Neednewcar

Hi everyone, I am new here. I have been a fan of the Maxima for a long time. I owned a 94 maxima a long time ago and had it for 3 years. Not one problem. Since then I have bought 2 other cars and have been disappointed with their reliability. One car was American and the other German. I have decided to go back to the Japanese cars. I really like the new Maxima and love the power that comes with it.

However being that this is still a new model and is being built in America I have some doubts about reliability. I have been reading this board for a month or so and it seems the 04 models had some issues that left some people with a sour taste. What I need your help in is finding out if these issues have been fixed and resolved on the updated models of 04 and the new 05. I read a lot of issues with the shimmy, rattles, misaligned parts ect....

Can you guys please give me honest advise on the quality now that it has been a year. If I do end up buying the car it would be the 05 model. To be honest with all of you I have had a lot of issues with my German car and I just don't have the heart nor patience to deal with other issues.

Thank you all for your feedback in advance.

carcus

Just one minor issue with my 04 Max SE and that was the cheap shift know that broke under normal use. Engine is great, besides the interior trim scratches easy and display scratch issue. No problems here, real happy with mine. I traded in a 328 BMW convert with about 75K on the odo for the Max, miss the convert, but still love the Max. No build quality issues for me that any other new gen redesign would have. If I were you, would get a late build model 04 used and save TONS of money over a 05. Not much new and with the depreciation of the Max.....would be a good choice. Get a loaded late build 04 for the price of a 05. Again, that is my 2 cents. This is a great car, bullet proof engine, personally I like the looks over the last gen, but everyone normally hates the new body styles.....especially the owners of the 03 models who bought a 03 new and the next year....everything changes. 1st year redesign always will have issues, they eventually work them out. The build quality using Japanese parts with American workers in not the problem in my opinion...it is a few design flaws that with a new redesign are bound to happen what ever car you buy with a major change. Again, up you.

STECK

I took delivery of a 2004 on Dec 23rd and have had zero problems. It's a great car. Of course I take real good care of mine. Dash trim and Nav screen are still like new. Has 3 coats of Zaino wax and I am careful where I park. I like to zoom it when I can and have made several trips and gotten good (26mpg) gas mileage. Enjoy one of these beauties.

P.S. I took a tour of the factory in Smyrna, Tennessee and was quite impressed.

STECK

I took delivery of a 2004 on Dec 23rd and have had zero problems. It's a great car. Of course I take real good care of mine. Dash trim and Nav screen are still like new. Has 3 coats of Zaino wax and I am careful where I park. I like to zoom it when I can and have made several trips and gotten good (26mpg) gas mileage. Enjoy one of these beauties.

P.S. I took a tour of the factory in Smyrna, Tennessee and was quite impressed.

STECK

Oops, a newbie, excuse me.

Tvetti

You will definelty love the car and the power.

The most annoying and predominant problem is the Wheel shimmy at 50-65. I bought mine in April 04 and after the first oil change, i started having the wheel shimmy and still have it. I dont have any rattles. most problems reported here ( glove box alignment etc ) are cosmetic and few other problems like sun/moon roof leak, engine are extremely rare.

IMO, just watch out for the wheel shimmy. Other than that it is great car.

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

Lucky dog!

I would love to tour there.
Oh, and for double posts, you can edit it to apologize instead of triple posting.

This car is phenominal! If you're already interested, you will love it as much as we do. Do not be discouraged by the problems listed here. check the few other sites for enthusiasts to see all their problems. Majority here will say the performance and greatness of this Max overshadows the minor quirks.

VTmaximaVT

I have some minor problems with my 04 max, but most of cars i had had some minor problems. my problems with the max were bad struts, power lumbar support malfunction, cd changer problem...i think that's all. those were not
big of a deal...i still love my max, and I recommend the new max to everyone!

Souljourner

I have had exactly one problem with my car... a rattle at about 1800 RPMs which was fixed. I picked up my car in August of last year, and that's my sole problem. No shimmy, no nuthin'.

My info screen is a little scratched, and I'll probably replace it sometime soon with the supposedly better 05 screen... but besides that, the car is awesome.

-The Souljourner

SilverSL

Is there a TSB for that rattle cuz i hear the same damn thing and my dealer said that its fine!.!.! It like when i accelerate kinda fast and it usally only happens at 1500-2000 rpms so it must be the same rattle u were talkiin about.

kmoney56

There's no TSB for the rattle. I've had mine in FIVE times to try to fix it and still no luck. Next week they're giving me a rental and keeping it until it's fixed.

Back on topic - besides the rattle and a broken lumbar switch, no problems here. My folks have a very late build 04 that has been perfect...I would think they've worked any of these minor issues out by now...

lightonthehill

My experience pretty much agrees with others in this thread. Three months with no problems. Of course, my SL was built in May of '04, so many of the earlier problems seem to have been addressed by then.

As others suggested, if you are buying within the next few months, you can save thousands by selecting an '04. Just be sure the VIN serial # is between 900000 (or thereabouts) and 931700 (end of '04 production run). That way, you avoid the first 100,000 '04s built.

Also, as others suggested, be absolutely sure to test drive before buying, being especially careful to note any steering wheel vibration between 45mph and 60mph.

And if you buy, be very careful not to hit the metallic interior surfaces with anything sharp or hard, or place anything on the ledge under the nav screen. In fact, never let anything touch the nav screen for any reason. I have had absolutely no problems in this area, but others have had great problems with this.

You will find the '04 SE rides a tad less harsh than previous SEs, and the '04 SL rides clearly less harsh than previous Maximas. Probably because I am getting on in years, I really love the SL's ride.

I get lots more looks in my '04 SL than my neighbor gets in his G35 or my son gets in his 'S Type' TL. We have ridden with each other, and I can't help but notice this.

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

Neednewcar

Hey guys, thank you very much for your honest opinions and feedback. It is much appreciated. I guess the second issue I may have is FRONT WHEEL DRIVE. My past 2 cars for the last 7 years have been rear wheel drive and I am use to that. How is the front wheel on the maxima. I guess what would really help is any feedback from people who came from rear to front wheel drive. Ofcourse I welcome any and as much feedback as I can get. Thanks again

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

then I guess you need to choose between the Max and g35. Test drive both to see the difference. Let us know your opinions.

BlackSEMax

I have had several issues with my early build 04. The issues themselves are minor and to be expected with any new model, however, what I did not expect is the attitude from my local dealer and subsequently Nissan Motors when trying to remedy the otherwise minor problems. Their attitude and lack of attention is wearing me out.
Good luck with yours though. Definately keep the car for 24 hours when you test drive. I did not drive mine that long before I bought it, but began to notice all of the rattles and shakes within the first 24 hours. Take a nice long test drive!

lightonthehill

As to the 'rear vs front' discussion, that horse has been beaten to smithereens here.

The sort-of consensus is that RWD is preferred by many (if not most) agressive drivers. In many cases, this is because they grew up driving RWD cars, and feel more at home with them. They like the characteristics of rear drive.

Although I drove RWD vehicles from 1950 until 1985, I greatly prefer FWD, as 60% (or more) of most car's weight is over the front wheels. On wintry roads, I can often keep going with my FWD in places where RWD would be useless. And winter does come around every year . . .

Along this line, Infiniti announced this week they are dropping the I35 (based on the 5th gen Maxima), as they wish to have all their vehicles RWD. With the demise of the I35, all Infiniti vehicles are now RWD.