2006 Nissan Altima 2.5 S

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I am considering a purchase of this one owner with 157,000 miles and service records. Overall condition is good.
Your experiences are welcomed. Thanks
 
Hopefully, it doesn't have the CVT transmission in it. Not sure what year they started using those. Might be a good deal if everything else is in check. I'd have a good mechanic give it the once over. Many things could be bad or questionable on it. Kind of a gamble on a 10 yr old car with that many miles.
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Hopefully, it doesn't have the CVT transmission in it. Not sure what year they started using those. Might be a good deal if everything else is in check. I'd have a good mechanic give it the once over. Many things could be bad or questionable on it. Kind of a gamble on a 10 yr old car with that many miles.

No CVT. I plan to thoroughly check it out. Car is currently 4 hours away.
 
Make sure the cat converter has been updated. They failed all the time. The insides of the converter will get sucked into the engine causing the cylinders to wear and you lose compression. Not sure what year they updated the problem.
 
If this car has been very well maintained then I would say in all likelihood it will be a solid buy. The 06 Altima is the 4th generation of this line. It very likely has the CVT for its transmission. The 2.5 CVTs have been more problematic than the 3.5s. Would seem to be contrary to what one would surmise based upon the factors involved. A higher HP and torque transmission would seemingly be a worse fit for a CVT. However it appears that the 2.5 VQ seems to not be such a good pairing with the CVT design. I am hypothesizing that it's related to the fact that the 3.5 VQ keeps the transmission in a better operating state with a CVT. The 2.5 VQ just doesn't have enough power to keep the cars in the better rpm zone versus the 3.5s. I also strongly believe that the other problem has been people using the WRONG CVT fluids when they have changed their CVT fluid. It really should be the Nissan NS-2 CVT fluid only. If there have been issues with the CVTs they typically occur MUCH earlier in the cars history. This car having 157k plus miles without any trouble would be a positive sign. My 08 Altima 3.5 SE has been absolutely fantastic so far. I enjoy driving it a lot.
Far has oil goes I would suggest a full synthetic group 3 at minimum. The heat in these motors is rather high due to the cover over top the motor and a bit of a small oil capacity. My 3.5 has a 4.5 qt capacity. Well my 3.0 Ford Fusion had a 5.5 qt capacity. Which does help give the oil a bit more time to "cool" down time while out of circulation in the motor. At the end of the day really any solid synthetic oil will do the Altima fine. Whether that be Pennzoil Platinum, QS Ultimate Durability, Valvoline Synpower, Mobil Super Synthetic, Castrol Edge etc etc. The oil change interval is 3750 miles for severe service or 7500 for mostly highway miles. The VQ motors shear the oil in them rather quickly from a 30 viscosity to a 20 operating viscosity. High heat is another factor too obviously.

I would also get under the car and check for rust, also CV joints/ boots for cracks or tears, any fluids leaking. Tire condition as well matters because if the car needs 4 new tires I would subtract that from the price. Check tire wear. If the tires are wearing irregularly than the car is out of alignment. Take that out of the price has well. Has the coolant been changed as well? Check the Drive belts condition as well. I hope this car will be good for you as my 95 Sentra was when I got it with 118k miles.
 
My brother has had an '02 Altima 2.5S for about 8 years, he bought it with under 20K & he's now around 150K. It's been a good car, cat hasn't failed yet (knock on wood), he did have a crank (or cam?) position sensor fail, but other than rotten floor pans, the body is nearly perfect.
 
I remember test driving that gen. Altima at the dealer many years ago when we were in the market for a car. We passed on it due to the cheapo interior. The car rode great and the 2.5's a peppy engine.
 
Originally Posted By: silveravant
Being in the south you shouldn't have this problem, but in the salty north these cars are known for their floor pans to rust through.


+1

I just had a customer come in with a BIG hole in his passenger front floorpan on one of these last Monday.

Even though the car is currently in the South, it might have spent time in the Rust Belt. CarFax can tell you the registration history, but a college kid using a car will take it to some random state for four straight years without affecting the registration!
 
My son's girlfriend has a 2006 Altima with the 2.5 and it seems to be bulletproof. She beats the snot out of it. It has 170,000 on it. They did have converter trouble. They just took it off and unhooked everything plugged the holes and kept running it. They said it runs Great yet. I actually feel bad for the little car sometimes, it just keeps going.
 
The 2006 will NOT have a CVT trans. It will have a solid 4 speed Auto.
Like already mentioned more than a few of these cars had issues with the cats getting sucked into the motor as well as intake butterfly screws coming loose.

Chances are if the car runs fine now it will probably continue to run fine. The problems above do not kill every single 2.5
 
Depends on condition and cost. If its a clean well maintained car you can pick up for a couple grand its a buy.

Most used cars are not though, its probably thrashed in need of TLC for like $5k.
 
Originally Posted By: greenfordtruck
I am considering a purchase of this one owner with 157,000 miles and service records. Overall condition is good.
Your experiences are welcomed. Thanks


Update: Daughter decided to have minor repairs done and keep it instead of buying a new vehicle.
Thanks to everyone for your opinions.
 
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