Hello,
I currently a 4th Gen owner ('99 SE fully loaded) and can't wait to pick up a Maxima.
I test drove an '05 and it didn't fit my budget. So now I am looking at picking up a used '04, Blk/Blk

--My Budget--
Downpayment: $4 ~ $5k
Monthly payments: under $375
Financing Period: 60 Months

I'd wait for the right one but I'm at a situation where I have no choice but to purchase one within the next 10 days. These are my options as of right now:
Option #1

Option #2

Wish me luck and I'll post my results.

 

Is leasing an option? I lease my 05, $299 for 36months with $1000 down. Keep all that cash in the bank and make a much lower payment on the new Maxima of your choice. Look for left over 05s. I know its not for everyone but just a suggestion.

 

great choice in color combo

 

What is wrong with the 99? Are you keeping it? It appears so given the down payment, so what is the rush?

I wouldn't buy either car. It appears neither one has a sunroof or leather interior, which would both be a must for me. Ensure the car you buy isn't an early release 2004 for all the reasons cited in this forum.

If money is a concern, why don't you buy a 2003 or 2002 Maxima? At least that way, you could afford to buy it loaded.

 

Is leasing an option? No. My family has this pattern of passing down our cars. We don't like to get ripped off by the dealers when we return the car.

I'm sure leasing works out for some individuals but I prefer buying a car.

 

That is perhaps the dumbest suggestion I have ever heard of. What do you propose he do with the extra cash - put it into real estate at the height of the market, just before it starts to unravel which it will as night follows day?

 

There is nothing wrong with the '99. The car is going to be my younger sister's car since she just got her license. Since our family moved, my sister now needs a car to get to school and work.

The car w/ cloth interior has the skyview.. I called the dealer and asked.

 

Don't all maxima's come with the skyview standard?

 

Woah there...you need to watch who your talking to about money. I'm not about to lower myself to bash someone elses ideas...just simply making a suggestion as to help a fellow member. Leasing isn't for everyone, but by no means is it the "dumbest suggestion I've ever heard of". Its up to minsbang what he does with the $$ saved, I have no idea where this real estate talk came from. But while were on it...I made $130,000 in equity on my home in the past 6 months...height of the market or not....I'm happy.

 

I think he just hates the fact that another person is getting a 6th gen...well, that's one more happy customer!!!

 

Good point. But Ive heard to many horror stories and seen a few to know I would never lease a car. I almost did one time but I was too chicken to do it and not enough desperate!! lol If you have good experiences leasing then go for it but it's not for me. I wouldn't bash anyone either for doing it. To each there own.

 

i personally don't know. But I rather have the skyview than nothing. Although I am concerned about the leaks...

 

I'm hoping to become that "happy customer." I sure wish I won't have to deal with too many problems with the '04.

 

Don't buy an 04 maxima!!!
Why can't your sister go out and look for a used honda or a saturn? Those offer good bang for the buck for a few years.

I wouldn't touch any 04 maxima. They simply have too many issues IMHO. 05's are significantly better but still some have the major concerns seen on the ORG. I would really evaluate what options are out there. You should not be forced to make such a quick decision unless you come across a deal that is really good and you have to move on it. We obviously don't know the entire story behind why u need to get a new car, but if you are in a pinch then do what you must. Just be ready to live with some flaws. You never know...you may get a great 04.

 

Your color combo your looking for is very nice thats why i have it but its not easy to find. I think a 04 can be easily found and purchased at around $20,000-23,000 depending on miles. With another 3-4k down you should easily have a payment at or under $375.(Financing $19,000). I do have the 05 which does not have as many minor problems that i have heard about from the 04. You may be able to get a high milage 05 for your price range, but your better off getting and 04 nicely equipped. Good luck My friend and happy shopping.

 

The "!!!" scared me. Is it that bad? I've read minor squeaks here and there, along with alighment issues. I'm sure there are more and I should read before I purchase. I'll try to do that sometime this evening.

Do you have any good examples regarding the flaws that are out there with the '04s?

What can I do to find a "great 04?"

 

Yes, they certainly are not easy to find. I finally found two and honestly, the one with cloth interior looks like a good deal.
Max with the leather.. Looks like the extra 10k miles = leather, sunroof, and Bose.

Thanks for the luck... I'll probably need it, hoping that the Max I buy has minor flaws.

 

If price is your driving factory....there is a guy here in central PA selling his 2004 for $16,500. Now keep in mind its got 105,000 miles!!! I know a lot of people down the 04s, but if that guy can put over 100k on his car in just over a year and a half....the car can't be that bad.

 

Thanks for the input. But I am not interested in buying an '04 w/105k miles on it. I'm planning on keeping this car for a while and I drive an avg of 20k miles/year.

 

Do you still need me to check out the one at Baron's?

 

You have read me dead wrong. I would buy a 2003 Maxima or a 2002 Maxima before I would buy a 6th Gen. If I won a 6th Gen in a lottery I would sell it immediately! I am not presently in the market for a car but if I am in the next year or two, I will keep my 4th Gen (60,450 mostly highway miles, 5-speed, mint condition) and get a 5.5 Gen or Infiniti. I'll leave brand new cars to the people with more money than brains.

 

I figured that, but the main point of that post is to say if he can put that kind of miles on the car in such a short time, the 2004s can't be as bad as most claim they are.

 

Now is that really necessary? It is quite ignorant of you come onto this forum and accuse buyers of new cars of being brainless. The end of your message should have read "I'll leave brand new cars to the people who can afford it".
How does buying a new or used car equate to intelligence?

 

I agree. If it can run 100k miles, it sounds good to me...

 

I don't think anyone claimed that the car can't drive for 100K+ miles. It's how bad will the shimmy become/can you tolerate it? How are the struts on the car...are the new ones really gonna hold up? To me these two issues exist in 50% of all 04 models. Knowing what I know now I would't touch an 04 maxima if I had the option. Don't get me wrong...the car offers the best bang for the buck, but the quality issues with it aren't worth it IMHO.

 

Bobo - do us all a favor, leave the 6th gen forum. You're just here to bash and contributing nothing to the discussion - Fuggin hater...

BTW - I have had NONE of the issues mentioned above with my 04 and I bought it in April of 03 when they just came out. Car runs and looks EXCELLENT.

 

Yes, that is if you don't mind.

 

You obviously misinterpreted my intent and I don't have the patience to inform you of my thinking. Just look at the number of low down-payment 60-month financing schemes referred to in this forum and the Other Cars forum and you might understand what I mean. At least the author of this thread, given his particular situation, has elected not to buy a brand new car.

I was merely suggesting that perhaps some people are better served buying a car that better fits their budget. Paying a depreciating asset off over 5 years is not a sound business decision, IMHO.

Keep up the payments!

 

I want to point out that you are a liar and changed your struts out!!!! so how is that NOT a problem...btw

 

[QUOTE=JiuJitsuThug]Bobo - do us all a favor, leave the 6th gen forum. You're just here to bash and contributing nothing to the discussion - Fuggin hater...

I made an excellent contribution, unfortunately you were unable to grasp it!

 

Minsbang. I think you are doing the right thing by researching the car that you want. It seems things got a little ugly on this thread. I don't think anyone is trying to do you harm by giving there opinions. I have a 95 se fully loaded and I love it. I also have an 04 silver sl and I love it. I got lucky because there is a site like this where you can hear about the good the bad and the ugly about the car you want. I was checking this site out daily to find out what to look for. If there was a site about Lexus you will hear about problems that people have. I don't recall too many mass production cars to be perfect. I know that reading this site made me more aware of what to look for on the test drive.Take the info that you have got whether it is good or bad and use it on the test drive. I just purchased an extended warranty. I hope that in the end you get what you want and you are happy with it. That's all that really matters. I understand both sides of the story if my car were shaking I would be ticked off also and I would tell people to just look for it in the test drive. Just choose carefully.

 

Ten days is plenty of time to research. Good Luck

 

msoemax - you are correct, I should have noted that I changed one strut - took me all of one phone call and a brief visit with my standard oil change - sorry I didn't see it being a problem since there are NO issues with it now. Guess some people would see it as a big deal but since it took all of 1 hr to fix it, didn't really bother me


Bobo finally gets around to his original point after managing to diss 6th gens along the way - Classic!

And I'm the one that needs to grow up, oh brother

Done with this thread...

 

Yeah that's right, I care about what someone who calls himself "Bobo" thinks.
Anyway, I did check Baron out and they do not have the car on the site. The only black maxima that they have has leather, over 60,000 miles and they are asking 26,000 for it. They have other maximas there, but the sticker prices are really high. Don't waste the trip to NY.

Good luck in your search.

 

I own a 04 with many more problems than most people on here, but we won't get into that. The 6th gen is a sweet looking car has MANY upsides, along with it's fair share of down, as should be expected in a first year car. For driving around town my car is as calm as can be, it does have the shimmy, but as you drive it it becomes one of the quirks that any car has. I sometimes regret the desision to buy this car then someone gives me the thumbs up in traffic or a " man that's a good looking car " at the store and it makes me feel a little better about my purchace. In the final analysis YOU have to decide if you are willing to put up with small flaws to get this type of car. Just my opinion

 

Thank you for your time. I'll will Baron and see what is up with their inventory status. I'll let you guys know how this process turns out.

 

I'm more concerened about whether these small flaws can be fixed without a big hassle, and a big wallet expense.

 

Your second option, the one for $19,788 has 27k miles on it. If you get this one, issues are covered under warranty. I had my passenger front strut replaced . Test out the cars on the highway and go up to 70mph to see if theres a shimmy. Theres a TSB for the shimmy and thats covered under warranty as well. I had a brake shimmy when braking at highway speeds, they resurfaced rotors and that problem was gone. I also had an exhaust rattle (loose heat shield or broken bracket?) and that was fixed. Glove box was perfect at first but then it got misaligned. That was fixed too. There were other minor stuff such as truck lininig wasn't in place under the weather strip, ticking noise from wheel, front splash guard under car fell down (cause i hit the concret thing while parking) All fixed under warranty.

I think the big issues are the shimmy and struts, the rest are pretty inexpensive issues if there is no warranty left.

Goodluck!

 

If you have a good dealer most will fix the problems without a lot of hassle. Just do a very long test drive. Get it up to highway speed and look and feel for the problems people have mentioned.

 

Not everything is abt. money!! and sometimes worrying abt. it, takes away the joy!
I would think (notice I said "I"), that anyone buying this car, does not always do it for investments or to save money .. but rather the pure joy of owning/driving it! and either of the two is enuf to make one feel like it's Christmas!!

same here, purchased aug 03 .. warranty replacements -- DRL's and front grille.. 48K (km) so far..

check if deus/chernmax are selling!!