Car Magazine (Engligh publication) had a brief write up of our car in their April 2001 issue. Their quote is below:

Nissan Maxima QX:
We say... Maxima QX. Meaningless monicker for, let's face it, a pretty meaningless car. Nissan should stop bothering us with its increasingly desperate attempts to market a sort of Lexus Lite luxury package. Lexus trite, more like. The QX has all the right elements for success - smooth V6, refinement and space - but Nissan never bothers to bolt them all together very convincingly. We admit that it is okay to drive, with a brilliant automatic gearbox and occasionally jittery ride over the rough stuff, but lacklustre cab-rank looks kill it stone dead in the director's car park. Costs a bomb to run because of colossal depreciation.

What do the Brits know anyways? Just a bunch of really ugly people stuck on a small island. Hey, maybe that's it... maybe they don't like our cars because our mirrors are too big and they keep having to look at their ugly mugs!

 

ya what the hell do they know anyway. although i do love jaguar....

Hey you actually have the UDP on your car or still in your trunk??


Adam

 

They have infamous bad teeth too!

 

The UK market is TOTALLY different to the US, as are the general styling preferences.

Firstly cars (although this is getting better) cost 30 - 50% more to buy there.

Secondly gas is currently running at a little over $4.50 a gallon (US) having come down from a high of nearly 6 bucks.

Thirdly, road tax will nail you for $500 a year if not more, but is less for smaller engined vehicles.

Fourthly, maintenance is much more expensive - $50 for 4 quarts of Mobil 1 versus $25 here.

Due to the unreasonable cost of the cars in the first place, immediate depreciation is bad on all cars, but tends to be worse the bigger and more expensive the vehicle.

The result is that highly tuned 4 pots are the popular performance cars and more cylinders than that tend to be reserved for BM's and Merc's because if people are going to take the price and running hit for a 6 cylinder they want to be wearing a real trendy badge and when you add it all up suddenly the Max and BM aren't so different in running costs.

The Nissan Primera know in the US as the Infiniti G20 is a very popular car over there, but is quite rare and has received poor press here. The Max is the same, but in reverse... and to add insult to injury they have a 4 cyl Max over there too!

An Englishman in New York driving a Max!

 

I don't know where your getting your oil, but I pay about 6 bucks for 4 quarts of Mobil 1.

 

Well I would love to know where you get your oil, I have bought from many regular places, auto parts stores, Wal Mart etc and they are all about 4.50 - 5 bucks a quart!

 

Yeah England is really different from over here. I just got back from a trip to London (grew up there!) and i have never seen so many BMW's, Merc's, Porsches. Hell must have seen about 50-60 ferarri's. Japanese cars are almost non-existent in london. The rich buy german and the less affluent by things like fords. The ford mondeo is a sweet car, believe it or not. So the review doesn't surprise me at all. But they really don't know what they are missing - their loss.

An englishman in Virginia

fyi - the max in england is the same as the i-30 (our body style is only available in canada, us, mexico, and taiwan).

 

Yeah, small Honda's and Toyota's are pretty popular, but of course the Japanese still have import restrictions imposed on them over there, so the numbers that can be brought in are reduced.
Get up to Newcastle though and Nissans are the most popular car on the road! That though is mainly because the Primera (Infiniti G20) is made there, as are models not sold in the US - Micras!

 

I think they're just upset at the Max's poor rallying abilities...

 

I would have thought that the Max would be okay at rallying in the two wheel drive class, but then again the torque characteristics aren't the best for rallying, as the ideal would be to have a boat load of torque at low levels, like modern turbo 4cyls.

 

There's no 4 Cyl max over there. There's two engines though. Ones two litre and ones three litre...both are six cylinders.

 

not only the surroundings are different from here and there, but the maximas in europe are different from the maximas here...
they have the I30(cefiro) body style and two different engine choices. a 2.5 NEO V6 motor and a 3.0 V6...the latter is different from our V6 and produce around 190 hps...
since they have skylines and silvias in europe, i guess it's easy for them to call maxima a meaningless car in britain...

 

I guess I'd betta sell my auto chap!

 

Nope, it's still in my trunk. I am going to take it to a friends house next week and use his compressor/impact wrench and give it a go. I may have to result to the old wedge the ratchet and blip the starter method to break it free though. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

You can say that again! I have been to Europe a few times and I must say that Italy (Catania to be specific) is absolutely crazy. Everyone drives a $hit-box and regarding the stripes on the pavement... I don't know why the government wastes their money. Nobody even looks at the lines. If it's paved, it's a free-for-all. It's also like everyone can only see five feet in front of their car. If there's no one there (or even if there is), just punch it. ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!! I spent some time in England and it was much, much better... a lot more like here, except for the wrong side of the road thing. I saw some sweet rides in London too. I was staying at a Hilton just off of Green Park, a few blocks away from Buckingham Palace. I saw a Z8, orange Diablo, BMW M5, and the like. I also saw some nice rides while window shopping (Jags, Bentleys, Diablos, Aston Martins, ...). It was a fun trip, but I'm glad to be back to my Max (and wife, of course).

 

I don't agree with the sentiments of this British magazine; however I do think the US publications are too hesitant to criticise any car. A car is either wonderful or OK.

 

Just caught this one.

I've got used to the press slagging Maximas (what you call 3rd Gens)and QXs (4Gen and later). I appreciate a good demolition job on a crap car as much as the next man, but it's less funny if it's your motor. Which isn't bad anyway. I've also got used to nobody knowing what a Maxima is.

I'm all in favour of depreciation though. Buy a big (relatively speaking) leather and all the toys tank for next to nothing. Comfy and fast. And sod what anyone else thinks. I love it, and I know it looks good. Huge inside. I've been in a 3oo Lexus and that's a bit padded-cell so there doesn't really seem to be a lot of room.

Not tried a 400 yet, but there might be a bit of a park bench seat problem there. Honest to God, an LS400 was parked near work and there were EXTRA CUSHIONS scattered all over the back seat. How much comfort do you need?...

The Max has a serious sensible shoes Granddad image, though. Extremely useful for getting about rapidly without unwelcome attention from anyone (except coupes when you sweep past like a big white ocean liner). Probably a bit ricey getting a bow wave airbrushed onto the wings, but then it does rain here a lot.

What I wouldn't give for a 5-speed manual though. We can only get that with the 2-litre engine. Not really enough to drag all those accessories around, is it?