Hey there. I have been looking for an SUV with a manual transmission. As luck would have it, one of the few I can find is the Xterra, which I have always liked. I was just in an accident and my vehicle was totaled, so now I have the chance to get one. It will be my daily driver (mostly highway) and see little off road time, so 2wd is fine. I found one that seems to be a good deal (http://www.nissanofmckinney.com/cert...b9fff05430.htm) but I have little experience with these vehicles.

Is there a list somewhere of specific things to look for on a used Xterra? Anything with the drivetrain, suspension, interior, driving characteristics, etc.? I plan to test drive the one in the link tomorrow. Any help to a newbie will be much appreciated! Thanks!

I'm almost as new as you but I went ahead and bought one new and reading all these posts makes me nervous, all they talk about is problems, no one seems to say golly mine is runnin fine. I love mine so far but I can't tell you what to look at other than what is posted here already and you'd have to read forever, the dealer probably has done all the maintenance on it since it is so new so the oil and all fluids must have been changed so that won't be an indicator of any problems. Sorry couldn't help you but enjoy it if you buy it, don't expect any good gas milage and two wheel drive will be less to break than 4x4.

I have a 2005 with 50,000 miles on it and outside of normal maintenance I have had nothing go wrong with mine on the past 4 years.

Please keep in mind when you visit forums that most of they people who post do so because they have problems and are looking for help. Very few people ever post up they have had no problems.

Thanks, I was thinking the same thing, thanks for the reassurance, but there is a ton of things that are electrical that could go wrong with it like locking diff and four wheel drive electrical engagement vice mechanical. I love it just the same, nicest truck I'll ever own probably.

i love my xterra its a 01 first gen with around 84 thou it runs awsomely no probs yet accelerates like nothing ive seen ive raced differnt vehicles and have won i love it wouldnt go wrong but if your concernd about problems there might be every vehicle made is differnt from all the others and could or could not have any problems, most likely not and gas millage is relly not that great and depends on driving styles

I love my 2003xterra too. 137,000 miles and the only stuff to go south on it would be expected at that many miles. The only main thing that I would point out is if it's an older model, such as mine, you can expect to put new catalytic converters on. Other than that, It's my daily driver and I can rely on it!!

IT LOOKS BAD ASS TOO!!!