Buying 96 Maxima. Please advise

[sister]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to buy a 4th or 5th gen Maxima for my brother as a college and summer job car.

I went to check out the following car:http://www.cars.com/go/search/...=true

1996 Nissan Maxima GXE auto$4,390 OBO60,880 miles

Took it for a quick test drive. Reg expired, so only around a couple blocks. Pulled well til 45 mph.

There's a high pitched whistling noise when it's started. Goes away when revving above 1250 rpm. Any idea what that could be or if that's a really bad sign?

Any other thoughts/advice appreciated.

[johnnyd6404]

Looks good very low miles so what ever the noise you describe is shouldn't be major but I'd get a carfax report to make sure the odometer wasn't rolled back. You can also take it to almost any garage to have it checked for free.

[sister]

thanks! also forgot to mention, its been sitting since jan. barely been driven. is that a concern?

[sister]

the carfax summary on cars.com suggests the odometer reading is ok, unless i'm missing something

[allensteiner]

it checks out clean - no odometer rollback. worth every penny - with 60k miles the engine is barely broken in get it.

[sister]

what should i offer?

[allensteiner]

depends if the seller is a man/woman, their age and reason for selling. i'd go out with $3700. you'll hear no but that's something they can come bac at with their counter offer. tell them that the blue book price their asking for is just a guide line. try to get them down as low as possible.

[sister]

it's a man who moved out west at the beg of the year. the car is in his sister's driveway in NY.

he said he had originally planned to drive it out there. but then gave up on that idea and shipping was also too expensive

[sister]

started at 3700 and ended up settling at 3900

thanks guys !!

[allensteiner]

sweet deal welcome.

[DevonD]

That is a crazy deal.. I cant even find maxima's with only 60k.. Does your brother love it or what?

[ROCKART]

a whistle when you rev sounds like an intake port or just an aftermarket intake

and when a car sits a while you need to watch out for dry-rotting tires.

i ignored those warning signs and had a tire EXPLODE (not just deflate) when i was driving on the highway going 70.

[sister]

If anyone could recommend a good mechanic in the NYC area, that would really appreciated