Nismomaxt

I own a very clean 94 GXE. Looks good but I can feel that my transmission is going and my engine is starting to feel its 100k miles. Ive modified this car with all suspension mods and the intake exhaust combo. Not too impressed with the intake and exhaust but the car handles perfectly. Anyway, I love the car but heres the dilema. Ive saved enough money to put a healthy down payment on a new car or drop 10 grand into my current car or buy a another used maxima with more performance potential. I love the new Altima but Im not sure I want payments again. I have a great car now but if I sink this money into it Ill never get it back. If I buy another used Maxima ill have to start over with a stock maxima again....Help.

jim90gxe

I'd personally finance another car... maybe an Atlima like you mentioned. If your transmission is the original it maybe be going out soon. A $2k rebuild is not fun.

MAXCAVE

I see your dilema, depending on the sentimental value (my opinion) I would venture to get the tranny looked at (flushed) My 89 with 175K started acting a little funny during rolling stops, I had it flushed and no problem since cost $89.00 You said the handling was still great, can you try a major type tune-up? Won't cost you a ton and may even get your money back if you do decide to sell (keep receipts)
Just my .02

MAXCAVE

Aaron92SE

iTrader: (128)

Yeah, I would first, take a close look at the tranny to see if it is actually going to need a rebuild. If not, then you have many options. If it were me, I would just keep driving the car I have now since I am still in college. There are so many factors you need to add in, so YOU can make an accurate decision based upon your life.

But, if the tranny is on the way out... like Jim said a rebuild is not fun. I would then, look into buying another car. Buy a VE.

Neice Anne

This is probably the incorrect advice, but I think I'm in the same situation as you. I've only had my car for about 6 months, but it already has a lot of sentimental value to me, since it's my second car and the first car I've ever liked.. (old one was Volvo 240) so even though I know the tranny will prolly die sometime soon, I love my car too much to sell it, and if my tranny dies: 5 speed conversion!

Bman

Yeah, first figure out what exactly is wrong with your car. Usually there is some way fixing a car that "feels like it's dying" which could describe lots of things or hardly anything (?) Anyway, figure out how much it will cost you to fix, then decide how much the car means to you and whether or not the cost justifies keeping the car in your eyes.

My personal important questions would be: How much do I care about my current car? How much do I want the new car? Do I want to do monthly payments?

HTH

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

If you REALLY like your max, how about buying another 3rd gen?
If you want one that performs better, take a look at the 92-94SE 5-spds.
Mine with under $400 in engine mods is pulling times the same as NEW 5 spd MAxes. (ran a 15.01 at the track my very first time to run a few weeks ago, and I'm sure I can get it into the 14s with some practice)

And that makes even more sense, as you've already got a MAx with all the suspension mods on it. just buy another Max and keep your current one for a few weeks and park them next to each other and start swapping parts. it took me about 3 weekends to swap everything over onto this one after I wrecked my 93GXE. the only stuff that won't go straight across are the intake and Y pipe. you can sell those on this board to help offset the costs of buying new parts.

And also with that $10k you've got saved, you can put a lot into restoring the car IF you want to go that far. I.e. rebuild the 5 spd tranny, stronger clutch, etc etc. a tranny rebuild and ACT clutch cost me just over $1100. that's the only real work I've had to do to my car with 160k miles on it, aside from typical small replacement parts.

But if you like your car and just want something faster, then I would say definitely go for a VE 5 spd. they're hard to find, but if the car you have still runs, baby the thing for a few weeks until you can hunt another one down.

Nismomaxt

I agree completely but what do I do wih my old maxima if I get an se version. Its in great shape besides drivetrain.

Neice Anne

Sell it for more mod money on the 92-94 se. Matt's right, I forgot we have VGs, if I had $10k I'd buy me a nice 93 SE for around 6-7k, sell your VG for like 2k or whatever you think you can get, upgrade the **** outta your car (I'd prolly Turbo or SC it) and you could have one FAST max!

Nismomaxt

Alright. Ill start my hunt for a 93 se. I live in hawaii so Im pretty limited but Ive seen them around. Thanks for all the help everyone.
Dan