what would you pay...
 

I have a chance to buy what seems like a real unicorn, a 1996 Infiniti I30 Touring, leather, heated seats, bose, 5-speed!! and a one-owner car with under 100k! Huge stack of service records. Car is in nice shape, drives smoothly, and is a real blast from the past. White with black leather. Literally owned by a little old lady whose family is moving her into a rest home; her husband bought it brand new and she has driven it sparingly the past five years. What would you pay for a car like this?

picture
 

Here's a pic of the car I mentioned... totally stock, old school wheels, a few paint nicks here and there...
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....fc12c62df2.jpg

I'm sure book value is super low. I bet the average person wouldn't pay more than $1500 if it was in pristine condition.

On the other hand, a die hard 4th gen enthusiast would pay a premium for a rust free and straight car. My area is saturated with sub $2000 rot boxes. If that car was in my area I'd think $3000-4000 was a smoking deal.

A little old lady drove a 5 speed infiniti??
And, for that mileage and a car in that pristine shape I'd say around $1800-$2000 would be fair, most 96-era Infinitis and Maximas for sale in my area were run into the ground and sellers are still asking about $1200- $1500.

That's a liquidation sale. They don't care what it goes for, granny has 50 years of crap they're going to have to deal with soon. Whatever you do, do it quick before they figure out the market. $1k cash would be a reasonable start without being offensive. That really is a unicorn. Are those Lincoln Town Car wheels?

Apparently she did! I've seen a whole bunch of service records and ownership papers, it seems to be the real deal!

Ha, ha, good point! I think those were the factory Infiniti wheels for the I30 touring, some like them, I think they look pretty old school...

Have you done a search to see what these are selling for?

I did a quick Autotrader search and found a '96 with 117K miles selling at a PA dealer for $3,295.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

It's my opinion that if that car truly is what it appears/has been portrayed to be, a an offer of $1,000 would actually be an insult.

I remember what one realtor used to say about buying houses - "If you're not embarrassed of your first offer, it's too high!"

These cars get harder to value as they age, because pricing is all over the place. I'm just curious what you guys would pay... especially for a 5-speed I30T, a bit rare.

I'd pay $2,500

T means VLSD and I LIKE cornering lights. Very SEXY!

I agree with The Wiz. $2500, if it is what it appears to be. Especially if it was a 99. (No cornering lights) CarFax and a scan first.

But make it a daily driver and all those things that need to be done will all hit at the same time from AGE rather than mileage.

When you're at 23 years, AGE is what wears way more than mileage. Plan to spend another $2500 in the near future. Two years or so.

I would also pay 2500.

On one hand the car has low mileage.
Which means the car has pergaps 200k of life left.

On the other hand, as KP mentioned, AGE affects the rubber portions of the car. You will need to remove the intake manifold off to take care of leaking injectors, valve covers, and other things while you are there.

If you are looking for a car which will be trouble free from the get go, this car might disappoint you.

If you are willing to catch up on some deferred maintainance, this car can serve as the reliable family car for many years.

I would happily pay a purchase premium to buy that car, then attend to its needs.

I bought a 1996 Maxima with 100k on it in 2006.
I've put 110k additional miles on it. No major items have failed. Just all the well known smaller things.

What does the bold italic above mean ? The 99 has cornering lights just like the other three years...

I would pay $2500. Be prepared to do maintenance, but do it as needed. I have had to do very little on my 98 I30. Look out for rust especially around the radiator support.

They do? I thought that was only 96 like the maximas (95 and 96). Honestly, OEM headlight (9004) sucks and is out front and we turn into the dark. Too dark. Shoulda left those cornering lights IMO.

Living where we get snow, that VLSD is really something I like. My 88 had LSD and it easily climbed through every snow storm with "Sprint" tires. I'd go up hills in snow and pass Audis. I found out after I bought my new 99 it was open drive. (one wheel drive) I was BEYOND pissed.

It really depends on what you are buying it for. If it's a daily driver and you just need a great deal, I'd say offer $1000 as suggested and if you can't negotiate it only a few hundred more, then walk. Now, if money isn't the object here, and it's more that you want to have this rare find in the garage as a show piece, then that is where you know it's worth more to you then a bluebook evaluation. At that point it's really what are you willing to part with? It's not collectable yet, and may never increase in value, that said if you keep it in the garage, clean it up real nice, have everything running smooth, then that is your prize.

Or take care of its deferred maintenance needs, then drive a nice reliable car for many years.

This would be a bad deal if the car was really sold in 2 or 3 years. Before one gets his moneys worth.

A quick bit of research reveals here is the same car:

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/...876127998.html

I'm not saying their asking price in this ad isn't a little high (I think it is), or that it wouldn't be negotiable, but starting out at $1000 offer would you get you thrown off their lawn, and this is what I thought even before finding the ad.

My $1800-$2000 suggestion earlier may even be a little less than what they'd accept, but $1000 will be an outright insult to them.

For comparison, here is the closest similar car I could find for sale in the same area:

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/...877957401.html

Granted this one had the engine replaced so who knows how many actual miles are on it, but it was apparently also owned by an elderly lady and seems very well-kept, however they are only asking $1500 and it's 3 years newer. So yeah, their asking price on the 96 is probably way too high, BUT I do think around the $2000 mark is fair considering its uniqueness (5 speed and under 100k miles.) If I were going to look at that 96 I would definitely bring the ad for this one and tell them I'm thinking about it too! :D

I think $2500 is reasonable. Look at the driver's side axle seal and see if it's leaking. If it is, it might need a diff bearing replacement in it's future.

Damn don't put anything on maxima.org you want to keep under your hat

I too was thinking $1k initially ("grandma's liquidation sale") but that was because of the way the question was originally posed. Now that I see the seller's ad for $2.9k I agree with chop_sooie, starting out that low would be less likely to yield success.

Starting out at $1800 would be a much softer blow to the seller's ego.

You found it, that's the one! We settled at $2,000, both of us happy with the deal. I didn't need another car, but I used to drive a 95 Maxima SE 5-speed and miss it... this takes me back to the good old days! I can now rotate driving between my 07 Titan 4WD for those wintry days, my 90 300ZX with 92,000 miles for the sunny days, and the I30 for all the others :)

It's been my experience with the 300ZX that convinced me an older Nissan/Infiniti could still be a good purchase. Never a problem beyond the simple ones, and easy to work on. Nissan had a good thing going back in the 90's!

Marty

Truck body guy.....

Oh, a nice Pacific Northwet rust free car.

Excellent.

2000 is a fair price both ways.

Enjoy your car.

I live in Portland too.

Thanks JvG! I'm actually up in Bellingham, almost at the Canuck border... Seller was relocating his mom up to BC, so that helped a bit too (didn't want the hassle of importing into Canada...)

Super cool, $2000 is a great deal.

Good deal! $1k would have been a better one! :bonk:

Agreed! $2k very fair to both parties. Glad to see they were willing to come down to that price.

Congratulations! You might be impressed with how well it does in the snow. I have a 98 Maxima automatic with VLSD. The transmission was from an I30t.