Hey guys. I just wanted to drop a quck note here thanking everyone for all the info I have received from this site. Also, I just want to say that with all the negative posts on here I want to put my .02 in. I am a previous Accord owner. I bought my Max last Sept. It is black with leather and every option. I will admit there has been a couple issues with the car like the transmission slip, warped rotors, and now the wind noise. I had no problems whatsoever getting the dealership to fix with TSB's. I have had more compliments on my Max over the last six months than I had in 5 years with my Honda. I love this car. When I was driving the Accord I would see Max's on the road and always thought they were awesome cars. The perception was that they were a "step-up" from an Accord or Camry. When I shopped around last summer, I could not find a car with the same features for the money. I can't tell you how many people get in my car and are impressed or comment. Just thought I would give some positive feedback with all the negative posts. Thanks

 

right.. thats all anyone has ever said.. Car rocks, service sucks. Service ruins the maxima. If you had to make 3-4, maybe 5+ visits and they ignored you, didnt fix it or worse f'd up your car, well you'd have a slightly different ownership experience.

I dont know many, if any, that actually dislikes their maxima, it's all service related.

 

I hear that TimW. Same here but I can say good service at another dealer has help my opinion. Too bad dealers can't figure out what wins customers....... Nissan North of Columbus will not get another dime from me.......

 

Last September eh? Wow, I got my black fully loaded except Navi max in July! I ALSO had an Accord before my max.

I was a proud HONDA owner for 3 years and my dad thought I deserved a newer car. We shopped around and I looked at ALL types of cars from Jettas, Passats, G35, Mercedes C320s, and of course, Maximas. From the beginning I told him I would love a max and he tried to get me other cars but for multiple reasons, I ended up with the max and I'm DAMNED HAPPY about it too.

There's just no comparison for the price. Nothing out there comes close to having ALL the features of a max for anywhere near the price.

BTW: I am NOT a spoiled college student that gets everything he wants. My sister and I are the first from my family (cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, name it) to go to college and actually make something of ourselves so my dad thought the max would be a perfect gift. Let me also say this, since I've gotten my max, my grades have skyrocketed.

We should all do just what jmh8 did and try posting GOOD things about our max's every once in awhile.

 

My 60year old Dad drives a 2000 SE. He bought it after seeing how terrific a car my Maxima has been over the years. When I decided on it back in 1989, he was skeptical. Never heard much about Nissans and thought I would be better off with an Accord LXi or Legend LS (had 4 Hondas in the family at the time!). I fell in love with my '89 for the same reasons you love your 2002. The more things change, the more they stay the same!

His 2000 has not experienced anything other than slightly warped rotors (I notice it, he doesn't), rear window wind rush (fixed that myself per TSB), the trans slip (control mod. replaced, no questions asked), and a driver's window channel squeal (fixed by dealer-took a couple of trips during oil changes, but the tech found a new TSB and fixed it ASAP).

The dealer makes all the difference, to be sure. His is terrific, small town, local family owned, and he gets a loaner car if he just asks. My dealer by me is just like that, but where I bought my Pathy, they are part of a bigger group and quite inept (only bought from them because they were the only ones willing to dealer trade for exactly what I wanted).

I really think the Maxima is so underrated. It's almost as if Nissan is a victim of it's own success. It's bread and butter cars are so good, it makes it hard for Nissan to really create an even better one as it's flagship.

Think about this... if a domestic maker came out today with a duplicate of the Maxima in every respect, no matter the year, it would be hailed as a breakthrough and everybody would be declaring victory over the Japanese. Just one look at the Big 3's offerings in the same class or price bracket buttresses my point!

My sig says it ALL!

 

I didn't think you were a spoiled college student until you mentioned that your dad bought it for you...I had assumed he just helped you shop...maybe because he has more experience shopping for cars...but now we know you are a spoiled college kid...

nothing wrong with that tho...my wife got a 1994 Saturn SC2 when she was a Junior in highschool (this was in 1994) just because she was a 4.0 student...she did go on to college and graduate ***-laude at UNCW(is that "come loud"? hehe)...she too is a spoiled brat!

Being a spoiled brat helps with ambition...once you're out on your own, you have more ambition...you won't settle for much less than a Maxima next time around, so you are more prone to make it to work on time, and do a good job...so you can afford the M45...or whatever you want next...(i'm always trying to upgrade)

Keep up the good work in college...don't quit! graduate...so you can buy your own FX45 for your future woman when the time comes..without help from "Pops".

well, i'm done ranting...

-vq

 

Actually, for me buying my OWN stuff was the perfect gift. Good for you though, I wish my parents had bought me a car...let alone two.

 

Not sure about the ranting, but thanks for the overly idealized life plan.

Unfortunately you failed to cover other issues like economic conditions, changes in technology and markets, corporate fraud, layoffs, and so on and so on and so on...

Yeah, college is fine, but life throws SOOOO many curves to SOOOO many people, it is naive to think all will fall according to plan.

IF it does, cool.

Trust me, here in Houston we have seem plenty of lives turned upside down if not totally de-railed by stuff like Enron, AA, etc. that life is nothing more than a crap shoot for most. Like it or not.

 

To bad you are not a hair closer to Cincy. I have found a GOOD dealership that is respectful AND knows about ALL TSBs related to the Maxima.

 

Very true. Sometimes hard work and dedication isn't enough...it's the luck of the draw.

 

Colonel is that Cincy as in Ohio? Wow... it seems to me Max fans are few in Ohio. OK back to topic now:

WE love our Max! We loved the 99 too but hated the lease and it was cheaper to get out with a trade than buy it our from Provident Bank. Anywho.... service is the key. So what if I made 10 trips to the dealer we purchased the car from (Nissan North) who said they could not resolve the problem. Contacted corp in CA and they were no help to NN or us (but we did get the gold ext warranty). We then contacted the Atty Gen's office and was going for a buyback. Corp then got involved and a regional tech had it for a week (at the dealer we requested which was the dealer we bought the 99 from) and thought got the problem resolved and fixed some other things in the process (replaced all coil packs, y pipe, several belts). Problem came back in December and the other dealer of choice just fixed it without question. Am I jaded with the product? I love the car and plan on driving it til the wheels fall off or someone offers me a HUGE amount of cash for it.

From a person who has done customer service work since age 15 (almost 31 now) in small family owned business to BIG corp American Banking (now) think this way: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you do not get the resolution you are looking for then try another approach. I love my Maxima, it's not perfect but for goodness sake it is a car and for my money it is d@mn hard to beat!

 

The car rocks and it's good to see you keep your cars a while, cause you'll need it to get that loan upside up. Don't expect resale value to be at a par with Honda. The ownership experience is a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type of a thing. The max is Dr. Jekyll, but Nissan NA and the dealers are totally a different monster.

 

i feel by having my 2k2 max in college it has teached me alot about car care. i treat my max like its a sibling because i know its mine and ill be keeping it for 5-6 years. i want it to look just a nice in 5 years as it does now. the only downside is all my friends think its an altima.

 

Good timing on this thread for me, I wanted to post this comparison too but hadn't had time. We just bought a loaded 2002 Mazda Millenia S for my wife (she loves these). This is a $33k car new, and is designed for the near-luxury market - it's very nice, and also very pretty, but I thought it was interesting that the Max has some advantages over it in creature comforts (won't talk about performance, because they're designed for different markets and even with the "supercharger" the Max kills it):

Cool features in the Max, not avail. in the Millenia:

Auto passenger side window
Auto-up driver and passenger windows
Homelink garage transmitter in the visor
Complete audio controls on the steering wheel
One-touch sunroof


The Max is loaded for a mid-$20k car. Oh and BTW - talk about depreciation: we admittedly got a great deal, but this car had only 2,800 miles on it (no, I didn't misplace a comma), and we paid only $23k - $10k off the new price. Doh!

 

Altima 3.5SE?

 

My bad, I meant from another car maker though