Supposedly did a "long term test" of the 2009 Maxima. I have subscribed for years and just LAST MONTH the Maxima was supposedly added to their test fleet. This month, it is an 8,000 mile, 3 month evaluation.

Hmmm...ok..It boiled down to the predictable whine and b*tch about the CVT and no manual in a 4DSC. I am SO sick of that crap. The car needs a manual like I need more taxes. As usual they failed to address its utility as a family sedan with good handling and power. Just whimpered a lot.

Part of that problem is faulty marketing by Nissan. It's a helluva car but not a 4DSC. No more Motor Trend for me. They have become way too predictable and way too whiny. It sounded like someone scratched their new Tonka truck.

 

Was that the same article that said we should have bought an Infinity G35 instead?

To that I say psssh, if I wanted an Infinity, I would have bought an Infinity... silly motor trend.

 

is there a link?

 

Sounds like he was talking about this one

 

That's it. I get the print version and didn't know it could be linked. Maybe I will tell you how I really feel about Motor Trend...after I do not renew the subscription.

 

Added it to the reviews section in stickies.

 

Here is a review I like!! Why? Because the writer agrees with me.

http://autos.aol.com/article/general...01162909990001

 

I like that review too (for the same reason).

That review says "Sport versions also get a strut tower brace across the front suspension towers for greater front stiffness and steering precision"

Can anyone with the sport package verify if that is true?

And then I wonder if that brace could be bought as parts and added to the other models? I looked at the Stillen version and it requires cutting the tower covers, and maybe using Nissan parts would avoid that.

 

""On Web producer Melissa Speiring's baby seat test: "I had to have Kirill's strength to help me attach the two lower latches to the rear seat. The hooks are located deep in the cushions, and the straps of the baby seat barely reached them.""

WTF is he talking about, i found it no different then on any of the other 10 cars ive had. Sounds like just whining cause he cant shift the **** .. boo hoo ... who has time for that anyways

 

I was just reading this morning the issue of MT i got in the mail recently...they concluded in their long term review of the 7th gen Max...20 something K miles (1yr)....verdict.....they hated the CVT and the fake paddle shifters...BIG TIME!....I believe they actually called it a poser 4DSC....that the paddle mode made the car slower...and said for the price....they would rather get a G37 in a heartbeat....to add salt to the wound...they said that they should of moved the maxima to a RWD platform and that the combination of the FWD and CVT wrecks the cars purpose.

Can't say we didn't see this coming.....this generation of the car would have been a freakin monster if it had a 6-speed and RWD or AWD......(and a turbo or two couldn't hurt...)....hell it definitely has the looks!

I think they were being a bit harsh.....and maybe exaggerating a bit....I agree that the CVT in the altima suits the purpose of that car....but in the maxima....maybe not.....that being said....I thought the CVT was awesome in my Murano when I had it.

 

We've talked about this in a couple other discussions on here but the fact of the matter is the sports enthusaist community hates the Maxima, mainly not because of the CVT/FWD layout but because Nissan screwed up on the marketing of it as a true 4DSC and shoved that down everyone's throats when in fact the CVT/FWD prevents it from doing so. As I have said, I really like the FWD/CVT layout and don't want it to change. I find the Maxima is the best upscale/bold four door sedan you can get without having to go into the sports sedan arena of the luxury companies.

The problem is, and they don't say this when they give their negative review of the car, if Nissan was to put a manual and RWD/AWD layout into the Maxima as they have suggested to make it a true 4DSC, the price would not only go up but then the Max would be no different from the G, and then they'd be telling you still not to get a Maxima because for the same price and exact same layout you can be in the Infiniti. Thus, nothing would change from their current critisms of the price point and that you should be in a G rather than a Maxima.

To hell with them. The Maxima is fine the way it is and the FWD and CVT is the reason why I got it over the G37. I wanted to something that would get good gas mileage, be more comfortable on the road, and had just enough sport/aggressive exterior styling that it would stand out in the crowd, compared to boring designs like the Malibu, Camry, Accord, etc etc!!

 

+1
amen

 

Smartie666 - Very well worded.

Motor Trend really showed their ignorance in this case. It is almost as if they are measuring the Maxima against the Corvette. To even suggest RWD for the Maxima, which has been FWD since October, 1984, shows an abysmal lask of information on how Nissan and Infiniti are set up. They can hate on the CVT all they want, but again, that only shows they are still living in the past. I love my CVT.

Totally uninformed and offbase articles such as this are why I cancelled my Motor Trend subscription many years ago.

 

MT has always been a "Knee Bender Vacuum Cleaner" for the BMW namebrand so it is no surprise that they wouldn't champion the Maxima because it goes against everything they were brought up to worship.

I love my car just the way it is, I have enough money to buy a BMW 7 series if I wanted to but for me I didn't want a car that looked like everything else on the road today, the Maxima doesn't look like everything else, plus it does well enough in performance for me.

How many ppl are going to be hotrodding around in this car? If they (MT) only after performance then maybe they should all buy G's and BM's, this car isn't a hotrod nor is it a RWD sports sedan.

If you want to gauge how well a car is being received you need to do no more than look around, ppl are driving and buying the Maxima!!

 

Actually they67 were quite complementary with the Maxima once they dismissed it as a serious sports car. "Capable. comfortable, practical city and countryside cruiser...." Their main beef outside the fact it is not a BMW, was the price. But then they failed take into the much deeper discounts available on the Maxima vs. the G37. I have two older female friends who are quite happy with their new Maximas, and for them, it's right on target. For folks who want a sports car, not so much!

 

Well said guys.....I always knew the M in BMW stood for Motor Trend....I mean they make nice cars....bit they aren't the best ALL the time. It has gotten to the point that if a BMW did not win a competition it was in was a Big shock!!!

 

i agree, while reading that article i was slowly becoming not a fan of motor trend i already dislike there ignorance to certain brands but what really made me not ever want to read motor trend again was seeing who won their midsize compro.....look it up people its a bit coincidental that a certain car won.
i think they got paid off......sorry to vent but this issue just pissed me off lol

 

the biggest problem is, MotorTrend is not solely alone in their biased opinion review of the Maxima; I've read time and time again since the 2009 model year how they really like the car but feel it is worthless and that everyone should just get a G sedan!

Its gets old after a while, and to be honest there are more negative/bad reviews of the Maxima then there are positive ones that I have read

I think what professional people have a problem with is Nissan's marketing department who advertised the car as a true 4DSC and slapped that sticker on the rear window and said it was on par with everyone else; I think they have more problems and issues with Nissan marketing then they do the actual car

Because, if they actually took the time to understand the purpose of the Maxima with the FWD/CVT layout and the benefits of it then they might be able to give a much better review of the car; but in general, the whole automotive community has yet to warm up to the CVTs; I have read the same criticisms by MT, C&D, PM, etc about the Subaru, Audi, Honda, MB, and other CVTs just like Nissan ones. I think the only problem with the CVT, which I suspect Nissan engineers will quell very soon, is the loud rev droning it causes the engine to make which you can hear in the cabin sometimes, and is the major compliant I read about these car experts dislike about the CVT and how loud it can be sometimes; After a few months, I have finally gotten used to no shift shock and the smoothness the CVT gives you when your driving; when I go and drive my other car with the 5spd AT, I think there is something wrong with the all the jerking it does !

I still think a lot of the automotive community hasn't yet warmed up to the CVT because its still relatively new and with any new technology it takes a while for people, even like myself, who grew up with manual and regular automatic transmissions to get used to this new technology and many car experts have not, especially in the sports enthusist community who think freakin RWD and a manual is all a car should be offered in !

 

Smarty666, That's the thing, CVT's aren't new, just like electric cars aren't new, they just weren't in many mainstream cars.

CVT was first in a car in the 1920's and electric cars, well, Henry Ford's wife drove an electric car...

The real problem is the MINDSET of the people doing the writing. They are so caught up in the past that when the future smacks them across the face, they can't adapt. One of our local "newspapers" switched to WEB and EMAIL only because the "dead tree" circulation died out to the internet and TV. Another one folded and went away because they failed to adapt.

The only trend that Motor Trend shows is the past.

The only thing certain about anything is that the world moves on with you or WITHOUT you. Lightonthehill said in another thread that he's learned to move on WITH the world and adapt and no longer pines for the "old" products on the shelves he knew and grew up with. Some of these writers that still publish in "dead tree format" should look him up and take some advice.

Some of what I read in those magazines by some writers makes me wonder if we're still banging rocks together to make a spark to light our evening fires to make our meals.....

 

Yes you are correct. I didn't mean to say that CVTs themselves are a new technology, I should have said they are still relatively new for mass market production in mainstream vehicles. I mean, I think Nissan right now is the only car maker who solely has CVTs as their automatic transmissions throughout almost their entire production line! Even Subaru still offers a choice between getting a CVT or regular automatic.

Nissan took a big gamble with the CVT and I think overall it really has begun paying off for them! Yes, there were some issues with the first generation of it that was put in the 03-07 Murano's but most of that has been resolved and the mpgs people are getting out of this CVT are just unheard of, especially with the Maxima when you have a high powered V6 and torque under the hood!

I can just imagine some of the mpg avgs Altima I4 owners are getting on the road with their CVTs!

 

Not sure why everyone sounds so pissed off

The Maxima hasnt gotten good reviews since 2003 (and we all know which 2 other cars Nissan came out with that year)

 

I think the fully justified unhappiness with Motor Trend's putdown of the Maxima is based on many things. Here are three points:

#1 - Downgrading the Maxima because of FWD, when the Maxima is Nissan's official FWD near-luxury sporty family sedan. The Maxima has been FWD for over a quarter century. If Nissan made the Maxima RWD, then they would need to change the G37 to FWD, else, they compete with themselves. REALLY ignorant remark by Motor Trend.

#2 - Downgrading the Maxima because of the CVT, when the CVT has the clear potential to be the best accelerating and most efficient of all trannies. Motor Trend's attitude was made worse by the fact the CVT in the Maxima is the best CVT that has been built to date. Motor trend REALLY dated themselves on this point.

#3 - Downgrading the Maxima as inferior to the G37 and TL when many Maxima owners here on the ORG did what I did and drove the G37, TL, etc, before buying, and found the Maxima was easily the more desirable car for many reasons.

Motor Trend may be just the mag for those drivers still stuck in the second millenium. They certainly are lost here in the third millenium.

 

Maybe I am in the minority, but I actually preferred the Maxima because it was front-wheel drive. RWD is great until it snows and you see all those expensive RWD cars stuck, unable to make it up a ramp on the beltway. I have owned two RWD cars and the minute the road is slick, all bets are off. I am still undecided on the CVT, but I do like the gas mileage it provides!

Since this was going to be my "every-day" car, I wanted something that would handle well in snow and rain, haul my kids, be comfortable with lots of options, and be sporty with power. I think the Maxima clearly fits the bill for all of these.

Maybe if I was buying a car solely to drive on the weekend or at a track the Max wouldn't be the best choice, but for a well-rounded sports sedan under 40K, I don't think there is anything better.

 

All very good points. That is why my local Infiniti dealers here in NJ order all Infiniti models with the available AWD because they know in the winter here people will need them. I've used the snow mode on my FX35 I don't know how many times. The only time you'll ever be in a RWD only Infiniti is if your driving a loaner car since they use all base models for the service departments.

 

I fully agree. While there seems to be a little shift within the industry from "let's make everything FWD" back to "let's do a RWD car this time", it's not such a strong movement that everything needs to follow it. Like you say, the Maxima has 25+ years of FWD history, or nearly all of its life under the 'Maxima' model name. Even the earlier JDM "Nissan Bluebird Maxima", (available in the US as the Datsun 810 as of February 1977) goes back only 33 years.


Part of this is Nissan's fault – any inference drawn from tags like 'sport' can only be made with respect to current conventions, which comes back to what measures are already established as those by which "sportiness" can be compared. Simply put, CVTs are too new and too different to easily fit within most existing definitions of 'sport', and Nissan was clearly guilty of "jumping the gun" on this one. Maybe twenty years from now CVTs will be considered "eligible" for consideration as sporting equipment. But not yet. Not generally.

I'm sure that Light and a few of the more, ummm, senior .org members can remember when conventional automatics were ALL generically slandered as "slush-boxes", having little to no performance merit whatsoever. But with time, that attitude has shifted(!) quite a bit in all but a couple of the most hardcore driving environments.


The rest of it is MT's problem in not recognizing that the car really falls more in the near-luxury to luxury tourer range than hardcore sport from the get-go – keeping in mind that in their test wrap-up MT did give the new Max pretty decent marks for its over-the-road behavior. They just reviewed it from the wrong point of view, and compared it against the wrong cars.

I'm not particularly defending MT. There have been a couple of things mentioned in other fairly recent reviews against which I stand in direct opposition. And I've let them know it.


Norm

 

Honestly i miss my RWD 350z, but i think it's simply because i need time to adjust. I'm not used to understeer and the wheel jerking when i accelerate out of hard corners. After a while i'm sure i won't even notice the CVT drone either. Then again in the circumstances i'm describing i'm probably pushing it harder than intended as well. None of the points i've mentioned are really issues i have with the car as much as me needing to adjust to it. Lets call it driver issues.

I will say that i agree with everyone on the point that the Maxima does what it is intended to do very well. I wouldn't have bought one if it didn't. I intend to enjoy it for the foreseeable future no matter what a review in some mag said.

 

By the way, I love the 370Z. If anyone wants to be in a really slick sports car without breaking the f%^king bank, that is the car to be in!!

 

Yeah i like it too, but if there's one thing riding in the hatch of my 350z taught me.... it's that i needed more than 2 seats Sometimes being the smallest person in the group is NOT a good thing.

 

If you need more than 2 seats man, then you definitely do not buy a 370Z!

 

no one drives a g37 and says you know what i'd rather have the maxima. true story.

 

I did. True story.

 

then price mattered(and if price mattered you should not be buying a new 30k $ car anyways) the g37 is a completely different class of Car. period. true story. if you would like to argue this please start new thread.




g37 > maxima any day of the week. sorry to burst your bubble.

seriously start a new thread saying why the maxima is better then g37 ignoring the price diff. if you are about price wait a year and the g37 will cost as much as a new maxima.

 

NOT CORRECT. WAY,WAY,WAY off-base. Almost 'Motor Trend' far off-base, if that is possible.

To me, the G37 just did not seem quite as roomy as the Maxima. With children and grandchildren, and taking many long trips with family, space is very important for me.

To me, the G37 styling was not exciting, while the Maxima styling was fresh and modern. I have had others tell me this same thing.

I will never own another RWD car. I drove those from 1949 until 1984, and never really liked them. One snowflake and its over. I do not like AWD, as the initial cost is greater, the risk of problems and repairs is greater, and MPG is lowered. I insist on FWD, and the G37 sadly has no FWD option.

I am a very firm believer in the future of the CVT. I know it will very soon prove to be a better accelerating and more efficient tranny than any tranny that has to shift. Sadly, the G37 offers NO CVT option, while the Maxima has what I consider to be the best CVT currently available.

The Maxima is more car for the money. I always pay full price in cash up front, and can afford pretty much any car I choose. But I am in that advantageous position ONLY because I have insisted on getting good value for my money for a lifetime. When comparing features and price, I found I would get more features for less money with the Maxima than with the G37.

When we buy a vehicle, we are also in effect 'buying a dealer.' I understand there are areas where Infiniti dealers may be better than nearby Nissan dealers. Where I live, the opposite is true. My current Nissan dealer has treated me like royalty for fourteen years, while trips to my local Infiniti dealer always left me feeling like I was an intruder that didn't belong.

Your mistake was very similar to Motor Trend's mistake. You applied YOUR needs/wants in a vehicle to the general public. For some folks, the G37 will be just the ticket. But for many others (like me), BECAUSE OF WHAT I NEED AND WANT IN A CAR, the G37 fell well short of the mark.

 

then why do you buy brand new cars?

 

I did. I couldn't make myself pay the $50k for the G37. I didn't feel it was worth the money whereas i feel like my fully loaded Max for $35k is worth every penny and then some. And this is coming from someone that drove a 350z for 6 years, that loves RWD, and despises rag top convertibles. As light mentioned for some reason the Maxima was more pleasing to the eye to me as well. Well minus the rear end hehe.

To each his own though.

 

 

G37 Interior Material Quality > Maxima SV Interior Quality
G37 Engine/Handling Capability > Maxima SV Engine/Handling Capability

Maxima SV Roominess > G37 Roominess
Maxima Versatility for Everyday Purposes > G37 Versatility for Everday Purposes
Maxima SV (non-sport) ride quality > G37 AWD Ride Quality
Maxima SV Cargo Capacity > G37 Cargo Capacity
Maxima SV Exterior Styling > G37 Exterior Styling
Maxima SV Heated Steering Wheel > G37 (oh wait, it doesn't have one!)
Maxima SV Fuel Economy > G37 Fuel Economy
Maxima SV Rear Audio Control > G37 (oh wait, doesn't have those!)
Maxima SV Dual Panel Moonroof > G37 (oh wait, it doesn't have that either!)
Maxima SV Auto Dimming Side Mirror > G37 (oh wait, it doesn't have that!)
Maxima SV Cooled Front Seat > G37 (oh wait, it doesn't have that!)
Maxima SV Rear Power Sunshade > G37 (oh wait, doesn't have that either!)

Yeap, that G37 is in a whole other world than the Maxima is, lol, give me a break! The Maxima kills the new G37 in almost every way except the two I pointed out.

I think your on the wrong forum buddy!

 

First of all, don't freakin tell me what I can or can't afford, or what played into my decision to purchase the Maxima. The G37 I test drove was the exact same price as the Maxima I purchased, both had stickers at $40k. True story. Secondly, why is it that just because you feel that the G37 is better, that makes it a fact? How is this debate not based on personal opinion? You must be one of those people who feel that the car you drive is a status symbol and nothing is better than a BMW or an Infiniti because of the name. Well guess what, the Maxima has many features that the G37 doesn't, so that makes the Maxima better IMO. I don't need a "status vehicle" to cover up my shortcomings like some other people.

 

This is so interesting....you guys are bickering back and forth about 2 cars with somewhat different purposes....

The Maxima is a 4 door FWD family car that does its job very well.....that being said...for me...between the new maxima and the 4-door G37....I would take the Maxima...I think it looks that much better to me and it serves MY purposes better at where I am in life (room for kids...stuff...etc..)...furthermore...I like the CVT...I had the CVT in my Murano...loved it...very smooth and responsive...better gas mileage....and as I said before...didn't have that much of a noticeable drone.....although some of you say that it gets tiresome in the maxima (again....does the exhaust play a role??)....oh...and finally...between both 4-doors...I think the maxima is a better bang for the buck!

Now....if I were single and didn't care about space...and money wasn't an issue....or if I was wanting a toy for the weekends .....(aside from the max I have now)...then I would definitely jump into the G37S coupe...because in my opinion..it is more of a "sports car"...designed for that very purpose...and does its job well in that role.....and in my opinion....looks better than the new maxima!!!!

See the main point I am portraying here is that different people have different tastes....opinions...and needs......and that all of these factors play into effect when choosing a car that best fits those needs.....hence...some of us will like the Maxima more...and some of us will like the G37 more.....regardless of price......

just my $0.02.....

 

The reason why were bickering is because a Infiniti lover comes into a Maxima forum and basically trashes the car and anybody who crossed shopped it with the G37 Sedan. Bottom line is, the price points of both vehicles are very close so of course people are going to cross shop them along with Acura as well. Most people who bought a Maxima could easily afford a Infiniti, Acura, or Lexus, myself included, but felt the Maxima was superior to those choices in various regards which I pointed out earlier. For God sake, a loaded Maxima SV with the premium and tech packages gives you everything for just over $39,000 bucks and for about the same price you can get a G37x with a premium package but it doesn't come with the nav system or rear camera like the Maxima does at the same price and its the same nav system as Infiniti so your getting more for your money with the Maxima!