i have a 2002 wtih 17k miles and only paid about 7-8months of payments...if i were to trade it in for a Z how would it work out. I know about buying cars but never experienced trading. would they pay off my max or if i goto same dealer just add on to my current bills the trade off value. please enlighten me because i have to convince my parents.. they love the Z but they are just worried about finances since theyre planning on buyin my sister a new car. i suggested they jsut give her my max and buy me a new car but that would be selfish and my sister dont want a hand me down since im the younger child

 

I want your life

 

you want my life? i just want a 350z someone help me here

 

Here I will try to explain something that has a lot of things that need to factored in. You have a 1 yr. old car, lets say you owe 26,000 bucks on. Your car's trade value is worth, say 21,000 bucks. That means there is 5,000 difference. By the way the figures I am using may be real or may not be, you would have to fill in your own numbers. Anyway, the term used for the 5,000 difference is called "up-side-down". Which in short is the money between what you owe on the car and what a dealer is realistically going to give you for your car, which in most cases is not much. If you wanted the Z you would have to roll the 5,000 into the new loan for the Z. My advice to you would be to sell it privately and get as close to the amount you owe on the car now. You will take a loss but not as bad as it would be if you traded it in. However, I don't know how much you owe on the car. If you put money down on the max when you financed it you may be in better shape. Hope I could have been of some help......jimz02max.

 

Here is how it would work. On your payment stub you will see the buyout price. Right now NMAC or another bank owns your car and you are making payments to them. If the dealership offers more than your buyout (re: not likely) for a trade-in price then you are effectively getting that much off your new purchase. So, if they offer $20,000 and the buyout is $14,000 you will get $6,000 off that $35,000 350Z. Chances are though you will be "upside down" in your payments and actually increase that base price by that difference. Good luck.

 

Checking out your profile...it says you're a student. It's hard to move around a lot of stuff and people in a 350Z...yeah it's got the image, but the Maxima is doing pretty damn well for a college student. Works for me anyways. Now if you commute to your college, it's a whole different story

 

Basically, what the last two guys are saying is that Nissan will rip you a new one if you make this trade. Just stick with the Max.

 

The only reason to trade your car in at this point would be if you hate it...like, absolutely despise it and want to drive it off a cliff. Otherwise you are going to be stuck in it for a while.

If your parents are even remotely worried about finances, don't pressure them. Be thankful that you drive a $25,000 car.

 

I pondered the thought of trading in the 2k2 Max too, but I will lose too much money and there is too much competition selling it privately... Go to ebaymotors or even try autotrader.com and see for yourself... 2k2 going from $16,000 for an SE, which I have with a factory warranty no rebuit title shiet, clean title... And also the hassle to unmod the car and put in back to factory and sell it privately, when someone can pick a fully loaded SE for $24k or even a stock optioned SE for $22k... Too much problems...

The Z is the Shiet... but to lose my $27k bought max and lose maybe $10k is not worth it for me... Some of you have parents that have money to spend, but I work for mines and 10k don't come easy or even 6 or 4k... Too much headaches... Just love and charish the Max, unless you awfully hate the Max, then I advise you to sell it...

 

I own both and enjoy driving both 03 Max and 350, the Z may be a little more fun but not that much more for what you will have to pay being upside down. The Max delivers 90% of the performance of the Z and can haul 3 others and look good while doing it.

 

i wanted to buy the Z when it came out too... but i couldnt justify the money loss i would suffer by sellin my Max. i figure i'll put the extra money into Max and he'll be just as cool as the Z (almost)

 

at first i was gonna buya a Z but it didnt come out for 3 months and i needed a car that month since my old car died on me. finances isnt really the problem my parents are worried more about the insurance of the Z. we put 10k down on the max and were financing i think 17k. of that 17k we paid off about 3k so far i believe so a difference of 14k give or take 500 now if i trade in wut happens then. and yes im just a student and i dont need much space to haul around stuff. just need something to pimp in and i think the 350z is the most beautiful car out there that you can get for that price. g35 is nice too but the interior is too complicated and they spent too muych on it i like the plain interior of the Z

 

i do love my max but theres something i regret about it. when i bought the car i didnt care much about it and i just got a basic gxe with no options. then i started fallin in love with it and put ont he spoiler foglights tints, a system, and etc. but theres still somethings about the gxe that bothers me. first the 16in rims. too small for me. iw ouldve been happy with the 17in se rims. no leather wrapped steering. man you guys are lucky this plastic wheel of mine sucks compared to those leather wrapped wheels. and interior color. i got a super black gxe so it only came with frost now i wish i had black interior or got leather appointed seats. and i hate the wheel gap. all in all for me to make my car look good i gotta buy rims and springs shocks. and etc which isnt cheap. thats a good 3000 there. 4000 if i had it my way and got 20in chrome 5twins. oh also no sunroof. car is very roomy i gotta admit. i had some good times in the back seat with my girlfriend at the beach but my heart is set for the Z.

 

Well, let's see if I can explain things.

The best thing to do is to take your Maxima to Cinderella's Palace and trade it in. Make sure you ask for Tinkerbell when you get to the Palace because she will take care of you. Just tell her Peter Pan sent you. Tink will give you a great deal on the 350Z trade, but don't let her screw you over on those extras like underbody coating. The great thing about Cinderella's Palace is that every other visitor gets a free car and everybody else get their bill sent to their parents.

So, the bottom line...

Get the Z...as soon as possible...the longer you wait the sooner the rest of your life might set in!!!

 

ditto.

 

keep it in the Family... Nissan

 

spoiled rich kids........give me a break

 

Could not have put it better myself.

Buzz

 

Dude, don't you think that since you got the car for free you should be happy with it? Good for you for having rich parents but come on, how are people supposed to feel when you are complaining about your car that you didn't work for at all?

Again, if your parents think that you deserver a 350 Z (or Maxima for that matter) then more power to you. However, if I ever have kids I can't imagine buying them a brand new car only to have them complain it's not good enough.

 

I own both. I pay for both. Insurance, Gas, Payments, and Maintenence. The Z has a 20 gallon gas tank. It gets 20 miles to the gallon. It uses premium gas. My fillups are $30. My insurance (24 years old) is $175/month. I can haul 1 guitar, 1 girl, and a bag of groceries, but that's it. It can't even hold a full-size suitcase. I need another cigarette lighter for my phone charger. I drive over potholes and bad roads alot, and sometimes feel like I need a chiropractor to fix my joints.

That being said...

It's all completely worth it. EVERYONE, I mean EVERYONE, stops to stare at the car when you're sitting at a red light. Saturday nights are the bomb as well. It's definitely a looker. It's got performance too.

That being said...

My Max has a 16 gallon gas tank. It uses premium gas. My fillups are $26. My insurance (24 years old) is $125/month. It has a sound system in it. It has Y/B pipes and a Cat. It has a CAI. It has a sunroof. It can hold 3 17" monitors in the back seat, 2 guitars in the trunk, a couple of guitar amps, 2 passengers (up to 5), a full size suitcase, and it has 4 doors. And it doesn't have blind spots (like the Z). The Max is pimpin' just as hard as the Z is, but in a larger form.

That being said...

Don't buy the car for what it looks like around campus, buy the car for what it can be used for:

Z = a girl
Max = a few girls
Z = lots of looks
Max = not so many looks
Z = high profile (no picking your nose while driving)
Max = low profile (pick away)
Z = no storage
Max = lots of storage
Z = Styling
Max = Styling
Z = Fun to drive
Max = Fun to drive once RSB is installed
Z = 90 degree right hand turns at 60 MPH
Max = what is a 90 degree turn. I need 3 lanes to make a U-turn
Z = lower to the ground (read: bumper scratches/speed bumps at an angle)
Max = higher off the ground (read: hit em at full speed while running from the cops)
Z = More expensive to own/mod
Max = Less expensive to own/mod
Z = ...
Max = ...

And so on. The choice is yours.

 

To the original poster who wants to trade in his 2k2 for a 350Z, I personally don't think that the Z offers enough performance to compensate for the financial hit one would take to make the deal.

A 2k2 6sp, IMO, is plenty fast, offers a great bang for the buck, and like MONTE said, it delivers 90% of the Z's performance--I think he'd know, since he owns both. A 10% increase in performance for another 10-12G's is not reasonable in my book.

 

and people wonder why i hate my brother

maybe because he is just like this guy and i had to pay for all my cars myself

 

You hit the nail on the head with this one. There is nothing I hate more than having to make a sharp turn. I need one of those garbage trunk sirens on my car so that when I back up people know.

 

Your Max has an 18.5 gallon tank, not 16 Unless you changed it or something...

 

Yeah my Max has about 18 or more gallon tank. I always fill up near 18 gallons.

 

I wasn't going to be a **** about it, but that was very nicely put. When I was 19, I drove my dad's hand me down POS 1991 Mazda 626.

 

You can get a leather wrap steering wheel kit from Nissan for about $100. A leather shift **** auto/manual will set you back ~$60-70.

You can pickup a set of used 17" SE rims with tires for about $700 or you can buy a set of new aftermarket 17/18s with tires for around $1000-1500.

You can get a better than factory aftermarket leather kit from Leatherseats.com for about $600-700 (depending on the deal at the time). Installing it yourself isn't hard at all.

A set of H&R springs and new struts will set you back ~$500.

Everything listed above will set you back about $3000 which is WAY cheaper than taking a $10K loss trading in your Maxima and getting a $28K 350Z.

The 350Z is definately a sweet ride and I'll never argue that, but I will argue that a college student does not need a brand new 350Z. College isn't about what you drive, you're there to study. Getting a 350Z at such an early age will leave you only expecting better cars down the road. I'm nearly 29 and I'm driving a 96 Maxima. I make a good salary and I could be driving something much fancier. Why do I keep my Maxima? Because I enjoy modifiying the car. Period. I like making it my "own". IMO, it's the best looking Maxima rolling Kansas City and I think many would agree. It's fast (capable of lower 14s in another week or so), handles superbly, stops on a dime, and carries most of anything I need. I took a plain a jane and homely sedan and turned it into a very sexy and sporty sedan. That's what I love about my car. It reflects me. I could be driving a brandnew G35, but what's the fun in that if I have to keep it stock because I'm strapped to big car payments? IMO, there's nothing really fun about driving stock. I'll get that G35 soon enough, but it won't be until I can afford toys for it like I can for my Maxima


Dave

 

With all that's going on in the world this lil s**t is worried about the wheel well gap being too big on his free car. Maybe when I was in school I was an ungrateful jerk but then again I didn't have my parents giving me a $26K car. I am not saying you should not have what you want but step back and look at what you've got. So until you start to buy your own stuff with your own money would you please do us all a favor and STFU.

Nice

 

what the hell is so bad about having rich parents?

 

I'm sure your parents have a thorough enough working knowledge of how cars are financed that you won't be adding anything helpful.

This sounds like the real problem is convincing your parents that you deserve another new car despite the fact that your sister is also entitled to one. Really, your problem boils down to familial politics and economic entitlements. Here's my suggestion: I would first throw a temper tantrum. If that doesn't work, hold your breath. If that doesn't work, break something on the maxima to force an upgrade.

 

Ditto, I drive the Max every bit as hard as my 350 and to be honest they both put a smile on my face thats damn near equal. My wife is right next to me and feels the same way!