whats up everyone? I am new to the site and very impressed by the amount of helpful info. made available here. I bought an 04 max brand new about 2 months ago with 15 miles on it and must say that I am fairly dissapointed with the quality of the car. I don't believe it is befitting a $30,000+ car. My problems may be considered minor but inappropriate none the less. In the past 2 months I've had a loud rattling on acceleration, defective sunroof wind deflector, shimmying at higher speeds, loss of radio reception when the rear defroster is turned on, grinding coming from the power windows, rattling coming from the rear deck, all amongst miscelaneous interior trim/moldings that seem to not be in place (faulty clips?). The overall performance of the car seems to be the only plus here. Can anyone relate? Just curious on overall impressions of the 04max.

 

i also have the rattling when i accel and brought it in the dealership twice and still tell me everything is all right. i have every same problem u do and I agree with u on the amount of problems on a $30,000 + car. Im only 21 and this is my 3rd maxima and my last one.

 

When I took delivery of my 04 Max:
Rear passenger door on l/side stuck
hood was not level, huge gap on r/side
rotors warped
Nav screen had gunk on it
Rattle from rearview mirror
hard starting in morning
memory for seats did not work
rattle in rear deck
lost reception when I turned on defroster
issue with sunroof
large scratch in L/F rim

Just what I expected with a $30,000 car

But my Dealer's service guys are great and although it's been a month and not everything is fixed, they are working on it!!!

 

The performance of the car makes up for a lot of flaws. I have had many of the problems that 04maximaman has had. I am hoping that by creating polls on this site, one day when I get some results, I will be sending in a letter as well as phoning Nissan so that it gets its act together. The car has lots of little quality issues that need to be fixed for a car in this price point.

That being said. Cars these days are built 100 times better than ten years ago. I think that little issues like alignment of molding and smudge marks are indeed unexceptable. These are things the dealer should look over before releasing a car. As far as rattles and other noises, These are quality issues that need to be fixed at the Smyrna Plant. My understanding is that these are the first Maxima's assembled in the USA. The assembly plant is too new and they need to work out all the wrinkles. I am not trying to cover up for Nissan, b/c I myself am rather upset at the quality issues. The best thing would be for one of us to draft a formal letter and have people on the org digitally sign it and send it off to Nissan and several large news papers and auto watchdog groups. This way Nissan will have the public focused on them and will do more to fix stuff.

There have been several articles already posted regarding quality issues. But no follow up articles or statements from Nissan. It's about time, IMHO, that something be done.

 

I am pushing mine for a lemon law and hoping for a refund. It has been in the shop over 30 days and Nissan is not calling me. I call them week after week to hear they are still reviewing my records. At least you guys have a car to drive. Maybe the 05s are better.

 

Do you mind if I ask, What happened to your car ???

 

Does this rattling occur when the engine is revving at about 2K RPM? If so, it sounds like a loose heat shield (I had this issue, and so did a few other users).

Again, have your dealership check for the lose heat shield... sounds exactly like what I went through when I got my car.

 

I can totally feel your pain. When I bought my 04 Max, it was the first brand new car I had ever purchased. Since I bought it I've had countless trips to the dealership to get all kinds of crap fixed. I really do love the car and its a blast to drive, but I feel that for a 30K car it is lacking in quality.

 

About that rattling during accerleration, I actually had that fixed. It turned out to be one of my exaust finishers being loose. It was like a 5 min. fix.

 

I also have a " jack rabbit" I think thats what u call it??? If im going over 20mph and i let go of the gas and let it idle down and hit the gas softly again my car jumps forward wildly sometimes. When u hit the gas after idling it takes a second to go but it goes hard after that sec. anyone have this problem, my dealership also said it was normal!!!

 

I've got that too... It really makes me wonder if my tranny is defective because I hear so many others talk about how 'silky smooth' their 5 speed is.... mine is far from it (I have even had the harsh SE shifting TSB applied too).

 

silverSl thats throttle by wire we are in the electronic age. I had the same problem with the electronic trans in the early 90`s.>>>

 

is there anything i can do about this problem, or is it what it is and i should deal with it.

 

well, i can honestly say i feel everybody's pain here, we shellout 30 grand plus for what should be a top of the line vehicle and we have to deal with headache causing problems such as misaligned glovebox's , trunks, shimmy at high speeds and half a dozen other problems that many people on this forum are talking about... just hope everyone gets there car fixed...good luck guys hang in there