Used Car of the Day: 2001 Nissan XTerra
If you want a cheap, manual-transmission off-roader, give this 2001 Nissan XTerra a check.
The seller claims the rig has been well-maintained and that many significant parts have been replaced, but the XTerra still has minor issues.
A more major issue is that while the listing says "Vermont" this XTerra is apparently Canadian, so there could be some importing issues.
The price is $3,250 -- we assume that's USD, not CAD, but we'd ask the seller for clarification anyway.
Check it out here.
[Images: Seller]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Good price for a vehicle I respect, but tin worm always scares me. Unless it's a southwest US vehicle, I assume that if it's manifesting on lower exterior panels, it's also happening underneath. The importation question seals the deal as a decline for me. Too many of these are still available in the wild to go through the trouble IMO. Most will lack this one's servicing, but they'll also have lived easier lives and thus not need it right away, if at all.
I test drove one of these 11 years ago and all the exterior screws and bolt heads were rusty. The engine bay was also full of corrosion. And this was in the Southeast. I can't imagine how bad a Canadian one would be, but there are signs in the photos. The interior was incredibly cramped (based on that old, small Frontier). I remember it well because that dealership tried to hold my car keys hostage, trying to make me talk numbers on the XTerra that I clearly told them I did not like or want.