Bought an 04 6 speed used with 7500 miles with everything in it but nav. This is my 3rd Maxima -- I've had both a 96 SE 5 speed and an 00 SE 5 speed. All 3 have been black/black and loaded (yes, I happen to like that combination).

Likes:
- motor has a superb powerband and offers fantastic driveability and reasonable gas mileage (25 mpg on my 160 mile-a-day commute)
- Xenon lights -- I've never seen so well; I'm glad the cornering lights are back as well
- interior design/features -- 6th gen interior feels rich and more like a car costing a lot more; tons of space; huge trunk; very practical; love the steering wheel size (heat is nice too)
- exterior shape has really grown on me, though I'd prefer less front wheelwell gap and a slightly more visible rear lip spoiler (like the current one, but one which sticks up slightly from the trunklid); I plan to paint my grill black as I don't like any of the aftermarket grills I've seen
- ride is firm, but not harsh; car feels solid

Dislikes:
- shifter throw is too long and sloppy; coworker has a G35 Sedan 6 speed and I wish the Maxima came with that shifter
- torque steer is a side effect of a high powered FWD car; you learn how to drive with it
- seating position makes me feel like I'm sitting on the car rather than in the car -- I wish the seat could go lower; seats could use more side bolstering -- I'm hanging on going around corners; wish the headrest was closer to my head -- I'm tall (6'2") and I have to recline the seat somewhat to find a comfortable seating position which leaves the headrest far enough from my head that it's useless.
- the Bose stereo in my 5th gen was better than this one and the one in my 4th gen was better than my 5th gen, which means the stereo has gotten worse with time; I'm not an audiophile and have no plans for adding a system, but I wish this one was better. 6 disk changer is nice, though.
- the steering is too fast/numb/uncommunicative at higher speeds in my opinion; if I want to take an offramp with a little speed, I'd prefer slower steering
- the vibration/shimmy problem happens to my car. Since I hate the tires which came on the car anyway (all season tires are unnecessary in NorCal), I hope the installation of some new tires and a good balancing job may lessen the vibration (of course, I realize that the source of the vibration does not seem originate from the tires based upon other people's experiences); I can live with the vibration for now, but hope that someday it will go away.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the car and feel that it will give me good value. I only paid $20.5k for the car, so I'm ahead of the game. Plus, it's a much better commuter car than the Civic it replaces.

 

- the Bose stereo in my 5th gen was better than this one and the one in my 4th gen was better than my 5th gen, which means the stereo has gotten worse with time; I'm not an audiophile and have no plans for adding a system, but I wish this one was better. 6 disk changer is nice, though.


Nice write-up....thanks!

I had to laugh about the Bose comment.
I also owned a 4th gen, and agree that the Bose in THAT car was better than the 5th gen version.

Both were SE's as well - and i could mirror the same comment about the suspension declination too.

I still don't know how people can deal with that shimmy problem at speed.
I can't stand the fact that my brakes are warping -- but at least I can DO something (relatively cheaply, I might add) to fix it.

Good luck with the new ride!
gr

 

Ahh yes, my 5th gen had the infamous brake rotor warping problem which has fortunately been fixed in the 6th gen, as best I can tell.
The shimmy is annoying, but having owned enough cars with aftermarket wheels requiring tape weights with shops being unable to properly perform a 2-plane balance on them, I've had shimmys before.

The shimmy comes and goes not unlike a tire out of balance. I'm going to replace the tires anyway -- maybe, just maybe, some of the shimmy is coming from the wheels/tires. Honestly, I don't think that's the case or more people here would have reported curing the shimmy. I'm hoping Nissan eventually figures out what it is and puts out a TSB.

In the meantime, I like the rest of the car enough to not condemn it for this flaw.

 

I've got two sets of wheels. OEM for summer, and steel rims for winter. The shimmy is still present after I switched wheels. Which would lead me to believe that it is somewhere in the drivetrain not in the wheels or tires themselves.

 

Nope I had the brake problem.. After rotors were changed, not cut, shimmy is now gone.

 

Those of us with no shimmy consider ourselves lucky, but if mine did it, I'd stay after it until it was fixed.

Speaking of which, I don't recall if this has been covered on this forum, but several people have reported a fix for it. Their dealers adjusted the friction on the steering rack and the shimmy went away. Seems there was a difference in the specs for the part itself and for the application ... meaning that it needed to be tighter than originally spec'd for the Maxima. Have you looked into that?

Mike

 

NO -- any idea where I can find more info?

 

Well, I thought it was covered on the Freshalloy forum, but I did a search and didn't find it. For some reason, I'm not being allowed to do a search on this forum ... but you might try that.

The crux of the matter was that there is an adjustment that can be made to the steering rack to tighten it up and thus damp out the shimmy. Various posters reported that their dealer knew about it or didn't know about it, so the suggestion was to call and quiz the service manager to see if he was aware of the fix, and if not, to suggest he contact Nissan for info on it. More than one poster said this fixed their problem.

Sorry I can't help more.

Mike

 

On the contrary, you helped plenty, since I didn't even know about this until you mentioned it. Time to make some phone calls....

 

It was attributed to rack friction... It was posted on this forum.

 

Having owned a '98, '99 and current 2k3 Max, I totally agree with your Bose assessment over time and the feeling of sitting on rather than in the 2k4 seats after test riding in one. However, I could live with these things. What I couldn't live with is the shimmy problem. Add to that Nissan's relative indifference to admitting and fixing the problem, I won't even consider, unfortunately, purchasing a 2k4 Max. I understand that some 2k4 Maximas do not have the shimmy problem but if I wanted to roll the dice on getting lucky (and not getting one with this problem), I'd go to a casino.

 

With all due respect to those who do have the problem, I think it's been waaay overstated. I'll bet you couldn't find 5% of Max owners who have any kind of shimmy. It also appears to be some of the older build dates, so I'd assume it's been addressed by now.

The answer is just to be sure and drive the car you buy ... before you buy it! And note also that several people have reported that their shimmy has been fixed.

And look at it this way - you could buy a G35 and virtually know you'll have brake rotor problems!

Mike

 

I would feel much better and much more inclined to consider purchasing a 2k4 Max if Nissan actually admitted there was some problem with some of the vehicles, issued a TSB stating what the problem was and what the fix should be for those cars affected. Nissan saying there is no issue while they scramble at the factory to determine what is wrong, owners having to work with dealers and specialty balancing shops and go through tires, wheels, rotors and/or steering rack adjustments is nothing I want to risk getting involved with.

Again, a simple TSB of the issue from Nissan would remove all my concerns. Their total lack of addressing this issue in an unfront manner is more of a concern as an indication of their view on quality control and customer service than the actual problem itself. All vehicles have issues. How the OEM addresses them is very telling in a Company's orientation to building a reliable, quality vehicle and their real philosophy on customer service.

I am not bashing Nissan. I have owned over 15 of their products since my first 1973 240z. I am just very disappointed in the direction the post Renault/Nissan has taken and prefer not to purchase products from a Company that makes it very difficult to determine what post build issues are and how to fix them. If I had just spent over $30K on a new max and had to go through what some of these folks have that have the issue, I would be stuck to the ceiling.

And it is not that Nissan can't fix this. Infiniti has its share of issues as a good majority of parts are common across many Nissan/Infiniti vehicles but Infiniti and their dealers are much more agressive in admitting and resolving them for the customer(the brake issue you mention is being resolved and paid for by Infiniti through a TSB). So, guess I be looking at Infiniti from here on out if I stay with Nissan products for my next vehicle. And maybe that is what Nissan is saying. If you want what you used to get from Nissan, pony up and buy Infiniti.

 

I don't own a 2k4 Maxima. I own a 2k2 I35. But some of the dislikes redline has with his 04 Maxima are the same issues I have with my I35. The Bose system is aight, but I have heard better systems (the NDSS in the new Altimas sound 5 times better than my Bose.) I am 6'3" tall and find it difficult to find a comfy sitting position. In turns I feel like I am holding on. And the most annoying thing I have taking note to is the constant creeks I hear in the car's dash as I roll over non-smooth street surfaces.

 

$20k for an 04 6spd and everything but NAV? wow!

Very nice!

 

Man, if the 5th gen Bose is better than the 6th gen......then the 6th gen Bose blows hard......cause the Bose in my 2K2 sucks bad, esp compared to the Bose that was in my 97 Max. I agree with the posts here stating the disappointment with Nissan not agressively finding a fix for the poor owners with the shimmy problems.....make me think hard whether to pony up for a new Titan...

 

I've just about owned my max for a month now. Bought it new with DDP package (bose, leather, etc) and withing the month I have managed to put on 1800 miles and my only problem with the vechile is the sh*t bose system. I have the bass set in the middle (0) and the treble at (+1) and putting the radio up to about 24-25 on the volume and I can start to hear it distort. The volume max's out at 35. On previos 4th gen's I've had with bose, I could run the bose as hard as I wanted with no distorsion what so ever.

 

Let's just say I was in the right place at the right time.