Why is the 6-speed manual not offered anymore? Used to absolutely love the maxima but now.....Will they ever go back?

 

Low sales. Less than 2% sold were stick, so I hear.

 

+1 on candamofo

I heard that the will offer it on the 7th gen (3.7) 6sp...

but who knows for sure till it comes out

 

Nissan decided to make the Altima their sports sedan and make their Maxima their luxury car. Fortunately, the Altima comes with a stick and a dedicated sport suspension.

 

Canadamofo has a point about low sales. But aren’t Nissan’s low sales the result of low production? If manual transmissions only represent 2% of the total sales, it is because Nissan only made 2% of Maximas with manual transmissions. If they made more, they’d sell more. Unless there is some statistic that shows the average stick-shift sits on the lot for a much longer time frame than an automatic, or that the profit margin on stick shifts is lower than on an automatic, Nissan is foolish for not making more manuals. It is a fun car, especially for the money. I think the Maxima is a big reason Honda decided to mate a 6-speed to their V6 Accord-sedan.

 

Can someone explain why converting an 07 with CVT to manual is not possible. Or is it just a matter of time and $.

 

That's not what I heard...


I don't think that's the point.

 

guess we will just see... but why would they not put the new 3.7 in??? they put it in the G35s's

Time will only tell

 

if you're asking about putting a manual tranny in the 7th gen, then it's because they didn't put it in the 07 or 08. it's an old person car now, I guess... strange though, I'll be driving a manual until my fragile legs break from old age... or at least my left leg...

if you're asking about putting the 3.7L in... it's not a G35 anymore, it's a G37.

and the tranny can probably be swapped. the engine should have the same mounting points. just a bit of a pain.. not sure if the computer from an 06 6MT would work, as there's a bit of a difference between the two years.

 

I'm going to put a 5.7L Titan V8 into mine, and convert it to a 4wd

 

just make sure you have it at stock height.. it'll be all ready for those super swampers...

 

MDS - Yes, dealers were having difficulty moving the manual tranny Maximas, and they were sitting on the lots longer than the 5speed autos. I personally saw that at the dealers around where I live.

And it goes deeper that that. Dealers can order cars with the type of tranny they want, and they weren't ordering the manual.

And it even goes deeper than that. Drivers preferring a manual tranny are usually particular about color, options, etc. But since the selection of manual tranny equipped Maximas on any dealer's lot was much more limited (sometimes only one) than the selection of auto tranny equipped ones, some drivers who may have otherwise leaned to the manual opted for a 5speed auto instead in order to get everything else (color/options, etc) that they wanted.

And that situation resulted in even fewer manual sold than there were drivers preferring manuals. Sort of a catch 22.


I personally feel that the more upscale/luxurious a sedan becomes, the less chance a manual tranny will be available. That could preclude ever seeing a manual on the Maxima again. Heck, we may not even see a 5 or 6 or 7 speed auto on the Maxima again.

Another big blow for the manual is the fact traffic in more and more areas has become incredibly atrocious. I drove a 5 speed manual tranny Datsun 200SX to work in downtown Atlanta from 1978 to 1985 (switched to Maxima then). In 1978, I probably shifted around 400 times per trip. By 1985, I was probably shifting over twice as often. By now, that same trip might require 1,500 shifts (an hour or two in stop and go traffic can be brutal with a manual).

Perhaps the most fatal blow of all for the manual is the fact most drivers on the road today probably shouldn't even be driving. They don't signal turns, they don't stay centered in their lane, they let cell phones, food, etc distract them, they don't stay right except to pass, they are offended by almost anything another driver does, they tailgate, even on one lane roads where nobody can cut in, they don't turn on their lights when it gets dark or rains, etc, etc. Insurance studies say around 40% of drivers are actually under the influence of some type of drug when they drive.

Does anyone really think such drivers would even be capable of properly driving a manual tranny if they had to? I don't.

Manual trannies are for real drivers, and there are few real drivers around these days.

 

Its all those fogeys that love our car

 

lightonthehill...i couldnt have said it any better

 

I know the M5 lacked a manual and the US market made such an uproar that BMW added it back, maybe we can do the same

If the 7th Gen is suppost to be a CLS type car I see a 6 or 7 speed auto

 

I personally would love a stick. I originally fell in love with an 02 maroon SE with charcoal leather and a stick. well, that wasn't to be and it must have brooded in the back of my mind because i wound up with a black 03 SE, but they only had an auto and they were clearing the lots for the 04s. . .now I see a silver or black 07 and I totally drool. . .but I hesitate. . .maybe because i hear rumors of the 7th gen, or maybe it's because I'm loathe to get a CVT-equipped max, no matter HOW SMOOTH it drives. . .I was hoping that GM and nissan got at least a technology partnership out of their talks, because I love their new 6-speed auto. . .and i think that tranny on the VQ35HR would be awesome..

EDIT; anyone tried swapping in the 07 Altima 6-speed to the 07 Max? Would that work?

 

don't look for that anytime soon, the 07 Altima is to new and the 6speed is probably selling in such small numbers at this point the availability is got to be low, just trying to find an 06 Altima with a manual was hard, in fact all manual Altimas and Maximas where pretty much spoken for at all my local area dealers, so it's odd to think about it that Nissan did away with the manual when all the manual Maximas are pretty much sold before they even get to the dealer.

Thinking about it my car was a dealer swap, took about a month to get, wonder how long a 6speed would have taken

 

well, couldn't a factory-new 07 altima 6sp be ordered? anyone wanna experiment?

 

maybe the 7th gen will have a 7 speed

 

you wanna buy a new car to remove the trans to see if it fits then what do you do with a brand new altima with no trans

 

Or he can just buy a 6MT trans and pay TS hack up the ECU.