So... wow. I went to the Nissan dealer today to get my '03 Max appraised and negotiate the price for an '08 Max, and the detailer just happened to be finishing up a dark grey Altima with black interior on the showroom floor. Brand new, they JUST got it in, and it was loaded except for Nav.

Long story short, I'm picking it up at 5 pm today. I didn't really intend to make this my farewell note to maxima.org, but it's been a great 5 years fellas. I never posted a whole lot, but I've read regularly the whole time since I picked my Max up in February of '03. This forum has been invaluable many times, and hopefully since the current Altima really picked up where my '03 Maxima left off, there are a bunch of refugees like me who switched models.

I wish you all the best with your future endeavors and car purchases.

 

traitor.

 

I was kind of bummed there was no altima.org. I checked after I sent the initial post.

What's funny about driving an '08 Altima, is that in a lot of ways it feels just like driving my '03 Max. Just a decent amount faster and with more toys.

 

bfore you leave at least take some pics of the new ride and show us. What do you like aboutt he altima better then the max you have?

 

Will do!

Seat of the pants, the Altima feels a decent amount quicker than my Maxima.
The CVT is just badass, the 5 speed auto in the Maxima was pretty flawless, but the powerband is much more impressive with the CVT.

It has a LOT more toys then the '03 Maxima. The interior is also a lot nicer, things like the padded leather armrests are a really nice touch (that the '08 Max doesn't even have!). The Altima's Bose destroys the '03 Max's Bose, and even to my ears sounds better than the '08 Maxima's Bose. Maybe it was the source material?? I noticed there was a speaker right in the center of the dash, which I think helps a lot with the "presence" of the music.

The back seat is also bigger, which is nice because my kids are also getting bigger and I'm tired of them kicking the back of my seat!

As part of my deal they're installing the iPod cable in my glovebox for free, which is REALLY exciting. I'm currently using the ghetto tape adapter and giant cradle-on-a-stalk sticking out of my cig lighter which looks terrible. I'm also glad about going strictly to XM and iPod, because even though I haven't done a lot of research I'm positive the 6 disc changer is a POS. This seems to be the achilles' heel in any Nissan vehicle made since 1999. I went through 4 changers in my Maxima (horrible skipping) before giving up and going to my ghetto ipod install.

The seats seem to be about as comfortable as my Maxima's. They're not as nice as the '08's, and is really the only thing I'm sad about leaving behind in the Maxima. The '08 Maxima has some of the nicest seats I've ever sat in in any car.

The Altima's trunk is awesome. One of the things I've always hated about my '03's trunk is that even though it was physically big, the opening was ridiculously small. You really couldn't get any decently-sized box through the opening. I also like the "offset" cargo net on the Altima, it's not right in your face like my '03's which always got in my way.

The Altima's steering feel is perfect. The wheel itself is nice and thick, and I like that the steering isn't overboosted like they tend to do on so many modern cars.

The powerpoint inside the center console is brilliant too. They really went the full mile with this car to make sure you wouldn't have wires and **** hanging all over the place. The center console itself is great, because depending on which latch you hit you either get the "shallow" console to put cell phones and junk in, or the deep one which is cavernous and has the power point at the bottom.

It really is a well thought out car, with lots of great touches everywhere. Hopefully the '09 Maxima is the quantum leap over its predecessor that the '07 Altima was.

 

eh, Alti is just a 6th gen with different skin anyhow

CVT FTL, but congrats anyhow!

 

I also love 08 Altima Coupe, but my Maxima is just cheap and good to run.

 

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/200...ma-discussion/

 

 

yeh man congrats at least you are keeping it in the nissan family good luck

 

I'll probably go with a 6 speed Altima coupe when I wear out my Maxima but I am not in a particular hurry to get to that point. The trend with the Maxima seems to be BIGGER and the title of "four door sports car" seems to be passing to the Altima.

One thing though, I would never, ever let a dealership detailer touch the car. I get so much business cleaning up the mess they make of new cars (usually rotary swirls) that I could probably make a living just doing that.

 

enjoy it.

im gonna get another nissan in 4 months but its gonna be a real upgrade. Xterra

 

only an upgrade if you drive an Explorer

 

your 03 maxima had a 5 gear automatic, thats wierd! hehe

congratulations on the upgrade sir!

 

its an upgrade to the maxima.

dont worry, my jeep will own yours

 

Including reverse

 

You shoulda kept the 03.....Jus kiddin man...Good luck with the new Alti.

 

I ALMOST BOUGHT THAT SAME CAR FOR MY WIFE ITS NICE BUT EVEN THOUGH YOU CHANGE CARS YOU SHOULD STILL CHECK IN YOUR STILL IN THE NISSAN FAMILY

 

 

We hope you stick round and post any dynos/time slips of your new ride.

 

Good choice! Good luck

 

pics please

you did get the 3.5 right??

 

Better be the 3.5 lol congrats on the purchase and I feel ya. It's sad too. When I test drove the 07 Max and 08 Altima 2dr...Would have made the same choice!

Glad you're still staying in the family!

 

 

He said it was quicker than his Maxima so it had better be a 3.5

 

he also thought his 03 had 5 gears...

nice upgrade! lets see some pictures.

 

i think he's gone now =/

but anyways congrats on the altima. i'm wanting one too but the 2.5L one for better gas mileage. i test drove it and the cvt is pretty cool...takes some getting use to tho but it was smooth and low end seems good on that car. but ya post pics when you have a chance

 

i drove a max with CVT...its garbage. i guess it would be ok if you were an old person that just used the car for transportation (not the enjoyment of driving)

 

the engine sounds crap with CVT, I just love listening to the rev goes up and down.

 

Hey all, thanks for the posts.

I took delivery of the Altima on Friday, put ~160 miles on over the weekend just breaking her in. Had 40 miles when I took delivery, I put on as many as possible because my weekday commute has me doing a 3 minute cold start and stop for an hour when I go to the gym, which is probably hell on a new engine.

It's a 3.5SE. My folks had a '96 4 banger Altima that was a decent enough car, but when you've had a Maxima for 5 years, there's just no going back.

I did figure something out today that's been bothering me all weekend. The instrument cluster was so freakin' familiar, but I couldn't place it. It's basically the same cluster from the G35, just rearranged a bit. Same lighting, font, etc...

I think the seats are identical to my '03 Maxima's. They feel the same, which is a good thing. Those seats aged really, really well. I hope the leather holds up.

Factory XM rules, and it rules even more when I discovered the Boneyard. Great channel.

The iPod hookup is kind of wack, though. The controls require an engineering degree, and the iPod has to be disconnected for the XM to work. It sounds awesome though, it beats the hell out of the ghetto tape adapter setup I had been using.

It is incredible how much shorter the car is than my old Maxima. I have at least 6" more breathing room in the garage than I used to. You can feel it in the handling of the car as well, it is on rails compared to the old Max and is MUCH more impressive than the '08 Max I drove.

Haven't opened it up yet, though. Have to keep it below 4k RPM.... oh well. The break-in is 1200 miles, which sucks.

Sorry no pics yet.

And screw you guys on the "5 speed" thing, I made the OP when I had new car on the brain.

 

wow... been here 5 yrs and you barely have 50 posts? whats that all about

 

what's the turning radius like? one thing we all know, our max turns as if we're driving limosines.

 

I didn't really mod my Max, which is really the gist of this place. I also didn't really have any issues with the car aside from the crappy 6 disc changer. I read the forum quite a bit, though. It's always interesting to see what people are doing with their cars, and how the 6th gen was received, etc...

 

Seat of the pants, the turning radius is a LOT better. I would guess around 6-8 feet shorter then my '03. I have actually had to back out of a couple parking spots already and straighten myself out because I gave myself too wide a berth.

Having driven the car quite a bit this weekend as well as 3-4 '08 Maxima test drives, I can safely say the Altima 3.5 is really the natural upgrade for a 5th gen Maxima owner. The '08 Maxima is a good car, but it just doesn't feel the same. In fact, if I were to rank the upgrades in how similar the car is to a 5th gen Maxima, it would go:

1. Altima 3.5
2. G35 sedan
3. 6th gen Maxima

It will be interesting to see when the '09 Maximas are announced and priced if this list changes at all.

 

that's great info. the reason i asked is cuz i know several people with wrx's, and they turn on a dime. i'll most likely look into the wrx or sti as a replacement for my max. i actually thought about going with the 08 alti 3.5, but the one thing i'm looking for in my next car is awd. good luck with your new alti, hope it treats you as good or better than your old max.

 

www.altimas.net is a good forum if it's still around

 

That would be post #8

 

oh ok... it's a different forum/url i guess it redirects... just off the top of my head i was around that forum in 01

 

Those are COMPLETELY different cars then the Altima/Maxima type of car. I don't know if you've driven a WRX or STi yet, but it is basically an econobox with a sports car engine in it. If you're looking for any level of refinement in your ride whatsoever, you will NOT get it with that type of car.

And you might want to check on the insurance first....

 

Yeah, I remember it as altimas.net too, until within the past year it seems to have changed. Although altimas.net still works, just takes some navigating.