m-wilhelm

I'm looking to buy a 4th gen Max now, had a 98 SE 3 years ago. I read the stickys and I understand the differences between the years. If you were buying a used Max at the same price would you choose older with less miles or newer with more miles? Why would you make that choice? Anything specific to look out for on a 4th gen Max?

Thanks.

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

Did you mean to say an older max with more miles or a new max with less miles?

At the Same Price I'd Get a 97 so I could Stillen Kit (I like the 97 more than the 96) Gen IIs and still have the 194 leds for the guage.

Loe max

iTrader: (6)

I chose the older one with less mileage. Also, the older one was more expensive but it is in mint vs. 'ok' condition so I felt it was a better choice.

djdirtyrice

i dont know what he meant but when i bought my 96 max gle bout a month or 2 ago it had 128 thousand miles which i guess was kinda hi for a 96 but it still runs great only had to replace the back breaks and the passanger window and the ignition cause of some thief but love the car

Bobo

Why did you ever get rid of the 98 Maxima? Consensus is that the best years for the 4th Gen (95-99) are 97 and 98. So you already had one of the best ones, particularly if your 98SE was a 5-speed. I would stay away from the 99s because of problems they have with the coils. I would look for a low mileage 97 or 98, with a 5-speed, and the maintenance history provided.

2 Da Max

iTrader: (2)

hands down, 97 stick shift SE

ManualMaxima

iTrader: (10)

i like the 97-99 body alot more than the 95...you could convert but that is more crap you gotta pay for. i would say stay 97-98

MaDMvD

iTrader: (16)

Definitely get a 97-99 or you'll end up regretting it. 97 preferably!

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

yeah if you want to stillen kit it up and such get a 97 and save yourself having to find new bumpers + install + paint.

I gave up on it, I will just get a 96 stillen kit, its growing on me and not many have it.

G4nismo

iTrader: (9)

i'm happy w/ my 97, but i wish it was an SE....had a 5-speed.....have lower miles.....
better paint quality.....leather interior......also, ah i'll stop there.

m-wilhelm

I meant what I said. An older max with more miles should be alot cheaper than a newer max with less miles.

m-wilhelm

I'm curious why I'd regret anything older than a 97? This is a 3rd car for me that I'll be putting alot of miles on driving for work, and I'm not concerned about mods. I just want something that will last awhile with relatively low maintenance costs., the max is my first choice.

Bobo

I quite like my 95SE, 5-speed. They made subsequent changes to the back end which does absolutely nothing for me and I like my front grille more than subsequent years. One drawback with the 95 is the 15" wheels but I have no intentions of lowering the car or buying bigger wheels. They are heavier and less fuel efficient and make the car slower in my view. So there is nothing wrong with a 95 or 96 for your purposes. Just try to find one that has been taken care of with relatively low mileage. Mine has 57,700 mostly highway miles on it and is mint, but you won't find one like it in the US because everyone lives in their cars there, lol!

ronin22357

iTrader: (14)

Whatever you get make sure its a 5 speed and NOT Cali spec.

m-wilhelm

I love this 5 speed talk, I was reading another thread where everyone was pushing 5 speeds. I have a 6 speed sports car which is my toy. The max will be my work commuter and I have to deal with traffic alot and it will be an auto. If I only had one car it would have to be a manual, but its nice having both and a choice of what to drive. I understand if you love your manual but let the person buying the car make their own choice.

Bobo

You are asking for opinions. You state you had a 98 Maxima so you should be totally conversant with the car, particularly if you own so many vehicles. You have not stated why you sold the car. If you are not receptive to the opinions and feedback of others, then don't ask for them @sshole!

m-wilhelm

Nice call me an @ss. Read my original post, my question relates to mileage vs. age. Which has more effect on the car age or mileage? At the same price would you buy a 95 with 45k miles or a 99 with 70k miles? For arguments sake lets say both cars have the same options.

I'm like you, the changes they made over the years on the 4th gen don't matter to me. Mods don't matter to me on this car, I just want a solid car that will last.

I loved my 98 SE 5 speed, it was a great car. I sold it because I didn't need a 4 door sedan and I purchased a sports car instead.

Bobo

OK, we're not mind readers so it would have helped if you described your fleet and the reason you sold your 98SE in the first place, as well as the intended purpose of the proposed Maxima being purchased, in order to put your situation in context. Now we have all that.

I would suggest you buy a little **** box commuter car with an automatic transmission.

If you are intent on buying a Maxima, which is not the most logical choice for its intended purpose as they don't get great gas mileage as a commuter car, then find the lowest mileage one you can find. Personally, I would buy the 95 with 45K on it over the 99 with 70K on it. The cars are virtually identical for all intents and purposes and should be able to run well in excess of 250K if you look after them. Just ensure that the car hasn't been in an accident of any consequence and try to obtain the maintenance history.

I have owned my 95SE since October 1, 1994 and to date the only problems I have had are: replaced an O2 sensor on warranty about 6 years ago, replaced a battery, replaced the left front headlight bulb 2 months ago, replaced an oil pressure sensor recently (cost peanuts and takes 5 minutes to do), and blew the sidewall out of an OEM Goodyear Eaglel RSA tire about 13,000 miles ago. Thats it.

Obviously it helps if the rubber on the car you intend to buy is in relatively good shape if you don't intend to buy new wheels and lower profile tires.

Lastly, get the car checked over before you sign on the dotted line to give you peace of mind.

Bobo

Lastly, you won't find a 95 Maxima with 45K on it. So assuming the 95 and 99 are the same price I think you will find that the disparity in mileage is greater than 25K. But I still come to the same conclusion, buy the lowest mileage 95 or 96 you can find and the price will look after itself. I think you'll be surprised.

m-wilhelm

Thanks rmurdoch. Bump for the night crowd.

Bobo

free bump.

theshawn

iTrader: (1)

I say just buy the most car for the money you plan to spend. If you have $7500 to spend, buy the lowest mileage Max you can find with the options you want with little regard for the year.

Obviously most people will extoll the virtues of their particular year, but as we all know 95-99 are basically the same car with minor exterior/interior revisions.

I would rather have a higher mileage later year with observable mechanical history vs. a lower mileage older one where you're not sure though.

My .02

atomztwins

Older with low miles is the way to go.

MaximaSE96

iTrader: (8)

97-98 for ECU reasons...and better body than 95-96.......if u can find one with low miles AWESOME

tallica62

i would say go wit Gen.4 I like the gen. 5's as well, but I def. like the 4 better. I have a 97 SE and love it. The only thing to watch out for wit gen. 4 are the differential bearings. Its more common in 95-97's. It just happened to me...they tend to go waay to early...around 70k miles. I would prob go wit gen. 4 less miles rather than newer with more miles. Ideally it will last you longer and youll pay less.

Bobo

He has narrowed his choice down to an 4th Gen ...now its just a matter of what year.

Did the 95/96s not come with LSD as an option in the US? Mine is a Canadian car and I recently confirmed that I have LSD. I phoned 3 local dealerships and none of them have any experience in replacing a differential bearing in a 95/96 Maxima.

ptatohed

iTrader: (12)

You have to go '99 (or '98 with modification) so you can have outside temperature display. I shopped for 8 months and I only looked at '98s and '99s.

Northern Maxima

I think that it really depends on which individual car you are looking at. If the newer car had more mileage but better features (as long as the mileage wasn't ridiculously high), then I would choose that one. If the older one had exactly the same features with lower mileage, then I think I would buy that one instead. It also depends who the original owners were and whether they maintained the car correctly. When I chose mine, I wanted a 4th gen Maxima 1997+ because they have better crash tests (according to the IIHS) which is really important to me. I chose a 1999 because it has traction control to help out in winter driving, even though it potentially could develop an ignition coil problem. A good website is;

http://auto.consumerguide.com/auto/u...x.cfm/id/2214/

Here you can find a brief overview of the yearly changes for the 4th gen Maxima (just in case there were any you didn't know about already) I also did a VIN check on http://www.carfax.com when I narrowed it down to a couple specific cars.

Good luck!