Faults:

Starter motor, and rear brake caliper on the driver's side.

General Comments:

I bought this Maxima as a replacement for a 1988 Toyota Corolla.

The Maxima had high miles on it, but the attraction was the five speed manual transmission. A test drive was all I needed to convince me it would be a good daily driver.

Externally the body size was not that large, but the interior had plenty of room and the seats were comfortable. The instrument cluster was well placed and easy to read.

What I really liked was the five speed manual transmission; something of a rarity. Second gear was my favorite gear for fun; it gave a decent amount of speed, with 60 plus mph being attainable and arriving very quickly. Quite often it gave newer cars a surprise coming off the line.

Only had to replace two items; one was the starter motor, which I did myself. Very easy to change and done in under fifteen minutes. The other item was the rear braking system. Maximas use a piston to push a screw against the pads. An unusual method but it works... however when the screws corroded and needed replaced, I was unpleasantly surprised at the $600 cost.

Fuel economy was good, with 32 MPG on the highway being easy enough to achieve.

It was a driver's car and a vehicle I thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately the Maxima got T-boned when a full sized pick-up came from a side street and destroyed the car. The pick-up driver claimed he didn't see my car below his hood as his truck was jacked up on its suspension. I was so impressed by the Maxima's structural strength that I didn't even hesitate in replacing it with a later model Maxima, which I'm still enjoying in automatic form.

They're very reliable and durable cars, that go the distance with cost effective ownership. I really can't say enough good things about them... "Boomer"...

Faults:

OK, first of all; This car isn't perfect but is still a pretty good for a 15 year old car.

Nothing here to brag about... I bought the car at 125k for 5000$, runs super smooth and the V6 has a really nice sound! Starts up on the first try, even in -40 degree weather!

Rather good performance (165 hp, 182 torque), and its surprised more than one wannabe street racer with their supposed sports car, and even some luxury car owners too...

Reliability now: nothing to say about it, got 4 chucks and a coil changed, brakes front and rear, and ignition wires; that's all. Pretty sweet cause everything was still stock on the vehicle, so all told the parts lasted like 10 years!

General Comments:

So I really like the car, cool vintage look, super comfortable and spacey...

Reliability now: nice but not GREAT!

Performance : I was a bit disappointed with the GXE version, but no SE was available, nor manual trans either, so again not GREAT, but pretty good.

Fuel economy... humf... not BAD, but not good either. Getting this Maxima running on the "power" ac function cost a lot, but on "normal" or even on "comfort" it's still just near good...

So in conclusion: a nice car to get. A bit old but reliable, sporty for a sedan, good looks, not too bad fuel economy, and parts ain't too pricey either.

So my personal review: I still own the car, now at 151k running smooth, burns oil a bit fast, but not badly, paid 5k for it, cost 1.5k in repairs, nothing on the market is as good as my Maxima for 6.5k$ HELL NO (personal opinion)...

Next project is a Skyline :D And getting the Maxima into a winter beater!