I Just want to give you guys a heads up. I have a friend in the nissan dealership and today i meet up with him. We were talking about the new 07 maxima and he brought up this topic about the tranny in the 07. Apperently, there is alot of 07 max going back into service because of a tranny issue. He said that there a problems like the tranny not shifting to upper gears or noise from the tranny and so on. If you suspect anything weird about you tranny bring it back to the stealership for them to look at it. Just a heads up. thanks for reading.

 

That's advanced f***ing techology for you

 

IMHO this CVT trannie produces too much heat. Good luck to all who own one -- I hope you don'g get burned by the heat.

 

So far, so good (6600 miles).

 

Last time I was at the service I saw many 2007 going in which kind of looked weird. I don't know for sure whether it was transmission related so I can't say. However, looking how many were going in made me think whether they have a lot of problem or not

 

You will be "good" when you get to 106,600 miles with no trannie problems.

 

Of course... but I was referring to the comment about '07s already having problems. My mileage is probably on the high side for an '07.

 

jcalabria: if you drive very carefully or you baby your car i don;t think you will have any problem. I can see a problem with people who think that their auto shifter is a manual and driving it hard would cause the problem. I have a 07 max and its 3 weeks old with 540 miles on it. I don;t think there will be any problem unless i drive it damn hard. If there is i have the 60,000 miles drive train warranty anyway. Either way just be carefull and see what the future holds. Happy modding

 

I neither baby it nor abuse it... and I use the manual mode more than I should (economy-wise) because it works so damned well.

I take comfort knowing two things...

• The essentially identical powertrain has held up well in the heavier Murano.
• I have a 4yr/60k lease with a 5 yr/60k mile powertain warranty.

I might have reservations if I was planning heavy motor mods, but being a leased vehicle, that's not in the works for me.

Good luck to us all!

 

xoomer - I wouldn't read too much into seeing numbers of '07 Maximas headed into the service area. Could be trannies, or could be anything.

Almost every vehicle ever made comes off the assembly line with a few glitches. Most owners check out everything during the first month or two of ownership, make a list of everything they want adjusted/fixed/looked at, then bring it in for service.

At least that is the way I do it. My first service trip took care of all but one problem, and the second trip fixed the last problem. I have now had almost two and a half very happy years with no additional problems.

I think we will probably have a fairly good idea as to how the CVTs are doing by next spring. And a much better idea a year or so from now.

 

While waiting for my driver seat lumbar cable warranty recall work to be done today, I sat chatting for a while with Mr. Ray Bergh, service Manager of Nissan South of Union City, GA. I have known Ray for over ten years.

He told me that, not only have they had no complaints on the '07 Maxima CVT so far; they have never had to replace a single Murano CVT either. He said he was doubtful at first, but has become a big CVT convert.

I well understand the many possible efficiency advantages of a CVT, but am keeping my fingers crossed; I'm not totally convinced the CVT is ready to be the only tranny available in any vehicle. We will see . . .

 

I hope you are correct, light. Even though I'll never buy one (as long as I can get a car with a manual trannie), I hope that Nissan is successful with them. Time will tell.

 

I also use the sport shifter alot so i hope it holds up... I have faith in the maxima thow i drove my 04 just the same and it was great for me but we all no it didnt ave the cvt so will see...

 

I really need to test drive a Max with CVT. I was considering buying an 07, but chose an 06. How is the CVT in manual mode? I really, really like using the manual mode in my 06....it just didn't seem right having a manual mode on a CVT, so I bought the 06 with real gears.

Must say, the 06 tranny is WAY better than the auto in my 2000....I hated that tranny!

 

The CVT is fine, people just aren't used to no shifting. It wierds them out.

 

That's for sure. I have absolutely no complaints with the function or performance of the tranny, but after 3 mos there are still times where it just seems strange. That said, when driven conservatively, most people would be hard pressed to know there was anything different at all. It's only at larger throttle openings that the uncoupling of rpm vs. road speed while accelerating becomes "weird". But if you plugged your ears and covered the tach you would just think "man, this thing pulls pretty damned hard".

After a while you sort of adjust the way you drive it somewhat. I've said it before, but its a lot like driving a turbocharged car. Much like turbo'd car, you end up giving it a little more throttle when initially accelerating, but you can then back off on the throttle yet still keep accelerating (as the boost builds in the turbo or as the ratios advance in the CVT). This ends up keeping the drone factor to a minimum but still keeps you moving along.

The manual mode is great. It's a close-ratio 6-speed that shifts extremely quickly, yet still has no harshness whatsoever, even downshifting. I don't think it includes matched rev downshifts like an Infiniti tranny does, but for whatever reason there's absolutely no harshness to the downshifts, even though they are very quick.

I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect that the "gears" are not always the same exact ratio and can actually change depending on conditions and whether you are shifting up or down. Sounds complicated... but it works VERY well in practice. Best manual mode automatic I've ever drive.

In comparison, my Volvo S60 T5 has a 5-speed Aisin-Warner that's an abomination. Manual upshifts happen at least a full second after you call for one (makes it reall difficult to snap off a red-line upshift) and manual dowshifts are miserably harsh. Makes you avoid it completely other than to hold a gear in the twisties.

My 2000 tranny sucked... 1-2 shift was waaaay too slow and mushy. When I brought it back to the dealer, they told me nothing was wrong. A while later, Nissan issued a service bulletin acknowledging the problem and how to correct it. By the time I found out about the bulletin (here on the org!), I was in the process of researching my '03 lease and it didn't matter to me anymore. My 2003 tranny was just about perfect.

 

OMG! That was my exact complaint with my 2000! Same, dealer told me there was nothing wrong and I was like "BS". That trans did the strangest 1-2 shift at the redline I've ever heard/felt in a car. It was like it would back down the rpms, then clunk into 2nd with this fairly long delay....felt like the car actually lost power during the transition...seemed like the computer just wouldn't let it actually shift at the redline. After driving a good number of auto V8 muscle cars for years, I really missed the BANG-CHIRP of a REAL upshift.

Funny, my 1991 Maxima shifted very well, especially after I put in a shift-kit, it felt pretty much like any old American V8 tranny with a nice BANG-CHIRP. That trans was rebuilt at about 90,000 and it's still going strong at 135,000....I passed that Max down to my son.

 

Same here. I talked to the Nissan Master Tech at my local dealership (I've known him for about 5 years). He said with the CVT, if there is any problem, they don't fix it...they pull it and replace it. He also said that since the 03 Murano came out, he's only seen or heard of 3 CVT trannies going bad and being replaced...period.