Greetings,

I realize this is a rather open ended question, but recently I ran across a 1997 SE Limited, 5-spd., every option but sunroof and leather for $14,999. There are 44,000 miles on this car. I test drove it, and it drove beautifully.

I've been a die-hard fan of maximas for a long time - my dad has a 1993 SE 5-spd, and he still loves it. I was pondering getting one myself. Does the price mentioned above sound good? Would it be worth my time to go ahead with bank proceeedings to get a loan for this car? My only qualm is that it's the deep-purple color.... which is a nice color, just not my first choice. :)

Regards,
Dave Brooks

 

I would say the price isn't that good.
First of all, I didn't know the '97 is limited. Second, Maxima really doesn't have too many options, missing the sunroof and leather almost makes it a barebone. Third the milage is not low, it already passed the 3yr/36k warranty, does it come with extended warranty?
I will say offer them $13k for it, maybe it will finally comes down to $14k but with extended warranty.

 

I thought the limited was only available in 99. Wholesale is 13,500 and retail is 15,600 on that car. I usually try to pay as close to wholesale as possible. I paid $500 over wholesale for my 96 from a dealer. I bought my 91 SE for a grand less than wholesale from an individual. But $14,900 for an asking price is pretty aggressive.(especially if its at a dealer)

 

My apologies, perhaps it could have been misleading. I have not researched what years had a "limited" tag... As silly as it sounds, the floormats had "SE Limited" on them. I guess that's not the case, however.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

>>> Wholesale is 13,500 and retail is 15,600 on that car.

Yep, then you apply those crazy $2500-$3000 rebate on that, offering $13k is about right

 

Try to talk them down on the fact that it's a five speed. Most people that drive the maxima (except all the people here) look at it as a higher class car that should be driven with an auto. If it's a dealer then you can always talk them down.
I got my Max back in May. It's a 97 SE, it had lots of options (leather, sunroof, BOSE, etc) with 32,000 miles and it's auto. It was marked at $17,000 and he went down to $16,000 which included an additional 12,000 mi/12 month warrenty (Gold recertification). I bought it at the end of the month on a tuesday. My uncle told me to do this (ex-carsalesman) because they try to meet certain goals per month and during the week they have less distractions, because there are no customers.

Good Luck with your Car buying experience.