Look at the dependabilty study done by JD Powers, we dont do to well. Are these statistics accurate? Hit on the press release and scroll down. Look how close Honda and Acura are and look at the huge gap between Infinity and Nissan.......................

http://www.jdpower.com/auto/search/s...ID=585&CatID=1

 

yeah, they will start building them in Tennessee sometime this year or next year.

 

You forgot to mention the enignes... the maxima has had a top 10 engine for what? 7 years now? Does either the camry or the accord have that? While material quality is important (i guess...), you can consider the engine to be a major material of the car. I know i don't want a 4 banger automatic.

 

Ah yea, gotta chime in on this one. This is one of my hot buttons. First to qualify myself I'll explain the experiences I've had. My first car was a 1990 Camry base 4 cyl auto. Mom drives a 98 camry v6 auto. I now drive a 97 Nissan Max SE stick. Aunt has a 98 Max SE auto, as does one of my friends. I am biased, but I am by no means Nissan brand loyal. Infact, this is the first/last/only Nissan I will ever buy just because I hate it so much. So I'm going to rattle off Eric's top 7 reasons never to buy a Nissan. I say Nissan cause if the Maxima exhibits these problems, imagine the lesser cars. I know I've posted these reasons before but I'm posting them again. To be fair, I will have to say this is based upon 4 gen experiences and data I've seen. It may have gotten better, but I doubt it. It may seem like I'm bagging on people's rides, but facts are facts.

1) Lousy resale value- www.kbb.com, www.edmunds.com. You'll find our v6 Nissan Maxima's loose their resale value faster then a comparable FOUR cylinder accord/camry of similar options, mileage, age. Of course this may be good for the 2nd hand buyer. Why does it depreciate so fast? Simple law of supply and demand. Nobody wants them, so resale value sucks. And I thought low resale was for domestics.

2) Poor crash test results, high and low speed- The 95-96 maxima's receive POOR ratings in frontal offset crash testings. It also incures the most amount of damage during low speed crash testings. The 97-99's get better, but the 00+'s do even worse then the 97-99s. Camry on the other hand receives GOOD and a top pick rating. www.iihs.org.

3) Miserable build quality-The interior of my car is cheap plastic that rattles. Anybody who's driven a 97+ Camry knows what quality plastic is. Paint, how many people here complain about the paint quality? my 1990 Camry which is 12 years old now, has better chip resistance then the nissan water paint. Leather seats are not completely leather and crack very easy. Way too flexible chassis, as demonstrated by how well the front strut bar works, and when jacking up car.

4) Ancient engineering-To me nissan put way too much development in the the VQ motor and forgot to engineer the rest of the car. The really low blows is the non independent rear suspension. Even in 2002 it is STILl present, where I believe the altima's gotten an independent. Hell even an econobox Toyota Tercel or Kia Sephia has an independent rear suspension. A beam shaft style shifter thats notchy and non intuitive. The use of 9004 headlights all the way up to 1999 model year. Also an engine thats loud as *****, that uses 101 silencers and restrictive exhaust systems thats still louder then a Camry v6 motor. Exhaust thats also dirty needing 15 catalytic converters. I dont see v6 Pontiacs with such, and they use pushrod OHV engines.

%) Poor aftermarket support- not necessarily nissan's fault, but even Toyota has their TRD department, which has factory warrantied products. Yet we are limited to a bunch of rip off companies who have a monopoly over us. We get overpriced products that sometimes are of questionable quality. We got Y pipes that break, leak and just dont fit. And we have no parts for serious aftermarket (heads, cams, injectors, etc etc).

6) Lousy dealerships- I've had many bad experiences with the local dealership. Even after writing letters of complaint and contacting nissan customer service, I have heard nothing to try to resolve my issue. Backing up my experiences is data in consumer reports. Page 6 in April 2001 ranks sales and leasing part of the dealer as second to dead last place. Go figure.

7) Poor reliablity-I first thought nissan's were supposed to be reliable, especially for a japanese car, until I cracked open my transmission to do a differential project and found that my transmission suffered from differential bearing failure at 67,000. and no it was not from my driving, its cause somebody didnt know how to build the car. I also found out that I am certainly not alone with these transmission problems.

As for the positives, I really cant say theres that many. Seems to me that nissan put all their money into the engine, but forgot to design the rest of the car. These reasons, with little to no positives makes me never buy a nissan again. I'm almost hoping a tornado or something comes along so it gives me an excuse to get a lexus or bmw.

 

With my Nissan car experience, 86 used Sentra, 94 new Altima and 96 Maxima, I'd say they are very reliable. The old Sentra is power weak but that's nothing to do with reliablilty. Altima and Maxima have virtually no failure so far. However up to now that I'm writing this post I don't think I'll buy another Nissan. It's not about Nissan's quality at all, but about Nissan's design/style.

 

Water paint on the Maxima? That tells everyone that you know nothing about Maxima and you probably don't even own one..The Maxima has multiple-layer laser paint with clear coat! No Camry or Accord has better factory paint than that, period. You said your '90 Camry has better chip-resistance than Maxima, so is your Maxima's paint chipping off now?

I've owned many cars in the past, a '90 Toyota Cressida, '92 Nissan Maxima SE, '95 Honda Accord SE, '96 Nissan Maxima SE, 96 Camry XLE V6, and now a '98 Infiniti I30.

The '90 Cressida's tranny failed at 90k miles and it had to be rebuilt, so I sold it for $3000 in 1995 and bought a '95 Accord Special Edition. The '92 Maxima SE had a driver's side power window problem, it ****ed me off but other than that, it had no other problems, then I totalled it on the highway in 1995 after I bought the Accord. I got the Accord with 15,000miles, at around 20,000 the auto-lock failed; at 40,000 the rear shocks blown; at 60,000 the alternator and battery died; at 70,000 the radiator was leaking coolant...I couldn't live with it any longer and sold that piece of junk in 1997 for $3800. The '96 Maxima was a gift from my grandma, it never had any problems but I sold it to my cousin for $5000 with 40,000miles on it. I bought the '96 Camry myself, brand new, it didn't give me any problems until 80,000 some gasket blown and flooded the cams. I sold it to a friend of my uncle's who owns a repair shop for $6000. And the '98 I30 I'm currently driving? It has 111,000miles on it and never had a problem, everything is still stock except the sports shocks, lowering spring, 17" rims and custom HID's. I drove 100mph all the way from CA to Vegas two weeks ago, I even maxed it out at 134mph and the car did not shake at all, so smooth even I was surprised. Try it with a same year Camry or Accord with 111,000miles, bet you neither car can handle it.

P.S. I sell PC and notebooks, I often need to drive out of state to meet customers or deliver the products myself, therefore a reliable car is very critical to my job.

-K.D.

 

Looks like I pressed somebody's buttons. First off I have a 97 SE, and if you do not believe me, ask anybody who saw my car at Maxus 2001. Secondly I just rebuilt my own 5 speed transmission, replacing the differential, and clutch completely by myself. So unless you've done more, I know more about cars then you do.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ghlight=quaife and http://www.geocities.com/ericdwong/project1/ for proof.

http://forums.maxima.org/search.php?...der=descending shows people here with paint issues. Hell theres even a Minima club of america and one of the qualitifactions to get in is poor paint LOL! My comment regarding water paint, is making the paint sound like it was made from thin water. Obviously no auto paint can be water and last. My mom's 1998 Camry v6's paint looks brand new and she's got 85K on the clock already.
OK I will. My beater 1990 Camry survived 5 runs on the florida turnpike from Miami to Orlando at 100mph + as well as making runs down Alligator Alley, and its an economy 4 cylinder! I've done similar crazy things, including drag racing my mom's 98 v6 at the drag strip, which by the way is just as fast as your car (it ran a 15.443 @ 92 MPH, and its a bone stock automatic). Ontop of that the Camry has a better build quality then your I30 does, it doesnt have cheap flimsy plastic that rattle and it has a solid feeling. Can you say isolated subframe, and shock absorber on the engine? Yes the Camry's got then both. Your car does not.

Guess what if you're in a frontal crash, who's more likely to survive? The 98 Camry or the 98 I30? Compare http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/97024.htm to http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/96028.htm and see for yourself.

Also did you have 5 year/60,000 mile bumper to bumper? I bet you've only got that for powertrain and 3 year/36,000 for bumper to bumper.

Well guess what, my 1990 Toyota Camry is STILL driving at 190,000 miles. My dad now drives it as a beater car to and from work and to park at the airport. It never threw a transmission or bearings, or developed serious odd noises. Over the years (mostly serviced by me) it needed brakes, ONE alternator which died at 155K, 3 batteries, exhaust work, normal bulbs, oil changes, timing belts. I had to change its flywheel (so this involved removing the transmission) because my remote starter malfunctioned and ground the starter ring missing teeth. I eventually replaced the springs and struts with Intrax/KYB (which I did myself too). Not bad for a 12 year old car with that many miles.

Infact, my friend who has an 89 corolla he has over 250,000 miles on his, and it just keeps on rolling. Infact, he's only on his second clutch which was put on very recently.

I've never had any big issues with my maxima except for the damned differential bearings, which seems to be an issue for alot of the 4 gen 5 speeds. But had I now done the repair myself, it woulda cost me $1200+ just to repair it. I say a bad transmission is grounds for not keeping a car.

Is all you have to refute me with is the poor paint? What about low resale value? Lets see how much your infiniti I30 is worth compared to a Lexus ES300 or even a Camry v6 of the same year/options/miles/condition etc. I invite you see a 98 i30 with 111,000 miles on it such as your own, vs a 98 Camry v6 XLE with same miles an options.

The Camry rings in at $8850 and the infiniti I30 is $9150. There is a $300 difference and we're talking Infiniti vs. Toyota!!!! Now, lets try Lexus ES300 with similar condition we get $11,875. The Lexus has almost $3,000 more trade in value then the i30. Is there something wrong here?

You still have a non independent rear suspension (assuming you know what that is) on an INFINITI! So don't tell me I know nothing about cars, cause I've probably done more on cars and motorcycles (japanese and american) then you ever have.

 

Best said by a high-ranking Toyota official in the WSJ, "Nissan likes to hammer on horsepower, we prefer to hammer on the whole car." Or something like that...

Is this the same ericdwong who did a burnout on a pillow?

 

Go back and read my last posted reply, I wrote "That tells me you know nothing about N I S S A N cars.." , I did not write "you know nothing about cars.", there's a difference, genius.

When you said Maxima's paint job "looks" like water-paint, that already showed you know nothing about Nissan cars, and it also showed that you are a stereo-type thinking that Toyota makes the better cars...Toyota is the one that has waterpaint-like paint job on their cars, not Nissan, at least not on the Nissan cars that are made in Japan. Higher quality materials in the Camry? Give me a break man...I've owned a 96 XLE V6, remember? The paint job sucked so bad, both front and rear bumpers had paint chipped off I just didn't mention it in the last post. Inside, the Camry's leather seats were too hard, by 80,000miles there were cracks appeared on them. And a rattling noise inside the dashboard turned out to be that problem with the steering running loose and falling off on some Camry's from 94~98, and Toyota issued a recall on that. The Maxima and I30 beats Camry in everyway, engine, tranny, styling, handling, ride-comfort, cabin-quiteness and reliability. There's no point arguing about this. Did I tell you about my aunt's 99 Camry LE V6? That thing had a gasket problem at 18,000miles; auto-trunk release failed; driver's side power window failed; slow throttle response and alignment problem, had to be taken back to dealer 3 times for the throttle response adjustment and twince for the alignment. Lucky her car is still under warranty.

Oh...don't even compare your Camry to my car, mine costs a lot more than yours, and I've already put $15000 down on a 2002 I35 which I'm gonna go pick up on Friday night, costs even more than your soon-to-die 190000miles Camry. And remember one thing, resale value doesn't mean $hit, it's how well the car is built and how long it will last you. ES300 has higher resale value than my car?? So what? My car can out-perform an ES300 any time, and it looks better than an ES300.

-K.D.

Don't be DRIVEN by your car, get a NISSAN and DRIVE it!!

 

Hey GENIUS I will Quote EXACTLY what you wrote above, so I have "gone back and read my [your] last posted reply". And dont try the edit post function to try to cover your tracks, it will show up. You write "...That tells everyone that you know nothing about Maxima and you probably don't even own one.." Now here you even misquote YOUR OWN WORDS, look who's the genius......

Because I can use writing to appeal to the senses does that mean I dont know anything about Nissan cars?

The stereo type is true. I'm not bashing Nissan just to bash Nissan, I'm bashing nissan cause I OWN a nissan, so I have a right to. Nissan cars arent as good quality as Toyota cars. Granted nowadays they have more HP, but they still arent as high quality. Figures why Honda and Toyota continue to outsell Nissan cars. We'll see how the 2002 Maxima does, now that its stepped up its league to the more prestigous cars. Camry and accord have dominated the 4 door midsize sedan market for the past who knows how many years.

At least they recalled it. I dont see my differential bearings being recalled and theres tons of problems with those. As for all your other problems I never said it couldnt happen to a toyota, its just less likely to happen to a toyota.

Show me some proof like I did in the last post. I cited many sources, you have yet to cite any source whatsoever but your own words. Your glorious I30 has only $300 more resale value then a Toyota Camry does. It also did Average on the crash tests while the Camry does GOOD. How about the use of subframes, hydraulic and shock dampened motor mounts, a FULLY INDEPENDENT SUSPENSION, FULL SIZE SPARE TIRE, Beats it in everyway huh?

Engine maybe, but the 1MZ-FE engine is one fine engine that does not need precats to pass emissions. Transmission- NO WAY. Camry transmission will beat a maxima transmission in smoothness and durability any day. Toyota's transmisssions beat nissan transsmissions especially the auto. Cabin quietness? Try again. Stock for stock, my car was significantly louder then the 98 Camry v6 was. Reliablity again can be debated. How many people here had 4th generation transmissions go up on them?

Yes at least it has a decent warranty. 5 year/60,000 mile warranty vs what? 3 year/36,000 warranty? Like we've never seen a nissan that doesnt have a car that doesnt get aligned, or has a problem that couldnt be corrected. Look at this board yourself, we have "whats this problem, whats that noise..." I never said Toyota is the perfect car, they just are better then the nissans are.

Why you comparing my Camry? Its from 1990 and I dont even drive it anymore. I guess you didnt read that I do have a 97 Maxima, so why dont you go pick on that? Or have I done enough of that for you?

Someone's got some spite here. Again, why are you comparing my camry? I've got a Maxima, feel free to rag on that. I feel very sorry that you're getting yourself into another low resale, low value car. Go ahead and blow your $30k+ on your a overtrimmed Maxima that has an infiniti nameplate stamped on to it.

Hahahahaha! Well guess what my maxima is neither well built nor will it last a long time. So when you go trade in your I30 and collect peanuts for it, we'll see who has the last laugh.

Bring it on. Take your 98 I30 to the drag strip and tell me what it runs. Unless you're pulling low 14s or 13s, your car aint gonna perform the ES300.

No thanks, I'd rather drive my nissan into a tree, so at least I have the excuse to get another make.

 

Maximas aren't perfect, but if you buy them used, they are really good ride for the buck
Anyways, I think Nissan's major weakness has been it's platforms. It seems like Honda and Toyota invest a lot of money to develop platforms and share them amongst vehicles. Nissan is only now starting to do it with the Altima.
The Maxima platform 4th gen and after is crap. It's like strapping on a 21st century engine on a 1980's platform. They should have just kept the 3d gen platform with new interior/exterior, and engine.
5th gen has less costcutting, but they limited themselves to the 4th gen platform, and the car suffers for it.
I will wait for next gen maxima which is based on the superior Altima platform. If I see any of the blatant costcutting I see in 4th Gen, I will not be buying a Maxima again. I would rather have a car that is affordable by design, than a car that is designed to be upscale, and then stripped down and cornercut to be affordable.

 

I don not have lots of car knowledge.
1. When I buy new car, I don't consider its resale value as the important factor at all. I look at reliability first. I'm not a person to replace a car in every 2 or 3 years (I'd lease it if so). The longer to keep a car, the less resale difference will be between and among cars. If unlucky accident happened the resale value goes down to hell.

2. Almost any design is a compromise. Maxima's multi-link beam suspension is one of them. It reduces cost (was told) meanwhile it frees up lots of rear seat room. Yes I DO feel it's not quite as comfortable as my 94 Altima when going over a bump or such. However if I don't take turn to drive both in a short time manner, I can hardly tell there is a difference (maybe my own problem of feeling?)

3. I have a few friends who own Avalon, Sienna and Camry. Among them, tow sun visor plastic cover got cracked, one power antenna quit working with antenna fully out(just a few days out of warranty), on passenger side power window switch failed. Those are really small failures but my Altima and Max have zero so far.

Well still I will not buy any Nissan. It's just for a change.

 

I did not compare my I30 to your Camry, YOU did.

So you are still talking about the resale value...Let me tell you this, the people who are really buying CARS, resale value is not a major factor in their consideration.

Toyota and Honda outsell Nissan only in the 4-cylinder segment, Nissan outsells both of them in the V6 Sedan segment.

Do you even know why Toyota recalled that problem? because it had happened on Camry's from '94~'98 and caused accidents, the Federal Governemnt ordered Toyota to issue the recall. As for the differential bearings you mentioned, the problem rarely happens, or maybe it doesn't even exist, it's just you. I for one have never heard of that problem, by owning two Maximas in the past, never experienced any of the problems that you mentioned.

I did own all of these cars I mentioned, there's no point for me to lie about that. So you want "proof"? Want me to provide "sources"? Ok fine, you asked so I'm gonna list all my family's experiences with their Camry's.

All my family drives Camry's, and all of them have had problems. I have another aunt that owned a 95 XLE V6, according to her the tranny has a "jerk" between each gear and very noticeable, and there's also cracks in the leather seats. You call that quality? She replaced it with an used 2000 I30, and she's very happy with it(Just for your reference, she bought it for $22,000 out the door with full options, only 18000miles on the car.) Another aunt lives a block away from me, she drives a 95 Camry LE and her husband drives a 90 Cressida and a 94 Camry XLE V6. The Cressida just had tranny rebuilt at 90,000miles, AC and starter died. Both their Camry's have gasket problems, lucky her husband's friend owns a repair shop so he didn't spend too much to fix them. Both of them are now considering a 2001 or 2002 I30/I35 or a 2002 3.2TL. My big cousin has a 96 Camry LE, she does oil change every 2000miles, but the engine is loud as hell, and the rear shocks are blown too. She's now considering an ES300. My uncle's 96 XLE V6 Camry's shocks are blown too(wow...so high quality huh?), cracks in leather seats, trunk-release button failed, auto-lock failed, and I think he just replaced the alternator and starter. He's now justifying if he should replace the shocks or just sell the car and buy a 2002 Camry...I have another aunt that lives in Denver, she owns one 93 Camry CE and a 95 Camry XLE V6...both cars have died on her before several times, the 93 CE is totally dead, won't even start now; the 95 XLE takes a little more effort to get it start. The alternator and starter died in the 95 XLE at around 50000(I went to visit her for a month, that's how I know.), she wants to replace it but can't, because she just got laid off from her job.

Now, if Toyota makes better cars, and Camry is so reliable, why is there so many problems on my family's cars? I owned a Cressida and a Camry, both cars had problems too, but not on my Maximas, and not to mention my I30, never had one single problem. How often do you watch TV and read newpapers and magzines? Have you noticed that there's more Toyota and Honda advertisements and commercials than Nissan? Honda keeps bragging about their V-Tech which was stolen from F-1; and Toyota keeps bragging about how reliable their cars are, but I never seen Nissan does it. It's Nissan N.A.'s marketing plan that led them down, not their cars. Most people can't see the truth or don't even know anything about what's going on in the automotive industry, so they just believe what everyone else is saying. Most people bought Toyota and Honda cars because they bought into the advertisements and then go around telling everybody they know, how good Toyota and Honda cars are, but in fact these people don't even know which company makes better cars and which car is more reliable. These people are being stereo-type, and so are you.

I'm not bashing on Toyota cars, I'm just stating facts here. Nissan, Toyota and Honda, all of them make very good cars, but not here, only in Japan. Look around, Maxima is the only affordable V6 Sports Sedan in the US that we can get our hands on that's still made in Japan, its reliability, quality and performance have been recognized and respected by many people and car magazines.

My car can't outperform an ES300? Are you kidding? The 210hp V6 engine in the ES300 is the same one in Camry, and that engine is a joke! No power and no torque whatsoever. Unless my car can run 14's or 13's? So are you saying that ES300 can run that fast? In your dream! My car's quarter mile time is a full second faster than any ES300. And the fuel economy is 21/28, comparing to ES300's 19/26.

Look, this arguement is going no where...so let's just keep your opinions to yourself, and I'll do the same. I believe your statement is true, but I just can't agree with you when you say Camry has higher quality, because it seems to me that Camry has more problems than the Maxima.

 

Show me exactly when did I ever compare the 90 Camry to your 98 I30. I made comparo's in stats and specs between a 98 Camry v6, 98 ES300 and 98 I30.

Of course you want to avoid this topic because its too hard for you to bear the fact a Camry has just as much resale as your car does. There is a REASON that Nissans/Infinitis have low resale value, supply and demand. And obviously Toyotas and Hondas are in great supply, so what does that say about demand? What else you wanna talk about? Crash tests?

Wrong again, Honda and Toyota outsell Nissan by themselves no matter what. Why do you think Nissan was in such financial difficulty at th end of the 1990s when they had to butcher the cars to try to make it? Then they had to roll out the "driven" advertising campaigns to try to appeal to different marketed buyers.

Well at least if a Camry crashes head on, you will have more a chance surviving with less injury then in a weak structured Maxima/I30.

Thats cause you got an auto. I will cite this thread as an example showing just how many people with 5 speeds on this forum have had major and expensive problems with their transmissions.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....t=transmission

If you've had so many problems with them why do you have so many? I would have thought after number one you woulda gotten rid of it and never looked back, much like I'm going to do once this Maxima i got eats the crushing machine.

I've only had one major problem as well, but its not just the reliablity at issue here. Its also crash test worthiness, resale value, engineering (beamaxles on such an expensive car does not float my boat), aftermarket support (read- monopolies and expensive), equipment available (full sized spare tires, longer warranties), dealers that dont rank second to last in a satisfaction survey, and yes build quality.


Yeah right, I see at least one nissan commercial advertising the new Frontier, the new Maxima, the new Altima and Sentra to at least every Honda or Toyota commercial I see.

Ok so I guess nissan altimas doing 360's, Maxima's doing drifts in the desert or winding out the engine to red line chasing the sunset doesnt count as bragging about the cars ability. What about "Cars Like It, 0"?

Its also obvious that you're the type of person that never works on his own car. So you're the one who doesnt know here. Notice how nissan pumps up the numbers that scream out like 255 HP, yet still utilizes the solid beam in the rear? Once you start working on your own car, then seeing the flaws of the engineering and how another company's design is superior then you will realize that Nissan aint the hot stuff. I dont say what I say just to say it, I say what I say based on hands on experience, so no I just dont "just believe what everyone else is saying." It also looks like you bought into advertisement too. nissan's got plenty of new ad campaigns out.

I dont like cars that are made in Japan, that makes them expensive as hell due to shipping costs, tariffs, etc. My 90 Camry was american made, as was the 98 Camry.

Somebody needs a reality check here and its not me. Your 98 I30 has 190 HP@5600 and 205 ft lb torque @ 4600. What does a 1998 Camry v6 LE have? 194 HP @5400 RPM and 209 ft lb @4400 How about ES300? 200 @ 5200 RPM and 219 ft lb @ 4600 RPM. So what about that comment of yours "No power and torque whatsoever"? Wow come to see, your car has even less horse power and torque, and your car is rated at higher RPMs.

I'm saying thats what you need to run to blow the doors off of a camry v6 or es300. By the way Camry v6 sticks can hit the 14s just as well as the maxima can.

Its also obvious you have no concept of what the drag strip is stating you are a full second faster, either that or you have no concept of the competition's cars who offer better values then your car because you're holed up in your tiny little world.
If you're in the Washington DC area, bring your 98 I30 and I will bring a 98 Camry v6. Lets race at a dragstrip (capitol, cecil county, 75-80 theres a few of them- but most are closed for winter now) and we will see who's faster. So you're telling me your automatic 98 i30 can run faster then 14.4 in the 1/4 bone stock even though you're the same size with almost the same horse power? The 98 Camry v6 ran 15.4, and its not even the ES300. Low 14s huh? Even people on this forum will tell you you are full of it.

Yes but of course everybody is entitled to their own opinion and I feel strongly about mine because I sunk my hard earned cash into a car and company that I quite frankly am pretty dissapointed and disguisted in. And yes, resale is a big deal to me, cause had it not been so bad I'd be in another car by now.

 

Wow, I'd like to give my 2 cents.

You guys have taken it way past a debate and into an argument, and no one likes arguments. So stop.

Kraze D, I know you're trying to defend Nissans by hating on Toyotas, but that's not the way to go . All of your family's Toyota problems makes me think of one thing: Cursed.

Anyway, at some points, both of you have taken it too far with the insults on the cars. Nissan has drastically improved its build quality, and I admit, is finally getting close to a Toyota/Honda.

On the other hand, Toyota and Honda have always had great build quality. When I'm back at home in the Bay Area (CA), I drive my Mom's old 87 Corolla. It's transmission is still smoother than my 96 Maxima, hehe.

And you know what will resolve this issue of Toyota cars failing? DRIVING HABITS. If the problem isn't build quality and construction, then it's the driving habits (or environment conditions). This seems like a very logical explanation to many of the problems a car might have.

Anyway, I'm tired.

 

My 96 Max brochure says 205 ft-lb torque @ 4000. But I'm not sure if the same engine in I30 is tuned differently or not.

 

Is this a Nissan vs. Toyota or Maxima vs. Camry debate?
It's a known fact that Toyota and Honda, and a good reason is the variety of vehicles those two automakers offer.

When it comes to Accord/Camry vs. Maxima, a good reason why those two outsell the Maxima is because they offer a more attainable 4-cyl. In that case, Nissan provides the 4-cyl Altima. A better way to look at the sales would be to compare the V6 models of each company.

 

I know my car has only 190hp, 205ft/lb torque, less than both Camry and ES300, but that doesn't matter. Those numbers don't mean much, my car can get more power at the wheels. I've raced with both cars many times before, and I always beat them by at least one car lengt, and I'm talking about AT, not MT. And, my car can out-handle both Camry and ES300 any time.

You are wrong, Nissan outsells both of them in the V6 Sedan segment, but loses battle in other segments. I know what you are thinking...You are thinking that there's more Camry's and Accords on the road than Maxima so you assume both Toyota and Honda outsell Nissan in this segment, but you are wrong. Most of these Camry's and Accords are 4-cylinder, not V6, there's more Maxima's on the road than Camry and Accord V6. Nissan's approach on using Altima to fight against Camry's and Accord 4-cylinder models was wrong. Nissan's advertisement was wrong...before the lame advertising campagin "Driven", they didn't have any anything campagins, nor did they brag about their engine technologies. These are part of the reasons why Nissan went into this serious financial trouble, another reason is that they spent too much money on designing new models, concepts, and new engine technologies. Also Nissan doesn't have any factory peformance/styling upgrade options like Toyota does, even Acura has styling upgrade options. Nissan didn't do anything right other than designing their cars.

All those problems don't just happen on me and my family's cars, my girlfriend's 95 Corolla's alternator just died at only 50,000miles; my friend's 94 Camry CE 5-Speed tranny broke down and needs rebuild, it only has 90,000miles on it. You wanna know which car from Toyota is good in quality? 85~86 Corolla SR5 aka AE86 Trueno/Hachirogu. You can drive one of those so hard, toss it around every sharp corners you run into, and it'll still last up to 200,000miles. And all it needs is timing belt, some tranny and cooling system work, but it still has the gasket problem which happens on any Toyota cars. That's the only Toyota car has my respect.

Resale value is a big deal to you? I bet your parents bought that car for you huh?
Ok...so I guess you are some 19-year-old college student without a strong financial base, if so, I can understand why resale value is such a big deal to you...ain't life a biatch?

 

When do I win an award for having the longest rebutal in an ongoing argument in my thread?

Kraze D, I would probably put money on your I30 over the V6 Camry... but it would be a really close race. You sure as heck aren't going to be beating them by a full second like you said earlier, though!
One carlength usually equates to more around one tenth of a second... depending on ETs. But for one car lentgth to be equal to a full second!?!?... you must be racing pet gerbles or something.

 

Yippee...get personal!
What's the point of your above statement?
Would it make you happier if his parents bought him a 2k2 Max?
Hell, there are kids driving S4s and Civic...it's a big world (in case you didn't know).
What were you driving when you were 19?
Life's a biatch...that's old news.

 

hmmmm, since youve owned many cars in the past... please tell me where the hell you got a 95 Accord SE

 

I bought it used, "SPECIAL EDITION" badge was under "ACCORD".

 

One car length is by no means a full second. One car length at the end of the quarter mile is maybe 1/10th a second.

Well thats because you've got "sport springs and shocks". Get me a Camry that has TRD lowering hardware with Bilstein struts and TRD sway bar and that Camry's stiffer chassis with independent rear suspension will own you through the turns.

According to Forbes.com, in model year 2000 Toyota sold 423,000 Camrys, Honda sold 405,000 Accords, but Nissan sold 137,000 Altimas and another 129,000 Maximas.

If you add the two numbers in Altima and Maxima it STILL does not come close to topping Accord OR Camry and thats for the sales of TWO completely different and priced cars! so that will account for both the v6 and 4 cyl market in the midsize car segment on Nissna's part. We'll have to see how 2002 does. According to msncarpoint, in 2001 the Accord finally is outselling the Camry, after Camry dominated for the last 4 years. Nissan has yet to dominate anything with any of their vehicles. Wanna know why? The cars are lousy.

What technology? The only thing the maxima engine has thats high tech is the double staged intake runners. Vtec and VVt-i DO work and they are much higher tech. We've got an expensively developed engine that costs so much the rest of the car was ignored. Besides do you REALLY think the average consumer is going to base their buying decision on advertising and engine technology?

Wow here you actually admit that nissan didnt do anything right. Designing the cars is another thing they didnt do right. Whats with the use of donut spares, non folding rear seats, 9004 ancient headlights, no cup holders in the rear, center lap belts (camry and accord have 3 point center belts), non independent rear suspension in the 4 gen and in most cases 5 gen?

Thats called a Delco alternator for you.

By the way you be surprised of my financial status. Whether it was given to me or not is beside the point. My credit status shows that it was not all given to me either. I also have a HONDA CBR600F4i motorcycle that will blow the doors off any car here in question, turbocharged or not.

Bashing me personally in this argument just shows how poor of a debater you are. Its obvious you can't argue the facts or the issue here worth a damn so you've stepped down to attacking me personally. Your attack isnt even a good one anyway, I guess Nissan cars are suddenly better because I'm a college student? I've quoted from Forbes.com, MSNcarpoint, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Kelly Blue Book, Consumer Reports to support my argument and you havent quoted a single thing from a professional source. The only thing you've tried to quote was yourself and you didn't even get that part right! Ha ha ha! How can anything you say have get any respect? Even other members here who support nissan have put you down because your words hold no weight.

 

My "Life's-a-biatch" statement was a response to his "resale-value-is-a-big-deal-to-me" statement.
I was driving an AE86 for two years, which I bought with my own money. Right when I turned 19 I got into the computer business and bought myself a 90 Cressida, and again, my own money...

PS> Just because he had some problems with ONE Maxima, doesn't mean the rest of Nissan cars have bad quality, and definitely doesn't give him the right to bash on Nissan, especially Maxima/I30.

 

Likewise, just because a person had a bad expereince with ONE Toyota...etc.

With your own money....wouldn't you be concerned about resale value?
Yup, life's a biatch...and it must be unfair when parents buy their kids a car.

 

well just to let you know, there is no such thing as a 95 Accord SE (Special Edition)... saying that you owned something that doesnt exist kinda deflates your credibility, thats all

 

One Toyota? Go back and read my posts again, and read them carefully... The only Toyota I've never had any problems with is my AE86.

Umm...I stopped taking money from my parents since I was 16. I have rich parents too...I just don't take anything from them since I have the abilities to make my own money and buy the things I want, and not having to rely on my parents or beg them. I never thought it's unfair, actually I'm pretty thankful because I was born with talents in making money. When I buy myself stuff, I feel proud because I know darn well that I deserve everything.

 

Hmmm...I sense jealousy.....

Well, I've wrote this in another post but I'll write down again what exactly was on the badge, "SPECIAL EDITION". Like I said, I bought it used, maybe ex-owner stuck on that himself? I have no frigging idea. I don't know much about Honda cars, I bought it just because I thought it looked nice with custom two-tone blue/purple paint.

I know my credibility is good, if you don't believe me it's your problem, I really don't give a $hit.

 

sense jealousy? ummmm ya thats it just make sure you dont tell anyone else you had a 95 accord SE ok?

im just pointing out how rediculous it sounds to hear someone say they owned a car which doesnt exist. Im sure if i told everyone here i owned a 93 Maxima LX, someone would question me, and i would sound dumb.. right?

 

I used to drive an 87 Nissan Stanza from when I was about 15 till just about a month ago when I got my 95 Maxima Se. I love Nissan cars, their enginges are great plus the luxury of my Maxima is superb.

The leather is extremely comfy, and the climate control / bose system are excellent.

One of the main reasons I choose never to buy a Toyota or a Honda is because there are so many on the roads, not to mention how hideous those ricemobiles look, yuck.

It's going to be interesting as well since Nissan is going to start making the Altima compete with Accord / Camary and boosting the Max to compete with Tl's.

Personally when I decided to purchase my Max I wanted a sporty feeling car with a sophisticated look and i'm very pleased with what I got.

 

Maxima, your dream car? Oh well, no comments, each to their own.

I wouldn't touch the Accord with a 10 foot pole. It's so wide, over-grown, over-marketed, and unfortunately, over here. A sales manager told me a few days ago that the philosophy of Honda in the early 90's was to make a car that would handle like a BMW, drive like a BMW, do everything like a BMW, but cost less than a BMW. How ironic is that now?

 

i'm a solara driver and i've got to say the ppl serious about camry performance have the v6 5speed. they're definitely not as common as manual max's but they're out there.

 

not true...solara is built in canada
and some of the sports cars are built out of the us...but that's not part of the discussion =)

 

yea spending more money is smart. why not buy a bmw 330 and be faster than your i35...you'll get a better car.

"how long it will last you huh?" well wouldn't it make the 190,000mile camry a pretty well built car?

 

actually there was a special edition. i test drove it...it's nothing better than the regular one except for a few little things. all of the major components were the same.

 

Let put in my two cents...in my family we have a 1992 Maxima Brougham, a 1998 Maxima SE, and a 1992 Camry V6. We also had a 1991 Maxima Brougham.

Here's a list of the major problems/repairs we've had on the cars, other than normal maintenance:

1991 Maxima

-Speedometer doesn't work...replaced speed sensor (common)
-power antenna won't go up
-driver's side window didn't go up (in winter time!!!)
-crack in exhaust manifold!! (very common problem!)
-wiper arm broke inside

1992 Maxima

-Digital Dash comes on and off intermediately
-Speedometer doesn't work...replaced speed sensor (common)
-door locks don't work, fixed door lock timer (common)
-fans speeds don't work, only high speed does...changed resistor pack
-heated mirrors don't work
-power antenna won't go up
-driver's side window didn't go up (in winter time!!!)
-clock is busted
-leather seat has totally ripped apart due to use
-crack in exhaust manifold!! (very common problem!)
-ball joints keeps needing replacment
-flex pipe had a crack

1992 Camry

-power antenna won't go down
-flex pipe had a crack

1998 Maxima

-none so far

I can honestly say that the build quality of the Camry is WAY higher than the Maxima in my house. The 92 Max seems a bit faster than my 92 Camry, but I don't know that for sure...the Max is just louder, I hope it's not a placebo effect. For a cooler, more performance oriented car, I'd go for the Max REGARDLESS of the problems. The Camry is nice but still isn't as "cool" as the Max. I'd take the new 2002 Maxima over the 2002 Camry anyday.