bwinter7

Hi all, I am just curious as to what made you buy a Maxima in the first place. Whether it be because you researched it and decided, or knew a friend or family member that had one, or were given one and fell in love with it.

I thought about this yesterday, and I came up with why I always wanted one.

When I was about 8 or 9, I went to visit my uncle near Penn State College area. I remember seeing it for the first time, it was a 95 black on black leather SE 5speed. Shiny as all hell, because it was brand-new at the time. I saw the outside, and I thought "Man, thats a nice car". We ended up going out to dinner, and the first time I sat in that car; I thought to myself "I will have one of these one day".
I didn't think about it much, until I was looking for my first car. I didn't have much money, but one day I saw a car that looked like a good first car in the street with a "For Sale" sign on it. "1993 Maxima SE 5speed, 112k, needs clutch, 500 obo". As soon as I saw the interior, I was like "sold". I paid $400 for it, and ever since then, I have always loved the Maxima. I can't even drive a 4-banger, my minimum power needs out of an engine has always been sset by my first, and only VE30DE. And to be honest, I've never thought about straying from the Nissan family (I was forced to at one point), and I don't think I will ever not own a VQ again. It's the perfect combo of style, performance, refinement, and economy to me. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford the new GT-R coming out

andrei3333

This has been asked before (by me so i know) but....

When i came to Canada in 1994 a person who parked their car right beside my dad's at the building complex we first lived in got a 4th gen (brand new) and i loved the exterior shape of it ever since.

Then i was switching cars and could actually afford a 4th gen and went for the first one i test drove, i should have looked around more for one with leather and se wheels (i had to buy my se wheels off the net) and one of a better colour (i got the girlish purple), but i could not resist and just went for it and bought it that same day.

I got lucky cause it had no majour problems and no leaks, and i have already taken care of the little problems it did have and all of the main maintenance. so i am happily enjoying it now!!!!

maxgtr2000

iTrader: (29)

When I was a kid I used to see the 2nd gens all the time in NY tricked out (really just wheels and tint back then). 3rd gen came out I hated it..it grew on me especially after seeing Menace II Society. 4th gen came out, hated it.. kept seeing it.. fell in love with it..it's what I own now.. how ironic. Loved maximas from back in the day tho for the most part.

Blackwind

iTrader: (9)

man you speakin the truth here. my aunt had an 86 when i was 10 and thats when the maxima became the only car i ever wnated to own.( that and the lamborghini countach i now own 2 identical and i cant be happier.

Mr. Blue Sky

iTrader: (1)

I wanted to have 2 different gens, and I got a great deal on it. On a side note my father is thinking of buying a 4th gen, I was happy when I heard that. Now the family will have 3 generations of maximas. For those who don't know me, my first car is the one in my sig, and my daily driver at the moment is my 5th gen.

Memphoman

My 1st 3 Maxi's pointed the way to my latest.

MyBlue02

went from a 99' 2dr GTP with afew mods, was getting up there in milage and had the ting for 3.5 years and it needed some work. I have always has gm's and after the gtp there was nothing that interested me from gm (cept for F-bodies, and vette's) so i started looking around and decided i wanted a stick, 4 doors, and a roomy full size car (just like the cutless and gtp i had as far as size). so as we all know there is not alot out there in what i was looking for, so i say a maxima with a 6spd and after driving it i fell inlove...felt just as snoty as the modded gtp (not as much low end though), it was a stick, and it handeled so much better than hte gtp, so i bought it.

though if anything happened to my 5.5 i'd get a 4th gen.

Hollywood!

Kind of serendipity for me. Looking for my first car on autotrader, searched nissan, prices 1-5k. came across a mint 94 gxe, first time ever 'seeing' 3rd gens, researched it, fell in love with 3rd gen SE's. waited 2 months before finding one with everything i wanted... the rest is history.

...although soon i might be selling because a 99 Audi 1.8T Quattro is calling my name.

hacim105

iTrader: (6)

My brother owned it first, I drove it one day and loved the power and the feel of it. I fell in love with it and now I own it.

Fast1one

iTrader: (12)

My brother had a black 97 with leather, thing was nice and had a ton of power...loved it...

After owning an s13 and not finding an s14 for several months, I settled into my 98, no regrets

nearthisbridge

iTrader: (19)

Back in 2004 I had just gotten a new job, and of course being 19 the first thing I wanted to do was get rid of my car at the time - an automatic '95 Geo Prizm LSi. My only real requirement when I went looking was that it be a stick like my first car, an '84 VW Scirocco. So I was looking at the typical young guy cars - 240s, Integras, stuff like that.

I went to a dealer to test drive a low mileage '95 Integra GSR and of course it was already sold. While I was there I saw my car on the lot - a Sunlit Sand '99 SE. There was a Pearl White 4th gen in my apartment complex at the time that had a Stillen kit and I thought it looked pretty good, I had never realized that came in a 5 speed though so I never considered them.

The one I looked at had everything I didn't want - no sunroof, no leather, 4 doors and it was beige. But I took a peek inside and it was a stick! I took it for a test drive and bought it that day - the V6/stick combo was so much better than the automatic 100hp 4cyl I was driving I just had to have it.

A bit over 3 years later and I'm about to buy my 3rd Max to fix up and give to my little brother as his first car - there even may be an A33 I30 in my near future too as I have a line on a cheap one with a fried ECU.

After 83k nearly trouble free miles, the '99 looks totally different but it's still the same great car I fell in love with in June of 2004. I'd say I'd buy it again, but one look at my driveway makes that painfully obvious.

MyBlue02

[QUOTE=nearthisbridge]A bit over 3 years later and I'm about to buy my 3rd Max to fix up and give to my little brother as his first car - there even may be an A33 I30 in my near future too as I have a line on a cheap one with a fried ECU.[qUOTE]

A32 = I30 (2000-2001 - 3.0VQ)
A33 = I35 (2002-2003 - 3.5VQ)

nearthisbridge

iTrader: (19)

[quote=MyBlue02][quote=nearthisbridge]A bit over 3 years later and I'm about to buy my 3rd Max to fix up and give to my little brother as his first car - there even may be an A33 I30 in my near future too as I have a line on a cheap one with a fried ECU.Sorry, didn't know the I30 had different chassis codes than the Maxima (A32 for the Max is 95-99). It's a 2001 I30.

edit - Actually I don't think what you posted is correct (unless it is infact different for the I30/35...A33 = 2000-01, A33B = 2002-03. I knew I wasn't crazy! haha

Maxim(a)SerjVQ

Nissan Psychologically conditioned me to want one. I can (barely) remember the commercials talking about this car with all these great options and even LEATHER for $15,000. then in the mid 1990's, there was the Famous commercials promoting Nissan's Heritage with the old japanese man and the dog, and the van Halen/Barbie Doll commercial for the 300ZX, and finally, one of my favorite commercials EVER (mostly because i laughed and my dad was grossed out) was the Top Gun Pigeons chasing down a 4th gen. in 02 i happened to be lot surfing and i saw a maroon 5.5gen w/6speed and charcoal interior, then i declared to myself, I'm gonna get a car just like this. Well, i got busy and forgot my promise, then i happened to visit that dealer again. (mostly for the 350z) walking around I saw the new 6th gens coming in, and I really didn't care for them. the lot had 3 5.5 gens left, one being a GXE with pain jane looks, a Beige GLE with matching leather (i hate beige interiors and most exteriors) then, on the end. I gorgeous Black SE (auto unfortunately) with the Titanium Edition Package. I mentioned to a sales guy that had wondered over that i had never driven a nissan. He grabs the keys for me, pulls the car up front, gets out and lets me have the helm. Before I go, he tells me to just absolutely plant the throttle when I'm taking it out, and i mean he emphasized it more than once. So, here I am just whip-cracking on an 03 with 16mi on the ODO, and while I noticed some imperfections, the engine and the excellent interior, with the lovely TE rims sold me so bad I made my parents drive 200mi up to where i was living to co-sign for it(first new car I had ever financed in my name)

My 03 now has over 135,000mi on it, and i started modding almost as soon as the extended warranty died. My plans are definately for another max; prolly the 7th-gen if i like it. otherwise I'm driving this til she dies.

Bufflomike

First off I started in a Nissan 310GX 5speed hatch and loved that car through college. Then I moved to Portland and fell in love with Volvo's for a while. When I came back to Buffalo I drove a 96SE 5speed in 99 with 30k on it. Bought it that day as it was the nicest engine/tranny combo I had ever been in. I put 170k on it and it was running like a dream when I sold it in April 07. I bought an 03 Sheer Silver 6sp with HLSD, leather, titanium edition and have put 7k miles on it. I think I liked my 96 better, but it is growing on me.

twiggy144

Best value for the buck in the 3-5 year old used car market in it's category.

JdoubleOe703

iTrader: (6)

dont know... i guess i crazy

maximadave

iTrader: (10)

I've had a 2000 and a 2002 and love the looks, style, performance and features compared to the competition, especially bang for the buck.

Squirrel82

iTrader: (30)

I needed a car when I was 20 and bought a clean burgundy 89 SE just cause it was cheap.Once its was painted candy red it got me a lot of positive comments even though it was an old car.Never gave me any problems ,just great memories.Now I have an 02,looks nice and serves all my current needs well.

nalc

iTrader: (11)

1997 - My dad has a midlife crisis and buys a '97 Neptune Blue SE five speed. From 1997 until 2005, he puts 135k on it, until a whole slew of electrical problems happen. It was in the shop like every other day getting repairs. He wasn't a huge fan of the '06 Maxima, but he was diggin' a used '05 Mazda6. So he got one of them.

Coincidentally, once he stopped daily driving the Maxima, the problems went away. The Max was still a hell of a car, and he didn't have the heart to sell it, so for a year he kept it as a weekend toy.

Then, because my car ('89 Oldsmobile) started giving me lots of problems, I sold it and started driving the Maxima. 1,000 beautiful miles later, the thing is giving ME a whole slew of electrical problems. The same ones I thought we fixed.

So for like two weeks I've been driving my grandparents' '02 Altima 2.5

808MAX-SPEC

iTrader: (7)

1. Connections to get the Sterling Mist AE and discount.
2. Aero kit and 17" wheels included so I didn't have to do serious moding.
3. Made in Japan.
4. At the time, the only import sedan to have DOHC.
5. Too many Accords, Camrys, and TLs on the road.

jaguax

iTrader: (1)

I used to look at 5th gens back when they were the newest thing on the streets and say to myself, wow that looks like a quality automobile, maybe my first car should be a Maxima... So I did some research from there and found out that indeed it is a quality, reliable car. Unfortunately there was no way in hell I was affording a 5th gen, especially at the time so I had to settle for a good ol' third gen. Probably the best choice I could've made for a first car, that thing gave me no big problems for 5 straight years.

Of course now I own a BMW, which is MUCH more maintenance heavy than the Max was, but it's totally worth the upkeep.

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

I wanted a sleeper. Within two weeks of buying the Maxima, I ordered the supercharger kit for it. Problem now is.....it's not much of a sleeper anymore.

confused1096

With my first Max (2nd gen) my Frontier had been totalled and I needed a cheap car now to stay employed. I'd owned a Sentra previously that had been a good car, so I was willing to give Nissan another chance. I bought the car for $750 and got decent use out of it before I upgraded to a nicer car.
A couple of years later when I was car hunting again I found a third gen in good shape; remembering how well the second gen worked out for me, I bought it.
I'd cheerfully own another one if circumstances are right.

Frank Fontaine

When I was in MBA school a classmate had a f***** sweet 1995 Maxima SE, and it was still 1994. I thought that was the hottest car, and a 5-spd to boot. It wasn't until 1997 that I was serious about possibly getting one, they wanted around 21k for a 1996 and I saw a seemingly good buy, a 1995 for 14,995. 14's???? I was wanting that car...finally, the great Maxima rebates started and I walked out in 3/98 with a fully-loaded 5-spd brand-new for 22,700 (list was 29,400), amazing at the time, 6700 off list. But times have changed, today you look at a 4th gen and say hunhh? That's all I got for nearly 23k? *lol*

max95q

iTrader: (10)

Well, I had no choice, my dad bought my car. My first car was my old 2nd gen Maxima, which I owned for 7 years. I hated it because it was all square but then it grew on me. Then I came here and Ive been in love with maxima's since. After riding in an sc'd 4th gen and a couple modified ones I knew what I wanted as my first car I bought myself.

MorpheusZero

iTrader: (10)

The MFin' VQ.

Divewjason

I decided to buy a Nissan Maxima through thorough research after a Dodge Ram totaled my beloved Chevy Prizm. I do not regret my decision in the light of that misfortune.