Kizashi Club

So I have eyeballing either a SLS or GTS for a little bit now and I think I found one I want to pursue. It's FWD with auto trans.. so, no CVT ... Right?
The car looks beautiful, has the RF system and a bunch of options I really like, not to mention, it's drop dead SEXY.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm still LOVIN on my SE.. I don't know if I could afford to keep both, so the SE might go bye-bye



Sent from my moto g stylus using Tapatalk

Nope, CVT.

WESHOOT2 wrote:Nope, CVT.

Hmm. Okay, I was under the impression the front drive highline automatics were geared transmissions.
The car has 60k on the clock.

Sent from my moto g stylus using Tapatalk

60k is about as low as you’ll probably find these days, but if those were hard miles, the CVT could still give out somewhere under 100k. I think I saw old tech say somewhere here that the shortest CVT lifespan he’s seen or heard of was around 80k. I don’t mean to fear-monger - just trying to be realistic. Hopefully the previous driver(s) of this example was kind to it.
All that said, the likelihood of finding another low-mileage SLS Sport such as this is unlikely. I’m hoping it’s for a good price. Maybe check it out on CarGurus, which has a price fairness scale for used car listings.

Also, for being as obscure as they are, Kizashis can sell quickly and can be in high demand, so if you’re really passionate about it, I’d act fast. It truly sucks when the car you’re really interested in is bought just before you check it out in person.
Maybe have a trustworthy local mechanic take a look at it first so you know there’s nothing horribly wrong with it.

What year? At 60k miles, I'd give the CVT a really good listen. If it's nice and quiet, especially on a cold start (no whine) then if it was me, I'd buy it. Change the CVT fluid right away and I think you'll be good to go. I've been kicking around the idea of picking up a low mileage SLS if I can find one at the right price. But the window for that is closing more and more each day. I'd probably jump on a GTS manual if one popped up as well.

LPSISRL wrote:What year? At 60k miles, I'd give the CVT a really good listen. If it's nice and quiet, especially on a cold start (no whine) then if it was me, I'd buy it. Change the CVT fluid right away and I think you'll be good to go. I've been kicking around the idea of picking up a low mileage SLS if I can find one at the right price. But the window for that is closing more and more each day. I'd probably jump on a GTS manual if one popped up as well.

The thread title says 2011 SLS... so I’m assuming there’s a spare tire under the trunk, unlike a 2013 model lol

I forgot to add to my original post that the longer you have your SE model, the more attached to it you’ll get, and thus the harder it’ll be to let it go for this SLS.
Before I got my GTS Sport, I thought that if I found a non-Sport, sub-SLS model and bought it, I’d trade it for an SLS Sport and be fine.
I got lucky getting a Sport model, but if I had gotten a non-Sport model, I don’t know if I could go through with trading it, even after only a year. I’d been through a lot with my Kizashi after only a year, and I don’t think I could trade up for an SLS Sport for it.

I figure if you’re the kind of person to buy a Kizashi and then sign up here on this forum, you’re probably not the type of person who subscribes to that Volvo thing where you can get a new car several times in a year; that’s a really cold and detached way to have a car. (I’m saying this forum is for people who really care about their Kizashi; it’s not a flavor of the week sort of thing for owners)
So if you really want that red SLS Sport, act on it before you get too attached to your SE lol (just make sure it’s in good working order).

KlutzNinja wrote:

LPSISRL wrote:What year? At 60k miles, I'd give the CVT a really good listen. If it's nice and quiet, especially on a cold start (no whine) then if it was me, I'd buy it. Change the CVT fluid right away and I think you'll be good to go. I've been kicking around the idea of picking up a low mileage SLS if I can find one at the right price. But the window for that is closing more and more each day. I'd probably jump on a GTS manual if one popped up as well.

The thread title says 2011 SLS... so I’m assuming there’s a spare tire under the trunk, unlike a 2013 model lol

Ha! I looked over the body of the post and didn't notice the subject!

I don't mean to be the "cock blocker" here, but I need to bring up a rather important factor that hasn't been discussed yet: You currently have a 2012 SE AWD. This red vehicle is a 2011 Sport SLS FWD. Are the bells and whistles of the SLS really worth losing the All Wheel Drive? Don't you live in Wisconsin? Isn't it snowing there now?
Only you can determine the value of AWD in your car but I imagine it's a big boon in Wisconsin in the winters. As others have stated, AWD or FWD, if it's an automatic, it has a CVT. The only way out of a CVT is an exclusively FWD 6 speed manual transmission.
There is no doubt an SLS will have nicer features but I'd heavily consider the drivetrain difference unless AWD isn't that important to you. After all, one of the unique characteristics of the Kizashi was the available AWD that nearly all the segment rivals did not offer at the time.