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Nissan Maxima

8981 messages,  Last post on Feb 09, 2011 at 1:37 PM

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What is this discussion about? Nissan Maxima, Sedan

Messages Page 820 of 899

#8183 of 8981 Car Prices and availability by nd4spd

May 27, 2004 (8:34 am)

Right now Nissan has a special financing on 2004 maximas, I traded my 2003 and without down payment, got myself a 2004, SE, with sunroof for a $30 more a month, not sure exactly, what my total is, as they manipulated the numbers so much. But the thing about it is that I did not loose much money on my trade in. provided I had 42,000 miles on my 2003 max, it also needed new windshield, new brakes, new paint job and tires. So instead of spending $1500 on maintenance, I bought a new car and hardly paid any extra.
Now if I wanted to buy a G35, or the TL, like most of the people on this board, well – it would have made my payments go up by $250 a month, I don’t know about you, but this, plus the outrageous gas prices (2.15 / gallon) is enough for me to look away from the Infiniti/Accura dealerships.
As far as the 300C is concerned, good luck getting one right now, they are hard to find, and I hear that the owners are already complaining about the numerous issues with it. Maybe in 2 years, after DC will work all of the issues with the 300C out, and make sure that their MDS system really works (Chrysler’s below average reliability is well known).
But then again, in 2 years someone will have even a better car out there. Just look art what infiniti and accura are cooking.

#8184 of 8981 nd4spd by gerapau

May 27, 2004 (10:16 am)

So what you are saying is that you are only paying $30 more per month for the same period? I.E. if you only had 2 years to go on the 2003 then you still only have 2 years to go and are only paying $30 more per month. Or did they refinance you for another 4 or 5 years?

#8185 of 8981 Re: nd4spd [gerapau #8184] by nd4spd

May 27, 2004 (11:02 am)

Replying to: gerapau (May 27, 2004 10:16 am)
I wish it was only for 2 years! Nope, I had to refinance it for another 5 Years 1.9 %.
But, I never keep my cars for more then 2 years, as you can see I traded my 2003 maxima a year after I bought it. I cannot lease because, no one will lease a car with no mileage restriction. In my case I drive a lot, almost too much. I’ll trade this 2004 Max next year, maybe for another max or maybe for a 300C.

#8186 of 8981 nd4spd... by bowke28

May 27, 2004 (1:59 pm)

you REALLY should be leasing, dude.
 
you said you put qabout 30k miles per year? well, guess what...you can do that with nissan. do a 3 year with 30k per year, and you should be able to beat the payment you have.

#8187 of 8981 Re: nd4spd... [bowke28 #8186] by nd4spd

May 28, 2004 (4:27 am)

Replying to: bowke28 (May 27, 2004 1:59 pm)
I put 42,000 miles in 1.5 years and that is nothing, usually I drive more.
Out of these 1.5 years the car was in a garage for 4 month, as I was out of the country. Therefore I put 42 k miles in 14 month, which is way above any lease allowance.
Plus, if you lease with Nissan, for 3 years, you end up paying more (I had them work out a lease for me, and it ended up being higher them what I pay now. However, I do not want to argue that leasing might be a good option; it’s just not for me.

#8188 of 8981 ok... by bowke28

May 28, 2004 (6:21 am)

you will lose lots of money on any car you have...
 
but you will lose alot less that way...that was my point. good luck.
 

#8189 of 8981 nd4spd by habitat1

May 28, 2004 (2:23 pm)

Given how much mileage you drive and how much you spend on cars, there may be one car made exactly for you: 2005 E320 CDI. Load it up for a MSRP of about $55,000, buy it through European Delivery for 7% less ($51,000 +/-) and you will have a car that will make you money over the next 6-7 years.
 
I had a business associate who owned hotel properties in several states. He had an old Mercedes 300 SDL (over $50k in the early 90's). He put 400,000 miles on the car in 9 years. He took the mileage allowance, rather than depreciated it. That produced over $130,000 in tax write-offs. Given his federal and state tax bracket, he MADE money on the car. He then handed it to his daughter who just turned 500,000 miles on the car.
 
Seriously, for the amount of miles you drive, there is no way I'd be buying a Maxima or other mid market car every 1-2 years. Even if you can't write it off, the Mercedes E320 CDI will cost you less in the long run, factoring depreciation. And that's not even considering that it gets close to 40 mpg on the highway using cheap diesel fuel. And, lest you think diesels are slow, the 201 hp, 369 ft-lbs of torque on the E320 CDI will produce 0-60 times of around 6.6 seconds. It is as quick as the previous generation E430 8-cylinder gas model, and faster than an automatic equiped Maxima.
 
I just closed a deal to buy an Acura TL 6-speed. My Acura dealer is also a Mercedes dealer. I only drive 15,000-20,000 miles a year and we have three cars, but the E320 CDI was even tempting for me. But the choice is yours, keep driving mid level cars for 50,000 miles at a pop or move up to a Mercedes and save money in the process.

#8190 of 8981 Re: nd4spd [habitat1 #8189] by kennyg5

May 28, 2004 (4:35 pm)

Replying to: habitat1 (May 28, 2004 2:23 pm)
Interesting view of the MB from an economic and tax perspective. I wish I could use my car as a writeoff. Unfortunately, I don't drive to work and put on less than 6k miles a year.
 
IMO, I believe the Max is as (if not more) reliable than the MB, particularly in light of recent decline in MB reliability. If you visit another Max enthusiast board, you will see that a lot of Max owners have over 200k miles on their cars. Also, you can get 2 Maxes for the price of 1 MB. To me, the Max makes more economic sense, if you are not concerned about image or status.
 
On the other hand, when you compare the 04 Max with 04 TL, the TL gives you much more in terms of luxury and fit and finish such that stepping up to TL is an easy choice. As a Max fan, I hate saying that, but that is the reality which I cannot deny. It looks like many of the Max owners, particularly those who are willing to spend more than $30k, have moved over to TL's greener pastures.

#8191 of 8981 How I ended up with a used 2001 Max by maxsteel

May 28, 2004 (11:05 pm)

[this should put you to sleep...]
I drove an 04 Altima V6, I thought interior was nice, I guess alot of others are extremely picky, anyway, the car has really bad torque steer/pull to the left from a dead stop, and I read the 4-cylinder's have some serious cold start and other problems. The new Accords are really great, but I didn't like the brake, tire, and transmission problems, how cheap is that, and they made the springs too stiff so I'd have to get custom softer ones. I considered a used Accord but they're almost all 4 cyliders and are pricey. So I ended up with a used 2001 Maxima GXE, which I am very impressed with, I might get softer springs, but I'd have to do that with just about any car nowadays, and I saved a chunk of money. They really should come with grocery getter springs and make performance enthusiasts buy custom springs instead of the other way around.

#8192 of 8981 maxsteel by ccermak

Jun 01, 2004 (7:37 am)

They do come with grocery getter springs. They're called a CAMRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Messages Page 820 of 899

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