So I have upgraded from my sporty little hand-me-down 1987 BMW 528e to a 2002 Silver Maxima SE. I have been reading lots of the threads here and can see how much everyone here loves their cars like older BMW owners.

I just wanted to get some opinons from you guys on regular stuff. I am not looking to trick out the car at all, rather, keep it as if it just came off the assembly line. So, here is what I am trying to get advice on:

1) A good Alarm:
After reading all of the crap about these damn headlights and the morons that like to steal them, and even the halogens on some occasion, I figured the best halfway deterent would be some sort of motion sensing/mercury alarm in case some idiot tries to take a crowbar to my car. Any suggestions?

2) Some good to clean plastic
Some of the plastic (headlights and gauge window) are a bit cloudy. Some have recommeded maguires and others say there is a plastic cleaner from 3m. Any help on what anyone has seen that works.

3) Care for older car
Even though I just bought this 2002, someone did alot of highway driving in it and managed to put 91K on it in 2 yrs. Hate to have his job. Anyhow, other than changing oil with GTX brand (not sure on weight since I haven't read the Owners manual yet) Is there anything else that helps extend the life of these cars or makes them ride as new? I know this is very open ended but just figured I would get some opinions.

4) I bought a warranty
Not sure if this was best but wife thought this would be a good idea seeing as how it is about to cross the threshold of 100K soon. Does anyone have a 5G with over 100K yet? Anything I should look out for?

I plan on making the call for my massive jump in insurance rates tomorrow along with calling Nissian to make sure the previous long-haul driver had time to take the car in for recall work. I will let everyone in the forums know what a 30yo male with no tickets in ATL, GA has to pay for car insurance every 6 months. I can promise it is more than $230 like the BMW.

Later and thanks!
~Brent

 

Welcome!

1. can't help there
2. The 3M stuff works well
3. if you're manual tranny, switch to REdline MT-90 fluid. Also do SEAFOAM induction cleaning (there are threads on both of these in the fluids/maintenance section of the org)
4. not there yet..
5. My insurance as a 29yrold/married/2-3 speeding tix in last 3-4 years) is about $450 every 6mos (including my wife's 2004 Mazda 3s)...The 2k2-3 maxima has notably higher insurance than the 2k-2k1 thanks to the larger engine and HID theft, unfortunately!

 

How's it compare handling wise to your old Bimmer?
If you're just getting liability insurance you'd be surprised how inexpensive it can be in your bracket (or full coverage for that matter) - it won't be $230 but not a whole lot more.

 

Cool welcome. Yeah I have the 3M plastic polish. It works good!

 

alarms are a waste, i got a viper, granted my car has not gotten broken into (knock on wood) spend your money on sumtin else, your car should have data dots for the headlights neway, and if they dont its a factory required recall for free, so get that if ur not plannin on doin angel eyes, but an alarm isnt really worth it, just gets annoying,(unless its one of the ones they got in south africa, that shoots flames out the side of the car, or has an electric current in the door handles) heheh

 

also see if u can switch to synthetic oil, i like it better, and good luck with your insurance, mine is 3 g's under my moms name, and as soon as college comes next year im screwed its guna be like 4 g's, god dammn massachusetts insurance rates, plus a speeding ticket dont help it lol

 

Alarm=don't know.
Plastic polish=I used Blue Magic on my headlight haze. It worked great.
Car care= Yeah sea foam is great stuff. Maybe clean your TB too.
Warranty=Only 49k on mine so I'm no help there.
Insurance= I pay ~ $800/ 6 months. 25 yo male with Safeco.

P.S. Welcome to the org! and never say never about modding. Guaranteed you will get 1 silly mod (clear corners...) and it's downhill from there!! Congrats on the Max and best wishes with it.

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice and tips. Calling Insurance agent now so we will see what I end up with.

 

Handling is a bit better on the Maxima considering the BMW was older and didn't have anything special tire wise. The 528e is not as sporty as the 535i or M5, but the trans and engire are smooth as silk....even at 18yrs old. I am keeping it to have time to completely restore since it needs alot of tweaking/tuning.

 

Car Insurance
Married 30yo Male, no accidents, no tix, multi-policy discount, safe driver discount
$500 deduct on collision and comprehensive
Atlanta Georgia Metro area

$612.00 every 6 months!!!!

Wow...I guess I was used to paying 1/3 that for the older car.

 

though I bet it would be far, far less if you had the 2000-2001 5th gen, thanks to no HIDs!

 

The alarm, I don't have any suggestion but I can think that Clifford are good alarm system. Oil change, well keep changing it reglionously every 3k miles. Nissan V-6 motor run very strong well after 100k miles. As far as for headlight cleaner, I use Meguiar Plasti-X, it works very well, it really cleaned up the haze or that fogged up look to brand spanking new just the day I bought it brand new. Insurance I pay $430 every six month full coverage with State Farm. No tickets or accident, I'm 28 yr old.

 

God damn, I hate everyone that lives/gets insurance outside of NJ

 

Dont feel bad I pay 255 a month. I have 3 tickets though but 2 of them fall of in april, and in a year and a half I will be 25 so I hope I get a noticable drop as soon as my policy renews when I am 25!!

 

damn, its nice to see a newb that did a little research before posting! that meguiars plastic-X worked really good on my headlights and made them look like new...my mom's 2k max SE has 190000 miles on it and is still running strong with nothing major wrong with it :-D nissans are awesome..the bumper to bumper warranty helps a LOT, especially since youre not planning on doing any modding..but beware of nissan service..although i hear in some places it isnt bad...as for insurance...i cannot wait until i have a few more years under my belt, because im a 16yo male, and my insurance is 340 per month and my car is paid off...it sux massively...i dont have very much money to put into my car because the rates are so high..that was up from 280 when i was insured on a 2k2 honda civic LX..

 

Good luck finding the plastic polish at any of the car parts chains. I'm hitting the local detail shops this weekend. Insurace: You're getting a pretty good deal considering I pay about 3k a year (I do a lot of driving for work and have to have it insured right for my job). I have about 97k on mine now (2003 SE) and am due for a tune up. Beware of the coil packs, use seafoam, stick to premium gas, and use synthetic oil.

 

Thanks to everyone for the comments and advice! With my previous car, the 87 BMW, I spent loads of time on the forum trying to figure out how those damn germans put something together
I am sure I will see everyone on here again.

 

insurance.. i pay 3250 full coverage on my car... and i believe nj has the highest insurance prices in all of america.... for me thas decent... i have USAA insurance... but they don't serve all states like nj.... they gave it to me cuz im in the armed forces... but i hear insurance prices in jersey are supposedly going down... i dunno.... on top of that i have 10 points accrued on my license within the last 2 years... along with 2 accident history

 

1. I'm going with Viper alarm w. auto start w/lcd (it's cold in NYC)
2. I'm cleaning my head lamps tomorrow with some platic cleaner from Auto zone, let you know how they work.
3. Stick with Syn Oil (mobil 1) and only 91 or higher gas.
4. can't help u out there 90K+ on a 01 Max warranty is done.
5. thank god i got the 01 with out HID cuz it would of killed my pockets. I'm payin 2200 the whole for 2 cars. Oh and that's on my name...20 year old in NYC....