I love my current Max and haven't had any serious problems besides chipping paint and wind noise so I consider it a high quality car. With that in mind I went to www.jdpower.com to compare it with Accords and Camrys. The Max did very well against most recent Accords. Out of curiosity I compared the 2000 Max against the 2001 and 2002 Maxes and was very surprised to see decreasing quality with most recent Maxes. Is there any real-life truth to this study?

 

just the service. All cars have problems. Most people complain when they cant get something repaired in a reasonable manner.

 

Tim's got a good point about the customer service.

One thing that I can't find any rational explanation for is the quality of the paint they use on the Maximas. Lots of people on this forum got d!cked in my opinion in the paint dept. There is something fundamentally wrong with buying a flagship car with crappy paint. Everyone has my sympathy regarding the paint.

Conversely, it's not like Nissan's tranny's blow out all the time. That's a much more serious/expensive problem.

I don't know that much about the resale value numbers between Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc.

 

could it have anything to do with renault buying them out. Im not a big french car fan.

 

have had paint problems at one time or another when they switched to more enviromentally safe paint, like in the bonding agents used in bumpers. I'm *really* suprised they've yet to correct the issue. Most cars only run a year or two at most before getting it *right*. One of my coworkers got a new truck (at 16 months and 18K ) for a slightly chipping hood (Dodge). They straight up GAVE him a new vehicle.. He only had to pay about $250 in taxes. Seriously, *DODGE* is treating customers better when it comes to paint. Man, never thought I'd see that day.

 

Nissan resale is horrendous compared to Honda and Toyota.

 

The thing that concerns me about the 2002 Maxima is the slew of TSBs that have come out on the car. From hood vibrations (I thought mine wan gonna blow off on the highway once), rotors warping (heavy a** wheels IMO), ominous clutch noises, SERIOUS front suspension defects (cant remember the part name for the life of me), etc. Those are all things that trouble me. Its not like this body style just came out, only the engine and tranny were changed for 2002. Essentially its a three year old platform now with some very serious issues.

With all that being said, the car is super fast (for the price) and very reasonable price wise to buy. Its just all those little quirks that leave me scratching my head. As for the paint problem, I had three noticeable (to me) chip on the front part of hood in less than 10K miles. Ofcouse I do 90% highway/interstate travel. That may have alot to do with it. It did seem however that the front bumper was prone to horrific scratching when I barely rubbed on it while washing to get the bugs off. Also, I had alot of deep bug stains that etched into the clear of the car and wouldn't come out. All of this however is a moot point since the accident and I just decided to have the whole front bumper repainted and front hood area refinished. Looks as good as new now.......almost sad to trade it in at the end of this month (almost).

The most disappointing thing is the resale. Yeah, the car seemed like a steal when I paid essentially invoice plus a $1000.00 rebate when I bought it, but now at trade in time, I'm cursing it. I'll be lucky to see $20K out of it. I know that with Civics (previous gens) and the newer Accords, you only lose a couple of thousand after a year of driving.

 

As for Renault buying Nissan, If anything it has helped turn Nissan around. Before the purchase, they were falling fast, and wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for Renault. In addition, there were major overhauls to Nissan that was brought about through the buy, mainly a new cheif designer and others. Basically, Nissan wouldn't have had the turnaround that they have had if it wasn't for Renault. Also there would be no Z, no SE-R, and probly no redesigned Altima.

 

Lots of people worry about resale value of nissans. I was thinking perhaps that the money lost in resale value is made up in the amount saved when we bought the car? - compared to Honda or Toyota's higher initial price (compared to MSRP. Nissan discounts a lot more than them.

 

If you look at the market in general, the Maxima doesn't have that bad of a resale value. Look at the American big 3, or manufacturers like Mitsubushi. You need to look at the resale value of a car 3-5 years old because all cars loose the bulk of their value in the first 2 years.

As far as TSBs..this is not new to 2K2. Remeber the 2000 5 speed RPM drop issue? There are dozens of TSBs on every car out there..even Mercedes and BMW. A TSB is simply a published fix to a common problem. Any major problems usually result in a recall which the Max has few!

 

Completely agree, that is why most people really look at total cost of ownership and not simply the purchase price of a vehicle.

 

My 2002 SE will probably be my last Nissan. There are *so many* paint chips on the front of my car that it is embarassing to tell people it's not even a year old. I took it to the dealer and they said there is nothing they can do about it. Because of this I will never recommend a Nissan product to anyone. I'll actually warn against them. I'm willing to bet that the appearance of the front end of my Maxima is worth at least a $1,000 deduct on it's value... not fair at all IMO.

 

I think you're thinking wrong. Yes, Renault did infuse a large amount of cash into Nissan. (They're 44% stakeholders now.) They are the primary reason for the new models coming out.

But quantity has nothing to do with quality, which was the subject here. (Wanna talk about the Altima interior?) As a matter of fact, I'd make the argument that the larger the quantity, the lower the quality. (Renault had a big turn around too. Want to buy a Renault?)

The big factor you're missing is Carlos Ghosn. There's a reason he was called the "Cost Killer" at Renault. You can't turn around a company from massive losses to +2.6 BILLION in four years without MASSIVE cost cutting.

Don't think that some of that savings hasn't come from using cheaper parts/processes and less quality control.

 

I've always found the "resale" card a worthless one, and let salesmen know it whenever the try to use it. I've had Honda/Accuras and (a) Toyota and always traded in top-notch condition but the money I got for them was no better than any other mfr's car of the same condition/miles/age. The story from the used car mgr. is always the same: "Oh! How much work we have to put into it before we put it on our lot!" or "Too many miles, won't even show it: sell it at auction!" But then when I drive by two days later (enough time to wash and detail the interior and engine) it's on the lot.

Maybe if selling to an individual I could play the popularity and resale value card, but not very much using as trade-in. They won't get sucked in with their own line of BS.

BuddyWh

 

Every car has TSB's and some cases recalls, I think of larger concern is the fact that they can't get things right. For example things like the rotors, or hood vibration were a complaint by some 2K and 2k1 owners. You'd think they would have worked it out by the 2k2.

As for their quality, as TimW said, that will depend largely on their customer service. They can come out with as many new cars as they want but if they keep pi$$ing off their customers, their perceived quality will go down. Interestingly enough look at the example of the Maxima and the I35 which are essentially the same car and tend to exhibit the same problems - but the level of service is so vastly different that Infinti customers perceive higher quality because they get their problems taken care of.

 

i was wondering if the I30s have the same paint problems as the maxima, or do they have better paint?

 

Honda, as I've always believed, is the king of the road on this, but why do so many people bash Nissan resale. Go out to Edmunds and compare a 1998 Maxima and a 1998 Accord. Consider their original prices, and see where they are today...not so different in the end. The Accord is better, but not by much. I don't see Nissan resale being horrendous...just not in 1st place.

 

I recoiled in horror when I heard Nissan was being bought by Renault. All I could think of was the Alliance, which was such a POS that it can hardly even be called an automobile. Talk about resale value, you couldn't pay people to take one of those off your hands after a year (I knew someone who actually owned one, sadly).

 

Don't forget about the greatest French car of all time...

Renault Le Car

 

besides all the bulletins, consider how the quality of the interior has fallen drastically on the maxima from 1999-2001 to 2002-onward. i dare say the newer maxima's interiors are just as chintzy as the altima's.

read all the reviews in most of the auto magazines for nissan / infiniti products and you'll notice that the cars always get dinged for their cheap interiors. i think this is my last nissan as well..

 

In terms of quality, I personally have been very impressed with my 2k. I've NEVER had a single problem with my car (no warped rotors (although I've changed them now to a big brake kit), no hood vibrations, no RPM issues (I have a 5 speed)). None whatsoever. As for paint chips, yes I have some, but no more than any other 3 year old car.

I really cannot complain. Call me lucky I guess.

(Oh, and did I mention I race it on a regular basis on a road circuit).

As for Renault, the Alliance and the Le Car were POS that don't properly represent the Renault make. Renault makes decent cars and the reason Carlos Ghosn went to Nissan and turned it around was because he moved from Renault once Renault bought part of Nissan. So yes, it is a good thing Renault came in the picture.

Axel

 

My friend has an '00 Maxima and it is super reliable plus the feel and fit is great for the money. There has been carping on the Altima fit/finish but auto design is all about balancing cost and quality. Still Nissans are sweet machines and getting sweeter.

 

I wouldn't go as far as saying that the Maxima interior is like the Altima's. I have driven both and I rejected the Altima based on cheesy interior materials.