Woohoo!!! We tied with the Ford 500 for the top award in the "Large Car" category. Also, Nissan and GM tied with each having 5 cars as the top of their respective class!!

Here is the link:

http://autos.msn.com/advice/article....Home&pos=Edit1



-MO-

cool, go nissan...........

NICE!!! I knew there was at least one more person in here that cared!!!

:attention

(smilies are fun)

-MO-

I actually do, I smile when I see stuff like that.....

Hmmm, they must have not sent questionnaires to those that have taken their cars in for the shimmies.

Guess Nissan really cleaned up the 04 problems on the 05. Only had two small problems, fixed the first time by the dealer, on my wife's 05. Mine has been perfect from the get go. Way to respond Nissan. Sure hope Nissan responds to the 04 problems and get's the fixes out for you guys with the 04's.

Nice to see this.

Being tied with the Five-Hundred is not too shabby; I have checked out the Five-Hundred, and it is vastly superior to the Taurus in every way that matters to me.

I certainly gave my '04 SL good marks on the annual Consumer Reports survey I filled out a month or two ago. My '04 was built around 90% of the way thru the '04 assembly run, and Nissan seemingly had already made some adjustments even before ending the '04 run.

I gave my dealer (Union City Nissan) good marks, also, as he has been very helpful in quickly resolving anything that needed adjusting, etc.

Thats Great! Thanks for the link to the info.

thats what im talking about! go nissan!

glad to know that 35K later the car is built just about as good as a ford. The creaking the rattling the seats that sound like they are ripping when you go over bumps..... good job nissan way to build a japanese car in america. THX alot

It looks good and credible until you look at who the other competition was in the large car survey and see they didn't include because of lack of information.

http://www.strategicvision.com/05_tqa_largecar.html

I have zero comlaints on my max but I could recommend a few things to make it a little better without much more effort or cost.

HAHA, I always loved Nissan. This gives me more bragging rights. My friend loves the Ford Mustang.

It's nice to see that Nissan's efforts have been recognized with this award. While there is a part of me that has mixed feelings because the other car was a Ford 500 (which I am not at all impressed with), on the other hand, the auto business is very competitive and other manufacturers would be glad to have this award, so Nissan is to be very much congratulated for earning this honor with the Maxima.

If the maxima gets top quality awards, id HATE to see what the bottom quality car is like...perhaps it falls apart after coming off the assembly line?

1 Ford Five Hundred 886
1 Nissan Maxima 886
2 Chrysler 300 883
3 Mercury Montego 879

Others above segment average:
Pontiac Grand Prix Sedan 876
Buick Lacrosse 874

Segment Average: 868

Other vehicles in this segment:
Pontiac Bonneville
Buick Park Avenue
Chevrolet Impala
Ford Crown Victoria
Buick Century
Mercury Grand Marquis
Buick LeSabre



Not Available:
Kia Amanti
Toyota Avalon
**************************

so the competition was mainly bloated and bland American products. Where are the Toyotas and Honda's? The Avalon did not even make it in the survey. To me this would be like saying you are the best when the best competition wasn't even included.

Funny you mention that. I sold an 02 Mustang GT and got my Maxima. They are 2 completely different cars though, so it's not really fair to compare the 2. I will say this though, the 94-04 (SN95) mustangs probably have the cheapest worst quality interior of any late model car I have ever seen. Even Kias and Hyundais have better fit and finish as well as less squeaks and rattles then they have. Most other Ford's are much much better in that respect though. My F150's fit and finish seemed like a Lexus compared to the mustang. I still loved the mustang though and its a great car for the money despite that. I moved up to the Maxima due to moving to another state, which in turn quadrupled my insurance on it, I have a much longer commute and just generally more driving to do for anything, and snow in the winter to worry about, much less gas prices and stuff these days. I cant really say I like one more then the other, but I'm happy with the max. It's much more practical for me as well as having lots of toys, and all without loosing too much power.

I too was a mustang owner for years, a 95 GT and an 03 Cobra (recently gone for my new C6 Vette). I wouldn't say the interior was cheap in either, just plain with not so great ergonomics. I have an 04 Maxima as well and I've had hardly any problems with it, the only one being a leaking skyview (I think thats what its called). I paid 29K for my Maxima back in the fall of 03 and it's to me, its amazing the quality product you get for that amount. The paint, finish, fitment and interior were superior to my old 35K 03 Cobra. The enigine is great for a v-6 as well. I think the Maxima is an awesome family car.

I would be careful in how you analyze these results. First off, who is Strategic Vision? They don't have near the credibility such as Wards and J.D. Power and their initial quality and customer sat studies. Second, this isn't a quality study that measures owner's satisfaction (say) after two years of ownership.

Second, their study took into account "emotions" as well as well as real quality impact. Nissan cars and their styling can create a lot of emotion as we know, which would temper any quality problems. Just given the Ford Focus (a POS quality wise no matter how you measure it) is at the top of one category should make you shy away from the study. Also, the 500 is way too new to measure owner quality satisfaction.

IQS (Initial Quality Study)

J.D. Power's IQS study uses (PP100) problems per 100 vehicles as a measure of initial quality, with a lower score reflecting better quality. A score of 225 signifies 225 problems reported per 100 vehicles. Following corporate policy, J.D. Power does not release the scores of models scoring below the industry average.

CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index)

The CSI study examines customer satisfaction with vehicle quality and dealer service at 12-18 months of ownership. CSI performance factors are problems experienced, service advisor, service performance, service timing and facility appearance.

http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases...asp?ID=2005069


Stick to Wards and J.D. Power studies.