2000 Nissan Maxima GSE review from North America

Almost 10 years, 135,000 miles; within the last year:

Alternator went - replaced with Nissan part through dealership / cost was around $400.

Cracked radiator - replaced with aftermarket Nissan since a new one would run around $1,000 / cost was around $700.

Muffler / Cracked rear exhaust pipe - forget how much, but the car was making a rattling sound that was scary.

Spark plugs - they are up next since my car's performance has been off and the gas mileage is dropping. When I brought the car in for the radiator issue, the guy told me the plugs should have been done at 120,000 miles, but I was already at 130,000.

When I first got the car, it was so quiet I loved it; over the past few years it has gotten steadily louder in the cabin.

For the most part my 2000 Maxima has run well, which is different from many of the posts here. The past year it has become more and more unreliable, and I'm putting more and more money into it. Shopping around, but hope to get another year out of it... the verbal quote I got for the spark plugs was high so I started poking around and found this site.

The guy at the dealership told me it was so expensive because the rear plugs are not easily accessible (remove part of the engine), but from what I saw in my manual and on this site, I think he was lying to me on the degree of difficulty. If I can have a garage do the work and save some money I'll do it... just to get another year or two.