slick

i just found out that my "new" car budget has dropped down significantly, to $10k or less. for those of you dont know, i need to find a car for myself, my dad will be taking my car(which he bought anyways) and i'm gonna be getting a another used car, which i dont mind. but with a $10k or less budget, my options are very limited. i can buy a used max but it would have very high miles, and i dont want a car that has been used that much. i was thinking about getting a 4 cyl, a 4 banger will definately be cheaper, in a lot of ways(gas and insurance). but man, i cant think of any 4 cyls that i like. also, i dont want to look for a rare, hard to find car. i was looking into the 240sx, but i couldn't find that many, and most had high miles. i was then thinking of the altima, 98-2k, i found a bunch of those with low miles and closer to my price range. so, what do you guys think? altima or not?

Nick Robinson

I got my max for 11k with 59k miles. So you probably could get a max with less than 70k for 10. Go and research. As a matter of fact theres a maxima in New Hampsure with a body kit and greddy exhust for 9000 bucks, probably has high miles though.

niceorange

If I was gonna be buying a 4 banger, I'd go for a used 3rd Generation Integra (94-01). Seeing as you can buy a leftover 2001 GSR loaded for 18k (my buddy just bought one with leather, etc, for that much), you should be able to find a nice used one in the 10 range easy. They're fairly quick cars, get great gas milage, have honda/acura reliability, and with an 8 year run, they have plenty of parts and mods available.

slick

i live in oklahoma, and all i find are trucks and SUV's, its hard to find a nice japanese car(used). i found a 97 black on black gxe auto with 40k miles, asking was $14k, got them down to $12k, but it was still more than i can afford. i think i'll go for an altima, 155hp 4 cyl, much better than the camry and accord 4 banger, but i know that a lot of you guys have had more car experiences than me, so i know i can get good info from you guys.

slick

thats what i was thinking at first, an integra, one of my dad's friends bought his son a 1994 integra, and he is just now looking for a replacement(meaining it lasted him 8 years), but like i said, its hard to find some cars, and the integra is one of them. i live near oklahoma city, and the only acura dealership i know of has 3 integras as of now, all 2000 models, and they cost about $16-$17k. most of the honda dealerships carry acura's, but they are limited, but i am still considering the integra, are the auto's nice? how much HP? what kind of cheap mods can i get for an integra and get the most HP gain?
i'm also wondering if there are any mods for the altima, are there?

niceorange

My buddy had a 92 auto before he just got his GSR 5-speed. He says the 5 speed is unbelievably faster than his auto, but his auto was peppy too. Of course his 92 was not a Vtec, and had a lot less power. I dont know how much HP the 92 had, but I believe his GSR has 170 HP. Its rated 0-60 in 7 secs. Look for a VTEC model, and i'd say auto or manual you will have a nice ride. One thing i've noticed about acura and honda transmissions is that they shake the car to unreal frequencies when stopped in drive (at least my GFs 89 accord, and my buddys 92 Integra do). Check it out, but good luck either way.

slick

i remember someone here owned a sentra 2k model se before buying a max se, does any1 know who that was? i am now considering the 2k sentra, i found a nissan dealership with plenty of used ones, low miles, reasonable prices. i know that the sentra se has a 145hp, its pretty nice looking in my opinion, decent options, so whats wrong with it? if only i knew who owned that sentra before. i'm having a real hard time trying to find an integra, i still want one, but i need to consider some others, any other suggestions(and please, no accords or civics, they're definately nice cars, but i'm tired of looking at them, they are literally everywhere)

carnal_c30

iTrader: (38)

hmmmm how bout get an S13 Nissan 240SX and drop in a SR20DET? haha (once again the SR20DET is the solution) you'll get it totally fixed up for under 10...
oh yea... i got my 97 GXE 5spd with 40k miles for just above 10...
use www.autotrader.com and search again

a Max for 10 isnt hard to find well in my area... 10 was my deal also

Eric L.

Nothing wrong with a 4-cyl. 95% of the time, you are not accelerating from the stoplight anyways, so a 4-cyl works well there for fuel mileage. If you are looking for a good 4-cyl sedan, check out the Accord. It handles well (a bit smoother than a Maxima due to IRS), gets great mileage, and is highly moddable if you choose to go that way. Plus, you can find many 5-spd Accords out there.

You can get a 240SX or a Sentra SE, but they won't duplicate the utility of a large sedan like the Maxima.

slick

i know for a fact they're great cars, 10 best car and driver winners for a long time, and i can easily find them out there, i'm still debating on whether i should get a large 4 cyl car(accord, camry), or a small car(sentra, altima), i'm used to driving the maxima a lot, but i'm not tall at all(5 ft 3 inches, please dont laugh )
well i still have a month or so to decide, i go back to school in the end of august, so i'll need a car by then. thanks a lot for your responses, if anything else comes up, throw it my way.

RussMaxManiac

I went from the Maxima to the Sentra and back. I had a 2k Sentra SE 5spd with /pp package. It was a good car, very reliable, and quick. For more info www.b15sentra.net

unrealii

iTrader: (8)

I got my 96 taurus for slighly less than $10k out the dealer's door. I have a 200 hp duratec v6, and every option that was offered that year except for the moon roof, and the sho trim. Drum roll...35.5k miles! If you don't mind going domestic the taurus is a great car.
My second choice would be an accord. If you're going 4 banger, might as well get one with some space to lug your homies around.

costcowholesale

iTrader: (12)

if u go tarus might as well try GTPs

Autofanatic

I bought my 95' SE 5-speed with 62K for $8900 about six months ago, so if you really want a maxima, keep looking....

slick

only thing is that they have a bad wrap for quality, but i dont really see anything wrong with the newer models. i notice a significant number of grand am's and grand prix's, so i know pontiac is doing something good(even though they screwed up royaly with the aztek, ewwww). here's what i narrowed it down to:
1) 98+ accord 2 door coupe(4cyl)
2) 98+ accord 4 door(4 cyl)
3) 98+ altima (se preffered)
4) 2k sentra (se only)
5) 99+ grand prix
6) 98+ grand am
7) 99+ jetta(easy to chip, hard to find)

i know i can easily find the first 3 cars, sentra will be harder since 2k is still fairly new, so not THAT many in the used car market. i like the grand am and grand prix exteriors, but the interiors make me wanna....you know what i mean, but i think i can get by that, as long as i'm assured that they are good cars, my friend has a 99 grand am gt, i'm gonna see how many miles he has and what kind of problems he has had. jetta would be real nice, but they are expensive, and hard to find, but being able to chip and get huge HP gains, thats just awesome. well i'm gonna go tomorrow and test drive a bunch of these until i'm satisfied with what i want, its gonna be hard though, i'm gonna have to NOT compare these cars with the maxima.

Nine7Max

my friend just got a pearl white 97 240sx SE, what a beautiful car.

02BBQ

slick, where in oklahoma do you live. I live in Norman. Just curious.

slick

i guess i live close to you. do you go to OU?

Dave B

Don't consider an auto 4-banger if you are concerned about performance. Autos suck the life out of a 4 banger because the 4 has no torque. You need the torque multiplicatioon of a manual to get any decent acceleration. My wife has a auto 97 Altima and it's a slug.

If you want performance, look into:

93-97 Mustang GTs
93-96 Z28s/Firebirds
94-96 Talon/Eclipse
Sentra SE-R (huge aftermarket)
Civic (huge aftermarket)
Accord (huge aftermarket)

You will have to face this reality though, you won't find a perfect used car for 10K. The kind of cars you're looking at will have higher miles. There's no way around it. If I had 10K and wanted a fast/very fun/easy to fix/decent reliability, I'd get a lower mile 92 Mustang GT for $7000-8000 and dump $2000-3000 in mods and repairs. Instant 12 second totally streetable ride.


Dave

02BBQ

I will be going to OU but i still have my senior year to finish. Yeah Moore and Norman are really close. IF your even down here let me know if you want to meet up.

slick

yeah we can meet up one day, i probably wont come around norman until school starts again, i'm taking a couple summer classes at OCCC, so i dont have much time to goof around. when summer classes are over, i'm gonna go to my uncle's place, but we will sure meet up one day. its cool that there is a maxima enthusiast around, every1 that i know who has a max doesn't care about there car that much to join this board(i know, i almost kick someones a$$). it will be nice to see a modified max, i hardly see those around here, mainly honda's, and if you have ever been to OCCC, there are plenty of them. i'll be sure to email you.

02BBQ

sounds good. I know a few people with modded max's that dont bother to join .org and its a shame. but yeah give me an email. Yeah, plenty of hondas at OCCC, my sister takes classes up there.

costcowholesale

iTrader: (12)

check the GTP out, 97/98 models with around 50000km are selling for teh same price as new sentra SE, I'm checking those out now

nforg

i have a 96 accord (4door - auto 4cyl) and its good for driving from point a to b , but not fun at all; the only really nice thing about it is that I can beat on it and could care less what happens to it, and its a honda so all the parts the car really needs will stay working =) ....

Off the line its nothing special, but im not exactly speed racer; and acceleration generally is pretty decent, i maxed it out at 120 with out the a/c and 115 with the a/c....

You should really try a stick integra, a gs-r (170hp stick) vs. like a ls integra (140hp can be auto) are like two completly different cars..... the only problem I have with them is the interior design is really ugly, and if someone is sitting in back of the hatchback their head is like going throw the back windshield....

-Nate