[deuce5]

Hey guys, first post here, though I'm hoping it won't be my last. I've owned about 4 jeeps (Wranglers and Grand Cherokees) over the years and in my search, came across this on CL today.

Looking for your honest opinions on price, the Carfax, etc. Had never really considered an Xterra (no reason in particular) until I came across this. Looks to be in excellent condition, seems to have a small lift (?), and is currently sitting at under 25k miles for a 2012. No BS- I actually like the color...

Is this too good to be true? Carfax does not show any accidents or anything out of the ordinary (that I can see).

Opinions needed and welcomed! Would like to know what price you guys would pay for this Xterra or what you believe I could reasonably haggle it down to. KBB is showing a few grand less than the offered price. Also of note- anyone heard of "SnapCarBuying.com"?

Link: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/ctd/5929513244.html

Thanks!

Ryan

 

[deuce5]

Two additional items of interest:

1) What is that screen on the dash? Doesn't look stock..

2) Any particular issues I should be looking for when I examine the car? What are common problems with this vehicle?

Sorry, just became really interested in this car once I saw it and coming from neighboring forums, I know this is the best place to go for info.

 

[deuce5]

Wow, 124 views and not one of you could be bothered to contribute anything of substance. Looking at other posts, seems like a trend. Keep up the good work, gents.

 

[cbxterra]

Screen on the dash looks like a nav unit. Rig looks good for further investigation to me. I don't know much about price it's above where I'd be looking. Also sorry can't tell problems Mine's first gen.

 

[forcefed420a]

Wow, 124 views and not one of you could be bothered to contribute anything of substance. Looking at other posts, seems like a trend. Keep up the good work, gents.

Not sure what you're looking for man (and not sure sarcasm is the way to obtain it). Is it a good price? Go on autotrader.com and type in the car details and take a look around. Is it in good shape? Go look for yourself. Are there any common problems? It only has 27kmiles on it. So it's unlikely to have problems. But more importantly, it's unlikely that it will SHOW problems this early in the game. So, even if there were common problems with this car, they wouldn't have presented themselves yet. I don't have a second gen X, so someone with one can correct me if I'm wrong.

Things to consider, it's coming up on 5 years old, so I don't think the price is far-fetched. And it looks like its been lightly modified. This can be a dicey area, depending on how brave/skilled the previous owner was. If they lightly modified it while taking good care of it, then you're golden. However, if they did crappy installations, poor weathersealing, unsafe electrical connections, then you'll have problems. Get eyes on it yourself, the crap jobs usually can be easily discovered.

For me, it's always about rust (I live in NY). The car is probably free of rust (check the carfax to see where it spent its time), mechanically it's only got 27 k, so it should be good. The only thing is price. I use autotrader to help me figure out where the market is. If they all check out, it's probably a good buy (as long as the previous owner didn't screw everything up).

Oh! Bring a scanner with you to scan for pending codes and whether the computer has been cleared! I got screwed with my last car because I didn't think to do that. It ended up having a major engine problem (4 years old, 65K miles). No codes, and all the readiness monitors cleared is a good thing.

 

[deuce5]

Not sure what you're looking for man (and not sure sarcasm is the way to obtain it). Is it a good price? Go on autotrader.com and type in the car details and take a look around. Is it in good shape? Go look for yourself. Are there any common problems? It only has 27kmiles on it. So it's unlikely to have problems. But more importantly, it's unlikely that it will SHOW problems this early in the game. So, even if there were common problems with this car, they wouldn't have presented themselves yet. I don't have a second gen X, so someone with one can correct me if I'm wrong.

Things to consider, it's coming up on 5 years old, so I don't think the price is far-fetched. And it looks like its been lightly modified. This can be a dicey area, depending on how brave/skilled the previous owner was. If they lightly modified it while taking good care of it, then you're golden. However, if they did crappy installations, poor weathersealing, unsafe electrical connections, then you'll have problems. Get eyes on it yourself, the crap jobs usually can be easily discovered.

For me, it's always about rust (I live in NY). The car is probably free of rust (check the carfax to see where it spent its time), mechanically it's only got 27 k, so it should be good. The only thing is price. I use autotrader to help me figure out where the market is. If they all check out, it's probably a good buy (as long as the previous owner didn't screw everything up).

Oh! Bring a scanner with you to scan for pending codes and whether the computer has been cleared! I got screwed with my last car because I didn't think to do that. It ended up having a major engine problem (4 years old, 65K miles). No codes, and all the readiness monitors cleared is a good thing.

Thanks, Forcefed. Took your advice and used both KBB and CarGurus. The Xterra seems to hold its value quite well. Looking around however, I've been able to locate tons of 15's while mileage under 10K for a couple thousand more to include some "CPO" vehicles with 7 year/100k powertrain warranties. Also, not sold on that particular "dealer" I mentioned in the original post.

Good idea on the scanner- I'll have to pick one of those up somewhere (and learn how to use it) beforehand.

Probably shouldn't have used sarcasm in the first post, I'll admit that. Just find it odd that there were so many views yet people couldn't be bothered to respond. Guess I just got spoiled on the old Jeep forums.

Thanks for your input!

 

[clifffalling]

Price is a little high. I would guess they are charging you for all the "cool" stuff that has been done. You can get a 2015 Pro 4X for around 30K. As far as known problems, there aren't really any that would be considered major, or minor on the 2012. Crawl around, check for leaks or where leaks were cleaned up. Bring a mirror and flashlight to look in the deep crevices of the engine, suspension, etc. Check the CV joints, look at the rubber, bumpstops, bushing etc. Was this thing romped for 27k miles and used as a donor with a new paint job and sliders strapped on? I agree with ^ , you never know if mods have been done professionally or shade tree. You have to go look. Never heard of snap carbuying, but it almost looks too cool to be for real. Assuming everything were to check out though, I would be shooting for around 24K. Could be one of those mythical corvette's you find in grandma's barn. Or was that a unicorn? Can't remember... it was too shiny.

 

[forcefed420a]

All good deuce, glad to help. The scanner will be easy. The cheaper ones have little icons that indicate whether the readiness monitors are all cleared. On mine, they go from blinking to solid once they're complete. You probably know this, but the readiness monitors are a series of test performed by the computer when it's reset. It tests things like the O2 sensors, the O2 sensor heater circuit, EVAP system and a bunch more. The EVAP system is the one that usually takes the longest to clear. If it's solid, you can be good to go. However, EVAP leaks and problems are a PAIN to deal with, so you'll wanna make sure it's cleared. A shady seller can disconnect the battery for a few minutes and claim the car has no CEL, but a scanner will see through that. They're pretty cheap, and SUPER handy if you pop a code.

Since you're getting something so new, it'd be a little surprising if it was throwing codes already... With a scanner, you can know for sure.

If you're really insane, get a compression tester too to give you the health of the motor. Some places might not want you performing that level of a test, but heck, for 25 grand, I'd wanna know everything I could!

Good luck.

 

[Joey Ekholm]

it looks to be in excellent shape, and it has a lot of extra features which is nice. I can't really
comment on the price but it might be high because its got all the extras and its coming from a dealer. my suggestion would be if you have a trusted mechanic to see if you could bring the car to him or have him come give it a quick look over to see if he notices anything wrong with the car. Hope that helps!