So I finally sold my car and am now in the market for a maxima. Started my search tonight and found one that has everything except for the limited slip dif. The guy is asking "excellent" Blue Book but it has a few things wrong: both fog lights cracked, front and rear bumper has scrapes, windshield has a crack and needs to be replaced, and the tires are pretty worn. So how much under "excellent" is it really worth?

2003 6-speed 85xxx miles

 

$7,200 highest... check for any oil leeks.. good luck bro

 

offer 7K and see if he takes it

 

Point out those flaws to him and offer him $6500 to $7k for it.
Btw, fogs will run you $140-$180 depending on where you buy them, bumper scratches are hard to say but I'd estimate them at $500, new OEM windshield $300, new 17in tires mounted and balanced (I use WalMart) for mounting and balancing but I put them on the car, $750-$800. Of couse you can do each job as you have the money but I'd do tires, fogs, windshield then bumpers.

 

+1 on the 6.5 to 7K

 

Well I think I am going to offer 7 and see what happens. Interior is perfect other then a little bit of wear on the shifter, and the car seems to be mechanically really sound. Thanks for the advice and I should be finding out later today if this is going to happen or not... Also the car is a TE. Does that raise what you would pay or not really?

 

Yep. The Titanium Edition package was Nissan's way of pushing the final model year out the door as something special. They did the same for the 1999 SE Limited Edition.

$7K is fair assuming the engine is sound and the body isn't damaged. The problems you described are all easily addressed. HLSD is a nice-to-have, but not a deal-breaker for a daily driver. (Even though I wish I had it.)

Sounds like a good find for a local Maxima. Good luck.

 

keep looking for a car with hlsd..i would never own a 6spd without it...

 

Hmm... you again with your limited slip mantra.

You know, I've never driven a Maxima with HLSD. It would be interesting to drive one with LSD immediately after one without. (Note, that's "with LSD", not "on LSD".)

 

There is one local with HLSD (interior cloth though) but the guy wants $12,000 for it. It has really low miles (37K) but seems like a lot of dough...

 

Just for comparison, I found a 2003 SE 6-speed TE with heated leather and HLSD with 35k miles for my friend to buy, he paid $11,500, the car only needed tires. I looked at several other 6-speeds, for the 85k mile car you described seems like $7k would be reasonable compared to what I saw. One I passed on was a 2002 SE TE 6-speed with heated leather and HLSD, 81k miles, needed tires, had scratched bumpers, asking price was $8100 but the seller was willing to take less.

 

maybe you should try the lsd

 

i recommend that you dont drive one, cause when you do you will want it!


12k seems a bit much, however, imo if there is a car with low miles and really clean and has all the options you want, i would spend the extra couple grand on it.

 

Just wondering... what noticeable differences do you feel?

 

I'm guessing it's in a better launch, and when pulling hard out of a turn. Kind of the same effect as adding solid motor mounts and a strong FSTB.

But I'm curious, too. It would be interesting to swap cars for a comparison romp, Hotshot.

 

the most noticable difference i can say is that if you are on turn whether be fast or slow, once you punch it on the turn you better be holding on to that steering wheel cause the car just puts all the power to the ground. i let my friend drive my car at roebling road road course in savanah, and he compared the hlsd to be comparable to the quaife diff in his track NX 2000 and the nismo lsd in his 350whp turbo Sentra.

it also helps in the snow as well if you ever make a trip down to LI, let me know...then again, i have headers to so you will probably want to get those too.

 

Not sure it's better in the snow, one of the 6-speed 2003 Maximas I test drove was being sold by a tire development engineer who works for Nissan, he warned me that the HLSD can actually be an issue in the snow (which he drove his Maxima in here in MI), can send torque from side to side as each front wheel gets power and then slips/breaks traction. Maybe that's not a bad alternative to just spinning a wheel endlessly though.

 

Mine has LSD and is actually very good in the snow. Its most noticable when cornering at full throttle. It just goes and doesnt spin. If you can hold out to find one its well worth the wait.

 

There's a reason most of the HLSD Maximas were sold in Canada.

I'm thinking... snow.

 

lol i was thinking the same thing...my car is pretty good in the snow, if i had snow tires im sure the car would be even better..

 

Bridgestone Blizzaks on black steel rims with chrome lug nuts. I swap them in and out every winter. It actually looks kind of butch for a while, but when winter starts to linger, it just gets old and I want my Eagle F1's back.

However, Blizzaks make the Maxima a veritable jack rabbit on snow and ice. All seasons tires are way too loose for Northeast Winters.

[edited] Which begs the question to the OP... do you have snow where you live?

 

Cracked windshield and fog lights and he wants excellent kbb? what a dimwit seller. Offer him $6000 because he'll work you up to $6500ish, which is fair i suppose.

 

Don't let the Hlsd be the breaking point of the deal. Mine Doesn't have it and my buddy did on his previous 03 te 6mt. With good tires our launches were EXtremely similar if not by a 1/4 car length. On corners though it would made sense you're receiving far better control and power, yet my non hlsd STILL puts down. And I wouldn't advise hauling A$$ on any turn to begin with unless you have built suspension.
Offer 55 and go from there. You got nothing to lose by offering $5,500. He'll call you stupid and tell you the least he'll take it XXX. Than offer him $6,500. With all those problems it seems like you're looking at a grand of work, and no one likes recieving a car and having to spend your first week fixing rather than driving it. If he has some crazy price (which seems like the case from his asking price). Make your offer and let him call you back 10 minutes later after he claims he won't take it.
GL.

 

Well at the risk of getting flamed I will tell you guys what ended up happening...
Since I sold my BMW (it leaves me Saturday) I needed to have a new car ASAP as I have a job that involves being mobile. So yesterday I test drove the maxima (2003 6-speed TE with 85000). I liked the power, didnt like the clutch so much (its ok though), really liked the interior and comfortable seats, didnt like the broken windshield, fog lights and worn out tires. Where I am at in the country (Utah) there arent a lot of 6-speeds for sale. Seller was asking $9,000 and I was hoping to get it for $8,000. After posting this thread, and seeing the responses this morning, I decided to offer $7,000 and see what would happen. The seller didnt say no outright to my initial offer, instead just saying that it was less then he was hoping to get but that he would talk to his wife and call me back. I ended up calling him back later in the afternoon since I still hadnt heard anything and really wanted to either get something done or continue looking for another vehicle. When I did talk to him he said he was on his way to get a new windshield put in (good news) but that $7000 was just way to low (bad news). He came back with a price of $8,100. I asked if he would take $7,800 but he was firm at the $8,100 price. Long story short I told him I would think about it and let him know since their were still a couple of other cars I had wanted to check out (I had made a couple of calls to other sellers but no one had gotten back to me yet).
So about a hour later after talking to my wife I had pretty much decided to go ahead and get the Maxima. I went online and was actually filling out the loan information when I got a call back on one of the other cars I was interested in. This guy had a 2002 Audi A4 Quattro 3.0L 6-Speed with only 56k for $9,500. So I decided I needed to test drive it. Turns out the car is in great shape inside and out (nothing I could pick on, and I am very picky), had brand new tires, brand new brakes and was fully loaded (every option available for 2002. Also included was a set of brand new snow tires (although no additional wheels) On top of that it came with a warranty that has a little more then 2 years remaining on it which covers everything except for wear items...I drove it and although it is absolutely underpowered (the maxima would blow it away) it drives soo nice. Very quite, suspension amazing, and I love how the clutch feels. I think audi makes the best looking interiors of any automaker (although some of the plastic pieces arent as high quality as I would have liked in the A4). I also liked that it is all wheel drive as I was trying to get something that could handle the snow we get here in Utah. So all that being said I decided to get the Audi. So thats my story.

 

Audi + warranty = good call...cause: Audi + no warrenty = money pit

 

The warranty had a lot to do with my decision. Having a BMW I understand the meaning of money pit. Not fun at all

 

Good story. Good car, and a transferable warranty. Nice.

I'm wondering... if you had said up front you were already driving a BMW and looking at an A4 as well as the Maxima, I'm wondering if the advice given here would have been the same.

 

My BMW has been for sale in the classifieds here since June. When I first put it up for sale I started doing a little research and had narrowed down my options to either a Maxima or the Audi. The goal was to get something with lower miles (BMW is over 170k), that would cost less on mantainance over the next couple of years, and would be better in the snow than the BMW (not hard to accomplish since anything would be better in the snow than the BMW). The car also needed to have a 6-speed.

The way I had it figured:
Maxima cheaper to mantain than the Audi. Timing chain vs timing belt
Audi more luxurious than Maxima. Quiter at speed etc
Maxima better power.
Audi better in snow.

So anyway when my car finally sold I needed to find something fast. The maxima had everything I wanted (6-speed, good color, and leather) and the asking price wasnt crazy so I was pretty sure that was what I would get (seems like around here everyone wants 2 grand over retail for their 6-speed maximas). If we could have agreed on a price quicker I would have. I think either car would have been a decent deal.

 

Wow, that 540i was a beauty!

Glad everything worked out for you.

 

I was actually at the point that I thought I would just keep it for another year since I couldnt get anyone local that wanted it. I think its hard for people to buy something with such high miles sight unseen. The guy that bought it was actually the first person to look at it in person. He didnt really have anything to complain about condition wise.
The hard part for me is that the BMW was exactly how I liked it and now I already want to mod the A4...

 

what year A4? Ive always wanted an Audi but i heard used one are a maintenance nightmare cause most people didnt take care of them properly

B

 

Its a 2002 but has relativly low miles (56,000). From what I understand the 4 cyl do have a lot more issues then the 6 cyl since they have a turbo. Also I think a lot of people with the 4 cyl go ahead and get them rechipped (adds 50 HP and 80 TQ for $500 bucks) which I would guess doesnt help reliabilty either. The 6 cyl is a lot harder to add power to, but it does start with 40 more to begin with then the 4. I got a two year warranty with the a4 so if I do have problems, I shouldnt be the one paying...

 

So i take it you got the 6? There was one driving around here built with a T, i heard a crazy number of close to 450hp with the quattro. dont know if thats true but the car is real saw it last week...sick sittin on some deep dish 18's. that one of my favorite things about the Audi/VW that you can put those deep dish wheels on them

B

 

yea its the 3.0 with the 6-speed manual. It really could use more power (rated at 220). My 5 series had about 300 so 220 feels pretty slow. I gotta stay away from putting nice rims and doing mods to the car since one of the points of getting rid of the bimmer is to cut down on how much I am spending on transportation. But yea I think audi can look really good with only a couple mods so who knows..

 

thats cool

side note. was reading you stuff about not finding many 6spd in Utah. I got a car max alert that they found a 3.5L 6spd in salt lake city, for 12k with 63K on it.

B