huuuuge front fender gap on stock wheels and suspension......but my new k-sports and rays 19's will take care of that shortly

agreed. I hate the fact that i can keep up with and/or outrun my buddy's 06 GT.

No Rear Independent suspension
No Handsfree bluetooth

I hate threads that hate on my car.

i hate the constant squeaking from the suspension..does it on my 00 with 120k miles and did it on my 07 with 36k miles... theres gotta be a fix

TURN RADIUS ALL THE WAY!!!!!!

-Turning radius
-Only 4 speed auto
-Seatback doesn't heat up with heated seats

I had a rattle in the rear that was noticeable going over speed bumps. Turns out my exhaust was "loose" from old worn out rubber hangers. Had new ones put in during an exhaust patch-up and now the pipe stays in place and doesn't bounce around banging on stuff. Give your pipes a lookover.

OMG turning radius!

About that turning radius, does anyone know if that can be "modded"?

+1

Maybe you need a torque wrench?

Not to mention a little anti-seize goes a long way.



Thing I hate, sure I have ranted about them before but these still irk me:

The auto tranny. I've vented about this before but it still irks me when I'm coming out of a corner and the stupid thing upshifts and holds that gear.

Turning radius. I have only had one other vehicle I had to pull into an intersection in order to make a u-turn in. That was a Ford Crew Cab Dually. Yes Nissan, your 4 door sport car's turning radius is comparable to a truck with a 168 in wheelbase.

The crazy reset/learning procedures we need to perform. Seriously, most other vehicles figure out their base parameters within 15 minutes of being fired up for the first time. Why do we need to click the key over 18.2 times wait 3.6 seconds honk the horn in a church from the back seat to reset a fuel door light? But on a serious note, the car has enough sensors, it should be able to figure out where the throttle valve should be.

The crappy/chinzy little motors Nissan uses for the sunroof and seats amongst other things. I have had to rebuild the sunroof motor twice so far, and to tell you the truth It's pretty undersized for the job it has to do. Not to mention the brush holders are poorly casted. Last time I took it apart I had to shave one of the brushes down because it was getting caught on the holder.

Oh yea, speaking of sunroofs Nissan, why did you omit the manual operation of the sunroof for the 5th gen? You do understand these things fail every so often and you really shouldn't -HAVE- to take the damned car into the dealer to just get the thing closed.

lol, i never use anti-seize but after busting one stud on my previous matrix and on my mom's van, i decided it would be clever to get a torque wrench and look at the owner's manual

Now, that's funny.

1. 4 speed automatic
2. shape
3. color

1. Love my 6MT.
2. Love the shape of the 5th gen.
3. Love the color.

Man, what is wrong with you people? You've got one of the best cars in its class for the early 2000's, and you're complaining about it? That's nuts.

Go drive a 2002 Camry, and then tell us how much you hate your Nissan.

Rochester, that's not very fair. They didn't wish death upon you. Driving a Camry WILL cause one of two things.

1. You will get a gas pedal stuck and crash.
2. You will fall asleep because they are so boring and crash.

LOL, Zero!

If you see a problem, do what you can to fix it. Whining about your car serves no purpose.

Then it's clear that you bought the wrong car for your tastes.

No matter how good something is there is always room for improvement. Especially when it comes to a machine as complex as an automobile.

As for the Camry, yes it is a very beige vehicle appliance. But hey, it fulfills it's market niche quite well - People that just don't care about the drive and just want to get to point B.

More like you will fall asleep from the warm beigeness pin the gas pedal and then crash.

I'm just trying to find a decent shift **** that I like that is an improvement/replacement over the factory 5-speed issue that is worn. One that isn't universal fit, since they don't tighten down well and sit too high on the shift lever. Isn't this what the thread is supposed to be about? Finding improvements instead of complaining about the color, or the shape and design?

Anyone rockin' a Blox 490 limited edition shift ****? I recently came across that online doing some shift **** searching and it looks sweet! I like the shiny neo-chrome finish, and it's available in Nissan's metric thread pitch too! Post pics please and comment on it if you have one.

No Aux Jack
CD Cutout
4 Spd Auto
Burning Oil

didnt even have the car for a week yet and already am I like "how the H311 is this expensive *** car gonna have no Aux but a cheap *** Sentra does?
I miss my lil slow Spec V with an aux jack. Now i gotta settle with a tape player mp3 thing since the CD's blow.

These are things you should know before you buy the car, i really dont think that someone forced you to buy/drive your car, it was a decision of your own, so live with it. I had an auto before and got sick of it, so i sold it and bought my max


I agree with you Rochester, on points 1 and 2, as far as 3 i would've preferred a majestic blue or "dark black" lol, but silver is still ok with me, i like it too!!
One of the best cars? yes, that was the reputation that it had, for some reason nissan overlooked some minor details on the 5th gen and from my point of view it is not what it used to be, im not saying it's a POS but the quality/reliability decreased by one point from my perspective, maybe nissan corrected all that with the 6th gen? i dont know as i dont have one or have looked into it (dont like the looks too much, the 5th gen is much better looking!!! ); i had '94 SE myself and i can tell the handling was a lot better and it never give me any issues but the radio which was not working when i bought it so i knew that before hand (solved with an aftermarket setup). The only thing that i didnt know when i bought my max was the issue about the oil leak but that can be fixed (and i will this weekend, if the parts come in on time) just replacing the valve cover (correct me if im wrong), the shifter is mad long and notchy, but thats the way the cars is from what i read and i was also used to my MSM which has STS from the factory. overall i love my max even though i've had to do some stuff to it already, thats what you get when u buy a used car, but when i look at it and drive it, ahh all the other stuff is just irrelevant.

as far as comparing it with a carmy.... its a different class, the camry battles the altima and accord, and yes it is a good car, my sis in law has one and no problems; but the max is just more class, luxury, power, go compare it with a TL or an Avalon and then we can talk

In other news:
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...-love-car.html

I personaly love my car, hopefully it will last, have a 171k on it.
The cd player blows.
A damn star destroyer has a better turning radius.
The speaker sounds like it has a angry chipmunk in it.
and it was easier finding bin laden than aftermarket parts for a 2k3.

Agreed. It's even worse than a Pro Roc.

turning circle(or lack of)
weak paint on the hood
02-03 tail lights
hood should have been a little more aggressive(maybe 1/4" raise at the creases)
no AC controls on steering wheel
silver glass trim

Agreed...... Why not have a thread with things that you love about your 5th gen maxima?!?!?!?!?!

Only thing I can say is the turning radius SUCKS......a truck with a 54' trailor can probably turn tighter than the max. I hate trying to park and you have to reverse then pull forward to get in the spot because of the turning radius. All the other things people complaining about can be addressed.

OH....also the oil eating issue. (that will be fixed when I do my all motor build though)

loves oil a little too much

Things that I hate of her (My Maxima... Not my girlfriend LOL):
- Turning radius... *sigh* I almost feel that I'm driving a Road Train when I need to do a U-turn.
- Damn "leather" seats. It's summer + 110 Farh outside + Parking lot without trees = *** BBQ! I just bought a damn seat cover for avoid that my *** becomes cooked and crispy. LOL!
- Clunking noise when I drive over a little imperfection in the road... Damn sway bar links!

Things that I love of her:
- Homelink system.
- V6 ( from QG18DE to VQ30DE-K, babe!)
- A/C works like a dream!
- Shape (Oh yeah, that girl it's sexy!)

I love my 5th gen but theres def some annoying things. The stock suspension is definetly crappy, wish the back windows could go down all the way but i know they cant cuz of the fender, and the Bose sound sytem has alot of prolems. I love that people underestimate maximas tho n then they get beat bad lol

I love my 00 SE, only thing I hate is the fact that I'm not getting n e spark frm the coils....and for the life of me I cannot figure out wtf it is. Changed the cam sensors, both crank sensors as well as the ecu and still.....nothing....fml I miss driving my baby. Handles like a dream due to suspension mods and pretty quick response due 2 powertrain mods.

I just don't get it if you people hate your car, then why are you still driving them

Well, because threads like this tend to spark ideas. "Hey, you have that problem too? Did you know you can install ABC product to fix that?" or "Hey, what if we tried doing this or that to repair it... it should work.

Ideas and solutions come from collaboration.

Those of you that complain about the steering radius - I invite you to go drive a Volvo S80. that thing needs about a block-and-a-half to do a U-turn! Honest-to-God, that the car with the worst turning radius in the world!

The Maxima's is not the best there is, but I don't find it to be that bad. My main gripes are:

1) Torque steer
2) Weak suspension/handling
3) Front wheel drive
4) Cheap interior material
5) Dorky tail light housings
6) Weak instrument cluster illumination and
7) The 1970's HVAC levers on the GXE.

It's definitely no luxury car, but overall I like mine.

EDIT: Oh, by the way, forgot to mention the main thing: On Cali-Spec version - the $800/ea front cats that are Stealer-only item!

Must agree on tails.