Just picked this up... its actually my son's first car purchase, but since I had to co-sign and my name is on it it counts as Max #7 (3rd 5G).

Not crazy about the aftermarket wood or that the previous owner swapped out the smoked tailights, but the mileage/condition was too good to pass up. All original AE stuff (body kit, headlights, keys, pedals, mats, etc.) is in place. One owner, well-maintained, drives like new, new Pilot Sport A/S tires, CarFax guarantee, minor accident in '03 - right front fender was repainted, slight blemish on rear bumper (just above left split in valence) - body and wheels otherwise PERFECT. $13.5k

 

the tail lights actually flow well with the car.

 

 

More pics, part II:

 

you bought him a $13.5k car? He is one lucky kid. Or you just co-sighned and he'll be making the payments? In anyway, that is one nice looking car. At first i thought that 13.5 for an 01 is kinda high, but when you figure in the LOW LOW milage for that car, its a descent price.

Good find.

 

I don't mind the look of the red lights on the white car... just it not being original. Sometimes the smoked lights look a bit harsh on the light colored cars (but they looked great on my '00 Grey Lustre).

I REALLY don't care for the wood, though. Not sure if any damage could be done removing it, though.

 

No....... I just co-signed for him. He's 24, got a good full time job and living on his own... he put $7,500 down and financed the rest. I AM contributing whatever he can get for the '96 (170k miles) - I bought that for him used 5 years ago as his "college" car. He will pay down the loan with whatever we get for that.

 

Nice car! Maybe paint the wood trim with aluminum paint? I think silver trim with a white car flows well.

 

*drools* thats just sexy...

 

Super Low Miles... Freaking awesome
IMO... you paid too much.
You could have gotten an 02/03 for that price or less.

 

5.5G was the original target/preference (for the 3.5 and HID lights) - My '03 (SE/TE) was my favorite Max ever. We looked at a bunch but they all had 70000+ miles on them and not as clean as this one. It was the low, low mileage and great condition that stood out on this one. Plus he really fell in love with the looks of the AE. He decided that the low mileage and "AE look" were more important to him than the 3.5 motor. All he's ever driven has been high mileage 4th gen Max's ('95 & '96) - this really is like a new car to him. He's shooting to buy a house soon - this will probabaly be a keeper for a good while, so the miles were extra important.

 

YAY! its my car! ha... well looks like it...

im not a fan of the all red tail lights...

 

Nice... is that some light tint on your windows or just the light conditions???

I'm not generally a fan of white cars but white looks very good on the 5th gens... (Polished Titanium on the '03s is the best, imo)

 

Rewired the fogs already, nice....

 

the OP hasnt

 

20% in the back and 35% on the front.

 

that automatic shifter thing is about as cool as Oprah

 

Beautiful car! You probably paid too much, but oh well. I bought my AE back in April with 68K for less than $10K. Still, great lookin car!

 

thats also almost 30,000 more miles and $3,500 less...

I say he got a heck of a deal

ps. i got my AE in Sept of 06, with 66,000 miles, and paid $9k. now who paid too much?

 

Love the pearl white AEs

 

thanks!

 

That's a nice pick up!! I'm in the process of modifying my 2k into an 01 AE, so you know you got my vote.

 

Thanks & good luck with your mods!

 

I know we paid a bit of a premium, but feel it was a good trade-off to "buy down" the miles. Considering we've twice gotten 160k + trouble free miles out of VQ30 Max's, there's a lot of life to look forward to in this car.

I might have waited for a lower mileage 5.5G to pop up somewhere, but my son really liked the AE and I don't think you will find a cleaner / lower mileage example than this one. It has 27% lower mileage than my leased '03 had when I turned it in 16 months ago... Hell, it has less mileage than my '00 had when I turned it back in 3.5 years ago!

You know its somewhat special when a Lexus dealer puts a 7 model year old, off-brand car on their lot... out of nearly 100 "pre-owned" cars on his lot it was 1 of only 3 non-Lexus cars (one of the others was a Nissan, too). 99+ % of the time an 01 Maxima traded at a Lexus dealer would have been sent off to a wholesaler without a second thought.

 

That's a great find! Very lucky kid! The previous owner should have gotten a GLE with an AE kit if he/she wanted the wood interior and all red tails. Save some money and have it restored back to what is supposed to be.

 

I think we're going to experiment with a hair dryer tomorrow to see if the fugly wood can come off without damaging the finish below. As aftermarket wood stuff goes, this is hardly the worst I've see... but I really don't like all the wood in the first place... just one of the reason's every one of my Max's has been an SE.

From a "wish it was a completely original AE like it rolled out of the showroom" standpoint, I would have preferred the correct tails. Aesthetically I could go either way. I was almost hoping to find the stock tails in the trunk, but the guy probably e-bayed them long ago (or did a swap with somebody who wanted SE tails). Ultimately, it will be my son's choice to leave alone or find some originals to replace them.

Guess I need to get him on the org now to share opinions/ideas with other members.

 

Welcome to the AE Club .. I love the AE in white.. Get rid of the wooden trim and it will look alot better .. And if your son needs help with anything this is the right place of course.. Welcome him to the AE club for us !

 

Looks great! Very nice.

 

sharp looking max! how's the leather holding up?

 

Very slight crease lines here and there... pretty good overall... no rips, tears or cracks. My '03s leather still looked nearly brand new after 55000 all-city driving (lots of in & out). This looks about the same.

 

I wish i could say the same about my driver's seat, 20th AE 45,000 Miles, and the entire right side, is almost deteriorated :P

 

Pics?

My '00 SE w/ 73k has not tears or rips in the leather.

 

The milage is low, but i still think u paid a too much? tho i dont know myabe in ur state prices are higher.

But u shoud change tail lights back to ae color.

 

Welcome car #7.

 

Ill take some pics tomorrow.. probably with my phone.. since my digital (Canon PS A630) doesnt have batteries, and if i use no brand in it, one shot depletes the batteries..

 

lol... is that woodtrim on the overhead dome light?

nice car btw...

 

6years for 39kmiles...that is almost perfect...nice search..

 

Yes it is... even the rear cupholder has a wood overlay. Previous owner got a little carried away. Didn't have enough time to really try to pull it off on Saturday before my son had to head back to Raleigh. I think we'll try Thanksgiving weekend when my son comes home again. He ordered an iPod adaptor last night that we'll probably put in then, too.

 

contrats on AE. nice!

 

Funny thing is that we really weren't searching for THAT car... we were really looking for a 5.5g w/<60k miles (which we really weren't having any luck finding - plenty 70k+) I was checking cars.com first in the Raleigh area (where my son lives) and then in the Charlotte area. When I searched the Charlotte area I generalized the search to just "Maxima < $15k" and out popped this one right in my backyard. I still didn't think too much about it because I had 02/03 in my head but it looked decent so I forwarded it to my son and he fell in love with it and asked me to check it out. I went to see it Friday morning on my way to work and realized that it was something special, spoke to my son on the phone and made the deal for him right then and there. We were afraid that if we waited till Saturday for him to drive down to Charlotte it might not still be there.