| 2004 Murano w/ 60,000 - Is it time to trade it? - Click HERE for Original Thread |
| that's me |
| Just curious what other 2004 owners are doing. Mine's been driven pretty rough and it's at 60,000 (or just about). It's been from upstate NY all the way to New Orleans. No issues so far, I've been good with maintaining it. Had to replace the battery after 3 years, it stopped working on me in the parking lot at work. Fortunately, there's a Walmart nearby. Drove it back and forth from DC to NJ for a year, and now I work in Queens, so lots of stop and go. I've been considering trading it in, with gas prices being ridiculous, but it's my first car out of college and I can't seem to decide. Any ideas on if it's time for the Murano to go? |
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| njjoe |
that's me-
Welcome to the forum.
Most people when they first join this forum ask if they should buy a MO. You are the first member that I can recall whose first question is should you sell their MO. Regardless, it is a good question.
The VQ is a well-designed engine and should last for 100,000 more miles if taken care of. Unfortunately, the same can not be said of the CVT and transfer case. They are big-ticket items and Nissan is the sole source.
Take a look under the MO for signs of oil leakage where the front axles connect to the CVT and transfer case. If those joints are wet then I would seriously consider selling. However, if the joints are dry, then I would hang on to the MO and enjoy not having car payments for a while. :D
-njjoe |
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| that's me |
Cool, thanks. Quick question though, being that I am what you would consider "simple minded" when it comes to vehicle-related jargon. I have an SL, which if I remember correctly is FWD unless I kick in the AWD manually. Does this mean that the transfer case is not engaged until I hit AWD? And if I don't use the AWD function too often, will it deteriorate over time or will it be in better shape because it's not used? Soooo many questions...
I'm not really too knowledgable about cars, I just know how to read and type stuff into google. But I figure, I'm educated and should be able to figure some stuff out on my own, right? |
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| njjoe |
that's me-
Your MO will operate in FWD unless you manually engage AWD or if the front wheels encounter slippery conditions. The manual engagement only works at very slow speeds (0 ~ 5 mph), however automatic engagement can occur at any speed.
Even if you never manually engaged the AWD switch and the AWD controller never automatically engaged the system, the transfer case is still operating and spinning the rear driveshaft. So it is under some stress.
Whenever you get the oil changed I suggest you have the mechanic or technician take a quick look at the underside of the transmission (CVT) for oil leaks. The presence of oil may indicate that a CVT or transfer case case seal is compromised, which can lead to expensive repairs if left unchecked.
-njjoe |
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| that's me |
| Thanks for all the help! |
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| Eric L. |
It is almost always less expensive to keep an old car than to buy a new car, even if you factor in the price of gas. I think it will take many years to recover the cost of purchasing a newer more fuel efficient car (lets say it gets 50% better than the MO) than to continue driving your old MO.
As for life of the engine, every modern engine can go 100,000 miles. The VQ is pretty much bulletproof and can easily do 200,000 if you maintain it. As for the CVT and transfer, it is not too expensive to service it regularly, even for preventative purposes. The CVT fluid has no specified change interval, but a drain and refill is around $100 if you do it yourself (maybe twice that if the dealer does it). Transfer and rear diff service is less than $200 as well. |
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| zebelkhan |
With the mileage on my 2004 MO creeping to 80k miles, and its trade-in value going down to $17k....
I am thinking if I get rid of it, I will have to add another almost $20k to get something simillar to what I have now. Granted, it would be a new car, but will it be worth spending $20k to get it when I am perfectly happy with what I got?
And I am thinking, what if I drive it until it has 110k miles. By then, the MO will be worth less, let's say $14k, and would cost me $23k new dollars to get something simillar at that time. Then let's say some major breakdown happens. I have a 100k mile extended warranty so let' say transmission goes out at 115k miles.It would cost me $6k or $7k to get a new transmission vs. $23k to get another vehicle comparable to the MO. I am thinking with a new transmission, I could probably drive the MO another 100k miles.
So I am concluding, maybe hanging on to the MO is not such a bad idea after all and could actually be a feasable alternative to trading it in early....
That is what I think now. That is not how I thought a while ago. What do you guys think? |
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| Bambus |
It is almost always less expensive to keep an old car than to buy a new car, even if you factor in the price of gas. I think it will take many years to recover the cost of purchasing a newer more fuel efficient car (lets say it gets 50% better than the MO) than to continue driving your old MO.
Im in Canada and we are paying almost $1.60 more per gallon than you guys :3: :confused:
N E ways i crunched some numbers and:
Driving the MO about 25000Km (15500 miles) on average a year
With 22MPG average:
You pay approx $2300 a year
Canadians pay approx $2900 a year
An economic SUV at approx 35MPG average:
You pay approx $1500 a year
Canadians pay approx $1900 a year
Almost a grand difference in savings. Not enough to switch from a MO to some little car/SUV (even New). That means almost 10 years of driving the little box (although its new) to make up the difference on fuel costs.
Just rough #'s. |
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| Eric L. |
quote:
Originally posted by Bambus
It is almost always less expensive to keep an old car than to buy a new car, even if you factor in the price of gas. I think it will take many years to recover the cost of purchasing a newer more fuel efficient car (lets say it gets 50% better than the MO) than to continue driving your old MO.
Im in Canada and we are paying almost $1.60 more per gallon than you guys :3: :confused:
N E ways i crunched some numbers and:
Driving the MO about 25000Km (15500 miles) on average a year
With 22MPG average:
You pay approx $2300 a year
Canadians pay approx $2900 a year
An economic SUV at approx 35MPG average:
You pay approx $1500 a year
Canadians pay approx $1900 a year
Almost a grand difference in savings. Not enough to switch from a MO to some little car/SUV (even New). That means almost 10 years of driving the little box (although its new) to make up the difference on fuel costs.
Just rough #'s.
Exactly! ;) |
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| BikerJohn |
You will know; when your MO must go:D
Only you can decide that with personal factors in mind.
60,000 miles is nothing for this car as long as it has been maintained well.
As for gas and price; I think that it has been well laid out here from the other posters.
I hope you can decide to keep it; so we can keep you in our forum;) |
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