I bought a white 2007 Maxima SE with frost leather a week and half ago. For pictures, go to: http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...inbach&x=0&y=0

The 2007 Maxima with CVT is the best Maxima yet. I have previously owned a 2004 Maxima SE and my wife had a 2002 Maxima SE. We traded in the wife's 2002, and she is going to drive my 2004 until she decides what color 2007 Maxima she wants!

 

Nice! Good Luck!

 

I have to ask, why would you buy a maxima when you could have waited just a couple of months and got an '07 G35. for the same price you get a better warranty, better service experience, more power, better handling and just an verall nicer car?

 

Believe me, the thought was there. Here's why we ended up with the Max:

• The lease ran out on the '03 on July 7, so I couldn't wait that long.
• Real world deals are not nearly as close as the MSRPs. Stickers on an '06 TL or G35 were nearly identical to my Max, but even on the first '07 to roll off the truck in Charlotte I got a better deal than the other guys were offering on lame duck '06s.
• The warranty is not an issue as the car is leased.
• Compromise with the wife. We looked at Max, G35, TL & A4. My order of preferrence was TL, G35, Max & A4. Hers was A4, Max, G35, TL. (Yes, exactly opposite). I wouldn't consider the A4 'cause its too damn cramped inside. She wouldn't consider the TL 'cause its a "lowly Honda".

In the end it was a combination of timing, a better deal and 20 years of good experiences with the Max's.

Now as soon as I can convince her to sell her (recently deceased) father's Town Car, the Lincoln, the Volvo and the Sonoma are all going with an '07 TL Type S or '07 G35 as the most likely to fill the void.

 

is that the one that supposedly has no shift-shock? how does that feel? any different?

 

i really like the '07 gauges ... i wonder if it would fit on the 04-06..

 

Just my 2 cents. I have an 05 G35 I bought after Nissan bought back my 04 Max (shimmy) and I miss my Max very much. The G is great but god I loved my Max. I wish I would have bought another Max. Although no one ever commented on my Max where as everyone freaks out over my G.

BTW the 07 is smooth looking making me jealous.

 

When I bought my 04 Maxima SE, I had a hard time deciding between the G-35 and the Maxima.

Although the 07 G-35 looks nicer than the previous generation, it is still basically the same small car. The G-35 is like the 3 series BMW in size, and the Maxima like the 5 series BMW.

I really like the larger size of the Maxima. It is in my opinion more luxurious and comfortable on road trips, expecially if you buy most all of the options. The Maxima gets substantially better gas mileage. And, brake pads in the Maxima last twice as long as in the G-35. And, I really like the smoothness of the CVT in the 2007 Maxima.

In buying my 2007 Maxima SE, I again decided that I would rather drive a sporty, luxury sedan than a smaller, sports sedan with the usual discomforts.

 

Exterior wise the G35 is closer to the 3 series but interior it’s closer to the 5 series.

With the maxima you get a larger exterior size but not much on the interior. The Maxima has 103cu.ft. And the G35 has 98 cu.ft. The G35 is very close in interior room to the 5 series. How is the max more luxurious? The only things I can think that the max has is a heated steering wheel and power sunshade. The G35 has reclining rear seats. Otherwise they offer the same features.

I wouldn’t say that 2 more in the city and 3 more on the highway is substantial. The Maxima rated at 20/28 and G35 is rated at 18/25. You also left out the fact that the auto G35 has 15 more and the 6mt gets 33 more horsepower than the Max. I’ll gladly give up the gas mileage for that.

The reason why the maxima brakes last longer is that they pale in comparison to the g35 brake. It takes the maxima 197 feet to stop compared to 164 for the G35. That is a huge difference. Even a Toyota 4 runner stops 27 feet faster than the maxima

 

I must back ronsteinbach on the interior space issue. Although the Maxima interior may measure 'only' 5 more cubic feet, that is a fairly meaningful difference.

Moreover, in sitting in each vehicle, I felt more constrained in the G35, both in the driver's seat, the passenger's seat, and sitting in the back seat. By contrast, the inside of the Maxima felt wide open and appreciably more roomy. With children and grandchildren, that is very important for me.

But, for me, a more significant difference is the deal I can get on the Maxima, as compared with the deal I cannot get on the G35. That situation may be different in other parts of the country.

As to gas mileage, with gas over $3 a gallon and promising to go ever higher, I find gas mileage much more important than a few more wasteful horsepower that simply consume more gas. The Maxima already hits 60 from a dead stop in between 6 and 7 seconds. If I need more accelleration than that, I wouldn't be buying a four door passenger car. With today's traffic, that additional power is usually wasted, anyway.

Further, on flat interstates with reasonable traffic, I find I can top 30 MPG with the Maxima. That is great gas mileage for a car with this size and power.

Don't misunderstand; the G35 is a great car. For some, it is a better fit than the Maxima. But for me, the Maxima was easily a better fit for my needs. To each his own . . .

 

I currently own an 05 G35 Sedan Auto and my last car was a 04 Max SL. The gas mileage is a huge difference. My G gets on average 19 with mostly city some highway. The Max got 24-25 on average with highway driving topping off at 31-32. My G has only been able to manage 24 on the highway. To top it all off you can not tell the 15 hp difference. My Max felt quicker than my G35. So by no means was it worth the gas mileage loss.

 

brewboy13 telling it like it is. And much appreciated.

My experiences with the 35 were limited to sitting in it a few times and one short test drive. brewboy13, however, has real experience owning and driving the 35, and understands why many prefer the Maxima.

 

Just want to say again "I love my 07 Max" !!!!! Don't know which would have won in the 1/4 but I choose the 07. No shimmy, no speaker rattle (I had the Elite in the 04 and the dealer claims that was the problem because of the sunshade, funny how I have it in this 07 and no rattle), nice SAT and NAV. Better seats. Love the way it takes off and the drive is great!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!Got to post some pictures soon.

 

I am a new owner of an 07SE. Almost a twin of the one owned by jcalabria, except I got pretty much every option including the Navigation and VDC. Edmunds shows invoice for my car at $34,200 and I paid about $1000 less than that. I shopped 4 different dealers and bought it on the last day of the month.

First on the key issue, jcalabria...there are manual keys inside the remotes. Turn the key(remote) over and there is a little switch to release the key, slide the switch and pull on the key ring. These are your two missing keys.

This is my first foreign car and so far I am in love with this car. I am a Mustang guy and went this route due to my job and traveling. I too looked at the TL and G35 and liked the Maxima for the size of the back seat and trunk. I have 3 kids and coach 2 soccer teams, 1 volleyball team and 2 softball teams throughout the year. The trunk fits everything including my golf clubs. I am still adjusting to the CVT, I can say that my wife loves it, since I no longer give here whip-lash with my driving. So far I have been driving a lot with the VDC off and in manual mode and I am getting 20MPG. I will be breaking the car in with a couple trips from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in the next couple weeks and will let you know how the HWY MPG is.

Here are some pictures of my car...






I will post more pics when I take them at a nicer place and not in my driveway.

 

funny how the dealer was not able to figure that out

 

Nice car! Nice color! (I'm still waiting to see in person or good pics of a Precision Gray!)

Best of luck with it!

I wanted the VDC and full size spare real bad, but couldn't justify the money for the required buy-thru NAV system on a car that never leaves Charlotte. The VDC/full size spare option (if available w/o the NAV) would have paid for itself since the fifth tire in rotation would most likely eliminate the need for new tires during the course of the lease. The NAV would have been nice just to lose the orange display and gain some of the extra functions, but the NAV itself wasn't worth it for us.

Thanks, but I was completely aware of where the mechanical keys are supposed to reside inside the remote. The issues were:

• One of the mechanical keys was missing (NOT inside the keyfob) at delivery. I'm certain it was shipped with the car but was lost by someone at the dealership. It was probably the key we used when we test drove it and it never found its way back to the right place.
  
• The dealer has a few ässholes working there - they insisted at first that only one mechanical key was supposed to come with the car. (This was the first 07 they had sold.)
  
• The dealer has a few more ässholes working there - once they figured out that the key really was missing, they tried to order a blank. However, Nissan wasn't yet accepting orders for them. Nobody communicated this to us... they just never responded to our inquiries.
  
• The dealer has even more ässholes working there - Three weeks later, Nissan notified them that he part was now available and they re-placed the order. Again, nobody communicated this to us, still not responding to our inquiries.
  
• The dealer has at least two people who are NOT ässholes - unfortunately, one (our salesperson) was out due to a death in his family and the other (one of the managers) was out having surgery. Once they returned they were at least able to piece together the story and give us the real scoop.
  
• The dealer has ässholes coming out of the woodwork - Once the keys arrived (now 5 weeks elapsed), we received a postcard indicating the key was in (couldn't lift the phone after all the crap that had gone on!) I called ahead and was told that it would only take 10-15 minutes to set things up. My wife took the car in expecting at most a 30 minute wait. After two hours of runarounds between the parts and service depts, she was told that the car was ready and that the porter would bring it up for her.
  
  When he brought her the car, he handed her only one remote and no keys. She asked him where the others were. He told her that was all there was and asked her, in a very condescending manner, "why she would want a key anyway, when the car would start without one" and proceeded to “demonstrate” how the car starts without a key.
  
  Now she was over an hour late for work and we had listened to büllshït for over five weeks - so she threw the remote straight in his face and told him to shove the friggin car up his äss sideways (nice Jersey girl livin' in the south!). She then walked off the lot headed towards work. She called me at work so I ran over there and drove her the rest of the way to work, then went back to the dealer to see what frig was going on.
  
  I found two of the managers still walking around looking for her. I told them I had never seen such a bunch of clowns in my whole life . They apologized for the comments made by the porter - turns out they had asked the service department to bring all the keys to them so they could give them to my wife and make sure she was now happy, which the porter was obviously unaware of. I told them that even when they were trying to do the right thing, their lack of organization and communication was unbelievable.
  
  They sent an apprentice salesperson with me to get the two cars back. I told her the whole story on the way back. She couldn't believe it. At least I finally have the full complement of keys and remotes.

Anyway, dealer crap aside, the car has still been great in every way.

 

Had my first siting of an 07 SE today. Guy parked next to me in a parking garage, I complemented him on his new car and he told me it was an Enterprise rental! heh

 

What is funny is that all the dealers around me have the silver and the precision grey. They had to get my car from a dealer a couple hundred miles away. Of the 4 dealers I went to, only one had an Dark Slate on the lot and it was an SL. The precision grey is much nicer than the silver, but I prefer darker colors on my cars and am very happy with the dark slate.

Nick

 

My dealer now shows one just like yours (mine + NAV + VDC) in Precision Gray in his on-line inventory. Been too busy to stop by and look (not that it would do anything for me except satisfy my curiosity).

Even if one had been available when I leased and I really liked it as much I think I would, I still might not have gone with it just because its appears so similar to the Polished Titanium on the '03 I just turned in. Loved that color but a little variation is nice.

Anyway, there are no bad colors on the Max. I could live with any of them, but would have been extremely happy with at least 5 of them (black, slate, precision, silver, sonoma sunset).

 

Anyone think an 07 Front Bumper would fit on my 04? Looks so good. Grille would need to be changed though..

 

The hood and fender sheetmetal (and lights) are different, too. Not sure if the bumper would match up with the '04 stuff.

 

How about a second '07 SE in the garage?

Yesterday, while getting a battery replaced on my '07 SE (yes, it must've come with a bad battery!), my wife and I spent some time at the dealership, and she was interested in upgrading from her '02 Maxima to an '07 they had on the lot. Bottom line is that now there are TWO '07 SE Maximas in our garage.

Her new one is the Pebble Beach color (misspelled "Pebble Peach" on the NissanUSA website!) and has the Dealers Preferred Package in it. So she's got some of the nifty "toys" that I don't, but all in all these are great cars.

While we were waiting around for the inevitably interminable paperwork to be done, I snapped a few photos with my crappy cell-phone camera. They're better than nothing, but not great pictures by any stretch of the imagination.

This one is a shot of her new Pebble Beach Maxima still resting in its little corner space on the lot, before she even test drove it:


After the test drive, the new one ended up being parked right next to her old car. So on the left you can see her old 6-speed silver '02 SE Maxima - on the right is the new '07 SE Maxima:


The dealership still had my old '02 SE Maxima on their lot for sale. I revisited the old Tungsten Blue beauty and snapped this photo:


Anyway, I think this sales guy really likes us now - we've bought two cars from him in the space of five weeks!

Harry

 

Congrats, way to look after the wifey...

 

HGN2001 - Wow! You must be the first with TWO '07s in the garage! Nice colors, too. I notice you caught the 'Pebble Peach' blunder on the Nissan site; must have a Georgian working for them. 'Peach' my eye!

By the way, DPP is 'Driver Preferred Package', not 'Dealer Preferred Package'. Not that it is important.

I think that after you experience the many goodies the DPP package brings to the table (assuming your wife allows you to touch her new baby), you might wish you had it on your SE. I use almost every option in the DPP package regularly.

Please keep us informed on both your and your wife's experiences with the CVT, and how you feel about it.

And congratulations!

 

lol - Too much time spent at the "dealer"!

We'll see. I think the only thing I'm jealous of is the HID Xenons, but I can live with standard headlights - or spend some bucks to upgrade - not likely, though. I was a bit paranoid about the lights being stolen in the '02 models we had, even though we never had an incident.

I've never driven a car that felt both smooth and powerful like this one. My wife remarked yesterday that she couldn't believe how quickly it got up to speed, with so little effort.

I still can't believe that we have more '07 Maximas on our "lot" than another (different) dealer neraby. He only had one!

Harry

 

Congrats again!

 

Can anyone post pictures of the headlights on at night, and maybe the gauge lights also? Would it be possible to swap a CVT tranny for my 04 4-at? And now you 07 owners have to wait all over again for a body kit to come out. I cant wait to see what the max will be in 08, for now I still prefer what I have.

 

snowlink - Knowing absolutely zip about whether you can replace your '04 4 speed auto with a CVT from '07, I am betting that would be almost as challenging as replacing a Cessna engine with an engine off a P47 Thunderbolt. I would be most surprised if you could do this for less than the cost of trading your '04 in on an '07.

As for the '08, it will almost surely be indistinguishable from the '07, especially from the outside. The '08 will be a 'short' run, marking the end of the 6th gen Maxima, as the completely redesigned 7th generation Maxima should arrive as the '09 model year in spring of '08.

There was a posting of the '07 headlights here a month or so ago, but I can't find it now. Like you, I would like to see it (or a new posting) again, with the fogs also on. I seem to recall the look was impressive. Nice pics of the instruments are also here somewhere.


HGN2001 - Don't be dismayed by the lack of zenon lamps. There are those on the ORG who have little need for them, as they are usually driving in heavy traffic, where zenons are a distinct liability. I finally had the dealer just aim mine at the ground before a blinded oncoming driver began shooting at me.

At least the theft problem is not as bad on the 6th gen. The front of the car has to be virtually destroyed if one is to get them off quickly.

And thanks for the encouraging report on the performance of the CVT. Much appreciated.

 

Here are my gauge lights taken inside a semi-darkened garage:



Harry

 

Here are some quickie handhelds I grabbed tonight after I mounted the wheel that had the broken valve stem/TPS sensor...

 

JCal - Hows that CVT? When you floor it, ANY shift shock whatsoever? How does the new max's ponies roar?

 

Great pics, jcalabria and HGN2001. Much appreciated.

jcalabria - Glad the valve stem is fixed. I was afraid, being a new design, they might not even be available yet for so new a car. And yes, are you still liking the CVT?

 

After the key fiasco, the thought did cross my mind that the valve stem might not be available. If I had known the TPS was integrated into it, I would have been really worried. Today I will take it out and make sure that the wheel balance was not upset - there is so much talk about this on the forum that I'm paranoid - that was my biggest concern immediately after the stem broke.

As far as the CVT, there are no "shocks" or abrupt changes ever. It even engages so smoothly from neutral that your not sure it even went into gear.

Seriously, there are two very minor things I am less than ecstatic about:

• I had already mentioned that the unlocking of the torque converter (at least that's what I think it is) at lower speeds is less smooth than I would expect... sort of reminds me of going back to the seventies when lockup TCs first came about. It probably not something directly related to the actual CVT itself, but it is part of Nissan's overall control scheme for the trannie. Its something that I would think that several years of experience with the Murano would have eliminated.
  
• The other issue is something that others have mentioned... there is a slight but perceptible pause, under certain conditions, before the trannie kicks down to a lower ratio. This is very rare, not noticeable in "normal" driving. In fact the trans is generally much more responive and will drop ratios much more readily than a conventional automatic, but every once in a while there is a pause. I don't even think its worse than a conventional automatic's pause when its called upon for a 2 or 3 ratio downshift - its just more noticeable because its so responsive at other times.

 

Sounds SOO typical. I f'ing hate Nissan dealerships. People are so worthless.

 

I was just glad that the valve stem episode was handled smoothly.

Plus I found out that my salesman, who is a decent and knowledgeable guy, was promoted to a manager position even though he has been there less than two months. Its not that he doesn't deserve it, but it shows how poor everyone else is. At least somebody recognized his potential.

 

It's a beautiful car... I want one

 

We need another picture to keep this thread beautiful!



Harry

 

Part two of my Saturday saga where my wife ended up with her own '07.

While we were on our way up to the dealer to fix my dead battery problem, my wife, following behind me in her '02 Maxima, noticed that my left brake light wasn't working, so we added that to the list of things for the dealer to take care of that day.

After installing the new battery, the mechanic began figuring out how to get into the taillight compartment. It seemed to be a struggle - obviously this guy had never done one of these before. (It's a new franchise for this dealership.)

When the job was completed, the service manager called me in to the garage - where he showed me a small scratch beneath the taillight assembly. I assured him that it wasn't there before (since I'm already infinitely familiar with every part of the car having hand-washed it every weekend since owning it). He figured that it happened in the bulb replacement and offered to have their detail shop fix it, if I so wished. I took him up on the offer, and we set the full-day appointment for tomorrow, Wednesday, with the understanding that my salesman would deliver a loaner car to my house and pick up my car.

That exchange happened this evening, with the salesman dropping of a red, loaded '06 Maxima. I drove it to dinner, and though it's only got a few thousand miles more on it than mine does (6000 versus 1500), it felt so much looser and clunkier than mine.

This one has the leather and the dimming and dipping side mirrors and the Nissan Navi system, along with satellite radio - all thing I don't have, and yet I long to have my own car back - with it's warm and friendly cloth seats and well-behaved mirrors that don't 'do their own thing". I found the Navi's display to be a total distraction while trying to drive - there's just too much to read and watch! I long for my simple monochrome display. And the orange gauges! Now I know why you guys are obsessing over the new '07 white-on-black gauges!

Positives: I at least get to continue to enjoy Maxima driving tomorrow. And I actually do like the red color. It would've been my alternate choice after the blue.

But I miss my Majestic Blue Max already...

Harry

 

If only I had the money for an 07

 

Interesting perspective, going "backwards".

Dealers can be so much fun... at least he brought it to your attention and offered to fix it.

BTW, you can disable the dipping mirror act by leaving the mirror selector switch in the center "neutral" position. Having learned to drive in medium duty trucks in an urban area, I mostly use the mirrors to back up... I find it very annoying when they dip down.