1) The screen isn't supposed to be orange, it's just the picture making it look like that. As far as I know, it's supposed to be red just like the rest of the dash.

2) That is the final production screen, but I don't think that's the Bose audio package, though. I was told that's the base screen.

 

(interior)

 

Thanks for sharing these pics with us, you are a lucky man. I just have 1 question. Hows the turning radius?

 

That'll be a lemon, just wait for the bugs to start coming out of the wood work

LOL, yaaar, it looks nice but its missing one key component................ the 6sp.

Kamski

 

Awesome post, jealous!!!

 

OMG everyone is freaking out over the sight of a 7th gen. I see them everyday and get to work on them to! LOL

 

That must be nice. Any input?

 

So contribute with some pictures, or GTFO.

 

geez.... so hostile

 

no cameras allowed inside the plant... give the man some credit or next time you buy a Nissan he'll build a 'special' one for ya =p

chill out shiet...

 

carnal is correct about the plant. They not only took my camera and cell, they also took my security cell, for which only ADT Security has the number, and which doesn't have a camera capability. I had the distinct feeling that if they had any inkling I might have a photographic memory, I would have been denied admittance, even if carrying nothing and dressed only in a Speedo.

Of course, with my figure, had I been dressed only in a Speedo, I would have promptly been arrested and charged with gross public indecency and contributing to the delinquency of the human race. Or possibly restricted to the spot-welding area of the plant, where all lights are off, and all you can see are lots of sparks flying through the darkness. And I don't think Speedos are spark-repellent.

 

Thanks for the graphic details...

 

:-) then LOL

 

turning radius shortened by two feet

 

I noticed that in the specs somewhere... Car and Driver maybe? They said it's 37.4 ft. now.

 

Pretty predictable seeming how the car has a shorter lenght and wider stance...

 

Great! The big turning radius was one of the only three noteworthy complaints expressed by Consumer Reports when testing the 6th gen Maxima.

When a person reaches my age, rampant indecisiveness means lots of U-turns are mandatory, and I have had my fill of finding I can't 'euwie' my 6th gen without a little AAA help getting out of the ditch.

 

I am really not digging the 4X4 look of the car. It really kills it..........

 

Hondadude - I must admit I was not overly impressed when I saw the photos the day it was released. But having spent several hours walking around it looking at it from various distances and angles, it certainly changed my mind. It looks far better in person than in photos. I hope you will take a glance at it in person when it arrives the 26th and let us know what you think at that time.

 

Those are just from badly photographed angles. I'm dropped on my 5.5 gen and at certain angles it looks like the car is jacked up. The 7th gen has nowhere near the gap that previous "4x4" generations have at all.

 

Glad to see they changed the crummy 6th gen air vents back to standard design. (Really, how hard is it to make air vents that are easy to aim, without shutting them off accidentally? The auto industry has been doing that for 40 years.)

Glad the turning radius is shortened. My 6th gen's is wider than a GMC Yukon's.

The exterior styling is terrific. They really went in the right direction with the front and back ends, though I would also prefer a move back to better visibility all around (bigger windows and rear windscreen).

My 6th gen lease is up in 9 months. Nissan just sent me the short brochure for the 2009. How long until they hit the showroom?

Did someone say there is no manual transmission for the 7th gen? The brochure only mentions the CVT. Nothing about paddle shifters, either. I've never liked the 6 speed gear rations, and the 6th gen gear box is clunky. (Also, I had that clutch-pedal-to-the-floor issue on a hot day after two hours of heavy driving.)

But if I could do it, I'd get a 4th gen in the Infiniti I-30t trim, 5 spd., black/black, and probably spend less money overall getting her in mint condition. But you couldn't finance that, and I'd have a car worth $6k after spending more than $10k.

This might be my year to go back to Infiniti and get the G-35, though I like the bigger car and roominess of the Max.

 

The 7th gen is smaller than the 6th gen, and is about the same as the G35 now.

 

Ah, geez. I can see in the pictures the body rolls back in pretty sharply near the trimline. Will have to sit in one to decide. Thanks.

 

i dont want to rain on your parade but if you are out at nissan ho in TN i suggest you be careful with taking photos and what not. my friend over there told me about some heads rolling for doing similar.

nice pics though

 

i had the opportunity to go to nashville to the plant and i will say the car is much different than in most photos.

the wheel gap just isn't there. the other .org members and i talked with some nissan people that we weren't a fan of the off-roading capabilities of previous maximas...haha. And nissan definatly fixed this. not because we said that of course...but anyway. the car has a great stance and sits very even. I'm loving the black one we test drove!! if i ever get one it will definatly we black. with 19 inch rims it looks pretty sweet. i've got some picks that i took outside of the plant the i will post later when i get back home. i'm pretty sure its legal...haha

i know lots of people don't like the fact that its not a 6 spd. i'm the same way...i like to shift through the gears as alot of the nissan people did that we talked to. But i will have to say that they did a great job with the CVT. sport mode with paddle sifters acts just like a manual. it shifts very quick and pretty firm. i thought it was pretty cool actually. they said the tranny has over 700 algorithms....possibly a future"tuning" of the CVT for a more sporty mode?...we shall see.

sorry for the longer post...just thought i'd share some of my experience with driving the car.

Kevin

 

Kevin (one_fast_max) - Interesting post. I was hoping to hear from a few of those who won the test-drives. I am hearing good things about the new CVT.

While I was at the plant back in early April, I was treated almost like a spy. They took my camera, my cell (with camera), my security cell which had no camera, and even examined my wrist watch.

-----

Taxvictim - The '09 Maxima goes on sale June 26th, so the first few should be sneaking onto the larger dealer's back lots in about a week or so. You must live near a very generous Infiniti dealer. Where I live, I can't touch a G35 for close to the price of a similarly-equipped Maxima.

Yes, the only tranny on the 7th gen is a CVT. But it is a new and improved design with four ways to operate it, and those testers and org members who have driven it, even though most are not real CVT fans, are finding it to be a rather nice tranny.

The new Maxima is shorter and wider than the 6th gen. Over an inch of knee room was lost in the back seat area, but the front is still roomy. The 6th gen rear had knee room to spare anyway. I think the only area where you might wish to check the room on this new Maxima is rear headroom, and, if you get the premium with the double roof, I would also check the front headroom.

 

yeah the security there was crazy to me. we had to leave cell phone and anything that might even take pictures. the pictures i took were outside the plant and they saw me taking them so i'm sure they won't care if i post them.

i liked some of the features of the car. now forgive me if this isn't new...but i'm not one to have "fancy" cars. but i thought it was actually pretty cool that it had heated and cooled seats. and the cooled seats actually worked freakin awesome...i was getting a little chilly...haha. the rear console had rear climate control, with cup holders. haha. there are some good compartments in the car that are very well thought out. oh yeah, the bottom door trim has "Maxima" written on it. anything that can be touched in the interior was very soft..no hard plastics. anyway...just things i thought that were well thought out by nissan.

 

Kevin - I am so glad you got to make the trip. While I was there two months ago, I was wishing all the ORG posters could visit the plant as a new generation Maxima was arriving.

I used to visit Smyrna (relatives) regularly in the 1950s and 1960s, but had not been there for forty years, and the sleepy little one-horse town of those early days is gone. Now Smyrna is booming.

I am especially happy that Nissan has upgraded the interior materials. That will add to the separation from 'lesser' cars. I snuck into my dealer's back lot today just in case the first '09s might have arrived and been stored there awaiting June 26th, but only '08s were back there. But it won't be long now!

 

Looks like Nissan is FINALLY getting back to the REAL 4DSC design that made the Max. All hail the 3rd gen Redo!

 

thanks lightonthehill!!

yeah man it was a freakin awesome trip! if i had more money i would definatly buy one. once i'm out of college and i get my 4th gen in the 11's then i'll look into the 7th gen. haha

yeah CyMax. in my experience with driving the car i would have to say the 4DSC is back. handles great, steering response is quick...and man does it pull allll the way to redline!! i know for a fact it pulls freakin hard to 100 and i'm sure it continues to pull hard for a while!

 

i'm not a photographer by any means but here are some....




i love the tail lights!!





enjoy

 

the way the roof opens is not great, hanging on the top like that.

 

At first, I was a bit put off by the looks, and if it truly does not have a huge gap at the wheel wells, I will be impressed. I will be out there as soon as they are on the lot to check them out. I do appreciate all the input and photos on this thread.

 

I think the taillights will look awesome at night!

 

It was white and had 19" CHROME RIMS. This was at executive Nissan in north haven. It already has a tints on it and is apparently the dealers Demo vehicle. The owner of the dealership, Scott Orsini, who i know very well, was driving it. I had went there to pick up a sunroof switch from the parts dpt and saw it parked in a handicapped space. before i did anything i checked it out fully and proceeded into the dealership to find out more about it.

to make a long story short, i actually got to drive the car...My brother used to have a 2007 max and i have to say that this is a HUGE HUGEEE freakin improvement both in power delivery and speed. The car is FAST. My brother has a 2007 M45 now...I have driven that reguarly..This car pulls JUST LIKE IT but with far less power. The torque steer is still in this car though which kinda pissed me off a bit but you would never know it unless you took your hands off the wheel for a second between 10-55 mph. The CVT was pretty Loud and a slight exhaust note was present. It actually sounded very similar to the M45's exhaust which is really cool (for whatever reason the G35's exhaust is much louder than the M's) . I got a LOT of looks while on the highway. in the car with me was a salesman. granted he car doesnt go on sale until Saturday the 28th so he wasnt trying to sell the car to me but said it was his first time riding in it. I cranked it down to about 125 and i have to say that it didnt take long. The ride is pretty comfortable and the handling is great. its handling is very precise and i must say a HUGE improvement over my 5.5 gen GLE. The paddle shifting is wierd though, i must say, but moreso unique than anything.

I can say flat out that this car will smoke an Automatic Acura TL-S and will give the 6 speed a descent run for its money. It will kill the camry 6speed no doubt and will eat up the honda accord 6speed. of course, my bro's m45 will beat up on it but its really no competition there. looking back on Motortrends comparo with the G8....Having driven this thing, i now Know why they chose to put the max up against it...You will all see come june 28th.

HERES THE GREAT NEWS THO:There will be a a MANUAL TYPE TRANNY. Scott told me this outta his own mouth. The car will in fact be much more expensive than the normal maximas (expect a base of 34-36 he said). He said as of right now he is not sure if its even a 6speed but its definitely NOT a CVT being mated to the Renault Engine. He also SHOWED me that, for the 2010 model (to be available this same time next year) the exhaust pipes will be the EXACT SAME as the altima 3.5 Coupes. Me personally, i think they look really nice. There will be more standard options too like navi, power window shades, xenons on the 2010 high end model. i asked what the trim level name was and he claimed that its not a trim level nissan has done before and its not SV or S. I asked if it was SR and he said no...I might be missing a letter.

what i got from this entire ordeal yesterday afternoon is that Nissan is not messing around. I really love that car...it was SOOOO fun to drive. The white looked AMAZING especially with the tints and rims on it. Im convinced that i want a white car now depsite loving my super black on my GLE.

Im here to tell you all, that the new maxima will NOT disappoint. I believe even the largest critics of the CVT will like it. if not, then wait for this mystery transmission that Scott spoke of. Lets hope that its the 6sp but it may very well be something similar to lexus 8spd auto or something. We will see. He told me official Details about the diesel engine maxima is coming out in Early to mid July so that all dealers can customized their inventory standards or some crap like that.

WIsh i had taken pictures.. Had no clue i was in store for all of this. Im gonna head back down there today to see if i can snap some pictures of it with an actual camera.

oh and btw, VERY great job on the wheel gap as everyone else mentioned

 

DAMN!!! That sounds like great news, if it's true. Nissan would definitely not be messing around with the additions you are talking about. Wait and see I guess. Seems like a 2010 model is in my future now. Thats ok, still love my 03 with mods.

 

Yea i was blown away by it all. A 6, 7, or 8 spd auto would also make the max worthy of the 4dr sports car title, espcially if its equipped with a dual clutch automatic system.

 

1st. Thanks for those pictures. Everytime I see it the more I like the car. The tail lights look amazing and I can't wait to see them light up at night. If anyone has a picture of them at night I would love to see it.

MaximainCT. Thanks for the info. I really do hope that they come true and we do have an upgraded model. I would hope that it is the 2010 diesel version so we do not have to wait until 2011 for another model. I am one that will be looking for a fully equip model, so if I can buy a special model with many of these features already included I would be interested. Personally dont need the manual but if they can inplement it for others it would be great.

 

Went down to the dealer yesterday and the max was gone....its still with the dealership but apparently was being driven by the owner on what the called "a trip to NISSAN USA HQ". i was like whatever. but from the sounds of things, and from reading other articles around the net, everything scott said to me seems to be having more fact than fiction. I seriously think that the 7 or 8 speed automatic with dual clutch engagement would be a better step in the fuel saving direction especially when accompanied with a diesel engine. Only time will tell though. i am getting anxious though!!!

 

i love that frikin car. I,ll probably go act like im gonna trade my 6th gen so i can drive one once the locals dealers get them