Thinking about buying this car

Hi Leslie,

This vehicle is very reliable and has little known issues.

The only thing about the engine (2.4L) is the valves are opened using oil pressure. This is a very efficient design and gives a lot of benefits but the only down side is if you are low on oil, the valves will all close and the engine will shut off with no warning. There will be no codes in the system because the oil pump just sucked up air rather than oil and the pressure in the system dropped momentarily and the valves closed. The computer does not know there is anything wrong so it sets no codes.

I would ask if there is any history of excessive oil usage and ask for oil change or maintenance records.

If there is no sign of oil usage by the engine (some is normal) then I would move forward if the price is good.

If you do purchase the vehicle, I would just check your oil every 3000 miles just to make sure it is not low. If you are not low on oil then you will never experience this issue. I can understand that this may sound unnerving but again, you will not have an issue if you check your oil every so often so it sounds worse then it actually is.

Lastly, which transmission does it have? Is it a manual or CVT/automatic transmission?

Please let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks

Okay. Great. Obviously, there is no way to tell how long an individual engine will last however, on ones that are well maintained as it appears this one is, they have had over 200,000 miles on them.

Couple things about the transmission and 4WD system.

The transmission appears to be a CVT which means there are no traditional gears inside the transmission so you don't feel any shifting because it doesn't. Here is a video that explains how they work:

https://youtu.be/uCEvBGT8twM

Lastly, the 4WD system is actually an all wheel drive system so when the vehicle scenes a need for AWD it will engage the rear wheels. This system requires all four tires to be the same size. This may seem obvious but it is not when you get a nail in a tire or have someone recommend to replace one or two tires. If you need to replace tires, all 4 wheels must be done at the same time. If you don't then you will start to have vibrations in drive-train and then eventually your PTU or transfer case will fail. Basically, it is because the 4 wheels need to spin at the same speed. When some tires are worn and others are new, the tires actually spin at a different rate and the PTU cannot take up that difference.

Again, there is nothing wrong with these systems. They operate just fine, and are reliable. I just deal with a lot of customers that did not know that this vehicle was equipped this way and end up being dissatisfied because they made some of these mistakes and end up paying very expensive repair bills that could have been avoided.

Please let me know if you have more questions. Thanks

It looks like this is a CVT transmission as well. So all would apply except for the engine oil situation with the Jeep.

In my opinion they are basically the same vehicle so it would come down to which one you like better. The Jeep is five years newer but if the Nissan was taken care of then this doesn't really matter.

The water pumps on either vehicle only require replacement when they fail. Coolant needs to be replaced at 60,000 miles. Tie rods again, only need to be replaced when they are loose so unfortunately, there is no way to tell when they are going to fail.

I think it comes down to your taste and price. Let me know what other questions you have. Thanks

Any time. Glad to help. Please let us know if you need anything else.

Thank you. That is the best thing we can hope for. Talk to you next time.