I am looking for a Maxima to buy. I have always loved Maximas and now I can finally get one. The only problem is that I don't know whether to get a 5-speed or an automatic. Right now I have an '87 Jeep Cherokee that's slower than Grandma so either is going to be a drastic increase in speed. Also, I have only driven 5-speed once when I was learning and that was for about a half-hour. So I guess in general, I am looking for your opinion on whether I should get a 5-speed or an automatic? Also note that my funds can only provide me with one up to $3500 and if you got any suggestions, by all means show me, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, sorry for such a long thread.
-Mark

 

personally, i would get a 5-speed. faster, more fun to drive, better economy but of course not by much. the biggest factor however is reliability and the price to fix it if it did break. the auto in our maximas aren't very reliable. mine died at 100k miles and it cost 1800 to fix. the manual also went out but at 135k miles. if it weren't for the breaking of the sleeve that the throwout bearing slides on it would have only cost 50 dollars to fix (doing the work myself) instead it cost 300 for the tranny but it also had the input shaft bearing problem and some other bearings. i paid 50 dollars for the parts and fixed it myself. 350 for a good working tranny isn't bad. learning a manual is easy, all it takes is practice just as everything else being learned in life. what it all comes down to is what you want though. good luck on getting the new maxima.

 

thanks for your input. also i would like to ask if there is such a difference between the 89-91 se engines vs the 92-94 se engines. enough to only want to buy the 92-94 version? what do you think?

 

there is a difference. the 89-91 se and gxe both had the vg30e engine which pulled 160 hp and 182 ft lb of torque. the 92-94 se only had the ve30de engine which pulled 190 hp and 190 ft lb of torque. the 92-94 se will be a lot faster than the 89-91 but reliability is generally lower due to the VTC's. don't get me wrong, the ve's can last just as long as a vg if taken care of but most of them seem to go. i would personally stick with the vg because it's basically the easiest to mod of the two. getting the vg allows you to be able to swap the vg30et out of the earlier 300zx's. the swap isn't really straight forward and would still cost quite a bit and take some time but there is more potential than the ve. if you want good speed but don't want to really mod much in the future the ve would probably be the good choice. be prepared to have to do vtc work or ground them incase they go bad. the work i've heard can be 1800 ore more. you can ground them which gets rid of the knocking and seems to work pretty well but you lose power. i'm more biased toward the vg since i own one and i know a ve will do the same towards their engine so again it really all comes down to what you want.

 

Get a 5-speed for sure, even if you don't get a VE30DE (92-94 SE) powered Max. I can't really comment on the driving difference between the VE and VG since I've only driven a VE, but I wouln't take an automatic unless someone gave it to me, and then I'd just sell it.

 

Hey,
I am very happy to say that I am the new owner of a 1990 Maxima SE 5-Speed. Thanks to everyone that replied.
-Mark

 

Congratulations! Gotta love driving a manual transmission.

 

good thing you got the 5-speed, you won't regret it.