Hello,



After 7 years and 130.000 miles I said good bye to my 07Maxima SE. I traded it in for a 2014 Kia Optima LE. I was tired of the $200 tires and did not want to buy a new set. It only ran well on Chevron 91 or it was ping city. 22mpg @ $4.50 a gallon was hurting my wallet. Overall the cost of ownership was just getting too much.



A local Kia Deal offered me $5800 for the trade when the KBBwas $5200 so I jumped all over it. I had the car serviced at the dealer and they put it all in car fax so I got hi blue book. I picked up the Kia for $19.000 plus tax and license with 5 miles on it. Say hello to Costco 87 and $100 tires that don't need to be replaced every 35.000 to 40.000 miles.



The one thing I will miss is the raw power of the VQ 3.5.Even at 130.000 miles If I wanted to go, it went very fast. The Kia well it'sonly a 2.4 @ 192hp but hey 30+mpg and 60% of the time I am in 30 to 40 mphtraffic anyway.



I would like to thank you all for sharing your informationand helping me the few times I had problems.



Thank you and good luck with your Maxima



Loren

 

I stopped reading at this point.

 

&

 

brand new car just about. sheesh, gas mileage does suck a bit in the newer maxes though. rented a 2010 and used up 60.00 in 2 days of driving.

 

Kia a good looking car. 182k and I still got plenty of umph, 130k is still young :-)

New car is always nice, good luck.

 

Good job!

 

mrloren How do you like the Kia vs the Maxima ride/handling?

my car has been a pain at times I'm thinking of keeping it and maybe getting a lexus GX or something that sits up off the ground.

 

But unfortunately, still a Kia.

 

Congrats on the purchase. 192hp isnt bad for a grocery getter

I'm w/Chris....will keep max to mod and get like an xterra or something for a daily

 

Congrats. I was thinking about an optima also. Good looking car and nice body lines.

 

yall guys chasing the Kia Octopus around here are gonna regret it when the 8th gen max comes out

 

I loved my Maxima. I had 130.000 miles and the gas milagewas not that good 23mpg. If I had the money to keep sinking in it I would have kept it for a few more years. I have a 76 miles a day roundtrip for work at today's gas prices I was spending almost $70 a week in gas. My Maxima only ran well on either Chevron or Shell 91 . The car was coming up for some big maintenance and tires. Michelin tires @ 245/45/18 comes close to a grand alone. I have one kid in college and another is going in a few years, I needed to think of long term cost of ownership. College and my wife's X5 are already two money pits I don't need a third.



My Optima is a base LE with a few extras added. I did thetrue car pricing and got it for $19K plus T&L. The ride of the Kia is nice smooth and quite.I just went from Chula Vista to UC Irvine (192 miles round trip) last night to pickup my kid for the weekend. the Kia performed quite well and pulled the hills on the toll road with ease. The one thing I will miss is the raw power ofthe Maxima, punch it and go is there with the Kia just not as good.



Overall I am happy with the Kia, ride is smooth, noise isabout 1/10 of the Maxima cornering is good even with the 16" (205/65/16)tires. acceleration is better that I thought with the 4 banger. I had a 97 Camry with a v6 and the Kia is about the same power wise. The Optima's are designed in Germany, and built in Georgia with Korean and USA parts

I don't know if I will get another Nissan, I have a thingabout my money going to Renault.

 

As automotive technology advances, automakers are able to pump more power out of smaller engines while making them more efficient. The 1984 ford thunderbird v8 made 140hp...about the same as a 1995 4 banger accord lol

I had no idea renault and nissan were together, interesting.

 

Was your maxima paid off?

 

For thoes of you who don't know

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault...issan_Alliance

 

My '13 Max gets the best mileage of all my prior Maximas. Average 25 mpg mixed and a recent trip of 1500 miles returned 32 mpg. Hand calculated.

 

Maximam people are gonna think i'm crazy for this but on the display screen i've seen 33mpg. Don't know if its accurate but i've noticed on extremely long trips this car barely uses any gas.

mrloren your new car is probably nice it sounds i'm glad you found something for suitable for you. $70 your 6th gen was going thru 70 a week? mine lasts about a week and a half on $45 a tank not the perfect car but moo moo is pretty good on gas actually.

 

You do realize that display is showing your instantaneous MPG, right? With those large chromed rims, your mileage for the whole tank won't be as high unless your driving miss daisy on a flat plain road with a tail wind.

 

dwapenyi lol @ ms Daisy yall crazy I swear. It's pretty good on gas I know that reading is not accurate I drove about 150-200 miles a couple of weeks back and didn't even use a quarter of a tank it dropped but not much. The only trouble I have with MPG is in the city and those big rims have not had any effect on my gas mileage about the same.

 

whats with all the photobombs

lol

 

just for work I drive 370 miles a week which = 15 to 16 gallons of Shell/Chevron 91 @ $4.45+ a gallon mostly in stop and traffic. Now that Caltrans permanently screwed up the 805 in south San Diego I have to leave for work a half hour early @ 5:45 to avoid most on the stop and go traffic. Even leaving early I was babying the Maxima to get 24-25mpg. I just topped off the Optima after 284 miles and it only burned up 8.6 gallons of Costco 87 @ $4.18 a gallon.



I did the run to UC Irvine over the weekend and the Optima drove nice. It's more that a grocery getter, it pulled the hills on the 73 tollroad very nice.

 

mrloren oh your in San Diego that's why gas is costing you more. I was thinking about getting a Range Rover or GX470 preowned and really wanna keep the Maxima as a side driver so I dont have to use the truck everyday not until I move to Los Angeles I guess gas is not as big deal out here in Texas tumbleweed country

The Optima is alot newer and more efficient its perfect for living a balanced income they look good.

 

welcome to CA gas prices...from Texas dude you will get a big BIG price shock. Remember CA is a blue state and these jokers tax the crap out of everything. We have summer and winter blends of gas. Just another reason to charge us more for a product that actually does no good.

 

mrloren lol I'm down to deal with high gas prices for a while as long as I can get my 6th gen out of Texas away from hailstones and cow patties and occasional
acid rain--->(that came my best friends x she got even with him his 7th gen has been demolished to a 3rd gen)

 

Who cares about gas prices!