Yeah I have found out the hard way. Don't get me wrong. I love my FX35. It has been trouble free the whole 6 years I have had it. But after having my fusion last year I realize how heavy that rear door is to push and pull up/down and you have to really pull it down to close it. I vow never to get a luxury crossover again without a power liftgate. The real shame of it is, I've sent letters to Infiniti all the way back in 2006 and 2007 about adding a power liftgate and what are we in now, 2010, and Infiniti still hasn't done anything about it, despite the fact all their major competitors have one. My god, the cheapy, lousy chevy equinox and traverse have it for crying out loud.

In regards to the Maxima's steering, I like the balance of loose/firm the wheel has over 50 mph but I feel it is a little too loose for my taste at really low speeds. Sometimes, it is so loose I over compensate, especially after driving my FX or TL around for awhile which have the competely opposite steering ability. But, like you said, you can't have everything right in no matter what cars you have!

 

i know this is way off subject and I am sorry but I cant believe the new Ford Tauras comes in a 365 3.5L V6 twin turbo AWD 17mpg city 25 highway. Thats freaking crazy for somthing like a for taurus....

 

Those are the specs for the special EcoBoost engine system designed for the Taurus SHO High Performance vehicle. The SHO version will account for a miniscule percentage of Taurus sales, and starts at around $38,000, with prices well over $40K equipped as you or I would buy it.

The engine found in normal Tauruses is a 263 HP 3.5 Duratech, which is a very good, practical engine. If the Maxima did not exist, I could survive just fine with a 2010 Taurus. It isn't a Maxima, but then it is very affordable, growingly reliable, and definitely practical.

 

The only thing with the Maxima though, I think that Nissan might, at some point have to add a AWD option to the sport and premium packages. The Taurus, LaCrosse, TL, etc all have AWD options at the same price point to the Maxima so I think if they want it to stay competitive they'll have to do it. Personally, since I live in the Northeast, I could really use available AWD in the winter and really wet weather because that 290HP through the front wheels alone is a pain in the butt when the weather turns real lousy. I'd love to see them add a manual to the sports package models but that won't happen because of the lack of demand for manuals.

By the way, I know its still early in the rumor mill, but I wanted to get all of your impressions about the possible news in the link below and if you think it will or will not hurt sales for the Maxima when it comes out?

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/15/i...that-turbo-th/

 

I don't see an AWD Maxima. AWD not only adds a few thousand to the price of a car that Nissan is trying very hard to make more affordable than such lines as G37 and TL; AWD will also reduce the MPG by around 1, which is a significant increase these days, add a little weight to the car, which is already a hefty 3600 pounds, and increase the number of things that can go wrong.

Worst of all, adding AWD doubles the lot space requirements for dealers who try to keep on hand one of each of the major ways the car can be ordered. I don't see an AWD Maxima unless the production rises from around 60K copies per year to at least 100K copies per year, and I see no chance of that.

As to the link, that is a pretty snappy-looking replacement for the stodgy old G20. Former G20 drivers should be salivating. But at between 210 and 235 HP, this G30 will be smaller and less-powerful than Consumer Report's top-rated Altima, and should have no appeal to Maxima owners. The G30 should be a very stylish and appealing vehicle for those who want the upscale name of Infiniti, and are not concerned with power and acelleration.

 

I don't know, I'm so torn about the AWD! You are right on many of your points about weight, price, production, etc but I be willing to sacrifice it for AWD if it allowed me better security on the road in lousy weather. But to be honest with you, I think a change to much better tires than these crappy OEM Goodyears might go along way to helping that without needing AWD option. A lot of traction issues have to do with the tires used. You should see how poorly they are rated on tirerack.com by consumers!

I do like Infiniti too and mpg is one of the reasons why I chose the Maxima over the G37. With gas prices hovering around $3 a gallon, and the strong possibility of heading back to the $4 a gallon realm, fuel economy is becoming a good indicator of what cars I get. I love my FX but when gas was $4.29 a gallon, the most expensive it got in NJ, I was putting out almost $80 bucks a fill-up . Even though the Max gets decent fuel economy for its weight/engine output, that 20 gallon tank is still a killer come fill-up. I'm paying about $45 bucks a fill-up on the Max now, and that is with premium at $2.89. I hate to see what the Max would be if gas was back at $4 dollars a gallon. A G25 with decent fuel economy might tempt me back into the Infiniti camp. But who knows, nothing is set in stone yet with that. I tell you though, the new M is fantastic and the interior's are becoming class leading with Infiniti! The M hybrid sounds promising too.

 

I realized after i bought the car that it actually took Premium gas... DOH!!

 

Guessing from it being an '09 . . . chances are that your salesman didn't want to mention it very prominently (or maybe even at all) for fear of losing your sale over the difference in fuel price. Probably figured you'd stumble across it sooner or later, and that the knock sensor would cover for you in the meantime.

Out of curiosity, what sort of vehicle did you come into Maxima ownership from?


Norm

 

I'm sure, Nissan could throw an X on the back of a Maxima and call it AWD with some sophisticated traction system, I've met more then enough people driving RWD FX and RWD G35 sedans that swear they are AWD, I offered to show them the lack of a front drive shaft/diff/transfer case

It just makes me laugh, it even makes me laugh harder when people have AWD vehicles that they don't even know are AWD, it just goes cause it goes, really

The best was when owners brought their SUV in complaining of the 4WD not working, well if you have not shifted it out of 2WD for 60k, why would you think it's gonna work now, thankfully I don't do that anymore

Now that I'm older it just amuses me how little people know about their cars.

The Maxima is a great car, with a great transmission, except for the online community, no one knows what a CVT is

 

With 2 Maximas, an 06 and my 09, I've never looked at the price of gas enough to care, I just put 93 in it and drive off, I know what I bought, a car that uses gas, so I like to put the best in it.

 

I always use 87 octane gas without any problem, no knock, nothing.

I realized after i bought the car that it requires $90+ for an oil change... DOH!!

 

Does the premium fuel make a big difference in the Max, You cant just use regular or the mid-grade.

 

The actual octane requirement of an engine at any instant varies a bit and will depend on many things. You probably don't need all 91 octane all of the time, but I'm not particularly comfortable making public suggestions to do otherwise even if I tossed in a few cautions and warnings.

One thing that will happen if your fuel isn't of high enough octane for the engine's demands of the moment is that the knock sensor will signal the PCM to pull timing. Less than optimum ignition advance means you get less power and poorer fuel economy. Whether you'd "save" more $ by using cheaper fuel or end up spending more because you might be using it even less efficiently than indicated by the relative prices/gallon is a separate matter. *** . . . And that still doesn't address the possibility that not enough timing can be pulled for the grade of fuel and actual instantaneous circumstances of driving.

In some cars/EFI systems, the knock sensor and PCM logic is pretty aggressive in this respect. Probably for the best in cases involving turbocharging, supercharging, or unusually high compression ratios.


*** just so you know, most days it's about a dime a gallon difference between 87, 89, and 93 octane at the station I normally use, and the price for 91 splits the 89 and 93 right in the middle. Light, I know that your "mileage" varies on this.


Norm

 

Wow really! Here in NJ, we can't pump our own gas. A few weeks ago I was at the Shell station filling up and the station was packed and there was a women in front of me causing a brew ha ha about something and the station attendant got flustered and filled my 2010 up with regular instead of premium. I didn't realize it till I drove out of the station and immediately felt the difference. The car was knocking and pinging like crazy. It was idling incredibly rough and there was increased vibrations in the car. I also noticed it struggled a lot when trying to accelerate so I had to take a easy with the car the entire time I had that tank of regular. Suffice it to say, I make sure now that Premium goes in and when premium went back in all that stuff I just mentioned went away. You might be able to get away with mid-grade 89 octane in the Maxima but I wouldn't try 87.

The salesman who sold me the car told me that regular would not work but you could probably get away with mid-grade! But I just put premium in it because it is only 10 cents more than the mid-grade so I'm only spending 2 bucks more a week for 93 premium than 89 mid-grade!

I mean if regular works for you and you want to take the chance be my guess but I would recommend nothing less than 89 octane for the Maxima. No stations around me have 91 Octane anyway, only 93 for premium so thats what I get and I only get Shell gas. In a pinch, I'll get 93 Octane BP but I like Shell best and my cars get the best mpg with Shell gas. WaWa has 92 Octane premium and I think that could work fine as well.

 

Oh you mis-interpreted what I said. I wasn't interested in getting that 09 Maxima. I was only at my local Infiniti to look at the new M37s and M56s they got in. I happened to see one in the showroom and as I walked in there was the 09 Maxima next to it. I swear though, from the front, both the Maxima and M37 have a similar profile. Finally saw a new M37 on the road today for the first time. That is one nice piece of ***!!!

 

Actually, that post was aimed toward vancitymax, who apparently wasn't made aware that the Max prefers the good stuff. Any prior experience on his part with lower octane fueling requirements of other cars may have meant that he wouldn't have thought to ask either.

It never crossed my mind to link '2009' to a sale that didn't happen.


Norm

 

I bought my 07 Max and used 93 octane in it till the day I traded it in. I leased the 09 Max. When the salesman went with me to fill out the first tank of gas (at the dealership's expense), I found to my horror that he filled in with 87 octane. I questioned him and he said I would be fine. I was sceptical but did not ask anything more since this is a lease and I am going to part with it anyway after 39 months, so if 87 octane works, thats going to save me some money. Fortunately, the 87 octane has worked with absolutely no problem If it did not and violated any warranty terms, the salesman would be in trouble.

 

Personally man, I wouldn't listen to a word the salesman says. They have no clue most of the time of what they are talking about. My salesman told me the exact opposite. He said you have to fill up the Maxima with premium 91-93 Octane or you could run into engine trouble later on and I definitely saw this on that one tank of regular that was put into my car a few weeks ago. I mean I wouldn't worry about it but trust me, if anything happens to the car while you have it and they find out it was filled with regular they'll come after you because Nissan recommends premium and that salesman will deny deny deny he ever told you that regular was fine.

Just looking out for your best interest man. Nissan makes nice cars, but their customer service sucks big time and they'll try to blame us at all costs when something goes wrong so that they can't eat the repair costs. You should see the hell some 1st Gen Murano owners are going through with their CVTs! Also, Nissan is playing games with the 10yr/120k miles warranty extension.

 

What games?

 

They plays games with what and what not they will cover under the warranty for people who have spent between $7-9k on CVT/transfer case repairs. Some have had catalytic converter damage and/or engine damage but Nissan of course will not admit that it was due to the CVT, despite the fact some of these people only have 80-100k miles on their Murano's and there was no trouble with these other engine components until they had trouble with their transmissions.

I'm just glad I don't have one of the vehicles with the 1st Gen CVT. So many people with it r having troubles at 70-110k miles going out causing thousands in damages/repairs. But some of that is their fault too. That was Nissan's first introduction of the CVT into their vehicles and with any new technology put out by a manufacturer for the first time, you have that chance of having problems with kinks. Your taking a gamble. By now, most of the troubles have been worked out so we shouldn't have any troubles with our Max's and the CVT!

 

smarty666, can I ask how old you are, some of the things your posting sound more like hear say and wishful thinking then actual fact, the only comment I'm gonna make is that a CVT has nothing to do with the failure of a cat converter, my 06 cat failed at 59665, and never did I relate my engine/cat converter to the transmission, the only way the 2 are connected is through a torque converter, that is about as intelligent as people who crash their AWD vehicles in the snow and then curse the manufacture

 

You know, some of you guys are really freakin unbelieveable on here. You think I sit around everyday making stuff up just for the fun of it? I'd really like to know since you have to waste my time and your time questioning everything. What difference does it make what age I am. I spend time reading various car magazines, online forums, etc to get information from the professionals and from the consumers who live with their vehicles day in and day out. Here is the links to 1st Gen Murano owners having trouble with their 1st Gen CVT. I wouldn't worry about us since anyone with a 7th Gen Max is going to have the 2nd Gen CVT with the upgrades Nissan made to it.

Its not surpising their are problems with it, when you really think about it, because that was Nissan's first introduction of their new CVT technology and with any car manufacturer there are going to be some problems/kinks to work out with any new technology. So far, the 2nd Gen CVT hasn't been causing problems with people like the 1st Gen did!

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX/.f133968/451

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX?14@@.f2002a5/0

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX?14@@.ef1354f/2120

P.S. - Its free to do so, but you might have to signup with edmunds in order to read these since they are in a car blog.

 

I GUESS I LOVE MCDONALDS CAUSE I LOVE MY MAX