BUY

Set the timing chain aside and the VQ35 is a durable, long-lived V6. On the V6-only members of the family -- the Maxima, the 3.5 Murano and the Infiniti G35/FX35/M35 -- engine complaints are a modest slice of the record (1,285 ENGINE texts across all of them, most of that the Maxima's timing-chain reports) with no dominant internal-failure pattern beyond that chain. The heavy powertrain complaint volume on these models is the Jatco CVT, a separate matter covered on its own page, not the engine. Given basic maintenance the VQ35 routinely runs past 150-200k.

Check — Confirm it is the VQ35 V6 (on an Altima, that it is not the 2.5 four-cylinder). At high mileage weigh service history -- oil-change records, timing-chain quiet at idle -- over the engine's reputation, and judge the transmission separately.