I took the Max into the dealer (Beaverton Nissan) today to get the oil changed, have the timing bumped up to 17degrees btdc, and to have them check my "ever-glowwing" SES light. They did find the problem with the SES light and will order a new cluster for me, and they adjusted the timing. I took it for a 35 mile drive afterwards to get the computer "re-learn" everything, and so far I'm quite pleased. I took it down to 20mph in 6th gear and tried my best to make it ping or do anything unusual, and it behaved wonderfully. It isn't like a different car or anything, but it definitely does pull harder. I'll keep this updated if anything changes with the performance.