Frank Fontaine

Will Nissan ever decide to put them in, perhaps in the sporty line such as the SE, or not? One of the major problems imho with Maximas since the 4th gen was introduced about 7 years ago is there's little diff between GXE, GLE, SE. We gravitate towards the SE because of the manual tranny, but is there any diff in suspension (Nissan says yes), brakes, steering, motor, etc? They seem to acknowledge the Oldsmobile syndrome by severely cutting back the production of GXE for 2002--they don't want to build base cars, they want to load them up with options and try to make more profit. Anyone taking advantage of the steep discounts on 2001's? There's no shortage of available cars, and they are bargain-basement priced.

Anyway, Mazda and Toyota (Camry of all cars) offer 3-spoke wheels in their sporty cars, it'd be nice if Nissan woke up by 2003. Little touches do matter. If the cruise control switches had to be relocated, I think we would live.

DenMax

From the way it's looking, the 2003 won't be a sports sedan. It's starting to sound like the MAx is going to be a full size sedan like the Q.

Tanman

I like the steering wheel on my 2K Maxima SE. It allows for great hand placement for one-handed driving. Comes in handy when I eat while driving, which I do a lot. Also when I fiddle with the stereo or have my hand prepped on the shifter for racing. A three-spoke wheel would make things trickier since you'd actually have to grip the wheel, versus just having your hand lodged between two spokes, like I normally do it.