I am very impressed with my 1996 Nissan 200-sx. It’s really just slightly souped up version of the Sentra. It’s got about 130,000 miles and the interior looks as good as the day I drove it off the lot back in 1996; no broken knobs, no torn upholstery (although the headliner has started to sag), no flaking this or that like I’ve seen in countless American made cars. And the exterior never ceases to amaze me; it’s so glossy – no oxidation. Except for a few scratches, I think it looks brand new! It’s had maybe two waxings in it’s entire life and not many more washings and the car just glistens. It runs great to! About 6 years ago I changed the fuel injectors myself; it wasn’t nearly as complicated as the manual made it out to be. The car has run like a champ ever since. We use it every day; it’s a very reliable workhorse.
Our other car is a white 1994 GMC Suburban. Unfortunately the paint for 1994 Suburbans was defective and is chipping off so it looks like hell – I’ve taken to applying cans of spraypaint every so often so you can imagine what that looks like… Also, it used to chug and jerk going fast up hills because of an oil fowled plug (because the previous owner let the engine run low of oil which damaged a valve stem) but the mechanics must have put in some new kind of plugs because it hasn’t jerked in a few years. But I like the car. It runs smooth. It starts every time. And the blue cloth seats are impeccable even though, as with the Nissan, it’s held dogs, bicycles, sporting equipment, bags of cement, lumber, etc…
We haven’t had a car payment in at least 8 years. Whenever I get tempted to buy a newer car I simply have to think of all the other things I could buy with the money; guitars, boats, video games, and a thousand things for the kids, etc….. and the urge is staved off for a few more months. Some day we’ll get a newer car – a Nissan something-or-other; I want to stay loyal to Nissan.