My ZJ is falling apart and a coworker of mine has a daughter who wants to sell her 2004 Xterra with 180k. She told me its daily driven, there are no issues, and the body is clean with no rust. I know I can get it for a VERY fair price so I am interested.

I had an Xterra once, but it was a brand new 2011 so I dont know much about the 1st gens. Are there any specific problem areas I should be looking for?

I could just join an Xterra forum and ask this, but i trust my acurazine peeps above all.

 

All I can say is their turning radius rivals a wrangler. As for longevity, it's a nissan

You may still want to check out the xterra forums, many aziners moved on from Acura but few went to off road utility vehicles, most stuck with performance/luxury.

 

Wackjum knows about Xterras. I'd ask him.

https://acurazine.com/forums/members/wackjum-127044/

https://acurazine.com/forums/car-tal...months-917707/

https://acurazine.com/forums/car-tal...terras-924965/

 

I don't know a whole lot about the 1st gen. I did look into them while I was shopping for an off-roader.

I've heard they are fairly bulletproof. The 2004 would be the last of the 1st gen so some of the issues would have been ironed out. The biggest complaints is that it is underpowered and small. They use the Nissan VG engine instead of the VQ. The supercharged version barely gets 210 HP and comes with a big fuel penalty.

The VG33 uses a timing belt instead of a timing chain and is also an interference engine. So at that kind of mileage, definitely make sure the timing belt has been done or price it accordingly.

The exhaust manifolds of all 1st gen X will probably fail at some point. It was a flawed design. Listen to the engine while it is on for a faint gas leaking noise. It can be a DIY if you are an advanced amateur.

The VG engine also tends to leak oil from the rear main seal and power steering pump. This is not just on the X but also the Mercury Villager/Nissan Quest, and Nissan Frontier of the time.

Other than these issues, which aren't too serious, I think they should be a fairly rugged little truck.

 

my aunt has a 98 she bought new. still runs well, only thing out of routine maint she's done is replace the radiator last year.

 

Not sure if thats a good thing or bad....wouldn't trust Nissan quality or longevity...on their older models anyway