Possible purchase of a 2011 Kizashi - HELP

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kellaur
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 1:11 am

I am beyond uneducated when it comes to cars, but I have been reading about the Kizashi for weeks ever since I stumbled upon it on a dealer's page in Toronto, Canada where I'm from. I went to see it and test drove it and fell in love with it's quirky look, peppiness, and VW feel to the handling. It felt sturdy and I like the idea of AWD in the winter here, as well as the leather interiors. The price is right and I had a mechanic check it out and he okayed it.

It has 125,000 kms on it. I am worried about a one thing in the future as I would like to keep this car until about 250,000kms. Even though the mechanic said the transmission looks good for now (auto CVT), I have heard of the possibilities of failure if it is not maintained. I have no history of the maintenance of this car, so I don't know if they had fluid changes done. If the CVT craps out on me at 150,000 kms and I only get a year out of this car I will be beyond pissed and out a lot of money.

How risky of a buy is it and how common are CVT failures with this car? I could look into third party warranties but I know they too have their limitations. I really love this car, and it everything I could want, but I don't want a car headed for the junkyard in a year or two.
If the CVT fluid hasn't been maintained up until now, would flushing it help restore it's life again and help to keep it in shape for the duration of my ownership? Again pardon my blatant lack of knowledge and stupidity when it comes to these issues.
rossirob73
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:06 am

Sounds like your keen on the car. So without prior knowledge of the maintance it can't hurt to flush the cvt oil.
I have 100km on mine now. No cvt issues but im also looking to flush the oil.

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old tech
Posts: 705
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:51 pm
Location: n/w pennsysvania

The average lifespan of this transmission is about 200000km , 130k miles from what I see. The failing part is the primary pulley that is not strong enough for this application . While the fluid changes are important , at best it delays the inevitable . A low mile used one or a rebuilt one can be retrofitted to a long pin conversion to probably double life expectancy. These Kizashi's can be a wonderful buy broken ( my favorite ) or a running car if you leave enough room in the price for trans fix down the road of around $1800. O a 2011 you could easily tell if trans has been replaced by turning the steering full right and reading vin tag on trans at left axle. This is a very rare bird in your area. Canada only got 2000 of these all years comined is what I read. Im an hour and 20 min from Niagara Falls state side.
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SAEED_KIZZY
Posts: 507
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:31 pm

125,000Km CVT transmision with no history of maintenance is recipe for disaster, too risky to buy I think.
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