Max may not be long for this world as far as my driveway is concerned. I'll hit 36K by the end of Novemeber. Never had I had a car in for so many defects. Paint, Sunroof, Dash Rattles, Rough Idle, Wind Noises, Speaker Rattles, Suspension Noises, Starter Disengagement Noises, Window molding falling off, and this morning my Bose system volume lowers all by itself. Oh yeah, I can't forget the "Factory Trained Techs" that gouged up 3 pieces of the dash while chasing down a rattle. Those I forced them to replace.

How much money do you have to spend to get a quality car? Does a quality car even exist?

 

Get 'em, Skier; I have owned 3 Maximas and now have an 02. What a disappointment. Oh yeah, the 3.5 runs great but I'll take a Honda next time. Rattles, front end noises and looseness, poor fuel mileage, spark knock (even with 93 all the time), pathetic service. Oh yeah, my spark knock is a "normal operating condition" according to the local service MANAGER. He also advised me to go to the same station all the time. Yeah, that's an acceptable fix. I guess I can only drive to and from work with this car.

Are the 00/01 any better? If so I may downgrade.

 

I have also owned 3 Maxes. I had 2 3rd gens and now an 02. I like the 02 most of all. I don't know why you would have spark knock. What do you consider poor fuel mileage?

 

aside from the dealer TSBs, my 02 runs strong and i dont have any of the problems most of the guys complain about. People always *****ed about the tranny, my 6spd shifts fine and doesnt grind...

 

my 02 is sweet. not a single problem outside the tsb. all car companies make a few lemons......

 

I love my '02 Max. The only gripes I've had is the spark knock and paint chips, everything else seems good.

 

it sounds like you have a coilpack problem which is common on 99-03 Maxima's

 

I thought the coil pack issue was only with the VQ30 in the 00-01's...

 

99's had the same issue. ive never heard of it being a significant problem in 3.5's though.

 

Sorry but the 02-03 auto tranny is garbage....and so is Nissan customer service....

 

now how much money has it cost you out of pocket??? oh yeah thats right you still have a warrenty. You are going to see the same things with every car company you go to. sometimes there are cars that just have problems..and maybe you have one of them...i have 49k on my 03 and i have no real complaints..yes i am on my 2nd 6 speed transmission but that was free what do i care..when my tranny went on my accord i had to pay for that...anyways now im babbling

 

I agree. This will probably be my last Nissan. The customer service is horrible and I do not like Nissans new look. I will also make more money by the time I am able to buy a new car and will probably go Lexus or Acura. I may consider Infiniti, but I am sure they have the annoying problems that plague Nissans. It is pretty bad when I chose a tire, I threw out the noise rating because I probably could not hear tire noise over the wind noise (even after the wind noise TSB) Nissan screwed me over on the warranty and that was the straw that broke the camels back. I will have to see a dramatic improvement in Nissan quality, style, and service before I will consider Nissan again.

 

skier...how much of your problems do you think are from reading this forum? Do you know what a hypochondriac is?

Every car has it's own problems. As long as the problems are corrected at no charge by the manufacturer, then there really is no problem.

 

02 6 speed.... only problem in the past 3 years has been the Bose.... apart from that, nothing.

Dealership service on the other hand is another issue altogether. Remember, these are Nissan dealerships, Nissan has limited control over how these guys treat customers or their quals/knowledge, so service standards will vary among dealerships.

 

My 2001 SE just turned over 48K. I'm the second owner, but obtained a full maintenance history when I bought the car. The only things that have been serviced on my car are the applicable TSB's when it was newer and a replaced catalytic converter (all under warranty).

I bought it was 40K and it is as tight as a drum. The road noise was fixed by replacing the crappy stock tires, and the only rattles I hear are from things that I have in the glove box or trunk. I average about 30 mpg in highway driving and slightly less in the city. I don't love the way the transmission seems confused sometimes, but otherwise I'm really happy with the car and feel that I got a great deal on it.

Dealership experiences are so subjective. I dislike the salesman I worked with, so I no longer go to that dealership. The place I go now is a Mercedes/Nissan dealer and are second to none. Quick, courteous service and they always wash/vacuum the car before I get it back. They've even replaced some little annoyances - like two missing seat belt latch holders and a center console latch (which my girlfriend's kid broke) free of charge. I'll be their customer forever, and will make my next, more high-end purchase with them.

 

I have an 02, and have not had any problems so far. It's been a rock solid reliable car. I've been thinking about going with an 05, but some of what I read is a bit concerning. I have test driven a couple, and 1 has the "shimmy" problem the 6th gens are dealing with, but that was supposedly on the 04's. I also just drove an 05, and it was very nice. So not sure what I want to do. If I can get a good deal, will probably go for it though....as I too heard "issues" with the 02 before I bought it. Like others have stated, ALL cars, regardless of manufacturer will have problems.

 

cant argue that the autos are garbage, thats why i got the 6spd! service at my dealer is great, they fix every prob i had. like someone else said, find a dealer that doesnt suck.

 

yeah man that sucks that your dealership experience has kinda been a little on the not so good side, but every dealership is their own place of business, nissan can't be watching over everything that all their service departments do no matter how hard they try, you also have to consider the fact that if you are in there everyday complaining and whining about things that are wrong with your car they are probably not going to want to have anything to do with you or fixing your car for that matter. you prolly ruined their customer satisifaction index already anyways so they figure what the heck who cares lets just get this guy out of here as fast as we can. let me tell you from working in the service department nothing pisses someone off more than hearing the customers whine and complain about getting something for free when the technician has to work at half pay for something that nissan messed up in the first place........i have a 2001 maxima and i have taken good care of it and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it that i have had to pay for yet. only thing i pay for is oil changes which i do myself anyways........my suggestion to you is that you go find another dealership and go in there with a totally different attitude than just fed up with the car. if you dont like it that much why dont you sell it?

 

Yeah... dah... I know what a hypochondriac is. If I were one, these things would be imaginary. 9 days in the shop since late aug with no "could not duplicate" comments is not imaginary. The only thing worse than the car issues is the service, and it's fine to say that if everything is going to be fixed it's OK, but when the warrantee is up how the hel is that OK? Sorry, have to through another "dah" in there.

Anyway, glad to see some of you folks have had good luck.

Enjoy them if there good ones...