I am considering purchasing a 2011 Maxima S that has 89,500 miles. They are asking $14,995. The amount of miles is obviously a scary subject. But the miles have got to be highway which doesn't bother me too much. I figured I would come to the experts for their advice. I can post a link to the dealer website but I'm not sure if that is proper here.

About the new guy:

I'm a previous Maxima owner (1995) and have been loving the car ever since. I am currently driving a 2000 Accord, for seven years, and I can't take it any more. I have the ability to purchase a higher dollar CPO Maxima but I really like the one I talked about above. I expect the car to last well into the 200 - 300K mile range after I hand it off to my son in about four years.

Thanks in advance for your advice and I look forward to many years of activity here.

Dirk

 

Honestly, depending how money is with you I would hold off and look for a 2009 SV for a bit more with less mileage. This way the mileage isnt as scary and you have a better model. All of the people I know who settled for a S always regret it within the first two months. Should have spent the extra $2k-3k for the leather and other features. Just my opinion though. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

I do agree to an extent however being that he will be giving the vehicle to his son within the next four years makes it seem more plausible for him to get a base model which is cheaper but at the same time still gives you the convenience of having a Maxima. If you can live with out the leather and navigation or non-navigation color screen then all the other features could be added such as the HID headlights, Rear spoiler Soundsystem Bluetooth and other things. I do also feel that you should in sure that there are no other cars in your area that may have a lot of mileage with the same features that this Maxima you're interested in has. Yes I'm maxima can last for 200 to 300,000 miles but that doesn't mean that you will keep it for that long.

 

Way toooo many miles. Wait for something better, things start to go bad at that much mileage, plus you dont know how the car was treated through that many miles. Too many risks.

 

Thanks for the responses. I would love to get an SV but I just don't see the reason to spend 5 - 7 grand more for it. I'm a 36 year old father of three so the style of the S will be plenty good for me. The car already has bluetooth and a spoiler. So the only thing I think I would add to it would be the HID headlights and fog lights.

This is the external link to the dealership listing:

http://www.abrahamnissan.com/details...&cfid=41112205

 

I must say that's a clean looking 2011, the mileage does bother me. I would ask for a carfax, and ask the dealer to explain to you why it has so many miles. If someone traded it to them, then they most likely told them why they dumped many miles on a less than 2 yr old car.
Also be weary because it might have been a rental, the S model are used as a premium model on the car rental lot. If it is a rental then I'll definitely back off

 

The original owner left the service agreement package with his address in the glove box. A little visit with my friend Mr. Google and I found out the he is a local (bigger city) city council president which means his phone number is available.

I might give him a call to see if he wants to give me the scoop on his old ride.

I just found this, http://marhofer.com/details.cfm?sear...&cfid=41601793 , at another local dealer. I think I will go check it out tonight after I give the 2011 dealer a low ball offer. I read a couple of places about many issues with the 2009 model. Is that correct?

 

I honestly am biased because Winter Frost/Pearl White is where it's at! :-) However I would also research the other one and since the bulk of the features you want are available on the S and the others you won't have are fully mod-able then you should be good. Definitely, if you can ring up Mr. Council Man then go for it. Carfax or Autochek would be good, too. Good luck. You will love the car either way!

 

yes, the 09s can tend to have issues (steering lock malfunctions, causing you to be dead in the water, but easy fix - remove the fuse first before you get hit with it)...it was an earlier CVT as well...I want to say the 11 CVT is much better.

Call up city council dude, see what he has to say Also, see if the CVT fluid was changed at proper intervals (60K i believe?).

 

I have an 09 with 103k miles on it and it runs like its brand new. I did have the power steering motor croak on me, but I had it fixed under extended warranty. Other than that just oil changes and CVT fluid change.

 

Honestly the price is what scares me the most ... not the mileage. It seems to be priced $1-3k too low, and that makes me think that there was an accident or something else that wasn't reported to CarFax/Autocheck.

Lucky for you you have contact info. Call him up and have a chat about the car. Ask specific questions and you will get specific answers. I'd avoid an open ended conversation because he may fail to mention, because he forgot, something important.

Read around the various threads and look for common issues. These can be your talking points.

Have someone you trust take a look at (and drive the car) and get their opinion.

If everything checks out I'd go for it. True Cars.com puts this car at a 'great price.'

 

The 2011 is a better deal than the 2009.

 

I'll disagree w that. I have an 09 and my friend. Neither of us have had a single issue. I've seen more post on here with 2010-2012 issues

 

This may be a little off base of what we're discussing but DW-77 mentioned the CVT in the 2011 is much better but I notice my 2011 SV isn't as peppy as my 2004 SE was in terms of accelerating from idle. Could be that I need to get used to it (Only had it for a week and a half). On another note, DW-77 just go with your gut and research and exhaust all pros and cons. If you want it to last in the long run, a couple thousand more may help keep you and your son safe on the road. More miles doesn't mean hazard, but it does scream precaution.

 

That was me, comparing apples to apples (2009 CVT vs 2011 CVT). And you can't compare your 2004 (4AT, 5AT, or 6MT) with the 2011 (CVT)..apples to kumquats.


Good advice re: research. One can almost never research TOO MUCH.

 

You can bet the dealer stole that high mileage Max on trade. 9 to 10 K is plenty to offer. I always stay away from a first model year.= of anything. There may be warranty left on the trans though as I recall Nissan adding a 120 K coverage due to high repairs on the 09, 10 CVTs

 

It is a little tough to compare a CVT with a standard or auto. However, I also noticed the lack of 'off the line acceleration' in the 7th Gen compared with my previous 5.5 Gen.

I believe this not a fluke. The CVT is designed to be a bit more economical (both in terms of power management and fuel consumption). This is also likely due to the ECU as well. There is a Sticky thread dedicated to this.

Back on topic though - Definitely agree that more miles isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

True.

I'm fairly certain that the 120k mile warranty on the CVT (for 2009-2010) was because Nissan was unsure how it would fare in a Maxima with 290hp.

 

Price seems high to me. Got my 2010 SV 25k miles for 21k mint condition - a few scuffs on bumpers. I don't expect it to have 15k value @ 90k mi even though it's SV. Am I missing something?

 

2011 S w 70-100k

I believe the last link is the exact car he is looking at.

https://usedcars.truecar.com/car/Nis...AA5AP1BC819648

https://usedcars.truecar.com/car/Nis...AA5APXBC801696

https://usedcars.truecar.com/car/Nis...AA5AP4BC827758

It's tough to compare used S and SV trims.

ps. Your deal was quite good. Base SV? Any options?

 

Just ran a Carfax on it and there doesn't appear to be any service records for the car so it apparently hasn't been serviced by Nissan as my oil changes etc, show up on my Carfax when I run it on my Maxima.

 

As a person that drives 40-45k miles a year for work, that kind of miles doesn't bother me. I would be inclined to talk to the previous owner, but it seems like a decent deal.

Granted, I buy a new car, and have it fully depreciated in 2-3 years.

 

you have the opportunity to call the previous owner.... do that!!! just be friendly and try to find out some history on that car.. if he had any probs with it. He probably traded it in for a newer car.

 

Cars direct is still showing 2012's You can get a new 2012 premium for about 25K ( taking the $4500 rebate) and under 2.5% financing if your credit is good

 

15K > 25k

 

I have a 10 that just hit 75k, I haven't even had it a year and put almost 30k on it... They run great and I would say this, as long as you check the major components, if you plan on modding you going to be replacing parts anyway, so in essence mine has new brakes , coilovers= new suspension(eventually) so if that's your plan, the. Don't let the mileage scare that's what these cars are for to drive... I plan on trying to put 200k on this one...I like driving it and I am definitely keeping her...

 

15 K is more than 25K ? I know what you meant but if our going to throw $$ into the car and finance at 10% the new car will almost defintely be cheaper. The 2012 is a much better car from what i have read. Some people think Max's sell for sticker so I was just offering up a possible (IMO) better offer

 

15K is BETTER than 25K.

You're assuming OP is going to finance the full amount of whichever car is being purchased. Granted, I'm assuming he's not. But lets run some numbers:

15K used car loan for 48 months at 5% (unless you have HORRIBLE credit, 5% is the used car rate, not 10)=$16,581.09

Same calculations, but with the Mafia interst rate (10%): $18,261.06

25K NEW car loan (let's assume 0 percent, makes the math easy is 25K, no matter how long you spread it out for

So even at 10%, the 2011 is cheaper.

The ONLY time the new car is cheaper is when the interest rate on the older one is 84 months, AND 17% interest, then it's only $25,749.11

Yes, there will still be maintenance costs associated with each vehicle, and maybe even a bit more maintence costs for the one year older vehicle due to the miles...but realistically, the 2011 is the better bet, FINANCIALLY. Especially since he wants to keep it in the family and pass it on to his kid. When his loan (if he even gets one) is paid off earlier with the 2011, that's more of his money not tied up in a car payment.

 

Lets call both loans 0% , how much $$ is he going to spend over 3 years on the 90K car on repairs vs the zero he will spend on the 2012 ?

A 90K car can have PLENTY of headaches as well as regular maint such as tires, brakes, belts, coolant, CVT service, etc as I doubt any was done since carfax brings up nothing


IMO between repairs and maint and resale value of the 36k car vs the 116k mile car at the end of 3 years you will have made up most if not all of the $10K price diffference plus you start with a brand new car.

One more thing, I'm not so sure these newer Maximas are going to go 250K or more as often as the ones from the 90's and early 2000's did. Hopefully they will but with all the problems I see on the 2009's around this forum I have to wonder

 

Good stuff everybody. I'm enjoying this place already.

So I drove an hour to get the loaded 2009 SV and now have it at home. It has a few more minor scuffs and junk that I don't really want my baby to have. Plus it has a weird kinda grinding noise that I can't really tell where it is coming from and a very light clicking noise that speeds up and gets slightly louder when accelerating. Thoughts? The 2011 S sounded perfect. The one good thing about this test drive though is that I am in love with the loaded SV.

I think I will search for a loaded SV and wait until the perfect car arrives. I am also considering leasing one. Thoughts on that?

 

I'm a bit confused, did you buy the 2009 ?

 

I'm confused. Did you buy the 09?

 

Haha great minds think alike

 

Some dealers will let you take the car for a day.

 

Overnight test drive. It helps if you show up right at closing time and tell them that you will be buying a vehicle within the week.

 

Search for a new 2012, if you lease I'm sure it's cheaper than a 2013.

 

Thanks for running that.

 

I ran it when bought my 2013 SV a few weeks back, would have grabbed the 2012 SV but all they could find was Crimson Black with tan and I wanted Black leather. The 2012 was $5k cheaper a month ago so I'm guessing if you could still find one you could make an awesome deal

 

This is the response I got back from the previous owner of the 2011 S:

"Hi Dirk
I am a National sales manager for an abrasive company and drive between 5 and 6,000 miles a month as you can see from the odometer--
I bought another Maxima with a couple more "bells and Whistles" but quite honestly the car I had was really just fine for my needs.
I bought the leather this time and if I have it again I think I would go back to the cloth---
this is my third Maxima in a row---and I was just figuring whether I should go new or run it out to 200 or 300,000 miles
The car was fine and I expect you should find it in excellent condition---
I think the car new was 31,000.00 or 32,000.00 list and I had a trade in at the time..
I think the trade in value was around 17 ....what are they asking for it?
as far as a good car--yes --great power but I drove it very conservatively--great gas mileage at about 26-27 MPG--tons of gas records--
I was religious about oil changes--- every 5,000 miles (suggest 7500 for all highway) which was once a month-- there was a set of new tires at 65,000 and repaired a wheel bearing covered under warranty--other than that --super vehicle
I have the 2012 now with leather heated seats--but the cloth was fine and maybe more comfortable--
let me know"

Pretty nice of the guy to get back to me! I am now waiting on his reply to my question of when he traded the car in.

 

Awesome! That's exactly what you d hope to hear.

He mentioned that the trade value was $17k. That can't be right. The dealer would actually be paying to get rid of the car. Unless they made tons of money on the front end if his new deal. Anyways ... This seems like a good deal to me.