Hi,

I want to know if one of these guys would be a good student car. I've never owned a car before fyi.

How much do I need saved to pay for repairs? And how many miles should I shoot for?

 

1. how much money do you have saved.
2. depending on where you live, you might find a low mileage max from 2,500.00 and up.
3. check lower rad support, codes if any and oil leaks and test drive.
4. make sure they'll let your mechanic check it over.
5. look for rust!!!!

 

Well, about $4000. What's the most I should be paying?

 

A high mileage 4th gen should be under $1500. More if you want one with less miles.

$4000 you're getting ripped off unless the thing is mint and only has 50k on it. You're almost halfway to a 2015 Nissan Versa for that much...

 

its all luck with where you find one, might get the barn find maxima with 32,000 for 2,500 bux!!! but, most likely it'll be online or from a local paper. 4 g's should buy you a nice maxima with 100k or less in good shape. depending on where you live, ( snow belt or warm weather state )

 

You may want to consider a 5th Gen for $4000...It's possible.

 

How well do you know auto mechanics?

No used car is ever problem free.

You are going to have to budget for repairs and parts.

You should be able to get a nice 4th gen maxima for 2k or so. More or less. The rest of the money is for repairs.

A newer cAR for 4k will have a smaller repair bill. But will be a 5-6 k car when you are done.

A 4th gen maxima is a good, fun car which will last.

 

I've purchased three 4th gens over the years all for my kids. Once they started driving, they were all issued a 4th gen that I picked up from Craig's list. I budgeted roughly $1,000 to $1,500 per car for parts to replace the usual wear items like, struts, bushings, CV joints, O2 sensors, seals, belts, hoses, plugs, gaskets, alternators, and batteries. After I give the cars a mid-life refresh, they work out great. Any car with over 150,000 miles has a list of wear items that will show up at any time.

 

I have been driving mine for 6 years. I paid $1,600 with about 250,000 miles. I have now got 318,000 miles and have averaged $200 in repairs annually.

You said you are a student, High School? College? Are there auto shop programs available to learn your own maintenance and some repairs and mostly just for a place/tools to do the work?

If you live in the rust belt, any rust free car will be at a premium and then a clean Max will likely by pushing $4K.

Check the radiator core support right behind the front bumper for rust.
This is bad


This is worse


There are cheap parts available, but some MUST be OEM$$$. Above all make sure it was well taken care of so you are not busting your ***** cleaning up someone elses clapped out hoopty.

 

Yes, good student car, family car, grocery getter, etc.

Just get one in good condition with maintenance records and maintenance up to date.

 

This is sage advice.

Also, better to buy one where the chassis and body has no rust. Body work is expensive.

If you can wrench even a little bit you'll save lots of money. Based on board member postings, labour rates vary from dirt cheap to expensive so being able to turn a screwdriver will help since parts alone are more expensive, especially in cases where you want to go OE over jobber parts.

There seems to be a lot of crap out there so patience is paramount in finding a clean example but they're out there.

 

there's a million maximas still out there, that's why so many op choose to own these cars. hell, i rented 4th gen maximas when they were new back in the day and fell in love with the body style and speed of these cars. when i finally got mine in "05 with 129,000 for 4,300.00 i was so excited i drove her non-stop the first weekend i had her. here's a pic of her in 05 on the lot where i bought her from

 

When I bought my Max it had 52k on it and bought it for $4100. Still got it today, done a lot of work to it, even replaced the engine around 65k because it had a bad head gasket or something. Smoked like crazy. Anyways, it's still going without problems. I hit 90k recently. This thing better last me till 300k.

 

You can get a good one for less. Or better yet, get a 2000-2003 one, because those are newer and you can find one with under 100k miles for your budget

 

i think the 4th gen is a better car, it doesn't burn as much oil as the 3.5's do, although some 5th gen owners might argue that theirs don't burn oil, the def do. the vq30 de is a solid 6 cylinder motor that if properly maintained can last up to 300,000+ here's one for under a 1,000 with 330,000 http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invento...ting=120017578

 

I got my 1998 at 80k miles when I was 20 years old. Moved around several times since then and have 243k miles at 30 years old. No big repairs ever outside of lower radiator support repair and broken/separated crankshaft pulley.