My 1984 Maxima passed emissions today after being off the road for almost 4 years. It runs good but I'd say its pretty slow. I'm not sure what to compare it to except my 280ZX 2.8L 5-speed, and this is a 2.4L auto. Oh well, it runs smooth.
There is still a lot of little stuff to fix on this car. I'll get some pictures soon, but its not much to look at. :

Needs new alternator, currently running a 30amp truck alt. (barely enough for the engine with no lights on)
Driver's door lock and wiper motor need fixing. Some minor dings and the whole driver's front fender to fix. Then tint, paint, and CD player!

 

Barely five months on the road....
the repair parts for this car are worth as much the whole car. In my mind its a total loss. My wife wants a different car so we're trading the Maxima in on a 2003 Kia. (she has a thing for Kia's) Plus we're getting more in trade-in value than we could ever get by selling it as-is.

I tried to get her into a 3rd gen Maxima but no such luck. At least this newer car will have no problems for me to work on.

Now the family of Nissans has a Kia friend....

 

Someone's going to fix that Maxima up and may even have it shown on cardomain.com. You didn't say if the dealer thanked you for trading in a car that should sell with no problem. The older Datsuns/Nissans are really popular as evidenced by E-bay. Hope your new Kia is troublefree and will be a joy to own, but don't be surprised if it's not

 

That Maxima needs a good amount of work before it can be driven safely. All we told them is it runs and should be towed to their lot.

I also hope the Kia is a good reliable car. They've been using the same engine in their cars for quite some time and they have a good record since about 1998.