I voted with my wallet last year and bought a used garage kept 2005 Infiniti G35x with 64,000 km (~40,000 miles) on it. When I had it inspected the garage said it looked to be about 2 years old mechanically, or better.

I was looking for an upgrade to my Mazda 3 as my oldest daugher was getting squished in the back seat, and getting a 280 hp rwd luxury sedan (that can split power 50/50 between the front and rear wheels if needed) for around the price of a Stern LE pinball here in Canada seemed good.

So far it has been super reliable (knock on wood). The "big" issue I have had is "fan" belt chitp on startup when it has been cold in Jan. and Feb., but that is likely due to having them changed in Sept. I don' think they tightened one or both of them enough, OR the overtightened them, or used the cheapest crap fan belts ever. So not the car's fault, and just a bit of a sting as an exampe of preventative maintenance causing an issue, even if it is only a few second annoyance. I might tighten these in a few weeks, I just keep hoping it warms up before then .

There is also a bit of a "crunch" sound from the suspension when I accelerate hardish with the wheel turned, or when going over elevation changes (say in a parking garage). I think it is lubrication related (as it seems to go away when its raining), but the garage could not replicate it. Since it is something that happens maybe 0.2% of the time while I am driving, I will look at it in the summer, and maybe lubricate the sway bar bushings in the meantime.

And my other "huge" issue is a bit of a rattle from the front passenger door I haven't been able to eradicate.

So for a 2005, probably not too bad. I am happy with the Car so far. One of the draws for me is it was one of the last "simple" cars, not a million different systems to go wrong (compared to current cars with a million engine tweaks to save gas, infotainment, and sensors everywhere).

And I cross shopped BMW's from that era in particular and found an almost hilarious litany of issues mainly stemming from bad design and cheaping out (particularly with cheap plastic, and using plastic where others use metal). I loved the BMW styling, and I am sure they drive well, but I don't see many early 2000 BMW's still on the road around here.

The picture above of having to tear of the car's front end and need special tools to do routine maintenance basically makes the argument for me to avoid Euro cars. I love them, but don't need that sort of issue in my life. My hobby is pinball, not tossing money to garages, or spending my whole life in my garage.

Fair enough, I know this is not annual maintenance (for most drivers ) but still routine maintenance. If I ever have to have the timing chain replaced in my Infiniti (I am more likely to sell it in 5 years than put enough miles to warrant this) I will try to let you know the damages.

Looking into BMW's of this vintage, it seemed they had cheaped out and used a timing chain, but then used plastic runners to help guide the chain. The plastic eventually fails, causing the chain to slip, and getting bits of plastic throughout the engine. A spectacularly memorable end to a vehicle to be sure (OMG my engine just exploded!), but not something I want for my family on a road trip .

Oh wow, I don't feel too obsessive about the relatively minor amount of detailing I do then