In the Craigslist Candidates column, we scour Craigslist to find the finest thoroughbred schlockbox candidates for The 24 Hours of LeMons. There’s only one stipulation – it’s gotta cost less than $500.
In this Craigslist Candidates installment, we’ve located a classic – the first real 4-door sports car – well, at least according to Nissan. The 1990 Nissan Maxima was dubbed such due to it’s four-wheel independent suspension, disc brakes, impressive-at-the-time 160 horse V-6, and of course the ultimate dead giveaway that it’s a sports car – white gauge faces!
What makes this such a great candidate for LeMons is not only the fact that it handles well, but they’re as indestructible as roaches. Like an old Toyota, you simply can’t kill this car no matter how you try. My buddy had one with 260,000 miles, and drove it into cones, ran it two quarts of oil low, and had a horrible vibration that made the dashboard shudder with convulsions at 70 miles an hour. It never broke down no matter how neglected.
This specimen seems to be perfect for LeMons – mechanically sound besides the worn CVs (which are easy to replace), with broken items which you’ll be removing anyway – broken window switches (typical for the Maxima), speedo broken (who cares?), no a/c (=more available hp), left rear window missing (one less window to remove!). The most important thing is that it seems the sport-tuned struts on this car are okay, which at over $1,000 to replace, can be a deal-killer. And just think of the pleasure you’ll receive in tearing out those rage-inducing electronic seatbelts which seemed to be on every Japanese car in the early 1990s. Fun, fun, fun!
Owner is asking $500, so depending on your haggling skills, it can probably be had for $300.
If you’re interested, here’s the ad.
I have a 1990 nissan maxima 4dsc with a very clean interior. The exterior needs a little rust repair around the wheel wells “but not in bad shape”.Everything still works on it except for the driver side and passenger side windows and also the clock. But everthing else still works great. I have replaced a lot of things on the car.Everything from the waterpump to new tires.This car is in great shape. I am asking $1,500.00 for it. If you are interested send me an e-mail @ dhuyck7776@charter.net.