Congrats on the purchase , Maxes seem to have a good resputation for lasting. I've only had mine for 13k, but have not had a single problem. Very pleased thus far! I'm sure yours will serve you well for years to come. Good luck!

(P.S. kinda OT...but am a huge fan of LS1 f-bodies...beautiful cars! lucky you to now have both! )

 

Yeah, I feel pretty lucky to have these ladies next to each other!

 

OK here's my deal: I have a 2002 Max SE (base auto w/sunroof) with 26k on the odo. Yesterday, I came across a 2003 Max SE Titanium Edition (loaded: auto, leather, heated seats, Bose, auto climate control w/Navi) for $20.5k and 24k on the odo.

Would you guys pull the trigger on that deal??? Any opinions welcome.

 

Depends on how much you can get for you '02 and if you have the money to pay the rest. Personally, we only had $15k to spend on a car and the other car we had was crap, so our decision was pretty easy. You on the other hand have a perfectly good car that seems like it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that you would like, but is still a great car. If you have the money and you must have a loaded car, go for it cause it seems like a good deal, otherwise, save your money to buy a new car when the Max dies in like what...15 yrs! Plus, if your car is running great, there is a chance that the '03 could not be as great, or was abused, etc...you never know what you are going to get.

 

F23 aren't u leased??? if so how would you pull this deal off assuming your lease isn't about to expire?

 

Yeah and I have 15 mos to go on the lease; what would effectively happen is the car would be fully paid off (rem pmts + buyout) by the dealer and the diff would be appd to the cost of new Max less dwn pmt. In my case, $18G total payoff minus $14.5G trade in on old Max (rough est.) + $20.5G for new Max. So I'd be financing $24,000.


Skytower, you pretty much summed up my internal conflict. Before I bought my Max, I test drove a 2k2 Max loaded just like the 2k3 I'm looking at now (sans Titanium Ed) and I REALLY liked it. At the time though, I couldnt really afford the add'l $150/mo (vs. my current Maxima's pmt.). However, now I'm making about $20G more per year.

I dunno what I'll do but, I am going to check the car out this upcoming weekend; maybe it'll be sold beforehand and I can put this behind me.

 

Hum...you are leasing huh? Well that changes some stuff. I probably wouldn't spend the extra money/month for a car I wasn't going to get to keep. I would say totally get it if you will have the car forever and run it until it dies...if you can afford it and was keeping it forever, it would make sense for it to be exactly what you wanted.

 

YESSS!!! That's my line of thinking. I want to have this for at least 8-9 years (or more), so if it's well optioned and needs nothing, I'm good.

 

$15k?
How much are you guys talking the dealer down? What is the listing price vs. actual purchase price?

It's impossible to get a cheap Maxima here.
5th gen Maximas near me.

 

The list price for it was $14,994 but we found out that the dealer messed up and took the ad discount from the wrong price and the car should have been close to $17,000 but since it was advertised they had to honor it. The only bargaining I could do with the dealer was getting $200 more than they offered for the trade in and getting $100 off the extended warranty. Overall a smokin' deal!

But there are deals out there. CoolMax, I just modified the search you posted to the exact criteria I used to find ours and came up with a few great results!

Not all '03s, but alot of low mile 5th gens

 

Ah, so some luck was involved; still, a great deal.

The local paper show a dealer nearby offering three 2002 Maxima SE'sfor $16,900 each. I've done CarFaxes on 2 of them; both were lease returns, one has had 3 owners (including dealer).
Zarzour Nissan

The link you provided didn't have a single 2k2 or 2k3 Maxima. I gotta have the 3.5L, HIDs, etc.

 

Got the VQ35DE itch huh?? I cant blame you; the power delivery is intoxicating. Even compared with the new TL.

 

Yeah, I did notice that there weren't any '02s or '03s. We did get a great deal, but if you can wait a bit, they can't do anything but come down in price! Plus, my search was for $16,000 and less.

Wow, here is a good one!

When I uped the max price to $20k, it pulled in some 2003's

 

If you plan on keeping the car for 5 or 6 years or more...get the warranty and don't worry about it. You are getting a great car for a great price. NOTE if your car has the titianum option (special wheels) look at the wheels very very carefully. If the original owner(rental co) cleaned them with chrome or whire wheel cleaner (a big NO NO) you will see small patches of black on the finish ..... unfortunately you can;t get rid of these and they will not be covered by the warranty. Learn from my lack of knowledge at the time.

Mr.P

 

 

I was hooked on the 3.0L for 3 years ; I've only driven the 3.5L twice...it felt almost too fast (if there's such a thing), but I gotta have it.

 

Fosheezy myneezy, j/k, hell yeah, the Navi alone is worth the entry at that price, plus with the mileage it is still under warranty, I'd say that is a deal too sweet to pass up.

Better jump on it before someone else does.

 

I totally understand what you're getting at; many times I have to back off the throttle 'cause I'm getting too much power delivery.

bk2k, I'm extremely tempted to pull the trigger on this.

 

I've been doing the same search at least once a week for several months.

I've had my eyes on the "good one" for sometime. It's a good candidate.
Still, I'm not sure if I want to spend THAT much. I'd be happy with a base SE.

 

Even though I drive slower @ age 24 vs. 16...I still want the more powerful car. Having that much power on tap is great for the times you want it.

 

This dealership has had both of these Maximas since 06/03! You'd think they'd be desperate now and $15k would be a decent offer....right?