Opinions on this find please!
 

Hello all...

I've been trying to help my mom find another car since her current car needs alot of work, and she'll end up spending her entire upcoming tax return fixing it. I've also put several hundred of my own dollars into her car trying to help her out, but it's time for it to go.

After doing quite a bit of searching on Craig's List and Auto Trader looking at several makes and models of cars, I stumbled across this. A 93 Maxima SE automatic. (she can't drive a manual) Does the asking price seem good, or do you think there's some bargaining room? This would literally be on the edge of her budget, and I still might have to help her out a bit if they don't want to negotiate the price.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated since I don't know much about the 3rd gens other than asking a few questions in the past here in the 3rd gen section.

If you guys think it's a good buy, I'll pursue it for her. If you don't, then I'll pass it up and keep looking.

Here's the link...

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

says pictures are not available for it, but if its rust-free i would say $1900ish is fair. if the VTC's are clacking you can probably joo it down to $1600ish

One thing I will say is that buying any car that is 20 years old and has 175k miles is going to be rolling the dice. Even if the previous owner has a stack of receipts for work done, maintenance, etc., stuff can still go wrong.

The price is going to be in line with what these cars go for. I see them on my local CL from private parties and dealers from $1k to $3500. It is at a dealer, which means it would be foolish to pay full asking price. There is always room to negotiate on a used car.

If I were you, I would go to the dealer, drive the car, listen for problems, look for fluid leaks and look for damage or signs of accidents. If it drives straight and everything seems fine, DO NOT ACT LIKE YOU LOVE THE CAR!

Point out anything that you think needs to be replaced or repaired or things that concern you and offer them $1500 cash. They probably paid $1k or less for it at an auction, so they are still going to make a few hundred bucks.

If they don't take it, give them your number, tell them "here's my number if you change your mind," and just walk out like you could care less.

If they want to sell the car, they will call you back.

My current 2000 Max has 168,000 miles, and it's been holding up good so far, other than the usual maintenance stuff.

If this car was a trade-in, they probably gave the previous owner 500-700 bucks for it, maybe a bit more. That's how I got my Max, from the dealership I used to work at (traded in). I worked at a dealership for over 11 years, so I know what you mean about how to deal with the sales staff.

If it was a trade, and they gave the previous owner 500-700ish dollars for it, they're probably going to put it up for sale first before they send it to the pig auction. At least if they try to sell it, they don't have to pay the auction fees and transportation fee for them picking the car up. They rather make a few hundred or more bucks off of it rather than take their chances at the auction with breaking even or making little money on it.

Thanks for the info and your opinion. And with 175K, my concern is how much life is left in that auto transmission. I'd hate for her to buy it and a few thousand miles later have it start slipping or not shifting right. But it is taking a gamble (rolling the dice) with it being a 20 year old car.

It's higher than I would pay. I would get them down to $1400-1500ish. If it is at a nicer dealership it's probably a trade-in, although for that age/mileage I would think they'd send it straight to auction.

I would avoid a used car lot, they buy crap, make it look good and mark it up. All of the cars I've looked at that have been at used car lots have been mechanically inferior to private party and dealerships.

My internet is wigging out right now so I can't see any pics/etc. My biggest concern with VE's is the VTC's, having replaced a few it's not something I enjoy anymore. I tend to favor the 4th gen for other people if you can find one cheap enough just because they will be OBD-II and the motor has less going on than the VE and the person driving it won't care that they are boring to drive. Plus you can pick up spare motors for pennies on the dollar.

If you can work on cars then I wouldn't worry about it too much. It is hard to be critical of cars at that price point. Transmission is probably fine for another 40k, but I have heard of some going south at 180k. The VE trans is stronger than the VG. I'd recommend fluid and a filter when you buy it as a cheap guarantee.

Then teach her.:laugh: Naw jk. You gotta drive the car to see how the trans is. If it seems fine then just do regular maintenance. Its not like your mom is gonna be racing to the grocery store. Or is she?:rolleyes:

Seller should have added $2 to the price to make it $1,993..

These cars seem to be appreciating lately, but I bet the real reason is that their owners are poor and trying to get top dollar for their beater.

That said, there's only so much anyone can tell you without pictures to go off of. But a black SE in nice shape and well maintained is worth the asking price. Some VE's blow up at 180k, so keep that in mind.

Be sure to ask the dealer about the "roll bar" it claims the car to have in the ad :laugh:

I would not buy a VE for my Mom, unless you/her like changing injectors and coils regularly....I know this is not very hard but it could be a constant burden for her. If you want her to get a maxima for around 2k I would look for a fourth gen with a non rotted core support. They don't clack, or eat injectors and coils. Don't get me wrong I like VE's (I had one for years), but they do require regular attention something your Mom may not want to put up with, but then again if you are only looking to spend 2k on a car I am guessing you are ready to deal with a few problems.

Personally the only kind of 20 year old car that I would pay almost $2k for is an old toyota (4cyl Camry is a good choice). They're simple and reliable. Maximas just have too much going on to be considered a reliable vehicle at that age and especially at that mileage.

+1

Though I do think that the perception may be skewed a bit in that these days on the forum the majority of what we hear about is problems/repairs/etc and not the cars still going strong with no problems.

I agree with that. I never started a thread unless I had a problem, wanted to sell something or was posting pictures. I think that is just the nature of anything. My VE was good to me and never left me stranded over my years of owning it. I think most of the active posters here (including myself) work on their cars more than the average bear. I am not sure non mechanically inclined people would be willing to work on/or pay someone to work on cars the way we do.:laugh:

Update on the Max. Went to the dealer to look at it, and I noticed it had a chrome grille and no fog lights, so I knew it wasn't an SE, even thou it was advertised as so. Popped the hood to confirm, and sure enough, not an SE. It's got the VG engine.

Walked around the car, and I didn't see any visible rust or rust bubbles, and only two small dings on the passenger rear panel. The roof, hood and trunk lid and spoiler were faded, but the rest of the paint was still shiny. The wheels were in good shape for their age, and there wasn't any curb rash or damage on them. They are 15in phone dials.

The interior was in good shape, but needs a good carpet shampoo. There was a small crack on the dash, but that was it. No other rips or tears anywhere I could find. All the windows rolled up and down. The A/C works, but it wasn't blowing as cold as it should, so it needs a re-charge. The auto seat belts worked well.

Under the hood didn't look too bad. Valve covers looked like they're leaking. The radiator looks fairly new since it wasn't as dirty as the rest of the engine bay, and the coolant was a nice bright green.

Transmission shifted nice and smooth. I even flipped the comfort/sport button, and it seemed more eager to downshift with the throttle. The o/d button works too. It shifted in and out of o/d with the button with no problem.

One downside. It has a misfire. The plug wires looked like they've been on there for quite a while. The distributor cap still had the plastic cover on it. I popped it off and it has the Nissan cap. There seemed to be some slight mechanical noise coming from the distributor area at idle. Holding the engine at 2-3K rpm and the noise wasn't there, and I didn't notice any abnormal noises such as knocking or pinging.

When I drove it, I did romp it to the floor and let it do a 1-2 shift at full throttle. Misfire seemed to go away at higher rpm, but it was hard to tell since I had the windows down and it was windy, so it was difficult to hear. When I got back to the lot, I parked the car and got out and walked to the back of the car. You can hear the exhaust do a chuff-chuff noise due to the misfire at idle.

The steering and brakes felt good, and didn't notice any slop in the steering. There is a slight pull to the right with the steering wheel slightly off center to the left.

So, could it just need a good tune up with cap/rotor/plugs/wires to get rid of the misfire, or could it be something else more serious? I didn't notice or hear anything out of the ordinary, other than some slight mechanical noise coming from the distributor area of the engine.

Snapped some pics with the iphone, and the car is dirty. With such a warm winter we've had here so far in Florida, the trees decided to drop their yellow pollen early, as you can see in the pictures.

Had the g/f tag along with me.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...23945694_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...14657140_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...09107971_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...00044984_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...38127948_n.jpg

since it is a VG, find out when the timing belt was done.

I would bet money that the misfire you are heaing is a dead injector. That's what these things are known for. If you have you test meter you can always test the resistance between the two prongs....I was always able to find my faulty injectors this way.

do yourself a fave, get her a toyota camry. i would stay away from 6cyl at that age.
more parts = more troubles.

the 4cyl toyota's are beyond simple to work on. i have seen 1993 body style camry's in the junk yards at 280,000+


this is the carfax to this maxima btw:
http://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory...&partner=VSR_0

my maxima has 280k on it, it's NOT in the junk yard.

my original engine and tranny blew at 429,000km on the 3rd gen, VG30E are known to go to high mileage. the problem with GXE's is the tranny was designed for 4 cylinder engines so with the torque a VG can put out, they fail early. im surprised mine lasted that long even. but sadly mine did get stripped by a guy and then sent to the JY by him (which i didnt want but oh well)

the miss is probably a injector which is what 3rd gens are known to have problems with. with those issues i would say $1100ish is fair

The possibility of a faulty/clogged/dead injector did cross my mind. I'll have to do some searching online to see how much they cost. As far as testing them to find which one is the problem, I don't have a volt/ohm meter and my electrical troubleshooting experience is limited, but I do have friends that are knowledgeable in that field so I can get one of them to help me out with that.

I have a friend with a 90 SE 5-speed and he put over 300K miles on his VG before a head gasket let go. He's in the process of either getting a replacement engine or rebuilding the one that's in it.

I asked if the previous owner left any service records with the car, and he said no. There's no owner's manual or maintenance book in the car, unfortunately. I told my mom that if she does want to get it, that I would like to get the timing belt job done as soon as possible.

Interesting that it has a (newer) aftermarket spoiler.

Thankfully it's a '93 so it has factory r134a which is much cheaper/easier for recharging. Also, in slight defense of the dealer, they probably had no clue it's not an SE. 3rd gens never came with any trim badges or anything at all. My mom bought a '92 SE in about '96ish straight from a Nissan dealer and the dealer thought it was a GXE and sold it to my mom that way. So for 5-6 years until I inherited it and figured out on the intraweb what it was we just thought it was a GXE :laugh:

I was glad to find out about it having R134a after doing some Google searching on it. That will make it easier/cheaper for sure since a/c charging is pretty simple to do with the cans.

You do have a good point about them not knowing if it's an SE or not since there isn't any thing distinguishing it. Glad to hear that your mom got more car for her money, too. :D

As far as the rear spoiler goes, it has an integrated 3rd brake light, so it appeared factory to me.

No GXEs had factory spoilers. That was either added on by a dealership or aftermarket by a previous owner.

Usually the dealer installed ones are exactly the same as the SE spoiler, but made of plastic instead of foam. That one looks aftermarket, but a dealer could have easily bought some, painted them and put them on GXEs to help them sell.

From what you said, I would be a little bit wary of buying that car unless you could get it for like $1k or less. If you go through all of the trouble of fixing the "miss" and replacing the T-belt, you probably could have bought a different car with some service records.

Update...

Talked to mom extensively about the car, and what it needs, including the timing belt. If it's a bad injector causing the miss, i'm debating on whether or not to just replace the bad one or go ahead and do all six of them, since it looks like the UIM needs to come off to gain access to them.

She's waiting for her tax return now, and when she gets it, I'll take her to go look at the car and we'll go from there. She says that she doesn't want to spend no more than $800 on it.

Just tell them how much it will cost to repair all of those things.From there subtract that cost from that outrageous number their asking.

Good idea, I was thinking the same thing. Also, it seems to be a standard model without any options. Cloth manual seats, no sunroof, no ABS, no auto climate control.

A blank canvas. :devil:

Don't forget that $350 1981 Maxima for sale in Kansas City.....LOL!

eh get her a 94-97 camry best toyota ever. dad had one with factory TB, and spark plugs and drove 50 miles a day between jersey nd new york never broke down and parts are super cheap like bubble gum price. the last thing ur mom would want is 2 spend more money

if you do having the timing belt and injectors done that just turned into a 3k car real quick.....something else to consider. Also, if you purchase though a buy here pay here type of lot they are going to have selling fees/paperwork fees/ etc. fees, the price that is posted is probably not the "out the door" price.

If he was local, i'd buy it. I haven't seen a 1st gen around here in so long I don't even remember.

Those go for too much money. She's looking to buy a car cash with her tax refund check.

Hey tbehr you do realize this is in your area. Just throwing you some more options. Since its a private seller its easier to negotiate on price.
http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/cto/2829904424.html

The link doesn't work.

What make/model car is it?

I fixed it. It works now.

I just happened to look at that car just a few minutes ago! :laugh:

When I looked on CL a few days ago, it wasn't there, so it must be newly listed. The one downside is that the a/c in that car on CL doesn't work. The a/c at the black Max i'm looking at works, but it's weak and probably just needs a re-charge.

Thanks for posting the link, I'll keep that car into consideration.

It probably needs the same thing, has a leak or needs a new compressor. Either way you can use the bargaining method I mentioned earlier to your advantage. Since they asking a lower number than the car lot you can probably get closer to your mom's number with this car then the other.


Plus she'll be rollin on G37 18s. :D

No, she won't be rolling on those 18's, I would be! They would look good on my pearl white 5th gen. :D

Hah my fault. I just looked at the ad again and realized they are the same except for a dollar. lol at least its easier for a private seller to move from the asking price vs a car lot.

Hah. Well then at least she'll be 17s.

I wonder how a 3rd gen would look with my SE 17's? Hmmm...