My nephew is about to buy his first vehicle. His budget is $14,000. Purely from an economical point of view, which one should he buy? A brand new Sentra GXE or a well maintained 4 years old Maxima?

Which one will last longer, require less maintenance. In other words which one is cheaper to operate and own for the next 4 to 8 years of college?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

 

warranty is a lovely thing.. since he is a young chap.. just have him get the sentra.. alot of times the maxima has a bit too much tq for a younger person.. assuming he is 16 or so..


this is an SPA post..

 

Depends on what he wants. My girlfriend is in the same boat right now too. On our budget we could get her a new(er) Sentra or a used Maxima. I, of course, think she should get a Maxima. However, she thinks the car is too big for her, and doesn't really care about any of the features.

If he's looking at a 2002 Sentra I would go that way. He could get a warrenty and me almost maintenance free for 5 years or so. It sounds like that would be the best economic option.

However, if he's willing to pay for his maintenance, I'd get the Maxima just because its a bigger, nicer car.

 

i agree with both of the people who posted before me...

 

Depends on what he wants. Both cars will last practically forever. I guess the Sentra would be slightly cheaper maintenance wise and definitely cheaper in terms of gas usage.

 

Get him a sentra. If he gets a car with less power, he will appriciate it more when he gets a car with more power. I started out with a maxima and now, I cant go to anything less powerful or else I would go crazy.

 

sentra would definitely be cheaper when it comes to maintenance, plus as someone said, he will appreciate a more powerful car later on after driving the sentra..plus the warranty is kinda important

 

Sentra would be better plus the insurance on the Max will be higher as well as the other maintenace items mentioned above. Plus a 16 year old doesnt need that much get up and go, you know most of them tend to have lead feet!

 

HA..you guys think a Maxima is bad for a 16 year old.. My friend just got a 2002 SVT Lightning for his first car several months ago. Now you wanna talk about being lead footed in a fast car

 

True Craig Mack, thats very crazy,lol!

 

Why not get an SE sentra, so you have more performance for around the same cost as a GXE, so he wouldnt need a maxima, and still have a warrenty for problems that come up.

 

That's nothing...college students here have new M3s..I kid you not..there's 3 of them in the parking lot. Not only that, I've seen two of the newer Ferraris, and a Viper GTS in the student lots. Lots of other Mercedes and BWMs too. Can you imagine the cash these parents have?

 

....what college is this?...i know a lot of college kids with nice cars though...one of my friends actually got a new Carrera when he turned 16...his older brother had gotten a brand new Hummer when he had turned 16

 

Univ of Miami. I see a couple of the football players driving "bling bling" 2002 Escalades.

 

well since he is 16, iw ould get him the base 02 SE-R automatic
if u haggle alot u can practicly have it for around that price
it comes with alloys spoiler and other goodies, o yeah since he is young he would want to have some punch, and the 1.8 auto would be kinda slow, the 2.5 has 180 pounds of torque, and are knonw to be very peppy

 

some kids are just spoiled rotten

Anyways, back to the debate. Yeah, if it were me I'd go with the Sentra GXE. Warranty, low maintenance, and good gas mileage. The SE-R is a nice though, but it breaks the $14k limit. Here's what I'd do.

Get the GXE, but get a 5spd. 126 HP in a 2600lb car wouldn't be bad at all, and the 5spd would keep the car nice and peppy, but you know, not too peppy. ;-) He'd also learn stick as a benefit (all males must learn stick...it's in the blood and part of the right of passage to manhood ) The 5spd is also cheaper than the auto, and would get better mileage too. Lower operational costs.

I think we have a winner

 

I have a friend who bought a 2001 Sentra. I think it's an ok car but it already had to have all 4 wheels replaced and an anti-freeze leak. I think new is the way to go, but I'd open up the search. If he wants sporty, the Hyundai Elantra GT is loaded for a low price. The new Tiburon is coming out and Hyundai is showing the naysayers a thing or two. As I said before, at your nephew's age there should be 2 things on his mind--grades and women. Car should just be something to go from point a to b. But since he has some bucks I'd suggest something new. Good luck.

 

maxima. no if's ands or buts.

one maybe tho, spec v would be cool but just a lil out of price range

 

 

It's kinda funny, we were in the same position a little while ago. We were debating on whether to get a brand new Sentra or a used Maxima. For us, the car was going to be used for leisure and whatnot. We chose a used Maxima instead because we wanted something a little more nicer, upscale, and bigger. Both cars have exceptionel reliability.

For your situation though, I recommend getting a brand new Sentra, because the warranty is a definate plus (but I doubt you'll ever have any big problems ), & it's way better for commuting, Sentra's get good milage. Get him one of the higher modules (if you can keep it in the price range) because all he'll really need is that wicked stereo system, it's like a 7-speaker set isnt it? I heard it was pretty good! And the SE-R comes with an immobilizer (stock).

Hope this helped..

 

does anyone consider insurance in this damn forumn?!??! geez....its 319 a month for my 2002 maxima..and im 19..clean record..under my parents with 3 other cars....im sure that has to be a factor..

 

lolol.......whats with all this sentra's get good gas mileage?......maybe if I drove like a 90yr old lady. Ok, so it does get good mileage if I drive civilized, but i swear put the thing past 100mph and you can see the gas gauge dropping...

I'd say go with the max if you can find a nice used one. I wish I woulda found a nice used max when I needed a car, but all of them in my price range were beat up very badly. I got the sentra because it was in great shape.....and it still hasn't needed any major repairs.

 

Starving college students can't afford gas, much less premium gas. I would know...I was one once not too long ago

 

For me, I'd go with the a 4th gen maxima. I love the looks and it has a nice powerful engine with a lot of room in the car. If I were to go with a compact car in the price range of 14k, I would have to go with the 2003 toyota corolla (please don't make fun of me). Yes, I said it. My parents just bought my brother a 2k3 corolla s, and it is a damn good car. The space in that thing is unbelievable for a compact car, and the vvt 1.8 has some pep to it. IMO, I just don't like the sentra.
Let your nephew drive several cars and decide which one he likes. Although, it will be his first car, he should be confortable in it.

 

yeah i saw the "S" the other day....it kinda looks alright, I like the little body kit they threw on it, but no real power changes from the other models...I thought they'd think to pep it up with a little more power....

 

Yeah my cousin just got a 98 TT Supra for his 16th b-day. I feel like strangling his parents for buying him that car. Oh and to make it worse, he cant even drive a stick. Spoiled kids

 

Wow, $319 a month is more than my car payments when my Max was new. I was paying $270 a month for 24 months, and back in 1998 5.9% was a good rate. Today it's robbery. Couldn't your rents have taken a home equity loan or something, that way you could skip comp and collision, or if you live in a risk area keep the comp?

It just doesn't make sense to pay more for insurance than it costs most people for the car itself imho. If you could sock away that money you would be golden at age 25. And you're absoluteily right--there are plenty of people with clean records paying a fortune to the insurance companies. It should be all or nothing--clean record, $350 per year full-coverage. First accident or claim and the price quadruples. One should be rewarded for keeping clean and not making false claims and what have you.

 

Thank you all for your opinions.