So I traded my '04 Maxima SE for an '06 Acura TL. We all know about the rivalry between the owners of these two cars ... worse than the Cowboys and Redskins.

Well, I just returned from a 3,000 mile trip in the TL, and I have to say the Max was a better all-round car in terms of driving feel, build quality and performance. (Yeah, I know - the TL guys would crucify me for saying this. LOL.)

The TL is a very sexy-looking car, and I love the styling. The interior is nicer than my '04 Max's, and the Acura Nav is by far the best out there. I love that. The gas mileage is as good as the Max's, if not a little better. And the TL's Bluetooth setup is golden.

But the car rattles. Just like everyone warned me it would. In at least four places. And it "clomps" over big bumps and pavement breaks. And it feels just kind of generic to drive. The Maxima somehow felt livelier and more nimble, and it was in general more fun to drive. And after 3 years and 42,000 miles, it didnt have a single rattle or squeak.

The TL is a nice car. But for all the hype and all the bragging from the Acura side, I'm a little let down. If that cotton-pickin' CVT hadn't come along, I'd probably be enjoying an '07 Maxima right now. Darn you, Carlos!
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well, sorry for your loss I guess..

 

bears and packers rivalry > cowboys and redskins rivalry

 

You might be even more disappointed when the TL Type S comes out. It finally goes to 3.5 and 286HP.

 

And you might be EVEN MORE disappointed when Comptech comes out with a supercharger for the Type-S.

Sorry to say but that would be game over Max.

I'm speculating probaby around 350hp at the crank with a SC. I will officially be jealous when that happens.

 

Maxima transmission > Acura Transmission

 

.....maxima > tl

the end.

 

You live you learn. Why didn't you jump into a new G35?

 

It's not a convertible, so it would be kind of hard to "jump" into it don't you think?

 

The TL is a great looking car. It's hard to believe that you would purchase it and then complain about it to us? If it was me I'd cover up the negative stuff and would only say what it had over the Max.

 

the TL is a sexy car, but i was dissapoint after driving in it, it looks alot bigger on the out side than it realy is....

 

What are you paying for the TL, before I ended up with my Maxima the TL salesman suddenly jumped my monthly payments from 449 loaded to under 700, I like the car but it's not worth that much

 

TL Type-S 6spd manual > 2007 Maxima CVT

 

Just felt like posting something visually pleasing.

 

Yes, i'd have to agree with that

 

Mike! Good to hear from you.

I'm glad you like the Bluetooth! I know there were a few bugs to work out initially. I've heard the Nav is pleasant to use also!

All said and done, I hope you enjoy it immensely. Nobody wants to be saddled with a car that isn't nice to have. (Although I had heard the fit and finish was better than most, is that true for you?)

I forgot, did you lease this also, or purchase?

How did your Maxima trade in go? I know you were a bit concerned about them 'nickel and diming' you over the small stuff. What was the outcome at the inspection company?

Swee

 

Well he certainly wouldn't post this in the TL forum!! He'd get flamed. Mike'as got Nissan running through his veins still!!!

 

i was happy to hear that acura is bringing back the type s to the tl. should be interesting to see what the beast is made of. 286 horses, if anyone wants to check it out here,

http://www.acura.com/index.aspx?initPath=TLSLaunch

 

Similar to the NSX's setup.

I test drove the TL before I bought my Max. I didn't like the way it drove; overall, Max is a better car.

 

I have been watching the new G35 real closely, but it won't be available until November and I had to make a choice earlier. I still haven't totally ruled it out, though ...

 

LOL. I'm not "complaining' ... I just thought you guys would enjoy hearing someone say they liked their Maxima so well.

And I don't see any reason to cover things up ... I'm a big boy, and I'm willing to be honest!
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I leased the TL for 3yrs/15,000 miles per year. Paid zero down - monthly payment is $514. It's a 5AT w/Nav. Acura's lease terms weren't the best, but it worked for me.
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Hey, Swee! Like I mentioned, I think the Acura's Nav is the best in the biz, and it's great to use. The Bluetooth is a joy. I haven't heard how the BT in the Maxima performs yet, but hopefully it's also good.

Fit and finish are good in the TL, but I had no gripes about my Max, either.

I leased the TL. I'm sold on leasing ... it works well for my kind of usage.

The trade on the Max went fine. In fact, the inspection for the lease return was a breeze, too (even though I didn't end up doing a return). I wasn't really "worried" about it, just a little apprehensive, since I'd never done a Nissan lease return before. But the inspection was a breeze, and the guy didn't write me up for a single charge.

The Acura dealer gave me a little over Blue Book for it, so I had about $500 extra to apply to the sales tax on the TL.

(BTW, nice to hear a friendly voice ... I thought I was tossing these guys some red meat, but they're beating me up! )

 

Ok, thank you for your honesty. Now I have nothing to worry about when someone pulls next to me in a TL.

J/K

 

Anyone up for Nissan to make......a Maxima SE-R

 

pretty good lease deal considering the car is loaded well has Nav and you got 15k a year.

did you trade in your leased Maxima, how does that work

 

....I have my doubts that would happen but it would make for a good Acura TL Type S competitor.

 

Yep, traded in the Max. It was about a month or so before the lease ended, so I just got the payoff (like you would if your car was financed) and they gave me enough tradein to cover it (plus a little extra). Then they paid Nissan off and that was that.

The good part about doing that is that you can often use the tradein value as an offset against the sales tax on the car you're buying (they charge sales tax in most states only on the difference between your tradein and the price of the new car).
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Doubts??!! I can pretty much say is won't happen. If getting rid of the 6spd manulal in 2007 isn't sign enough, I don't know what is.

 

Hey Mike i really have considered Lease on my next purchase (07 G35) because i purchased my max in may of 05 (2005 Max black on black sunroof and dpp). I little over 10k down but after a year and a half if that, it seems i cant get more the $20k trading in my car these days at the stealership, so im pretty much sold on never buying brand new again unless i can pay it in full, because it sucks to know i lost my 10k i put down already in just a little over a year, and they way i am i keep skipping over to new cars every 2 or 3 years.

So my question to you or anyone else in here who knows about leasing is what should i look for? i tend to drive close to 15k a year and i wouldnt like to
add anything to my car either i always go stock unless i really hate the look.
So what are the terms i should look for and do i negotiate or just settlefor msrp and lease off that? in a nut shell fill me in because as you can see i know nothing about leasing.

 

Leasing can't be beat if you trade out every few years or want to differ higher payments for a few years. Basically it works the same as a buy, but with different terminology. You still want to negotiate buying price because it will effect your monthly payment. It is no longer called purchase price or but Cap Cost. Then you have your residual value which is some number Nissan makes up based on forecast value. With Nissan you can bump your residual one point for taking 12k instead of 15k(That's what I did). Then you have Money Factor which is equivolent to APR. Usually it's much lower than any interest rate you can get for a loan(Not always though). So it breaks down like this(All numbers fake)

Original MSRP - 32,000
Cap Cost(Negotiated Selling Price) - 30,000
Residual - 50%
Money Factor - .0004

This means that the value of the vehicle at the end of your lease is 16,000(based off MSRP/Residual)This will also be your lease end value of buyout.

Now you take your Cap Cost minus your Residual Value - 30,000 minus 16,000which is 14,000.

Hears another great part. Your only paying tax and interest on the 14,000(plus any fees like security, rental fee, etc.. which usually only total a few hundred bucks).

Now take that over your term, typically three years and there's your montly payment. You will usually save anywhere between one and two hundred dollars a month depending on how good the Money Factor and Residual are.

 

guys, I don't think they will make a high performance maxima since older folks are the most who buy this car, hence the CVT tranny. Nissan had gotten lots of complaints about the TQ steer in this car so I guess they did something about it that was no use for us tuner guys.

as much as I would like a 300hp RWD maxima, I don't think it will happen. we should start comparing the TL with the altima.

or turbo our cars.

 

If you've got money turn to Cosworth. You could probably build a 350HP Maxima.

 

Good answer - except that calculating the monthly payment is a little more involved than that.

But what you need to keep in mind is that you CAN negotiate the price on a lease just like on a purchase. For some reason, a lot of people don't know that. The other factors to watch (as Niet has pointed out) are the residual (which is usually a fixed, published percentage, based on term and miles allowed) and the money factor (which will vary based on your credit rating).

Make sure you know what money factor you qualify for, though, since dealers often bump it up for additional profit to themselves. But they do that on finance deals, too.

You can get a lot of info on http://www.leasecompare.com and on http://www.edmunds.com, including current money factors and residuals.

The other thing to keep in the back of your mind is that the mfr. will want your car to have no more than ordinary wear and tear when you finish the lease. If it's banged up, you'll pay some monetary penalties for it to repair any damage. That's not normally a big deal, so you should just take care of the car like it was yours.
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So those dings and dents, and paint chips on the front bumper are going to bite me in the azs?

 

Usually not, there is a acceptable amount of damage. Small scratches, chips, and dings are normal wear and tear after three years. They will normally have a info card or book with the allowable damages.

 

Correct. Nissan allows "normal" nicks and chips as long as they're not outrageous, and dings (like door dings, etc.) as long as they're less than about 2" in diameter if I recall correctly.

Now, whack a telephone pole and all bets are off ...
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G35 6-Speed > TL Type-S 6 Speed


"Anyone up for Nissan to make......a Maxima SE-R"

Great idea, but doubt if Nissan will change their mind about moving the Max into a more luxury role -- forget the 4-door sports car image.

For me in the future it will either be a G35 or an Altima SE-R (with a 6-speed, of course). But before that I will drive my Max 04 with 6-Speed for many miles of fun driving.

This thread belongs in the "Other Cars" section of this site.

 

I have been keeping this bottled inside of me as well. I still have my 04 max and just picked up a 06 TL last week.
Agree with Mike max is much more fun to drive than TL. I do like the interior of TL lot better than max though. As far as rattles go, no issues there on mine. My only complaint really is the damn ride, its just too soft of a ride for my taste. But i am going to do somefin about it and mod the hell of this b****

 

If the Ford Fusion and Ford 500 can have an AWD option, why can't we have a 275HP AWD Maxima? It will not compete with the Infiniti line at all. I don't think the AWD Murano is stealing away buyers of the Infiniti FX35/45. The 275HP AWD Max would really kick the crap out of the TL in power and handling and should still cost @ $35,000.