WTK value of MINT 1989 Sentra

[happinessisawarmgun]

Hi. My little brother is looking to buy his first car.

He found a mint 1989 Nissan Sentra. The car is located in SF bay area. It supposedly has 37K orig. miles.

I don't know the model trim, but it is a 4 door w/ an automatic transmission.

The car supposedly belonged to an old lady who only drove it occasionally, and made short trips around town.

The lady died and the family wants $2500 for it. Is this price reasonable? Since this car is 25 years old there is no price available on KBB.com. I can't really find any price reference anywhere, for a car like this.

$2500 seems really high for a car that is 25 years old.

Thanks in advance.

[NolimitZ32]

The price fr something that in this case is extremely rare due to its condition will be set by the market or rather by what someone is willing to spend on it, I am sure that somewhere out there is a person who has crazy sentimental attachment to it or loves collecting 1989 Nissans, this person would likely be willing to pay the asking price and more. In the end of the day its worth what you are willing to pay for it, personally I wouldn't buy an 89 Sentra for $2500 even with 2 miles on the clock.

[Rogue One]

You're going to need more details. As it's a 4-door, the trim level is either E or XE.
You can get an estimated value at NADAguides Classic Car Manufacturers.

[happinessisawarmgun]

The price fr something that in this case is extremely rare due to its condition will be set by the market or rather by what someone is willing to spend on it, I am sure that somewhere out there is a person who has crazy sentimental attachment to it or loves collecting 1989 Nissans, this person would likely be willing to pay the asking price and more. In the end of the day its worth what you are willing to pay for it, personally I wouldn't buy an 89 Sentra for $2500 even with 2 miles on the clock.

Yeah, since it is 25 years old it may have other age-related issues not directly related to actual mileage.

Supposedly one of my brothers' high school buddies who "works on cars" looked at it and said it was in great shape, and "he should buy it". I don't know this kid or even if he is credible.

He is looking for an economical car that gets good gas mileage, so this thing is perfect. Too bad it is 25 years old.

I was searching around and found this http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.js ... =114963492

Similar value to what we found, I would guess, although it has been listed for over a year and hasn't sold. Usually that means it's priced way too high.

[MinisterofDOOM]

That 25 year old RE4F automatic transmission is a ticking time bomb, just waiting to explode and turn a car barely worth anything into an expensive repair. However, if you can buy it for the barely anything it's worth, you can toss it when the transmission bites the dust and regret barely anything.

[NolimitZ32]

I'm not up on auto prices in Cali so I can't really comment too much but in TX $2500 can get you a decent condition mid 90s runabout and this sentra wouldn't come near to fetching that kind of price.

[happinessisawarmgun]

You're going to need more details. As it's a 4-door, the trim level is either E or XE.
You can get an estimated value at NADAguides Classic Car Manufacturers.

Don't know the trim level. Have to go guess. It does have A/C apparently though.

NADA price is extremely inflated, and only lists the retail price. Value is between $2K-5K. It is also not really a "classic" (to most folks anyway) so I guess low retail is more actual value. This is also a private sale so I would expect the price to be lower than retail.

[Dattebayo]

The 91 and above models are better cars IMO, having owned one myself. Rust seems to be an issue with all the earlier Sentras, however. Rust is what made mine a severe PITA to work with towards the end...

[OriginalWheelman]

As a former 89 Sentra owner, I wouldn't buy that for more than $1,000. It'll be transportation, but not much else. It's not a modern 1.6 in that car.

You will enjoy long slow drives to your destination, whether you want to or not. You'll become a better driver because of how long the car takes to react. It handles as well as a Power Wheels™ and has the inescapable sex appeal of a brick wall.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I'm pretty sure it's a Sentra of that vintage that Jesda regards as the worst car he's ever owned. But I could be making that up.

and has the inescapable sex appeal of a brick wall.

Fitting, as it's shaped like one, too!

[happinessisawarmgun]

As a former 89 Sentra owner, I wouldn't buy that for more than $1,000. It'll be transportation, but not much else. It's not a modern 1.6 in that car.

You will enjoy long slow drives to your destination, whether you want to or not. You'll become a better driver because of how long the car takes to react. It handles as well as a Power Wheels™ and has the inescapable sex appeal of a brick wall.

In his eyes, any car is better than none. As far as sex appeal goes, he is currently driving my mothers' Nissan Versa when she is not at work. I don't think he can do any worse at this point.

My first car was a '70 VW bug, an '89 Sentra is wayyy better than that POS. Light years ahead, and both had a 1.6L Engine. I would literally have killed someone for an '89 sentra back then. He could do far worse ( Geo Metro perhaps? ).

[Jesda]

I'm pretty sure it's a Sentra of that vintage that Jesda regards as the worst car he's ever owned. But I could be making that up.

If not for the Q45 and Maxima, I'd have never tried another Nissan product ever again.




I had a 1988 Sentra 4-door as my first car. My parents bought it new and I hated it. It died at around 180k not long after being hit three times, so I guess I can vouch for its durability. When going uphill with a car full of passengers I sometimes I had to turn off on a side road because the engine didn't have the power to climb.

If I had the spare cash for a piece of my youth, I'd definitely pay $2500. Not sure what I'd do with it, but I'd pay that much.

[Bubba1]

You're going to need more details. As it's a 4-door, the trim level is either E or XE.
You can get an estimated value at NADAguides Classic Car Manufacturers.

Don't know the trim level. Have to go guess. It does have A/C apparently though.

NADA price is extremely inflated, and only lists the retail price. Value is between $2K-5K. It is also not really a "classic" (to most folks anyway) so I guess low retail is more actual value. This is also a private sale so I would expect the price to be lower than retail.

You are correct about NADA being a bit inflated. Edmunds.com has a pretty good pricing app. The more details you have, (options, color, mileage, model, condition etc) the better.

http://www.edmunds.com/appraisal/


The Sentra was a basic car in its day, but will never become collectible. If it's clean, no rust, well maintained, and more importantly passes state inspection, it'll be worth more than $I000. Here in PA, a decent one might go for $1500 or so. I imagine in northern California it might fetch more. Simple fuel efficient cars like a Sentra are currently getting a premium given the cost of gas these days, but not THAT much.

Good luck

[Rogue One]

[Jesda]

I find NADA to be closest to reality, enough that I canceled by Blackbook subscription. However, on anything older than 1995 NADA gets wacky.

[Jesda]

The Sentra was a basic car in its day, but will never become collectible. If it's clean, no rust, well maintained, and more importantly passes state inspection, it'll be worth more than $I000. Here in PA, a decent one might go for $1500 or so. I imagine in northern California it might fetch more. Simple fuel efficient cars like a Sentra are currently getting a premium given the cost of gas these days, but not THAT much.

It wasn't even that great on gas. Around town I got low 20s. On the highway I got maybe 24-25.

There was no reason to buy a Sentra except for the low retail price. Early on my parents had issues with body integrity and fuel delivery.

The factory Clarion radio was nice though. It could lock on to a signal from damn near anywhere, important in the days before iPods and XM. They had the dealer add a tape deck and some decent 3-way rear speakers.

The radio looked like this:


I believe that's where Nissan spent the bulk of its engineering budget on this car.

[lne937s]

Not sure if this helps your decision, but Nissan still makes the B13 Sentra (which shares some mechanicals with the B12) in Mexico and sells it as the Tsuru:
http://www.nissan.com.mx/autos/tsuru
http://www.modified.com/ofthemonth/0501 ... ru_review/

It was the most popular vehicle in the for over a decade, up until a few years ago, and there are literally millions of these on the road. It is kind of like the way the VW beetle used to be. While it may not have been sold in the US in 20 years, the continuation south of the border makes replacement parts and upgrades readily available.

I don't know if $2500 makes sense... but I think a beat up one at the right price could be fun to play with in LeMons.