A Sedan With Sports Car Tendencies

I have to confess, I had a love-hate relationship with this particular car. Let me explain. . . .

As I have mentioned in my review on the Hoover SteamVac, my father is a mechanic. What I had not mentioned is that he is a retired master mechanic for Nissan. When I was growing up, Nissan was at the time named Datsun. Datsun was like most of the other Japanese carmakers until the year 1970 when the 240Z came into the picture. Now, at the time, I really wasn't car buff, but the first time I saw a 240Z, my life had changed. I started to recognize the differences between " sports cars " and " family cars ", the differences between " coupes " and " sedans ". Alas, I won't bore you with too many details of the childhood of a mechanic's son and will now skip further into the future. 11 years later, my first car is a 1977 280Z. When I got that car, I knew my preferences for sports cars and coupes was cemented in steel. (so to speak) For 10 years, my cars all have had two things in common: all of them have been quick and all of them had only 2 doors. . . .

That was until this car came into my life. . .

The year is 1991, and I found myself in a bit of a dilemma. I was making payments on a fairly new pick up, (yes, it had 2 doors too ) and I had just been laid off of my job. I had decided right then and there it was time to face reality and start thinking practical. At that time I simply did not need my shiny new 4X4 . My father had a black 1986 Maxima and he wished to sell me, and I realized that if I sold my pick up, I could buy this car free and clear. So, I growled and groused, mumbled and grumbled, said goodbye to my cherished pick up and broke tradition by buying a four-door, front-wheel-drive, " family car ".

But, I had forgotten one thing: the '86 Maxima is one mean SOB. I had driven this car before, years ago, and was very impressed with it's performance. I soon found myself reliving the past, a past filled with speedy takeoffs, quick merging moments onto the highway and unexpected wild eyed grinning.

The 1986 (by the way, this car is pretty much the same car between 1985 and 1988) Maxima comes with a 3.0L V6, punching out at around a 160 horsepower, with a curb weight of around 3,000 lbs. and mine was coupled with a five-speed transmission and front wheel drive. It basically means when you stomp on the accelerator, it gets motivated in rapid fashion. Granted, I could not nor would not take on any domestic V8s, but it had no problem with most imported sedans of its day and even some of the speedy imported coupes had troubles keeping up with it. My Maxima was the SE model, which means it has adjustable shocks, that you can switch from a stiffer, sportier ride to a softer, smoother ride all by turning a switch on the middle console. (believe me, my car never saw the softer smoother option) With the stiffer ride setting, it felt a lot like my old 77 Z in the corners, and with that V6 pulling the car around, it had no problems in the straights either. By the way the other model is the GXE, which does not have the adjustable suspension, but does have other niceties like leather seats, a digital dashboard, automatic transmission and keyless entry doors. The one thing you won't have to worry about is engine choices: all of the Maximas from 1985 to the current 2001 are V6 cars. That is great for speed but unfortunately not so good for gas consumption. Expect around 18 MPG in the city, and a little over 20 MPG on the highway.

Ok, so you know the car is fast (bearing in mind, it is fast for the year 1986, cars in the current day are much faster) but since the 86 Maxima is a four-door sedan, it is also a very quiet and smooth car. The interior is plush, very good for long trips across the state or shorter trips to the grocery store. The front wheel drive makes for easy traveling in the snow, but even though the car has great disc brakes, the 86 Maxima was built before the anti-lock days, so a bit of caution has to be upheld when driving through the tundra. Now, I know this is a review about a 15 year-old car, but if you can find one in good shape with 100,000 to 200,000 miles on the odometer, it should have plenty of life left. The engineers at Nissan made these cars to last a long time.

In short, I would recommend this car. If you need a daily commuter, or a backup car, this machine would fill the bill. If you have a responsible son or daughter that needs reliable wheels, this car could do a good job. Since they are a decade and a half old, you can probably find them at a fairly good bargain. I owned mine for over three years, without any major incident or repair. Why, you might ask, did I let it go? Well, there was this little black 1987 Nissan 200SX SE V6 that caught my eye. . . . .

But, that is another story. And another review. *wink*