97 BMW 328i sport: the only sedan worthy of my Maxima!

I LOVED my 93 Maxima SE!!! I nearly wept when I sold her. She was a genuine sweetheart, and she could be a wicked, bad girl when in the right mood ;-D A year ago I replaced her with my current ride: a 97 BMW 328i sport 5 speed. If you need convincing as to how awesome the 93 Maxima SE is, here is your proof: of all the late model sport sedans and sports cars I had test driven while looking for a better car than my Maxima, the majority of them fell *below* the handling, acceleration, and quality mix in my much older Max. The only car that I felt exceeded my baby in most areas (but not all!) was the BMW 328i: a car that cost a great deal more money! But the Maxima still wins hands-down in the interior ergonomics and interior quality department (whereas my new baby kicks her as in the acceleration and handling department.)

The things I loved about my 93 Max SE:
-1- Sport suspension: this car ROCKED when thrown into a corner at high speed!!! (not literally ;-P) Nobody would believe me, because she looked so demure and sophisticated. But she ROCKED baby! Trust me! Nissan did an awesome job on her suspension. It felt amazingly neutral for a front wheel drive car. Understeer was very well managed. When I would throw the car into a tight corner at high speed, I could feel the suspension adjusting the cars weight distribution so that all four tires had maximum road contact. Then she would just *glide* through that corner, effortlessly. Then she'd be like "Okay, baby, let's do that again, but faster!" The minx ;-)
-2- 5 speed manual transmission: it was excellent. Very smooth and precise shifts.
-3- V6 Engine: a true gem! This was almost exactly the same engine that Nissan put into their highly acclaimed 300ZX sports car. It's dual overhead cam and 24 valve configuration made it very smooth and very powerful. Most power was produced from 4000 rpm to her 6500 rpm redline.
-4- Quality! This car puts *all* later model cars completely to *shame* in this area! (especially later model Maximas, sad to say.) This baby was put together with the build integrity of a bank vault. Every surface or control in the drivers area had the quality feel of a luxury car costing tens of thousands more (seriously!), and the controls moved with near swiss-watch precision. The car was a joy to just sit in. The body structure was rock solid.
-5- Comfort and roominess: excellent. Lots of room up front and good room in back. Extremely comfortable seats. Large trunk.
-6- BOSE Stereo: The BOSE had superb sound quality even when the volume was turned up obscenely loud. This is one of the best car stereo systems out there.
-7- Styling: this is subjective, but I feel that the 93 Maxima is so much better looking than all of the Maxima generations that followed. The 93 looks elegant and sophisticated, while at the same time maintaining a low-slung, sporty, and aggressive profile. The car looks lean and has finely chiseled lines and contours. A real beauty in my book.

What concerned me about the 93 Max SE:
-1- A nasty quirk in the suspension. In steady-state cornering, it worked fantastically. But throw her into a quick side-to-side transition (e.g. slalom), and watch out! The first time I attempted this maneuver at high speed, I came too close to losing control of the steering wheel! It caused a powerful kickback effect on the steering that attempted to wrench it out of my grip. (BTW, the 328 handles these slalom maneuvers superbly.)
-2- Seats. They are comfortable, but they are not nearly as supportive as they need to be for high-g driving. It is difficult to exploit the excellent cornering ability of this car when the driver is being thrown around because the seat won't hold him in place. (A side-note: I solved this by velcro strapping a weight lifting belt around my torso and the seat. It worked great!)
-3- Brakes. Fine for normal driving. But much too soft and slow to respond when driving aggressively. Especially considering how much power the engine can put out. It is disappointing to want to floor the accelerator, but not do it because you know you can't stop fast enough.
-4- Manual stick shift. The throws were quite long.
-5- Reliability. Any car will develop some problems when it gets older. The Maxima has an excellent reliability repuatation, but even it can't stave off the inevitable forever. I had trouble with the clutch and transmission on mine (both probably due to hard driving.) I have heard that the electrical system is likely to develop problems in the 93s. The BOSE can develop problems, and this is expensive! That BOSE is custom made for the Maxima, and must be replaced with the exact same unit, due to the way the system is wired. One benefit of having the SE is that it has a timing chain that is good for the life of the car. The non-SE models used a belt, that needs replacing at 80k miles. This is an expensive repair.

Here's my final word: if you can't afford a BMW, but want one desperately: check out the 93 or 94 Maxima SE. You will love her. You will affectionately call her "Max". Trust me ;-)