my gold 95 SE auto went bu-bye thanks to Katrina - water up to a couple of inches below the roof.

she was a beaut w/92K, in perfect mechanical condition and very good cosmetic condition (perfect interior, a few door dings, and a couple of bumper scuffs). she served me well, averaging 26 MPG at a steady 80 MPH on the tennessee-new orleans run i frequently make (even more so, now), and never burned a drop of oil.

so, what am i getting? a burgundy 97 SE auto w/charcoal interior in PERFECT condition w/57K miles for 6500 + T&L.

while i initially thought the color would be a problem, it actually looks good. and while there's no leather, the cloth seats were fine on my last one.

looking forward to tomorrow's initial forray in smoky mountain national park!

then it gets put to work on the weekly 1300-mile RT run between our temporary residence in TN and my flooded but rebuildable home in Nawlins.

ps - VERY happy with State Farm. they gave me 5700 for the old car, 400 in unused rental reimbursement, and another 200 for "personal contents" inside the car... SIGHT UNSEEN!!!!

 

Congrats on the new car. They took away your old car, I'm sure even though it was flooded, when its dry certain parts could be taken off, swapped, back up parts, or even sold.

Good luck with the new car, she has low milage which is good.

 

Usually in flood situations the vehicle owner is lucky to even see the car again after a claim is filed, Usually the insurance companies hire multiple towing companies and hand each company 500+ tows in the morning and set aside a parking lot somewhere for the car haulers to park and the cars go to auction.

After something like this if your car disappeared they'd still pay as many cars are never found or unable to be recovered by conventional means due to structural damage, trees, etc etc

 

Congrats on your new max. Love that burgundy color, my friend has that same car. Too bad it's not 5-speed. That's the one and only thing i regret not getting my max with.

 

don't feel bad for me - i wanted the auto. even with an auto, it ain't my mother's Buick!

i'd consider getting a stick if i was driving a PORSCHE OR FERRARI, but they cost just a bit more money. for the purpose this car serves, the safe, efficient, and entertaining driving of long distances (650 miles each way to new orleans), the auto is fine.

noticeable subtle improvements over my 95 are a plus, too.

details later.

 

Sorry to see that another 95 Maxima has bit the dust! Good luck with your new car.

Are the cars relatively same option wise? I take it neither had a leather interior. What about a sunroof, Bose, climate control AC etc.?

I still favor 5-speeds like mine, but to each his own.

 

Sorry to hear about your 95, but glad to hear about your 97! also good to know that state farm took care of you - a lot of orgers with other insurance have gotten the shaft. rock on bro!

 

- neither have auto climate control or leather seats (both no problem with me).
- both have sunroof & auto.

there are a very few slight differences:

- the 95 only had cassette (i vaguely remember what those are LOL), but the 97 has single CD (non-Bose, which again is my preference). the factory speakers on the 97's upgraded sound system are FAR superior to the 95 - separates in the front door, and while i haven't checked out the speakers in the trunk, the bass is lower and tighter from the rears.

- my 95 had leather shift **** and e-brake boot. sadly the 97 has vinyl, though Nissan did a decent job on it. this is a potential upgrade area down the road. (LINKS PLEASE - i've only got my laptop during the evacuation, and all my max links are on my desktop, which is in storage).

- the lumbar support adjustment on the 97 has 2 positions - ON and OFF (LOL). if i remember correctly, my 95 could be "dialed in" a bit more (3 stops in each direction).

other than that, they seem to be outfitted exactly the same.

the entire dash area of the 97 is personally more appealing/better looking to me, in large part because it's BLACK, rather than tan. additionally, the dash is less faded by the sun (only drawback of my originally-from-florida 95 was the faded dash). the buttons on the radio are slightly cupped and angled which makes it easier to both find and click them while driving w/o taking your eyes off the road.

as for the non-factory differences between the 2 cars...

for some reason my 95 "felt" ever so slightly "tighter", from what i can tell. this is probably just an individual difference which i suspect is due to the maintenance history of the cars. my 95 had 82k on it when i got it and felt like everything HAD been done (brakes, shocks, etc.) - my 97 feels like that stuff will need to be done. brakes are fine but feel like they're gonna need at least pads in 10k, shocks will get done next spring (probably GR2s), and at 57k, the 60k service is a month away.

slightly disappointing, but i'll trade those maintenance tasks for 25k less miles any day.

on a bright note, tires on my particular 97 are WAY better - the michelen all-seasons DO compromise handling a bit at the edge, but i'll trade that for better traction in the rain and better wear. and despite the "performance compromise", i don't notice it - the 97 has quicker steering response and corners flatter (bigger and lower profile tires probably in play here). and finally, the michelens are MUCH, MUCH QUIETER than the P.O.S. goodyears which were on my 95.

overall, the few changes Nissan made in 97 seem to have produced a slightly more refined, dare i say "upgraded" driving experience, which i appreciate. i'm gonna be driving the **** outa this car (TN to New Orleans run is 1300 miles, R/T), and i'm relying on the legendary durability of these things to carry me through the next year of high miles ( 30-40k, i bet) while overseeing the repair of my house.

if the roads dry up today, i'm take it for a little spin in the mountians before leaving tomorrow for new orleans.

i'll report back next week after it's "shakedown cruise".

 

How bout a 944?

 

my car prior to my 95 SE was a 5-speed GTI Vr6 - same thing.

 

You say the 95SE felt tighter. Are you sure that the 97 is also an SE. It wouldn't be a GLE by any chance would it?

 

white guages, black out trim on b-pillar, 16 inch 5-spoke alloys, factory fogs, rear wing...

pretty sure it's a SE.

i just think it needs new shocks. like i said, it still seems to handle slightly better than my 95, but again i attribute that to better tires.

 

You shouldn't need new shocks at 57K. My 95SE has 61,158 mostly highway miles and rides like the day I bought it just over 11 years ago.

 

^plus he has a single DIN cd player. where as a GLE has a double DIN BOSE. =P I think the power steerting racks on 97-99 SE models are diffrent from the 95-96. Only thing i can think of. Aside from loose steering components on your 97.

 

yeah, the steering does feeling slightly looser than my 95 - still okay, just not quite as tight. i rarely go over 80 on the interstate so it shouldn't be an issue.