Driver of Nissan Maxima from Pimp My Ride reveals how long his car actually lasted after filming
Published on Feb 27, 2026 at 5:18 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Feb 27, 2026 at 5:18 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
This Nissan Maxima driver revealed how long his car lasted after it was featured on Pimp My Ride.
The MTV show, which aired back in the 2000s, was nothing short of iconic and defined an era.
But in recent years, more and more people who appeared on the show have been talking about what happened behind the camera – and what happened after it stopped rolling.
Seth Martino, who appeared on Pimp My Ride with his 1989 Nissan Maxima, is one such person.
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Pimp My Ride made for some iconic TV, but all was not as it seemed
Running between 2004 and 2007, Pimp My Ride was renowned for taking rundown cars and jazzing them up.
Sometimes their makeovers veered into bizarre territory, but the show was still great fun.
But in recent years, people on the show have been getting more candid about their experiences.
That even includes Xzibit, the rapper who served as the show’s host.
But plenty of contestants have made their feelings known about their time on the show, including Justin Dearinger and his Toyota RAV4.
Seth Martino has also spoken out with regards to his Nissan Maxima.
It was pretty beat-up before Pimp My Ride got their hands on it.
By the time it was finished, it’d been given a Transformers style makeover.
The back seat had been transformed into a sound system, and the car has received a glitzy coat of paint and even a cotton candy machine in the trunk.
Sounds like a kid’s dream, right?
Well, things weren’t so rosy in hindsight, as Martino revealed in a Reddit post in 2012.
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This Nissan Maxima was new but not quite improved
Barely a month had passed, and the car needed a new engine.
That takes the shine out of a car makeover, doesn’t it?
“I wanted to be on the show to have a nice-looking car, but more than that, I wanted a car that worked,” Martino wrote.
“I didn’t get that from them. There are episodes that got new cars, and some were completely overhauled, but I wasn’t one of the lucky ones.”
For additional insult to injury, the car’s new features didn’t last all that long.
“The cotton candy machine didn’t have a protective hood that fit, so if I tried turning it on, it would get candy strands everywhere. Very messy. So I never used it again after the shoot,” he explained.
Admittedly, a cotton candy machine would be massively low on the list for anyone wanting their car to be fixed up.
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Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
