future '91 SE purchase, need advice

[Honda/Mitsubishi]

I recently found a '91 Maxima SE 5-speed at a dealership near my house for $4200. The car has 110K, and is absolutely gorgeous, only 3 door dings on the whole car, and minimal scratches. I wanted to confirm that this car only has 160Hp, instead of 190... also, I just wanted to know how reliable this generation has been to people. Should I just get the 160HP version or is the 190HP version much more rewarding. I also wanted to know how often the timing belt should be changed on this car, and what things i should look for before i buy, thanks a lot... bryce

http://www.hondastoysandtrucks.com/h...tock_4603.html

[crewchief264]

my first car was my dads 89 se maxima it had over 220,000 miles and i drove it for 2 years and sold it with over 240,000 miles. It was an awesome car as far as maintance goes. all we ever changed was the timing belt every 60,000 miles and the coolant at the same time, always done by the dealer and not real cheap-600 plus bucks--labor. things to look for would be rust if its in the north, mine rusted a little behing the front wheels on the bottom where you normally don't look. and in the rear wheel wells -- stone chips. our car was ziebarted though--religiously. the motor and tranny never leaked or burnt anything other than gas. the only things we ever replaced were the spark plugs and the cap and rotor, along with filiters and oil. no other maintance ever, no starter, water pump, nothing, not even the spark plug wires. still good. things to look out for-- bose speakers go bad, windows get slow going up--just lube them. other than that it was a great car. the 160 hp though is not much in auto form doggy compared to my dads 95 auto, and i now own a 97 recently wrecked, but getting fixed 5 sp, and its a lot faster than my dads. 4200.00 sounds real high for that car, plus its real old. my advice go on ebay and find a sweet deal on 95-99 se 5sp and pay around 6600-10,000 and you'll get a real nice car --thats where I got my 97 for 6650.00 --120,000 proven highway miles.

[Caracicatriz]

That is a sweet car. My brother has an 89 Maxima with 140,000 miles. It is still running in good condition. You can feel the difference in power of the 3rd to the 4th gen. 5 speed maximas are hard to find so i think the car is a good deal.