Just noticed I hit over 203000 miles 2012 S 4x4. This is the 2nd Xterra I’ve owned, first was an 04, and the 7th Nissan I’ve had. The others being 3 generations of Frontiers, and a 91 Pathfinder that finally gave with 456,000.

All I’ve done to this point is a set of plugs, camshaft and crankshaft sensors three times lol. Few sets of brakes and tires. Valve cover gaskets, shocks, a left wheel hub, and quite a few batteries.

It’s still a daily driver, the paint looks absolutely horrible, and there is a few things that could probably be done, but it still runs, starts, shifts, steers, and stops flawlessly. A/C still works great. It’s been an absolute gem of a vehicle. Eventually the wife wants to replace it but it’s paid for and still reliable.

I briefly owned an 03 last year — picked it up for 3 grand with 175k or so miles on it. I thought it seemed like a decent deal since it had the 5 speed, was in solid shape, and had relatively low miles for the year.

Unfortunately it ended up being a disaster. I couldn’t drive it more than 30 minutes without it breaking down. It ended up overheating the first time I took it up to a trailhead. The meahcnic said it was just the radiator cap, but I was skeptical since I continued to see bubbles in the overflow tank after that after it got warmed up.

Later on, the power steering suddenly went out and nearly took me off the road. Luckily it was just on a quite back road, but it could’ve ended badly. When I opened the hood, the tensioner was spewing metal flakes everywhere.

It also had an exhaust leak at the manifolds. When I looked into that, the only fix was Doug Thorley headers ($$$) or replacing with OEM, which would likely crack again in the next few years due to the inherently flawed design. And it also had the infamous knock sensor code.

At this point, I cut my losses for $1100. Never really got much use out of it unfortunately, but it just didn’t seem worth putting any money into.

I know it’s an old truck, and it’s my fault for overpaying and not doing my homework, but it actually felt pretty solid on the test drive, and the consensus online seemed to be that they were pretty reliable, with 300k miles not unheard of with basic maintenance. However, mine turned out to be a steaming pile.

Is this typical of the first gens at their advanced age, or did I just get unlucky?

In 2014 I put my front and rear OME suspension into my 2005 Off Road model, which was about 120,000 miles ago. I think the coils and springs are starting to age out again and it is time for a refresh, so I'm wondering where you all get OME parts from. Back in the day it was Nisstec but they closed shop a few years ago. It looks like Z1 Offroad is offering about the best price for the complete OME kit? Are they reputable? I've been out of the mod game for a while and have not been keeping up.

Today I noticed a ticking noise on startup that seems loudest near the front top of the engine. The ticking speeds up when I rev the engine but gradually disappears after 5–10 minutes once the engine warms up. Has anyone experienced this?

Hello, Im.taking my rear rotors off to inspect the weak parking break and obviously my seals are blown. Just bought this xterra last month and am disappointed to see this problem. Dealer replaced the rotors so I am positive that they knew about the problem and still didn't mention it. The diff/ axle is clunking too and I need to know if there a possibility my gears are shot. Just replaced the diff oil and it was most definitely brown and thick but not metallic. Maybe wheel bearings are shot? Thank you