hello everyone. i'm looking into buying a car and i'm really leaning towards a 95-96 maxima. either that or a jetta. has anyone ever owned both, can you compare the 2? anyways i'm leaning more towards the maxima. it would have to be a 5 speed, so that means gxe, or se only? or does the gle also come with a 5 sp? i really like the leather seats. anyways my main reason of getting another car is cause i really want a reliable car, i own a talon right now and even though its fun as hell to drive it's beginning to cost me an arm and a leg. is the maxima reliable? the ones i'm looking at are all at around the 150 000 km range. is there something in particlar that i should check before buying? thanks in advance for any help

 

The jetta is not even in the same class as the Max. Go with the SE.

 

maxima, no question. Jetta's are pieces of ****

 

The only way you can get a 5-speed GLE is by custom conversion. I was able to find a 5-speed SE with 'every option' available - I believe everything you can get on the GLEs unless they have a power passenger seat, plus the wood kit imo and many others is better than the factory kit in the GLEs.

The 4th gens are pretty reliable...from what I've seen, the 95-96s are surprisingly reliable considering that they were the first two years of the fourth gens, and were developed when Nissan was in trouble financially. One of the bigger issues discussed often here is bearing failure due to improper shimming in the manual tranny, found all throughout the 4th gens I believe intermittently. Most people that have this problem are effected by it/notice it before 80,000 miles or so. Unfortunately it's not a cheap job for a shop to do - with labor, most likely a $1000+ job. And what's most unfortunate are stories such as those on www.motorvate.ca about how the dealership didn't redo the shims properly (not to mention put GL-5 gear oil in instead of GL-4), so the same problem occurred not too long down the road. It might be worth noting that I'm not a big fan of my OEM clutch at 94k - it rumbles/vibrates quite a bit if not engaged perfectly, but that could be a number of things localized to my car. Seems a fair amount of people have issues with clutch installation though, but I only have 2nd-gen integra club experience to compare with, so that might just be me too.

Other than that, maintenence issues are your typical automobile issues, such as replacing O2 sensors, filters, oils, suspension components, etc.

Good luck!

 

ok so the jetta is out, tranny problems damm it. just went through an entire rebuild on my talon. not fun. is there a to tell if the bearing are about to go? oh and around how many km's do you get from a full tank of gas? is maintenence expensive on these cars?

 

I just got my max about 3 months ago, and before that I was considering to get a 95/96 Max SE or 94-96 Jetta GLX (VR6) because those 2 are on the same price range. The Jettas are pretty good car too, but the maintenance could be really expensive and not so reliable compared to Maxima. Jetta VR6 has about 172 Hp (don't remember the Torque) and Maxima has 190 Hp and 205 Torque. Gas consumption, the VR6 engine has a bit less mpg compared to Maxima even the VR6 has less displacement. The Max has more cabin room compared to the Jetta.
So it's your choice, if you're a German-minded-car person and have extra money for maintenance..go with the Jetta. Otherwise go with the Max.
Good luck finding your next car.

 

There are some warning signs to the tranny issue, but others know better than I. You can find out by visiting the URL I cited above (www.motorvate.ca), and also by doing a search on here with terms like - "tran" AND "bearing" AND "problem" - in the 4th gen forum, and maybe use ericdwong in the "Search by user name" - he's had experience with the topic.

 

I've owned my Maxima for 4 years, and driven/maintained my GF's Golf 1.8T (Mark4 chassis - basically the same as a Jetta/Bora) for over a year now. The Maxima is a bit quicker (though an APR Stage 1 chip would fix that), and is a bit more reliable (no electrical gremlins), I'd have to be honest and say that the Golf is more fun to drive. It has superior chassis dynamics and better steering feel. In terms of style, I think it not only looks classier (outside and inside), but is built with more quality...which shows.

Choose the Jetta.

 

IMHO IMHO IMHO - 150K is just too high a miler unless you are getting this puppy cheap.

OR - you know of it's maint history; **** owner took extra care, ran Mobil-1, regular schedule maint, yadda yadda.

My 1st Max was an 87 SE bought new, and by 140K or so it already had a few large probs behind it as well as the daily annoying stuff - slowwwww power windows, rough running, dealers that couldn't resolve probs, etc. A wreck decided the dilemma of how much longer to keep it.

It's one thing if this were a 1960 MGA - your eyes are open to the age and the miles, but a 95 ANYTHING w/ 150K; it's time for the auction. JMHO.


Regardless, if you want a nimble sedan, go w/ a Jedi, a larger mechanically reliable sedan; the Max.

 

The bearings make a sort of whining sound in all gears when they're on the way out, but the noise goes away whenever you have the clutch pedal depressed. You can get away with driving the car like that for approx 5 or 6,000km.

When you're getting the bearings done (parts are less than $100CDN), you might as well put in a new clutch, because there's no point in paying to have the transmission removed twice in the same year.

I get about 450km to a 60 litre fill-up in mostly city driving.

Nissan parts are a little cheaper than Honda parts and a lot less expensive than Mazda parts. I've had my Maxima for a year now (I had the seller pay for the bearings & labour - I paid for the clutch) and have only had to replace the starter - less than $300.

BTW, there is a Canadian Forum here at Maxima.org - welcome to the "club".

 

What's wrong with a 1995 model year car with 93k on it? That's right on average afa miles per year, and plenty of cars make it past this point without a whole lot of maintenence.

 

Read the FAQ, it has lots of useful info.

 

i was also looking for maxima type (4DSC) cars for my budget and if you read this forum or did some research, maxima is the car to get. so my advice: stop thinking and buy a max.

-Vadim

 

Blizz, I agree w/ you, but... note that we are Max enthusiasts on a Max enthusiast board. We take care of our cars here, probably to an **** degree. I am sure my Max will do well into 3-digit miles, as will likely most of us here.

Unfortunately, for every one of us, there are 4 or 5 chuckleheads who probably only change their oil twice a year, probably wash/wax once a year, etc. That's why it is important for the guy to know/trust the maint history of such a high-mile car - regardless of brand.

But.. we need those chuckleheads - so that we have parts cars in the boneyards to pick from.

 

my budget is forcing me to buy one with at least 150k km seeing as i only have $10k CDN to spend. does the bearing failure affect the AT also? maybe i'll just buy an AT.

 

And none of them have had an tranny problems...auto or manual.

You are asking a question on Maxima .org...so of course you're going to get biased answers. Check out Consumer Reports and Edmunds for some objective opinions.

 

Where do you live in QC??

Nothing like seeing one in real life to make up your mind...

 

I just bought my Maxima a week and a half ago. I was kinda of in the same situation you were, I had a 95 probe gt that was killing me with repairs, $2400 since Feb. I bought a 99 SE 5spd. I was also looking at VWs, not jetta though, the new 200hp GTI, pretty nice car, a little small though, Im 6'5". Anyway, from all the research I did about maxs before buying, they seem to be very reliable. Any after a week and a half, I havent missed my old car once yet.

 

go with the maxima. my aunt has a jetta and they are nice little cars but not as fun or powerful. my max has 83k miles and is going strong. plus they are roomier and look better.and if your into the speed thing, not even the jetta's best (VR6) is comparable to a well driven 5speed max. good luck with your purchase