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Nissan Maxima

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#7639 of 8972 Japanese Buick? by suydam Dec 12, 2003 (7:44 am)
The person who called the Maxima a "Japanese Buick" obviously hasn't driven a Buick lately! I did as a rental this summer. It's a nice car inside but I had no sense of its relationship with the road -- to call it numb would be an understatement. That is not at all the case with my '01 Maxima.   And oddly, my younger son, who is 21, loves Buicks because of their interior size (he's 6'3") and me, the 52-year old, love the Max because of its handling. When we were car-shopping our comparison car wasn't the Accord or the Camry, but the Passat. Reliability concerns led me to the Maxima and I haven't been disappointed yet.
#7640 of 8972 kenny by ramped1 Dec 12, 2003 (9:35 am)
Actually, the SE series Maximas in 1992 had the VQ engines with timing chains and made 190 hp. Your GXE had the smaller V6 with a timing belt which made, I believe, about 160 hp.   The downside of the third gen Maximas were bad window regulators, substandard paint jobs and brake issues. I'll be going on my third set of rotors soon, and actually I probably should have had them replaced some time ago. I'm trying to decide whether to put a couple of thousand more into my car or just let it go. The paint job is really shot.   Bowke ... the people on the Altima board are wondering when the redesigned 05 Altima is coming out. They are guessing next spring. You may want to lend a hand if you know anything.
#7641 of 8972 japenese buick by ccermak Dec 12, 2003 (12:57 pm)
I was referring to the 6th gen max = 2004. It's quite large on the inside and that attracts old fogeys away from their Buicks/Caddy's. It has amenities like a Buick as well with many non sporting gadgets/doo hickeys. The older gen Maxis were more nimble, light, and sporty. The new one is a heavy power cruiser. The G35 is the Max of old. Just my .02 of course.
#7642 of 8972 4th gen reliability by kenm8 Dec 12, 2003 (1:24 pm)
Aristotle – 99 Max seems to be basically the same design as the 97. I have previously read that there were some improvements from 97 to 98 to 99 such as in crash protection. Don’t know if the Nissan bean counters forced engineers to redesign parts and components - that are not visible to the naked eye - in order to lower costs on the 98 and 99. We have been pleased with reliability on the 97 SE – perhaps your 99 will be as good, although you have had some issues covered under warranty.   Reliability of our 97 SE - Just turned 154K miles. It has been a very reliable and enjoyable car to drive. Acceleration is still brisk (always enjoy hearing the growl from the engine) and the transmission still shifts very smoothly and positively. Only troubles thus far: Cassette deck replaced at 67K under extended warranty, driver’s heated seat switch and heater blower motor were replaced at 77K under extended warranty; Oil pressure sending unit replaced at 122K. We generally follow owner’s manual guidance for regular maintenance items such as engine/transmission oil, air filter, plugs, etc. Brake pads: front were good to 141K, rears to 148K (miles driven mainly interstate and rural highway). Rotors were good (no warpage, pulsating) to these mile amounts but I replaced with new anyway rather than having them resurfaced. Put Beck-Arnley rebuilt calipers on front and back.   Two of our Hondas (86 and 84) were driven to 227K and 195K with very decent reliability. With the quality of engineering I have seen/experienced on the 97 Max, I am hopeful that it will also be good to the 200K range. Our driving patterns, mostly interstate and rural, no doubt play a part in achieving high mileage.
#7643 of 8972 bowke by perna Dec 12, 2003 (1:55 pm)
Grand Rapids, Michigan.. bought my Max at Gezon Motors.
#7644 of 8972 lichtrinimo -- demise of the 04 Max? by kennyg5 Dec 12, 2003 (6:56 pm)
Thanks for your figures. Hm ... a minus 14% in sales of the Max when compared with 02 figures. That looks quite bad and sad for a flagship that used to be the leader and money maker for Nissan.   Of the approx. 70,000 Max sold, I suspect 70% or more were 03s, since I rarely see the 04s on the road. As you may recall, from Feb. to June, Nissan slashed the price of the 03 Max to move them out so that it could welcome in the 04. I heard dealers were selling them at $2k BELOW INVOICE. Those were incredible deals, and by June or July, it was difficult to find a new 03 Max in the dealers' lots.   The 04 Max debuted in or around May. Even when new, very few were sold at or above MSRP (unlike the TL). Six months later, I heard they are being sold at or around invoice. Clearly, something is amiss with the 04 Max because the car does not get much attention from family sedan shoppers.   First, the price is a bit high; second, what used to be standard equipment is now optional; third, the car grew in size and weight, which undercut its sportiness; fourth, the materials used are of lesser quality, which will affect durability; fifth, the Max is no longer a pure Japanese-bred, which gives the impression that quality may suffer (true or false). You may think of more.   IMHO, Nissan has committed a big blunder this time, and it must carefully rethink its market and design strategies for the "flagship" Max before it becomes a dinosaur. Survival of the fittest, that is the rule of the jungle and the marketplace.
#7645 of 8972 demise of the 04 Max by p100 Dec 12, 2003 (7:32 pm)
I have not seen any rebates on these vehicles yet. Nissan Maximas have had rebates of about $ 2k for years. There was a $2k rebate on my 98 Maxima and I bought it for $ 500 over invoice minus the 2k rebate. Nissan increased the prices on the 04 model so much that a $ 4K rebate and $ 500 over invoice would not look out of line to me at all.
#7646 of 8972 ramped; p100 by kennyg5 Dec 12, 2003 (8:23 pm)
Ramped, you are right, my GXE only came with 160 hp, but I did not have paint problem (I garage my cars most of the time) or any other problems (other than the water pump and timing belt which I spent $350 total replacing at year 8). Honestly, I love my 92 GXE and would not have sold it if my wife didn't urge me to get the 03 Max. Before the sale, I spent $80 on wash, wax and minor detailing, and the car sparkled and gleamed. My neighbor wanted me to sell the car to his college-bound son after he saw it, but he was too late because I had promised the buyer. I sold the car in 2 days after I put an ad in the local pennysaver.   P100, if sales of the 04 Max remains stagnant, it is highly likely that you will see a $3k to 4k rebate in the future. Wait 6 months and you may get "lucky", if the 04 is your cup of tea. I will pass though, because I don't like first year cars, as they are usually full of bugs. I bought my fully-loaded 03 Max at $500 below invoice. If I had waited 6 months, I could have saved myself $1,500 more ;-( Well, I still like my 03 regardless
#7647 of 8972 kennyg5 by dklanecky Dec 13, 2003 (7:39 am)
"IMHO, Nissan has committed a big blunder this time, and it must carefully rethink its market and design strategies for the "flagship" Max before it becomes a dinosaur. Survival of the fittest, that is the rule of the jungle and the marketplace."   Your analysis of the contemporary auto market is flawed because your trying to only look at Maxima vs. Maxima sales results. The auto market in 2004 and forward doesn't work that way any longer.    Sales Units % to Total Nov-03 5,875 6.3% Oct-03 5,708 6.1% Sep-03 6,895 7.4% Aug-03 8,456 9.0% Jul-03 7,356 7.8% Jun-03 8,388 8.9% May-03 9,262 9.9% Apr-03 11,584 12.4% Mar-03 8,370 8.9% Feb-03 4,336 4.6% Jan-03 5,209 5.6% Dec-02 6,092 6.5% Nov-02 6,212 6.6% 93,743   Sales Units % to Total Nov-02 6,212 5.8% Oct-02 5,087 4.7% Sep-02 6,813 6.3% Aug-02 9,195 8.5% Jul-02 7,472 6.9% Jun-02 7,657 7.1% May-02 7,310 6.8% Apr-02 7,904 7.3% Mar-02 15,162 14.1% Feb-02 10,356 9.6% Jan-02 9,242 8.6% Dec-01 8,656 8.0% Nov-01 6,602 6.1% 107,668 Important Dates to consider: 03 Maxima announced 06/10/02 04 Maxima on sale 03/05/03   It's pretty clear that the 2003's drove sales as they were liquidated at well below invoice (from your own comments).   Since the MSRP (as well as the actual selling price overall on the Maxima has increased for 2004) I don't know how you can say this is a such a disaster for Nissan.   To me it looks like a pretty smart market segmentation strategy.   When you analyze all the Nissan/Infiniti product offerings and their sales, you'll find an economic success. Some former Maxima Owners (like me) now have a Murano because it fits my current needs better. Some moved to the G35 platform offering (including the FX), while others moved down to the Altima and quite a few stayed with the Maxima.   To simply compare one model years sales from one year to another, without taking into consideration the segmentation that Nissan clearly INTENDED is ignorant.   I'm sure your shooting from the hip with your comments rather than carefully analyzing ALL the facts.   If you'd like to try some some facts for a change, try NissanNews.com.
#7648 of 8972 dklanecky... by bowke28 Dec 13, 2003 (11:25 am)
good points. the thing that formar maxima "afficionados" have trouble understanding is the fact that nissan has 'reset' the maxima's position in the lineup. the altima 3.5SE is now in the position that the maxima was in before. thats by design. the new maxima isnt designed to be the "4-door sports car" that the MSRP sticker said last year. this year's model says "nissan's flagship".   im sorry to all maxima owners from before for their car being different from the current model. its really sad that some people cant accept that reality.

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