shogun

I guess I'm hoping that the knowledgable members of this forum can help me with an important car buying decision. For a few months now I have been looking at possible used cars that will fit both my limited budget (college student) and performance needs. I wrote down criteria that a car needed to meet before I could consider it a viable option. They included: 5-speed, 6-cyl, 4 door sedan with enough room to haul stuff, sporty, reliable, and not to costly to maintain/fix. Further, the cost of one could not exceed 5-6 g's. This narrowed down the list to only 2 possible cars:

'92-93 Nissan maxima SE
'92-95 Ford Taurus SHO

I am aware of the intense rivelery between these two cars over the years and my intention of this port is to not start a flame war, but rather, to give me your honest opinion of which car would better suit me. I am also aware that asking this question on a maxima board does give me a slightly biased answer, as would asking this same question on a SHO or any other car board for that matter.
As someone who does not have lots of money to fix/maintain a car, my main concern is with reliability.

How reliable are the 3rd gen maxima's in terms of avg. maintance costs (not including mods or anything else)?

I've heard a lot about VTC problems here which i have no idea what they are. Is this a frequent problem and is it costly to fix?

Are there any other problem areas I should be aware of when looking at a 3rd gen maxima?

Another issue is performance which I uttmost desire in a car.
Are 3rd gen max's genuenly faster then most other 4 door 6-cyl sedans?

well, I thank anyone in advance who takes the time to read this very long and verbose post.

DA-MAX

iTrader: (10)

those are two great cars! off hand here are the '92-93 VE TSB's.
'92 SE TSB
'93 SE TSB

about VTCs:
read the first post on this page about VTCs, it will help you out a lot on understanding them and how to "remedy"(so to say) the problem without paying the high costs.

just to let you know performance wise VE 5 spd is AWESOME!!! 15.1-.3's are achievable with just an intake!!! Scary stuff...

I figure reliability lies in the hands of the owner. and as with any used car, its dependent on the previous owner's care and maintenence, but Maximas are known to be pretty tough.


SCREW THE SHO, BUY THE MAXIMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thebull

they are both great cars. i was disappointed when ford decided to end the SHO model. since your main concern seems to be the reliabilty and cost of repairs on the 2 cars thats what im gonna base my decision on. the maxima is a very reliable car, and i have heard the taurus sho is as well. however they are both older cars and things are gonna go wrong. anytime you have an import car, in my experience, the parts are going to be harder to find and more expensive. also, a mechanic is much more willing to work on a ford than a nissan from what ive come across. a 95 SHO would seem to be a very nice car and i would imagine would have some nice upgrades available. good luck with your decision.

atulb84

iTrader: (1)

to just go with the MAXIMA 93 SE!! I have one and its the greatest thing I could have bought considering I'm just a high school student. Very sporty, reliable, V6, and just an all around great car.

Lordrandall

iTrader: (4)

When I was talking with my mechanic about what car to buy, and was trying to make the very same decision you are, he said, "Go with the Maxima".

89GXE

I love my Max 185,750mi and still very reliable.
With you being a college student a factor you should
consider is fuel mileage. My Max is stock and driving
both hiway and city it gets generally around 23-25 mpg.
Also consider the sho has a Yamaha built engine not a
normal ford engine so sho parts would figure to be more
expensive than a run of the mill taurus. The Maxima
only had two engines 89-91 SE had the VG30E an extremely
common Nissan engine 92-94 SE had the VE30DE a rare bird
and not quite as reliable as its VG30E counterpart. All
GXE's had the VG30E the VG is rated at 160hp 181lb-ft
the VE is rated at 190hp 190lb-ft.And in general fords
are not as reliable as Nissans (American Made Hunks Of
Junk!) The ford people who buy the villager say it is
the best ford they ever owned. Nissan people who buy the
quest say it is the worst Nissan they ever owned! So if
it was me I would look for either a red or white 89-91
SE 5 spd, and if it has bose system IMMEDIATELY send it to
the stereo shop and have a Kenwood or Pioneer put and new
speakers. But that's just me.

atulb84

iTrader: (1)

to just go with the MAXIMA 93 SE!! I have one and its the greatest thing I could have bought considering I'm just a high school student. Very sporty, reliable, V6, and just an all around great car.

Maximus1000

I was considering this question about a month ago when I got my car. I am in my last year as an undergrad and I wanted to buy a nice looking sporty car that I could pay cash for. Here are the reasons why I chose my Max...
1. Looks. This is personal for me since I first fell in love with cars (particulary sedans) when I was 13 way back in 92. The Max was THE CAR short of a Bimmer or souped up Audi. I still like the looks of it compared to most cars, but once again that is my opinion. But I think anyone will tell you that this generation has aged VERY WELL.
2. Power. Even though mine is an automatic, it will scoot. There are a number of cars out there that will beat it today, but back in 92 is was king (along with the SHO). Plus, it was a pure thrill to go 130 mph without the car breaking a sweat whereas my previous car, 89 Accord, would go 110 or so at full tilt, downhill, and with a strong tailwind. Also, gotta love the sound at full throttle, particularly the SE model with its twin cams.
3. Luxury. Even though you can get some options on it today that you couldn't a few years back, it is still quite luxurious. I particulary like the Bose sytem. While some on this forum will scoff, I think it sounds great since mine has four new amps from Bose that I got from www.davescoolstuff.com. The Bose amps on these generation cars are generally fried and need to be rebuilt or replaced, which is worthwhile in my opinion.
4. Price/Value. While these cars are generally more pricey in the used market, consider that a loaded SE back in 92 costs around 25K.

The only problems that I know of are the VTC failure which I'm sure others can explain better and the auto tranny if not taken care of. Also, mine sometimes lugges around off the start but I replaced the O2 sensor for about $100.00 and now it is great. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING....CHANGE YOUR OIL EVERY 3000 MILES.

BlackMaxGoddess

I'd say go for the Max. I got my 94 for near what your price range is. The most important thing to look at with a used car is the previous owner. I got mine from the original owner who had garaged the car its entire life and kept it in great condition! Just be careful, all cars are expensive to fix!! Good luck.

Brandon90gxe

well, i was pretty much in the same boat as you when i bought my max. i came down to those 2 exact choices too. tested both out. it is a yamaha motor in there which is the good part, but that bad part is that everything else is ford. One of the cars i tested was in VERY good condition, nicely maintained and all by the owners, and then they told me they put 4000 into it the previous year. YOUCH. i dont konw whether that would have been good or bad for me, but i realy didnt want another possibly 4000 going wrong on it in the next year that i would oen it, so i said screw it, the car is a maintenence $$$ machine. so then i narrowed it to the max, and viola here i am, happy as can be!