along those lines. Upon further inspection, I noticed that it has 265/70/17's on it and being that I work in a tire shop I know the stock size is a 265/65. the tire comes damn close to the mud flaps/splash guard or whatever you want to call them and equally close to the front bumper. How big of a problem is this? Looks to me like all that really needs to be done is some creative trimming... haha... And as for an update, I got the dealer down to $11,850 out the door, plus a free full tank of gas. Sound good?

Sounds like a good deal to me. Congratulations!

If your wheelwells are that full now then you will definitely have some rubbing issues when you are offroading and possibly just turning while daily driving. Cut your wheels full one way and then look to see how close the tires are to your fender plastic. You will probably have to do some mild trimming to the plastic.

You did take your mudflaps off didn't you? And your rear swaybar? Search the forums for the "swaybar damage" pics thread and you will see what I am talking about. It's simple to do and only takes about 20 minutes.

the price sounds pretty good, ride with him to the gas station...My dealer filled me up with regular haha, saved him 4 bucks I guess. good luck with the purchase, hopefully youll be driving an x soon!

Welcome to the club.

Alrighty yall... More dumb questions since I didn't get the beat the hell out of it the first test drive... Besides, the rear shock, anything else major that isn't so obvious that I should look for? Should the Supercharger whine all the time? or just under full throttle? or not at all... To be honest that's my biggest concern. The truck looks and feels solid, but I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to superchargers. Why couldn't they have made these things turbo'd instead? ha ha...

The supercharger is running constantly but you should only hear it really start "whining" around 2500 rpm and higher.

And you wouldn't want a turbo-charged Xterra for offroading. Turbos are only beneficial in the high rpm range and if you're offroading and you're pulling high rpm's... chances are you're already stuck. hahahaha

This is very true... I easily forget this cuz the way I have my car set up... Bigger than stock, stroked motor + Almost stock turbo = Almost no turbo lag and a lot of bottom end with a not so impressive top end...

yea if you can get your turbo to spool in low rpms then It might be ok, but the sc works best for a stock x. You can start to hear the whine around 2700 on mine...I quite like the sound...just not the expense behind it. Think youll be buying soon?

Trying to get financed... It sucks cuz I'm only 20 and I don't really have a credit history. As far as co-signers go, my mom's credit is so bad that I'd be better off alone and my dad doesn't exactly agree with me buying another vehicle. My grandmother isn't your typical "love the grandchildren" type, so basically I'm screwed as of now. I'm gonna try a couple of the local banks and maybe the local credit union and see what they have to say.

A credit union will give you the best interest rate. Interest rates at banks aren't too bad but they are a little more strict on their requirements for a loan. The more money you can offer down will help you the most.

I totally know what you mean as well as many others I'm sure about being young and establishing credit. If you get denied, don't get bummed out. One way to begin getting a good credit report is to start with some small credit accounts. Places like Best Buy, Home Depot, places that offer their own line of credit often tend to be less strict although they will give you a low credit limit. Just make small purchases and keep your payments up to date and you will gain the credit you need in time.

Dude, just co-sign with your mom on something that costs $100 or something like that.

Apexi - I don't mean to pry, but if you already own your Talon, why not use that as collateral on your new loan?

Kriggans - Basically I'm an idiot, and I was un-aware that I could do that? Also, I thought that the Xterra itself would be the collateral on a used car loan?

sometimes they they will use the car as the collateral and other times they want more.... greedy bastards..... LOL

Well Guys, after some fun and a bunch of "We regret to inform you..." letters from banks, I went to my local credit union and opened up an account. There very same day, I applied for a loan and due to my credit score, was put in the "A" category... the "A+" people qualify for a 6.2% rate on their used car loans, but I'm gonna just have to settle for 6.3%... ha ha... Anyways, it took a day to approve me so that's where I'm currently at. I got approved for 11g so the next task was the dealership. After fighting with them for a good hour or so, and attempting to leave a few times, we settled on $11454.07 out the door. So basically, now I'm gettin up tomorrow, goin to take it for a final test-drive and have my mechanic make sure he can't find anything, then hopefully I'll be the proud owner of an X before 3 PM(when I have to go to work... ha ha). So wish me luck, sorry for the lengthy update, and hopefully I'll have some dumb and annoyig questions for yall soon...

congrats....

Congratulations man! That's a very good rate you got in that deal especially at your age. Post some pics when you become the proud owner!

Hey guys. Signed the papers this morning... Here's the new X...

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d26/Travi2506/Xterra/X3.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d26/Travi2506/Xterra/X2.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d26/Travi2506/Xterra/X1.jpg

The yellow wasn't my favorite but I didn't have a choice and I got a pretty good deal on it...

looks nice man, I have the same one except silver...I like the nissan yellow, not to bright or anything. The rims on the sc xterras I love the most. congrats man

Looks bad arse! I've never seen an S/C in solar yellow. Of course the atomic orange is unheard of around here too. A nissan dealership tried to tell me there was no such color offered for the X once. But I digress...

Looks very good. Enjoy it!

Sweet Deal!!

Orange would've been awesome! Oh well, I'm happy with it so far...