need to know if this is a sound car to buy, herd a lot about trannys failing, whats the word guys?

 

Nothing wrong with mine after 8500 miles. Well except for the little paint chips on the hood that is.

 

just posting to keep this up for ya
i'm kinda curious myself. there were some grumblings about the 2k2 6speed trannies, but i don't know if they were serious or if it's addressed in the 2k3.

overall i like my 2k and we've got more problems.

 

The biggest problem is they are front wheel drive! Other than that I love my Max!

 

squeaks
bad paint
HORRIBLE service department
Bad tranny
Sensitive MAF's
HORRIBLE Service(did i already mention that)
Bad front brake rotors

 

I'm not sure the tranny is still bad on the 2003's (you're referring to the 2002 problems). Perhaps it hasn't been long enough for any of us to experience them, but I haven't seen any posts with major problems on the Max.

Well, the BOSE still has a messed up headunit, and I think the paint problem is industry-wide because of the EPA. I know Acura TL's have the same complaints, so I would think it's a problem for most manufacturers.

 

oh ya i forgot the bose HU problems, i had mine replaced twice and then i just gave up and got a crazy stereo system. and i heard that about acura too BUT i also heard acura will fix paint chips.

 

Acura will fix paint chips??? Damn, I didn't see that when I was scouring their board. Does that mean Acura admits that their paint is weak/bad? If so, why don't we try having Nissan fix our paint chips. Also, it seems to me that these paint chips are part of normal wear and tear on a car. If you're on the highway, then I don't really know what kind of paint will withstand a small rock hitting your hood/bumper at 75mph. But them fixing it would sure be nice!!!

 

i'm just going by what russ told me, they fixed the paint chips on his front end.

 

Is that a reliable statement by him, or is he just trying to make Acura look better than Nissan?

I didn't see any members on acura-tl.com post that Acura fixed their paint chips. Their service opinion is very similar to Nissan owners' service opinion.

 

some 2k3 have peeling titanium polished rims...

seems to me nissan didnt actually POLISH the rims... more like they dipped it into some kind of reject chrome

 

I've only seen one post so far about this, so can you point me to a thread which has multiple people having this problem?

Thanks.

 

Everyone listed problems on our car. Now I will try to point out the good parts of our car because there are many positive things overlooked. It is easier to find negative things though...

Great Engine in the 2003:
3.5L Displacement
255 "Rated" Horsepower
246 lbs/tq
lots of low end power for local driving and great highway cruiser

The Ride:
If you get the SE, you will have better handling but will suffer from a harsher ride due to the sports suspension
If you get the GLE/GXE, you will have a smoother suspension

Diffeence between model trims:
GLE will have auto climate control and leather standard
SE will have packages for it
SE will have standard spoiler and fog lights (GLE has standard fogs also)
SE has sports suspension

There is tons more and I hope you keep this in mind while you weight the positives against the negatives. Hope to see you on this board soon!

Oh, heres a negative for you: RESALE VALUE is horrible. If you decide to get the 2003 it will go down sharply in a few months when the 2004 model is released. The 2004 Model is a brand new body style.

 

Haven't heard of that many problems on the boards. I picked up mine in September, and with over 2K miles now, I've not had one problem. 3 small paint chips, but nothing the touch up paint can't handle. Bose HU and Navi all working fine!

 

I personally haven't had any problems yet. Although i just bought my 2K3 SE TE two months ago and only racked 600 miles on it so far. I also too have two small paint chips (nissan paint sucks!!!) Touch-up paint will help that along with my clear guard kit that i'm getting soon. No problem with my Bose HU,works fine,so far (knock on wood).

 

Wow, only 600 miles... I've had mine for a month and a half and I'm just a couple of miles under 4000. No troubles with my Max so far, just 2 little chips on the hood and a scratch on the bumper. I have no idea where the scratch came from...I guess it might be a rock cuz I know I didn't hit anything.

 

Yeah believe it or not only 600 miles. I don't drive it as much since winter is here. ( winter sucks ) I'm **** about my car. Can't wait for spring/summer to come around again.

 

I've had my 03' for about 11 days now, and have logged right at 2k miles, (one very long road trip) the only issue I have had with the car are the "creaks and rattles" eminating from the dash. So, I went out and bought 50' of felt tape to fix them, (as our local Nissan dealer here sucks, and I wouldn't trust my car with them) and that did the trick.

But really, other than that-no issues, (knocking on wood).