dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

Im just about to purchase an 04 or 05 Max, since my 5th gen is sitting in front of my house with a dead transmission...

my question pertains to the transmissions in the 6th gen, I have read alot about the issues concerned with them and have taken that into consideration, I am also aware that nissan has extended the warranty on the CVT trans for 10yrs and 120,000 miles.

I also read that the 04 SL came with a 4spd AT up until may 04 production date, and after that came with a 5spd, SO........
am I looking at the same transmission isssues with both the 4spd and the 5spd AT? or is one better then the other?

RAZ76

iTrader: (8)

I have a 2006 SE with 6spd manual. No issues with my transmission, not sure what everyone is saying.

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

yeah i would love a manual, but also want the leather pkg etc of the SL, and the chances of me finding an SE with a manual tranny along with the leather and seat heaters etc of the SL pkg is pretty slim, i know they are out there, but none that i have seen yet

nalc

iTrader: (11)

There is a number plate on firewall with transmission codes

maxed_out_saloon

iTrader: (1)

the CVT came on the 07-08 not the 04-06

RAZ76

iTrader: (8)

Mine is manual and fully loaded, leather, heated seats, heated steering wheel, folding mirrors, so yeah, they're out there.

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

so that transmission warranty i guess doesnt apply to the 04 and 05 maximas... crap

But I thought i read some posts with people with 04's and 05's getting their transmissions fixed/rebuilt under the extended warranty??? maybe i misread

lblackonblackl

iTrader: (3)

def consider the 6mt... if not make sure its an 06 + ... 04-05 have the ranny issue.. especially the 5 speed autos. im on my second tranny and i amm 100% im not the only one on here with the problem

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

ouch
so the 06 doesnt have the same trans issue?

JD05

6th generation(04TO 06) (07'S started with the CVT Tranny) is a solid car except for the transmission,it like a crap game you might have problems or you won't at all with the tranny. Usually you will start seeing problems between 50000 to 80000 miles the tranny will either shift hard or slip mine started to downshift hard sometimes who knows the tranny could of lasted for a long time after that but the dealer was a straight up dealership and the mechanic came out and told me he did not like the way the tranny shifts so they replaced it with a new rebuild (under warranty)which means the insides of the tranny is all new parts but the casing which is the housing that holds everything is used. Basically it's a new transmission. If it's a good deal buy it make sure the tranny shifts smoothly from start to stop,the engines on these cars are bullet proof you take care of it and it will last for tons of miles!!!

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

yeah I am finidng good deals on the 04-06's, but now i think i might start looking at 07's to avoid the tranny issues,

RAZ76

iTrader: (8)

From what I read above, 04-05 had tranny issues. 06s are ok, well at least mine is. No issues.

JD05

06 had the same transmissions in them as late 04 and 05,s not everyone has issues with there tranny,s if you take all the Maximas built between 04 and 06 ill bet the percentage is less than 15%, now for the person who wants to buy a reasonable priced 04 or 05 you have to weigh your options if you buy a 07 and it costs you 4 to 5 grand more than a 04 or 05 it still would be cheaper to replace a transmission than spend more money on a 07 that's even if the transmission goes bad and if it doesn't your ahead of the game. I personally do not like how the CVT,s work it has a false sense to its hard to explain.

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

so i test drove an early 04 SL tonight, had the 4spd non-tiptronic AT, and i didnt like the way it shifted into 2nd gear, so the search continues.

and so far i cant find a single 5sp MT for sale anywhere within 100miles of south Jersey

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

ok, so I found a great deal on a really nice 04 thats about 2 hours away, BUT....
its manufacture date is March of 04 which means it should technically have the older 4spd AT, but in the pictures of it you can see it has the Tiptronic.....which confused me cause i thought the older 4spd didnt have the tiptronic???

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

only the SL had the 4speed

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

yeah it is an SL

Per

If you go on autotrader.com, you will find at least a couple of dozen 04-06 Maximas with a manual transmission and leather. I found one with only 14,000 miles last June. You'll feel a lot more connected to the car with a manual tranny.

cacicgt7

Re-sale value isn't as high with manuals generally in the market... just something to consider.

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

have you asked dealers to locate one for you? here's one on craigslist in NH google found in 5 hits
http://nh.craigslist.org/ctd/1566286750.html

as for you SL 4speed question, they were 1st sold in MARCH 2003. so an SL in march 2004 was plenty late build and should have the 5 speed. pretty sure it switch mid build year.

CRK

A better question is what is your price range? You may find out what you want and what you can afford are two different things.... Before I bought my 07 Max I was loking for a 07 Altima 3.5 SE with leather and the technology package.All I found were ones above my price range. I wanted items such as sunroof, leather, spoiler, CVT, larger rims, Bluetooth, and Bose.

I found out these items pushed the Altima into the 19k range and above in my area.


You have said 04-07 max thats a big jump in price between the years.

As for what tranny is better.... It sounds like you are looking for reliability... In that case You need to figure out if an auto or manual would be best. If an auto, get an 07 with cvt and the 120k warranty hands down. If the price of an 07 is too high and you can live with a 5spd or like a 5spd better, get that.

In the end I bought my 07 Max S.E. with all the options and 65k miles for right at 16k out the door from a big name dealer.

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

Yeah so I found one manual tranny about 2 hours north of me, but the dealership showed the carfax report and it was in a bad wreck... so that one is a No

Thanks for that craigslist one, its really nice, but im not too fond of the color, im looking for silver, white, or black.

as far as my price range, i too just found an 07 with 60k on it for $16,000 which i might go look at thursday morning, its more then i wanted to spend, but if the 04 and 05 that i am also going to look at (in the $12k range) feel crappy in the transmission, then I think I am gonna have to go for the 07

BLACKNESS MONSTA

05 and 06 dont have nearly as many tranny issues as the 04.

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

really? i thought the 05 and 06 had the same tranny as the late 04?

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

04-06 SE same 5AT
mid 04-06 SL also that same 5AT
early 04 SL 4AT

it seems that during the 04 runs many of the "1st year" bugs were resolved. My 04 SE was built in march or april of 04. that is over a year after they were available. assembly began mid to late 02 to hit the dealer lots by March 03.

the issues are a small percentage. majority come to our forum for help. that doesnt make it the majority of the ones out there that have a particular problem necessarily (like the shimmy).

cacicgt7

+ 1 for the CVT in the 07 if you can afford it, seems it is bulletproof

CRK

And the 120k warranty....Its what is mine plus you get keyless entry and keyless start

oldngivout

iTrader: (8)

Technically it is the same, but the 05-06 is different inside somehow. You cannot use an 05-06 trans in an 04 car, according to car-part.com.

dafertilizer

iTrader: (8)

Thanks all,
going up tomorrow morning to try to work out the right payments for a white 07 (#1 choice) but if that doesnt work out, theres a late 04 (gray) and a 05 (black) that are back up choices...

the fun part is going to be driving my 5th gen 2 hours up there to trade in that has no reverse.... i just hope it makes it there lol.....

JD05

If you only want to spend 12k but are possibly going to spend 16k + financing thats about 5k more a transmission in a 04 or 05 is about 3000k it would be cheaper to find a low milage 05 to 06 and IF the tranny goes which it may not happen at all you save 2k to 5k also you could buy a good extended warranty for about 1500.00 that would cover you for many many miles!!

Blainer07

Chicago Craigslist had a 04 SE 6spd loaded check it out if it's still on there. I was looking for a 6spd for months in any model and couldn't find not one! good luck man!

mudbelly

Don't forget the 07+ has a redesigned grill, rear, dash, etc. Did 04-06 have aux jack or bluetooth?

RAZ76

iTrader: (8)

You keep saying 5spd MT. It' s a 6spd not 5spd. You are not going to have those transmission issues in a manual as they did in the 04 and 05s automatics.

tomhorn

I have an 04 SL purchased in August of 03. No tranny problems thus far (knock on wood) and 76k miles.

BLACKNESS MONSTA

I believe it is the 5AT that had some problems, especially in the first year of production. The 4AT in the SL is carried over from the 5th gen and was never known to have any issues in the first place.

In terms of reliability 4AT and CVT > 5AT

In terms of performance 5AT > 4AT and CVT

IMHO

Jaggrey

What did the OP end up getting?

shyheim07

So buying a 6th Gen is a gamble...

I owned a 4th gen. It went out on my at 289,000+ miles last August (tranny). I wanted to purchase a 6th gen for reliability...not so much performance wise...I personally think these cars perform enough compared to my old 4th gen but I don't want to take a gamble...

so in that it would be best to go for an 07, but i've read alot of reviews about MPG not being so good...is that true in you guys opinions?

DarkestAngel

I went to the nissan dealership with my 2005 nissan maxima because my tranny was slipping at 80k miles, and they told me the reason my tranny was slipping was because I had an Altima transmission in it.

ok.., i said i know i bought it at a used car dealership, but if someone put a altima tranny in it, dont you think it would last a bit longer than 80k? so your telling me this 05 maxima had the original tranny replaced around 40k? comon now!

so anyway, they said i needed a maxima tranny for the core to send it back to nissan dealership and they didnt want to take my altima core, so i went to a dismantle shop that took off parts of cars, and a company had a tranny core that came right off a 2005 maxima.

so i took the core i got from the dismantle place back to the dealership because they couldnt take the core charge off, and what happened? it was another Altima transmission off of a 2005 nissan maxima they said!!

this problem needs to be looked at, possible nissan is not saying anything because they would go bankrupt if this problem was recalled, with lawsuits, parts and labor worldwide.

Acadian

I have a 06 AT with 76000 KM on it and it shifts hard only if I go at a really slow speed or not giving enough throttles but if I give some good throttle it works perfect........for now I guess. But I like the manual tranny better its more reliable

BzJeep

I'll just add that I just had my 5 SPD AT on my 06 SE replaced with a factory rebuilt at 61500 miles. Problem surfaced out of nowhere. I purchased at about 57000 miles and had no problems until it suddenly started shifting extremely hard one evening on my way home, by the next morning, it was toast.