Hey y'all this is my first post here. Looking for some help with possibly buying a 2002 Maxima. You see I, do know a good bit about cars (I am an Audi tech) but Nissan's are out of my realm when it comes to common issues or problems. If someone could give me any insights on what to look at in this car as I'm looking to buy it as a second car that would be my to and from work daily. It's a 2002 Maxima SE 3.5l 6 speed manual transmission with roughly 150k on it.

With the 6MT there's not much to worry about besides synchro wear, but you'll notice that on the test drive.

The thing I'd look for would be signs of major oil leaks or the head gaskets failing and leaking coolant in the valley between the two heads. If poke a flashlight into the valley and find a bunch of green calliflower growing, just know that there's a pretty labor intensive HG job in the cars future. The VQs use a strange 2 piece timing cover that makes head removal a bit tricky.

The other big thing to look at is maintenance. If the oil hasn't been changed regularly, you may hear rattles from the timing chain at startup.

All around they're pretty solid cars as long as you get one thats been reasonably well taken care of. It's a 17 year old car after all.

Thanks. I had a 96 altima years back with the KA24 that had a chain slap so i know exactly what that sounds like. Unfortunately that car rusted out and bent valves before i could fix it up. I truly am hoping this Max is legit and seems to be what could be a fun car to drive.

Those were the last truly great Maximas (02-03). What you see is basically what you get. Like Ian mentioned, all the stuff is pretty easy to see/detect. I'm not sure where you are geographically, but I'd keep a look-out for rust (as with most Japanese cars). Take a look in the spare tire well and see if there's moisture or water in there. Inspect strut towers and rocker panels for rust. Feel the floors behind the front seats to make sure the sunroof isn't draining into the floor.