Vistance

Sigh, I have had this car listed since very early this year. It was higher priced, but I've dropped it over time and never had it at anything insane. I think I started at $3,500. Starting to sound like I'll just trade it to Carmax, take my pathetic trade offer and wipe my hands of the car. I have had many people contact me on it, and absolutely every single person falls through. They don't even get to the point of "I'll meet you at X location" they ask me questions, say it sounds good, they want to look at it and since I usually am calling people after work it's late so I say I can meet them on the weekend and then it dies there.

I had one guy I said I would take off work to show him the car, and still nothing. Not sure what else I can or am supposed to do. It has been a fine car, but I think I'll avoid Nissan in the future. Even if it's incorrect, other people think of them as the lowest rate Japanese car make second only to Mitsubishi. Part of me would love to just beat on the car hard before I trade it in, make it really worth that horrible offer they're going to give me. At least a dealer will buy it and not waste my time...what the hell is wrong with people anymore?

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

dude, to stay away from nissan because of your problems selling a manual... seems odd to me. maybe its your area ! are u heavily populated? i mean in the deep country i dont see people wanting imports....

plus manual! wheres your add on here? have you tried on here?

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

Are you going to share your ad with us, or not?

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

Perhaps you might consider addressing the car's issues and simply keep it and be happy with it.

I, personally, drive an old car because I want to not because I have to.

Again, this is a personal perspective but I have always been much more impressed and enamored with an old car that's been kept in pristine condition than I ever have been with anything new.

Any dumb-sh** with a paycheck can drive a brand new car.

It takes a special and dedicated individual to keep and old car in top shape.

... just one pissy old dude's perspective.

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

i like that theory, its almost like and older car in great condition is basically tested to be better than brand new car w no history....

CS_AR

+1*5

Infiniti2000I30tUgh

I'll weigh in for what it's worth. As someone looking at a lot of cars right now for my adult kiddo, I'd pass on yours for the following reasons.

#1 Above all, MANUAL transmission. Do you know that Ford doesn't even make manual transmission F250s anymore? No one (meaning under 5%) knows how to drive a stick in the 16-25 age range anymore. Those that do are wanting a sporty car or something that tows.

#2 Rust on wheelwells, signifying rust probably elsewhere as well. That's scary for anyone that does the maintenance on the car, and ugly for anyone that is driving it. You could spend 400 and get it fixed, but you'd probably only net a couple of hundred in price anyway. No point.

#3 Burns oil. It's hard enough to get the younger crowd to remember to change the oil every 3000 miles, let alone add a quart every month.

#4 Maybe it's just the lighting in your sig, but it looks like you smoked the windshield. Dark "kid" looking cars = more tickets. More tickets are bad.


At that point I'd just skip to the next car on my list. I'm not trying to me mean here, just letting you know why I wouldn't consider it. For $3k you can get a rust free car that runs and drives fine. All the extras don't really matter in the used car market unless you're on a car lot and seeing tons of customers every day.

I agree with someone else that said put $1900 on it and sell it to anyone that will bite. Sad but true, they're always worth more to you than they are to everyone else.

Vistance

I'm not really interested in driving it anymore, it's a fine car but I live in an area dominated by SUVs and trucks and 2003's aren't all that safe even compared to modern cars let alone modern SUVs and trucks. If I didn't care about safety then sure. Honestly figured someone young looking for a first car or someone wanting a cheap daily car would consider it. I'd love to live in Lala-land where everyone thinks most $3,000 cars are solid and reliable. Yeah ****ing right...rusted out Hondas with 190-200k miles are selling for more and often have other issues too. But somehow the rust and oil burning (which are usually much worse) are ok on those. No wonder they have such a high theft rate.

MichMaxFan

The issue selling unlikely rust or oil burning. It's more than likely how you talk on the phone, what you say about the car, or if you are in a rust-free area and have a car w/ rust.

Anybody calling will almost never know about oil burning on your car unless you tell them, and if they know, they wouldn't call or already plan on dealing w/ it, so oil burning is not the reason.

It's rust or the manual trans or whether or not you sound dumb or overly eager to sell it, etc. But, again, if you have stated it has a manual trans in the add, then that's not the issue, either. I have called on tons of cars over the years and my pursuit is based on that ONE phone call. If you have done maintenance, then say what you have done and how often, without overly selling it. Make them want what you have cared for.

Oh, and it's not the safety issues of some 2017 vs 2003 car. Don't let somebody cheap talk that angle. Safety is a 1975 car....not a 2017 tin can.
Hope this helps.

Infiniti2000I30tUgh

Cheap first cars and cheap daily cars are both under $2k. If someone's spending over that then they're looking for more reliability or something newer. And your car is plenty safe. Take a look at some wrecks and you'll see they're not bad cars safetywise at all.

Donkeypunch

you delicate little rose.
nobody wants to pay 3k for your unsafe rust bucket with a stick and ugly rims. get over it.

krismax

iTrader: (15)

This is the question you ask yourself when selling a car "would i pay $3000 for this"

If you would not why would someone else?

Cars are money pits,and what makes a car worth nothing,is another car that's worth more.

Vistance

See ya in a coffin! I'm not afraid of my own driving skills, but can't do anything about dumb ****s who won't stop texting while they're driving. Recently saw an entire family was killed driving a similar year Accord after some dumbass in an SUV crossed the center line. Perhaps you don't live somewhere with lots of rural two lane roads but I do.

Dust N Bones

iTrader: (1)

I think I found out why you can't sell the car. You clearly aren't trying hard enough....


https://jalopnik.com/this-homemade-a...-is-1820108757

compyelc4

He did not say this about HIS car.

maxinout93

Not trying to be mean, but i sold a 99 toyota camry with a blown head gasket in a matter of days. Its all about how you market your product. Everyone cannot sell cars, ive seen this so many times. You have to take into consideration the set backs on the car which is a manual in which many people have no interest in anymore. Plus there are way better cars in the 3K price range, id say if you want to get rid of it, you have to bring the price down a good bit.

Vistance

I'll probably rag on the car and just throw it to Carmax or something. I'm not that much over the kind of awful trade in price they would give anyway, so what's the point? It's priced right in line with KBB for a Good condition car, you're not going to tell me it's Fair because it has imperfections. I just hate people. Every person lies to me and says "Oh I have to have it, 100% interested" and all I do is what they ask of me, and then no response again. I point out the flaws for honesty and to save people's time who would find them dealbreakers and people are fine with it, those who I've spoken to said as much.

I'd almost rather take it to junkyard and make sure it gets crushed, if it's such a **** car then I'll do everyone a favor and take it off the road. Not like I give a ****, it's bull**** I couldn't get anything for the car but the amount I'd get amounts to nothing to me. I'll point this out to every SOB that says you should sell your own car. Probably not worth it unless the car is at least $10k value or more. I honestly don't even like the car anymore now, this horrible selling experience has made me despise it.

P.S. Death to manuals. I like them just fine, but I'm not buying them anymore. I'll just join the masses in buying automatics. At least the newest ones shift pretty fast.

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

whats the mileage on this thing?

Derrick2k2SE

iTrader: (3)

The salvage yard will only give you a few hundred for it. Better to list it for $800 or so and see it go away quickly.

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

Rating your car as "good" when you said yourself, "It has some synchro wear but not horrid, a slightly noisy throwout bearing, and some rust around the rear fenderwells." clearly shows you don't know how to rate cars. I'd rate your car as "poor".

Price it right and will sell. Good luck.

cdoublejj

the 02-03 SE at the local dealer rust free is going for 5.5K and it's a peasant weak SE with CLOTH seats. The 02-03 in my eyes is way to flashy, not subdued at all like the 00-01 which i think look more classy with normal tail lights and no poser *** spoiler. Blends in with traffic well, subdued. for $5.5K i can fix the rust repaint the car, add heated seats and a VLSD trans with Trans Go shift kit and a top of the line double din Pioneer AVX touch screen HU. not including parts already saved for install.


EDIT:

sanford7575

IMO, Local Dealers are the absolute worst to buy cars from. They are way overpriced, and they are the least flexible to negotiate with since they have to make something off of the deal to stay afloat. $5.5K for an '02-'03 SE is out of the question unless it is super clean and has ultra low miles (under 75K), and even then I think that it's probably too much. Three years ago I paid $6.4K for a super clean '03 SE that had 70K. I ended up trading it in two years later for a '16 Rouge lease for my wife as we started getting the dreaded pre cat / exhaust manifold symptoms. Anyway, the point is Vistance should drop the price of his car down to around $2K, I'm sure that would get some additional interest from buyers.

maximaboy12

iTrader: (7)

I think someone already mentioned this earlier, but cars are a depreciating asset, you may just have to accept the loss and move on. For $3,000 you can pick up something without the issues. I mean I bought an 02 SE back in 2011 for $4,000. No rust, automatic, AC worked great, no issues at all. The reason Civics and Accords selling for this much without any problems is that Hondas are perceived to be more reliable than pretty much any car on the market. Also, the Honda has much more support in the aftermarket community for the ricer-boys. Most Maxima enthusiasts have to know what they are looking at and realize the potential. Unfortunately, those enthusiasts are far and few in between.

I wouldn't go so far as to hate on the manual tranny. You have to present the car how it is and price it appropriately. I think that is the main problem with you not being able to sell the car, the price. The reason people are flaking on you is probably because they talk to you and then find something similarly priced without the issues. So I understand them pulling out of the sale. However, I agree with you on the frustration of not even having the courtesy to let you know theyre not gonna show up.

Bryan80394

Old thread I know. Just wanna point out people do actually seek out 5th gens I myself just bought an 02 auto and planning keeping it and have no problem replacing the motor when it's time, just seen a motor going for 350 pretty cheap if you ask me. Car looks good, has power, plenty of room. Anyone who hates on this gen probably never drove one or bought a lemon these car rock!!

Thrillho

The car is ugly, tends to disintegrate unless religiously maintained, now there are very few parts and the ones that exist are Chinese garbage that craps out on you. Hard to work on, everything is buried under wires and hoses and very little to no room.

Also very few people know that the early nissans, the ones made in Japan, are solid cars. People just assume since Nissan is dog food now that it's always been dog food. Like, come on, with the exception of GTR and to some extent the 370z, Nissan has absolutely nothing going for it RIGHT now, and that's what people go by. That diamond in the rough argument is made by people who can tell the difference between diamonds and coal, mostly everyone just sees coal.

rollcage

^^I cannot agree more!

after they started building nissans in the states quality took a noticeable turn for the worse. it’s spot on to say that people’s perception of the current build quality affects how they look at the past.

I went to the part store to grab some taillight bulbs only to find myself getting preached to on how the cashier would never buy a nissan himself. ElEcTrIcAl IsSuEs. ThEyRe UnReLiAbLe. PaRtS aRe ExPeNsIvE. he might have been right with the parts argument but beside that the 5th gen max is a gem. never had this car leave me stranded.

we are lucky to have the biggest issue for us to be mindful of being rust. the body of this car will rot before the engine kicks the bucket.

Amave

Probably Nissans declined came in the early 2000's ( probably around the time Renault bought some stake in Nissan ) that the quality started to diminish, just take a look at the early to late 90's Nissan had , the engines were strong, transmissions were on point, i would not buy anything after 2001 from Nissan.


The QR motor had it's butterfly valve screws coming off and getting sucked into the engine, the QR pre cats were being sucked into the motor, the early CVT's were crapping out left and right , IMO the VQ30DE was probably the strongest engine Nissan had designed ( i mean as far as reliability ) , but back in the day Nissan made strong engines to hold boost like the SR20, the RB26, etc.

Last month i gave my 2000 Maxima to my son because he was going back to college and was tired of riding the bus, and for a 20 year old vehicle and 240,000 hard miles that thing was still going strong.
If not for that i would have kept it as these cars are a dying breed, very hard to find one in decent shape ...






And i just picked up this 2001 I30t this week to replace my Maxima

Thrillho

They're definitely not bad cars, I'm very thankful that my first car is a maxima and not some pole smoker chump mobile Kia or a HYYUNdaaaaiii, but come on dude the only people who could ever like a maxima are people who own them, but sentimental value doesn't translate into literal value. Unless you went out of your way and put in a turbo or a supercharger into your maxima, along with headers, a decent exhaust system and with a real tune, you can't be serious to ask for more than 1500 for it. Yeah okay maybe if yours is super low mileage and has *zero* rust and the engine bay is clean, you can maybe ask 1700 for it, but even then nobody is gonna give a **** about your maxima the way you did because uhh.. People are just trying to buy a cheap car in decent condition, and not the world's most pristine maxima. They'll probably drive it to work and back only. For example the guy who owned the car before me had it for 15 years. He didn't even know what a VQ30 was when I called him with a question. I asked him when he last changed spark plugs, he said "when they broke" . These are the kinds of people who buy cars. Go ahead and sell a maxima to them and see what they say.

98 i30t 5spd

Best bet is to put it up on one of these auction sites for enthusiasts. The average public won’t care about your old Nissan, so posting on sites like CL is a waste of time. I just saw a 1993 G20 5spd sell for $6.5k on an auction site. It was stock, clean, no rust, no sunroof, cloth seats, no Bose and it had 179k miles!!

Bryan80394

I know nobody is gonna tell me maximas are bad *** awesome car and honestly I give two ****s what anyone thinks. I'm the one driving it every day and it makes me happy. I've had owned a 98 5spd max 20 years ago and it was solid car had tons of fun with it and remember when the 02 came out fast forward to now and I just bought an 02 and sure it's old but I'm digging it and will own it for as long as possible

J P D

Mine would not be impossible to sell at 66k miles. I can't give up pushing it to 5G revs in 3rd...way too much fun.
But it does require 2 hands on the wheel, which is why I'm not aggressive in the corners - be a shame to total such a fun car

Thrillho

it doesn't require two hands on the wheel. Just hold the bottom of the steering wheel kinda tight and pull it towards yourself a little when things get serious. As far as corners go, I have an automatic so I'm not sure how manual works but I usually hold the brake along with the gas and then floor the gas as I'm turning in. It takes corners fine and my suspension's shot.

LQ91SE

I plugged my 02 rust free 190k Maxima into CarMax’s supercomputer and they came back with a cool $100 offer.

2k2albatross

Thrillho,
True statement. The CVT has given Nissan a bad name. I know someone who bought a CPO Rogue and 6 months later they had Nissan swapping out the transmission luckily under warranty. People talk especially when they are losing thousands of dollars and getting stranded. When I bought my 02 Maxima I also looked at an 88 Carrera and an S2000 both in the 18,000 dollar range. The 88 Carerra price has skyrocketed because of collectors and the s2k is in some cases more expensive than the 18,500 dollars that I saw in 2004. To your point, Honda and Porsche are still making desirable products.