I'm back. Last year I sold my 2000 GXE with 114k mi for $6600. Today I bought a 2000 SE with 116k Miles for $5000 cash. I plan to drive this jewel for at least 45k miles. I'm done with car payments and hoping to save enough in the future to pay for all my cars cash from now on.

The SE is in decent condition. Body on has one major dimple in the rear bumper.

Paint is another story. As well all know Nissan paint aint the best. There are quite a few rock chips on the hoods leading edge. They have begun to rust so I will need to prep them out before touch up paint.

Paint also dulled a bit. Hoping to bring that luster back with my new porter cable.

Air Conditioner has a bit of a musty smell. Gonna have to fix that. I've done a bit of research and hope that there's a reasonable fix.

Now the major issue.....Broken front right strut. You can hear it on bumpy roads. Car handles OK under normal driving conditions but it's gotta get fixed.

I'm the 3rd owner the last owner drove it from 85k to 116k. I asked if they changed anything and he mentioned that the car was fine so they didn't do anything to the car. Battery isn't stock and I recall my starter on the GXE gave up around 80k miles

My refurb plan is to start by getting her cleaned up both interior and paint.

I have a friend that works for Infiniti and he mentioned that he can have his techs give the car a once over. I think I'm going to take him up on it.

Mechanically I know it will be wise to change plugs, new serpentine belt, transmission and radiator flush are coming very soon. The previous owners did use mobil one for their oil changes though.

What else should I be thinking of?........

 

congratulation to you on the new ride.

 

Thanks.....Now I gotta sell the '04 Camry to make my plan work.

Glad to be back in a Max though.

BTW I think I have kind of a rare Maxima. It's a base SE. Cloth interior, No BLOSE stereo, No convenience package. It's an interesting car because all SE's I've seen are the fully loaded versions.

 

Congrats on your purchase. Welcome home

Swee

 

i would check out the coils see if they are the updated ones,... also i would think about throwing a new MAF on there if it is still the orig one,.. also a new air filter with that ,.. and when was the last oil change....

 

welcome back.....

 

Fluids are a priority. Both radiator and tranny. I spent quite a bit if time last reading the tranny fluid thread. Don't know if I want to go synthetic since I'm not sure how the tranny had been maintained in the past.

I'm pretty sure the oil change was recent and again they used Mobil 1.

Gonna check the air filter tonight. Along with the interior micron filter.

Was hoping to start claying tonight but it's starting rain. Maybe it will pass long enough to let me wash the car and get it in the garage.

 

Something seems to be missing from this thread.....I just can't put my fingers on it...

...

 

maybe its a GXE with SE badges?

 

Seem like it would hardly be worth the trouble. It has the SE Tail lenses, And I researched a gauge swap and realized it wasn't worth it. Also it drives firm like an SE.

I've seen them before though. In fact in 2000 a dealer in Dallas had base model SE's with manual tranmissions as their Ad cars for $17999. I remember going down and talking with a dealer about one. But I didn't want to deal with manual in Big D traffic. That car was a dream for most though.

 

What are you thinking?

 

 

LOL you're right. I will remedy that tonight.

 

Not to rain on your parade..IM glad you got a max..BUT

1. Tail lights take about 10 minutes to swap out. For a 2000, its as easy as 1,2,3.

2. The gauge cluster harness is the same whether you have an SE or GXE for the 00-01. SE is just the silver face I believe. For a 2000, its also easy to swap them out...

3. Drives like an SE = placebo effect....

Please make sure you got an SE, if your 100% sure then good find...

 

I have a 5.5 and it is a base model SE. Cloth interior, non-Bose, no sunroof, power driver seat only, non-heated mirror, etc.

But it's a 6-speed, so...


...not too far fetched that the 5th gens had the same offerings.

 

If it has body colored door handles it's SE. I doubt anyone would replace the door handles.

 

the almighty VIN!!!!! ,.. run the VIN and see what it gives you and you will have all the answer's,..

 

MY SE doesn't have anything besides sunroof/power seats.......It is what it is.

 

Im not saying there arent base model SE's..just saying that it MIGHT not be what he thinks. Thats all...Sorry if i offended anyone..

 

I have the same thing. I bought it from a retired old man at 78K who's the been the sole owner. There is no doubt that it's a 5 speed SE, but you can't even adjust the speed of the intermittent wiper. I put in the micro-air-filter myself because it wasn't installed. It's just what I was looking for. My only beef with it is not being able to change the speed of the intermittent wiper.

 

LOL the 1st time I turned the wipers I noticed that you can't change the wiper speed. I was like WTF. Again no convenience package

She is no doubt an SE. Color matched handles, Reverse gauges, leather wrapped steering wheel, the 5 spoke wheels yada yada yada.

I've been spending the last few nights getting the paint brought back to life. So far I've washed, clayed, washed, used Pinnacle XMT Intermediate swirl remover, Pinnacle XMT light swirl remover and I'm about to put on the finish glaze coat. It's been a lot of work but she already looks much better.

 

I bought a 2000 base SE for my daughter almost 2 years ago. It was originally a rental car, rental car companies buy these cars as base models. When I was shopping, it seemed like most of the base SE's were white, and checking CARFAX confimed many were rentals. I didn't think I would ever buy a rental, but I got it cheap, and I figured it was only a rental the first 27K miles. The next owner put 80K on her. My daughter put on another 10K before she totaled it about 6 months ago.