Here is my situation:
I live in the Los Angeles area.
I have a 2002 focus ZX3- its got 99K in miles on it. In June it needed an alternator, in July it needed spark plugs and a coil pack, in August I replaced an antifreeze overflow tank and all of the engine mounts, and now this month I am replacing the wiring, a relay and a module for the fan that cools the engine. This car is nickle and diming me to death- and I am still making payments on it for about another 8 months.
In comes my soon to be father in law- he has a 2002 Altima 2.5S- its been in the family. His sister in law leased it, then he bought it- and now he is moving into purchasing a hybrid. This car has 89k in miles on it- no known problems- but it is a New York car (read- though its been kept inside, there is probably some rust sitting around under the car).
He's offered to give me the car. Free of charge- my only responsibility being to ship it out here to Los Angeles, get it registered, etc.
Seems like a no-brainer up front- but here are my concerns:
a) Seems like altimas puke up O2 sensors, cat. converters & rather pricey things quite a bit. Is this the case? or is there an overwhelming group of people that have had no problems with this car?
b) am I just jumping from one frying pan to another with something like this? They are both the same year- within 10K of eachother on the mileage....my focus gets better city mileage than the altima.
Not sure what to do with this. Am I just trading one problem for the other?
What do you guys think?
Do you know anything about the 2002 Altima 2.5S and its reliability? The way my pay works out I can afford small repairs here and there a heck of a lot better than I can afford big fat costly repairs.
Thoughts?
I live in the Los Angeles area.
I have a 2002 focus ZX3- its got 99K in miles on it. In June it needed an alternator, in July it needed spark plugs and a coil pack, in August I replaced an antifreeze overflow tank and all of the engine mounts, and now this month I am replacing the wiring, a relay and a module for the fan that cools the engine. This car is nickle and diming me to death- and I am still making payments on it for about another 8 months.
In comes my soon to be father in law- he has a 2002 Altima 2.5S- its been in the family. His sister in law leased it, then he bought it- and now he is moving into purchasing a hybrid. This car has 89k in miles on it- no known problems- but it is a New York car (read- though its been kept inside, there is probably some rust sitting around under the car).
He's offered to give me the car. Free of charge- my only responsibility being to ship it out here to Los Angeles, get it registered, etc.
Seems like a no-brainer up front- but here are my concerns:
a) Seems like altimas puke up O2 sensors, cat. converters & rather pricey things quite a bit. Is this the case? or is there an overwhelming group of people that have had no problems with this car?
b) am I just jumping from one frying pan to another with something like this? They are both the same year- within 10K of eachother on the mileage....my focus gets better city mileage than the altima.
Not sure what to do with this. Am I just trading one problem for the other?
What do you guys think?
Do you know anything about the 2002 Altima 2.5S and its reliability? The way my pay works out I can afford small repairs here and there a heck of a lot better than I can afford big fat costly repairs.
Thoughts?