I confess that I didn't read all the previous posts so it may have been said already. I bought a 2001 Nissan Maxima 5 years ago for $AUS9,500. It's worth about $AUS3-4000 now. It's cost me around $1500 over the 5 years for service and repairs and still runs like a dream. Everyone who drives it is impressed. I'd buy one again in a heaartbeat.

Good luck with the search and if you haven't already bought, let us know what you got.

Cheers

Bugsy