AH! Everytime I find a good deal on a maxima, it's always an AUTOMATIC! I want a 5 speed! Just now I found a nice maxima with low miles and good price, so I called and of course..auto. Those stick max's are so hard to find in my price range and area. Damn Nissan and their 5% manual maximas. Sorry just had to vent. Anyone else having this problem?

 

Yea, it seems around here (Omaha, NE) manuals are harder to find than normal. There's a pretty good chance I'm picking up on a 95 SE 5-speed though, a week from Monday or so. I've only seen that and another SE that's been a 95-97 5-speed in about a month and a half, searching autotrader and my local classifieds regularly. I've found a few GXE sticks, but...bleh

Keep looking. I always searched on autotrader within 200 miles, and would consider a little drive to find the right car. It might take looking at other major cities. Good luck (wish me luck on closing out that deal mentioned above).

 

I hope it's not as you guys say... I'm going on a quest for a 5spd and I'm in NY...

 

Nissan will sell as many 5-speed Maximas as it can find buyers for. If you are distressed at the scarcity of used 5-speeds, it is because ...
- too few new Maxima buyers ordered the 5-speed ... or ...
- those who own 5-speed Maximas aren't willing to part with them.

 

Keep looking. It took me 4 months but the time was worth it. I also spent $5k more than I had planned, but oh well.

 

DBM - right...I kind of vent at the populus for making the standard transmission anything but standard these days. At least Nissan produces a 5-speed option for a trim level like an SE...
Look at the competitors. There's still manual accords, but very few, and only 4-cylinders (I love how honda does that on some cars, ala the 97 CLs, etc.) I don't think there's any manual camrys except for a few Solaras.
Eh...when I'm older I might see the ease of an automatic as an advantage. But as of now, I don't even really race around, but I still like the added control and feel of a manual.

 

Me too, and that's why I drive a 5-speed. If this Nissan lasts as long as its predecessor, I will be driving it for many years to come. Nissans are reliable, economical, and durable. As for styling, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

there are LOTS of 5-speed max's in the midwest. There are 4 97-99 SE 5-speeds (yes I said 4) at this dealer that is only 10 minutes from my house.

 

I posted on this topic a while ago. I had that same problem, I guess I still do. I have been looking here in COlorado for around 3 months and have not found one decent one yet for a reasonable price. I found a 97 SE 5spd with 67000 miles on it and they wanted 19K for it. I found one that had 178000 miles on it. I am also very frustrated with this problem. IF anyone in CO knows of any decent 5spds with low miles let me know. Take Care

 

SB97MAX - do you frequent autotrader.com at all? I did a search from area code 80002 (denver I believe) for 95-99 maxi's, saw at least a pair of 5-speed SE's just breezing over the listings.

 

I work at middletown nissan in CT and we see 5spds frequently. We deal fairly high volume so we send someone to auctions weekly to buy cars (how i got my 5spd) if your aggressive with your intents and you let your nearest dealer know they will get you the car you want. Only thing is they will want you to sign paperwork for it before you have the car. Its difficult to agree to paying multiple thousands of dollars without having something tangable , but these guys are experienced. if you are near by and you would like to deal with us. Shoot me a mail and i can get you in touch with one of our managers. Or you could deal with me directly. As of right now im really sick so ill be home for the week but ill help any way i can till i can get back to work. let me know if i can help
-maxse98

 

MaxSE98 makes a good point about getting in touch with your local volume dealership(s). I gave my name out to the Nissan dealerships around...that's how I found the Maxi I'm very close to buying right now. (I never say 'sure', because I've had to back out of a car deal at the last moment before). The 'internet sales manager' emailed me about it before they even had the car. Heh...because of me, it's had a "sold" sign in the window ever since it got there...
The saleswoman claimed that if I knew I wasn't interested, to let her know because she had 3 other people on a list after my name looking for G4 5-speed SEs. I don't think this was dealership-talk, because she's been about the most down-to-earth salesperson I've seen yet, but it could have been.

 

For God's sake, tell them to send some my way!

 

I have been in touch with my local Nissan Dealership and after 3 months of me buggin the hell out of them they still didnt find me anything. Ill look in autotrader.com thanks for the tip blizz20oma. Take Care

 

well ive been lookin for a max for a few months now and cant seem to find one, they sell so quick, now that i have finally found one, the perfect one, its stick and i didnt really want it i wanted auto.. but i guess ill have to deal, i may even like stick better, who knows

 

I had been looking for a 1997 or newer Maxima SE for a while a few months even. I had my demands I know that made it tougher, I wanted the 5 Speed and I wanted the Bose radio system. Any options after that were extras. Also when it came to miles I was looking to keep it under 50K. So I waited and checked out the ads every week and did the online checking whith dealerships pretty much within 100 miles. The dealerships were the worst part because they would reply back to me with things like "We found the car you want it has 900 options but it is an Automatic" Many times this happened but then recently I found the car I was waiting for 1998 Maxima SE 5 speed Bose radio then thigns like sunroof and gold package. Also it was 47K.
So I guess to make a long story short keep looking and it is out there somewhere. I think the five speeds are harder to find because more people now want the luxury and not so much the performance. Another thing I noticed with the SE's was that people who bought the SE's wanted the package but then got no options in it at all to make up for the price difference. I guess they just wanted to be able to say they drive an SE.

SuDZ

 

Have you tried www.cars.com?

I live in a northern Virginia, and did a couple searches for vehicles within 50 miles of me that had the keywords "standard" "manual" "5spd"...came up with atleast 10 Maximas with manual transmission (majority of them were SEs)

 

nothihhg wrong with automatic!
AUTO PRIDE EVERYONE!

 

Have I? Hah, I try it every single day, and auto trader every day too. And I look in my newspaper, and go to some dealerships web sites, and Carmax.com...you get the point. But I'm still looking, cuz I know when I find the right one, it will be worth it

 

96 Max SE 5-spd replaced engine at 84k miles....new engine has ~60k miles on it car has 93k....recently got all new gears and clutch....options....bose, moonroof, power driver seat, grey cloth interior....been totally repainted Super Black at a cost to me of $3500 and having to drive a 94 sentra for 2 months...talk about suck....but anyways....chip on front hood, small crack near cig lighter, and bad scratch on back bumper...fig'ed might as well be up front about it. Located in TN.....13,000 obo....maybe....already probably gonna swap it for 300z...but we shall see....if interested email me Lcondry@aol.com

also car has Weapon-R Dragon Intake (chrome blue) and 17" chrome rims with low profile Potenza Rubber, Progress Tech Sport Spring...oh and its tinted lol.

 

well when the going gets tough you have to put the 5spd at the top of your priority list... i was looking for a Maxima SE 5spd with EVERYTHING... but i ended up with a GXE with nothing but a 5spd... and i'm happy... i realized i'd saved money and a coupla hundred pounds... besides everything will be changed when you mod it