The grill is growing on me, but I was talking more about the fact that so many people are having their grill chip and peel so easily.

 

i got my car May 31st so far so good

 

I agree, if your were generous to say that half of that margin was WHP.

 

Been driving my SL 14 months, and the grille is still perfect.

I kinda like the 6th gen grille on the SL. It sort of goes with the 'luxury' appointments and more comfortable suspension.

I have wished all along that the 6th gen SE had been endowed with a somewhat more 'sporty' grille.

The '06 would be a chance for Nissan to do that, but I don't expect it.

 

Well I kno this is kinda off-topic but Nissan jus sent me a thing in the mail today on the 06 Quest, so hopefully this means the 06 Maxima is very very close to relase

 

I would assume a horsepower increase, they did that with the 5.5 gens, and they also updated the grille, lights, tailights, and made more things standard.. I don't know why we couldn't expect the same thing for the 6.5 gen, either way the changes should be minimal but at the same time noticeable. I have no "inside information" just as a VERY close follower of Nissan and an owner of one. I think the way they always refresh there vehicles every two years, will be no different with the 6.5 gen. Obviously the 7th gen will the most anticipated redesign in recent memory!!!

 

I just did a google search for "2006 Nissan Maxima" and came upon this link:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ncap/cars/3555.html

They claim it is a 2006 Maxima... could these be some of the first 2006 Maxima pics? If so, I'm not sure that they have changed much... although it's hard to tell from those pics.

 

If it is the 2006, I don't see any apparent exterior changes.

 

Monotaur - I would say that these government crash tests are indeed being done on the '06 Maxima.

It is difficult to note any significant change from the '04/'05 Maxima in these photos. But we don't get any 'face-on' view of the rear, and the sort of 'face-on' view of the front leaves the grille in too much shadow to detect change.

Several other things work against deciphering anything from these photos: NHTSA applies so many decals all over vehicles (for use in determining crash effects) it can be difficult to spot anything Nissan may have added. And Nissan has been known to sort of mask or disguise design changes until they are ready to ship the cars to dealers.

But the legend on the associated reference clearly states '2006 Nissan Maxima'. And the side impact tests resulted in a four star rating on both driver and passenger side. IIRC, the '04/'05 had excellent frontal crash ratings, but only three star side impact ratings. Maybe Nissan strengthened the sides for '06. Nothing in the specs pointed to this being anything other than the '06.

Per the linked specs, we can see: There will be no change in tire size or wheel style or size on the '06 SE. The body style is unchanged. The general shape of the front (grille, bumper, lower valence, big grille tooth, hamburger, etc) is unchanged. It was not possible to tell if the toothy Grille itself has been changed.

There is no way Nissan will not have a few subtle changes on the outside that would separate the '06/'07 from the '04/'05, but we can't tell from these pics what those changes are.

This is the week I sort of felt the first '06 would arrive at my dealer. The first '05 arrived there August 8, 2004. I will be checking his back lot almost daily this week.

Good catch, Monotaur.

 

I just did a search on that site. The pictures they have for the 2005 and 2006 maximas are the same. In the 2004 maxima, the third picture showing the side impact crash with a red maxima is the same as in the 2005 and 2006. You can't use this site to determine the changes to the 2006 maxima as they are using the same picures for all years

 

*phew*

I lost hope for a second.

 

I wonder what the hold up is on Nissan releasing the 2006 Maxima. It seems like they should be showing up on the dealer lots anyday now.

 

Since the 2005 came with a new cigarette lighter, maybe the new 2006 will get an ashtray...

 

OMG LOL!!!

 

Damn...I love that color on a 6th gen (the red opulence). I'm a 6th gen hater, but I just can't hate on a 6th gen with that color and the grille.

 

I do what I can...

 

Good eye. I remembered that some of the 2004 pictures featured a radient ember car (which was sad ), but didn't catch that they also used some 2005 pictures too. After looking at the filenames, yeah, they are from 2004 and 2005...

So, sorry folks - false alarm.

 

If you hover over the links to videos, it looks like the pictures are from an 04 and 05 models.

 

It seems a bit weird that we have not heard anything on the 06 yet... I wonder if Nissan will surprise us.

 

They may not come out with an 06 as a surprise

 

Who cares when they come out? Enjoy the Max u have.

 

Consumer Guide has mentioned the new Maxima/Teana as well. They must have the same source talking about the car out in the southwest. I know one thing, I will not own a car named Teana- that sounds like a name for an old lady's Buick.

http://auto.consumerguide.com/auto/n....cfm/id/38206/

 

The Teana is really starting to confuse me. I really don't see Nissan having 3 very similiar sedans in their lineup (if they don't replace the Maxima or Altima with it). But, I don't see why they would drop either car (as they both have excellent name recognition) for a little-known "Teana" either... I'm just not sure where it fits in.

 

You read my mind dude...

 

It fits in nowhere, because a Teana IS a Maxima! They're one in the same. A Teana is a Japanese Maxima. It will never see the light of day in the US. I don't understand why that's so hard to comprehend.

 

I was over at the dealership yesterday to check on the 06's, they said next month here in Virginia. The manager said bluetooth was the only major change to the car. I asked him about the possibility of RWD/AWD and he said no "never" because it would compete with the G35 and Nissan wouldn't do that. He said the most that you would get would be cosmetic changes.

 

He is probably right about the 06 having some more features added, and very minor exterior changes, but I think he may be wrong on the RWD/AWD for the 7th gen Max. I have been told by far more dealers and others that the Max would eventually need to go AWD, probably for the 7th gen. Also I don't think taking the 7th gen Max AWD would compete with the G35, they are for two totally different types of people. Or look at it this way, the Max is basically at the end of the hp line as far as the amount they can put in a FWD car, so if they don't change it over to AWD, the Max will become stagnant, and will eventually drop off the radar, unless they figure out another way to steadily increse the hp in a FWD car, which would make the torque steer insane. Nissan wants the Max to be able to compete and be their flagship, so I totally see them taking the Max AWD very soon.

 

IMO the Teanna is ugly, sorry to whoever owns it.

 

Maybe the Teana will serve as the 2007 hybrid Altima?

 

I agree, if Ford can have the 500 be an AWD, why can't the Max? Also, the Max is a bigger car aimed at a different segment than the G35, I don't think there will be any conflict between the 2 models.

 

Disappointing day. I felt sure the first '06 Maximas would arrive this week. But the only things unloaded at my dealer today were ten '06 Altimas. They were the first '06 Altimas I had seen. No big appearance change. Nine 2.5 (4 cylinder engine; MSRPs in the 21K - 22K range) and one 3.5 SE (6 cyl; MSRP almost 28K - Maxima territory).

I will be very disappointed if the first '06 Maximas have not reached my dealer by this time next week.

 

Nissan’s flagship sedan, the popular Maxima, continues to offer an unmatched blend of performance and luxury. For 2006, Maxima offers an available Bluetooth® Hands-Free Phone System (the first Nissan vehicle to offer this system), illuminated steering wheel control switches and available factory-installed satellite radio. Pricing for the 2006 Maxima is $27,750 for the Maxima 3.5 SE (6-speed manual and automatic transmission-equipped models) and $30,000 for the Maxima 3.5 SL 5A/T. The overall sales-weighted MSRP increase for model year 2006 Maxima is 0.9%. This came from www.nissannews.com, the link would not take u directly to their page but you can find it... So nothing changed except available Bluetooth and some other things you can read about on that official site, enjoy...

 

very disapointing...nothing special for the 25 year release...but i guess this was to be expected

 

Any word on the bluetooth being available in the 6th gens? That would be about the only thing I'd go back to the dealer to have them install...

 

go up 2 posts from yours

 

If anyone's interested, you can go here for the 2006 Maxima price sheet:

http://www.nissannews.com/nissan/new...ma_pricing.pdf

No great changes to speak of

 

No f-ing way...there's got to be more.

 

there's always next year

 

I've just read this thread all the way through, and I think some of you guys are smoking something other than Luckies.

The Maxima is an under-$30k base-price car, and if you're looking for it to sprout backup cameras and AWD and rain-sensing wipers and all that other "luxury car" stuff, all I can say is don't hold your breath. Like it or not, Nissan's upscale brand is Infiniti, and the cooler stuff will likely show up there first since Infinitis can bring a higher price to pay for them. The Max is a great car (I love mine), but it's just not destined to be a cutting edge, near-luxury car. To add that stuff would make it break out of its segment and become competition for Nissan's own Infiniti division. Ain't gonna happen.

I have a 2006 Infiniti M45, and I can tell you even it (at $52,500 list) doesn't have rain-sensing wipers. It doesn't even have HID high-beams for that matter. Now, it DOES have a raft of sweet features, and I love it to pieces, but I'm not about to expect my Maxima to become an M45.

In fact, I think it's also too much to expect a meaningful horsepower bump. The current design just can't handle much more hp than the 265 we now have. Torque steer is enough of a bear as it is, and unless they just do a meaningless hp increase without a corresponding torque increase, expect it to stay the same until the next major redesign. Since torque is what shoves you back in the seat, I don't even want a hp increase without more torque ... I'll let Honda play that silly game.

The Max is a very solid contender as it is, and I don't expect anything but minor cosmetic changes between now and the next generation.

Just my opinion.

 

Dead on accurate.
-BadBlack