# Considering 2000 Altima GXE purchase; your experience?



## gypzye (Jan 16, 2005)

I've got a lead on a 5-speed 2000 GXE with 58K miles in great condition for 7K. What has been your experience with your 2000 GXE? Prone to problems? I know it's getting great reviews... Is it sporty enough? Easy to mod? How's the gas mileage, *really*?

Currently I'm driving a Maxima, and I'll be frank: it's a great car, it's responsive and it's got guts, and I like that. But it's too masculine for me and I'd like something a little smaller. But I HAVE to have a responsive engine. There's nothing worse than flooring it and knowing you could run beside it and win!!  

So, is this, or could this be, a gutsy little car, or is it more an "economy" car?

(She says, on the car performance forum, lol...)


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## jiggajc (Jan 17, 2005)

gypzye said:


> I've got a lead on a 5-speed 2000 GXE with 58K miles in great condition for 7K. What has been your experience with your 2000 GXE? Prone to problems? I know it's getting great reviews... Is it sporty enough? Easy to mod? How's the gas mileage, *really*?
> 
> Currently I'm driving a Maxima, and I'll be frank: it's a great car, it's responsive and it's got guts, and I like that. But it's too masculine for me and I'd like something a little smaller. But I HAVE to have a responsive engine. There's nothing worse than flooring it and knowing you could run beside it and win!!
> 
> ...


Well My 99's got "balls, :thumbup: It's no maxima, but i have no problem getting power when needed. It's a fine car haven't had many problems with it.


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## gotRoot (Aug 13, 2004)

gypzye said:


> I've got a lead on a 5-speed 2000 GXE with 58K miles in great condition for 7K. What has been your experience with your 2000 GXE? Prone to problems? I know it's getting great reviews... Is it sporty enough? Easy to mod? How's the gas mileage, *really*?
> 
> Currently I'm driving a Maxima, and I'll be frank: it's a great car, it's responsive and it's got guts, and I like that. But it's too masculine for me and I'd like something a little smaller. But I HAVE to have a responsive engine. There's nothing worse than flooring it and knowing you could run beside it and win!!
> 
> ...


I actually got my 2000 Altima GXE 2 years ago when it had roughly 30k miles on it. Still purring like a kitty with 110k miles on it and I love driving it (as you can most likely tell *lol*). I'm not a fan of modding engines or anything of that like, but I did get 16" rims with sets (been through a few, hehe) of Bridgestone Potenza RE950s and it made the car extremely more nimble than the stock GoodYears it had on it originally.

As far as problems, I have experienced only a small leak from one of my radiator hoses this winter. I've replaced the brakes, belts, did my own spark plug change (NGK plugs, wires and OEM rotor and dist cap), religiously change the oil, tranny and radiator fluids at the specified intervals.

From what I understand it's fairly moddable and I always notice a bunch of stuff available for it in Nissan sites. The only thing I would get if I had the funds is anti-sway bars for the front and back. My milage varies between 26-28 MPG depending on whether I take the highway or drive through the backroads on my way to work every week. Though I must admit it definitely behaves much better with Amoco Ultimate or Shell's V-Power in it and I've never really had any issues starting off the line with most other cars out there.

Of course it's no Maxima, but for me it's good enough. I've driven a 2004 Altima and to be really honest with you, I like the extra peppiness, but I prefer the overall ride much more in my 2000. Seems smoother for some odd reason. I'd much rather get the new Maxima than the new Altima.

If you can take it for a test drive and get it checked out by a mechanic, I say go for it.


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## gypzye (Jan 16, 2005)

It was a peach but I decided to pass... trying to cut my monthly expenses and so I've decided to go for something a little less expensive. *sigh* I'm dying to get something truly FUN to drive (the bf has a 91 MR2 with upgraded turbo, now THAT'S what I'm talkin 'bout!! :thumbup: ) but it looks like it's gonna have to wait a bit yet.


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## Marc936 (Feb 3, 2004)

dont bother getting an altima, if you want speed its one of the last cars you should go for

if you want a cheap fast car, get an Rx7 Turbo 2, supprisingly the insurance on a Fc Rx7 is cheaper than the insurance on the altima


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## gypzye (Jan 16, 2005)

Marc936 said:


> dont bother getting an altima, if you want speed its one of the last cars you should go for
> 
> if you want a cheap fast car, get an Rx7 Turbo 2, supprisingly the insurance on a Fc Rx7 is cheaper than the insurance on the altima


Seriously?? Now that's something definitely worth looking into. The newer ones are sexy, too!


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## BadBoy91 (Jan 21, 2005)

MR2 is a great car, but i hope you can afford maint!


gypzye said:


> It was a peach but I decided to pass... trying to cut my monthly expenses and so I've decided to go for something a little less expensive. *sigh* I'm dying to get something truly FUN to drive (the bf has a 91 MR2 with upgraded turbo, now THAT'S what I'm talkin 'bout!! :thumbup: ) but it looks like it's gonna have to wait a bit yet.


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## gypzye (Jan 16, 2005)

BadBoy91 said:


> MR2 is a great car, but i hope you can afford maint!


Hmm, well, the two's round here have been pretty trouble-free from what I've seen... not counting the $$ put into modding, of course.  The parts, when necessary, aren't cheap, but that's pretty standard for any imports...


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## winstonsmith (Nov 10, 2004)

My wife drives a 99 Altima GXE. It has about 65,000 on it so far. It's never had one single problem at all. Nothing. It's been a freakin' amazingly reliable car. It has decent power and gets great gas mileage. Now it's not exactly a _fun_ car but other than that it's been great.


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## gypzye (Jan 16, 2005)

winstonsmith said:


> My wife drives a 99 Altima GXE. It has about 65,000 on it so far. It's never had one single problem at all. Nothing. It's been a freakin' amazingly reliable car. It has decent power and gets great gas mileage. Now it's not exactly a _fun_ car but other than that it's been great.


That was what I understood about Altimas in general.  I DO need something reliable, but I wanted something fun, too. Instead I'm passing on fun and going for cheap.


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## abmobil (Nov 22, 2004)

The altima with a 5 speed would have a nice kick to it. As long as your not trying to break any speed records it will still get up when you need it to.


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## wilbs137 (Feb 22, 2005)

i've never had any problems with my 98 picking up good. i think the stanards pick up a lot better than the automatics, but thats in general, in my opinion. i dont' have any times on how fast, but i know at a light, with 2 lanes, and the person next to me trying to cut me off, i will ALWAYS win!


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## Tekmazter (Feb 24, 2005)

Myself and a friend included both have '00 Altima GXE's with over 100,000 miles on them. The only thing that has ever broken on my car is the driver side wiper linkage which happened at about 90K. I suspect however that this is do to my own laziness in not scraping snow off of my window during the winters and trying to get the wipers to do it for me while I sit inside the car. Eventually the sheer force of wet snow broke the link. 

My friend hasn't had any issues at all. We've both had to replace brake pads once, and of course change fluids regularly. You should expect reliability with this car. 

And if you want to mod it, there isn't a ton, but there is plenty you can do to your car to make it look and feel more race like, or 'sporty'


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