lightonthehill

Nissan has finalized the changes for the 2012 Maxima. It should begin production within the next month or so, will be the 7th generation 'half-gen' (some will refer to it as the 7.5), and will have mostly cosmetic changes to the exterior so as to make it easy to distinguish the 2012 Maxima from the '09s thru '11s.

Nissan does not bring out a half-gen and keep it only one year, so by producing this 7.5, Nissan tells us the 8th gen will not arrive before the 2014 model, or possibly the 2015.

THE CHANGES FOR 2012:

The BASE 'S' will now have a 'LIMITED EDITION' PACKAGE available that will add:

Smoked appearance headlights
HID (Zenon) headlights
Fog lights
18" Dark hyper-silver aluminum alloy wheels
Rear spoiler
Dark sport-appearance front grille
Outside mirrors with turn signal indicators
Compass in rear view mirror
Illuminated kick plates
Special metallic trim

There will be NO ENGINE OR TRANNY CHANGES for 2012

EXTERIOR CHANGES for 2012:

New front grille
New combination tail lights
New 18" wheel design
New 19" wheel design

INTERIOR CHANGES for 2012:

New dark piano hairline trim
New Atlantic cherry wood tone trim (Premium only)
New beige interior color

COMFORT & CONVENIENCE CHANGES:

The auto up and down rear door windows on the Premium have been DELETED

PACKAGE CHANGES:

The same packages of 2011 will be available on the 2012, plus the Limited Edition package has been added for the BASE 'S'

AUDIO & ENTERTAINMENT:

New base audio segment display has been added
New audio/HVAC **** design has been added

COLOR & TRIM CHANGES:

JAVA METALLIC (code CAJ) has been added
DARK SLATE (code K50) has been added
MYSTIC JADE (code DAD) has been deleted
METALLIC SLATE (code KBC) has been deleted
Tuscan Sun (code NAD) and Navy Blue (code RAB) will not be available the first month or two of 2012 production.

SAFETY & SECURITY:

The 2012 has a newly redesigned Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) which will display the pressure of each individual tire

DIMENSIONS:

No change

WEIGHTS/CAPACITIES/EPA:

No change.

IN SUMMARY:

This is the official Nissan list, and there will not be power folding outside mirrors, auto-dimming right outside mirror, etc, etc. If it isn't listed here, it isn't on the '12 Maxima.

The 'biggies' are the Limited Edition package for the 'S', the new grille and taillights, new wheels, new colors and a functional TPMS system.

Stormzusmc

iTrader: (17)

CVT = FAIL as only option....GTFO out Nissan...give us some options instead of wasting all your money and time on the Murano Cross Cabriolet...

mrodenberg0124

A useful TPMS would be nice if i could add it to my 2010 somehow. Also curious what the combination tail lights are.....

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

There was a post in a thread yesterday that had the official Dealers order form for the 2012 that had all of the changes, Maximus*** posted it. Now that thread seems to be gone......I had it also, see below.

http://www.drdom.biz/forum/my12_maxima_vog.pdf

lightonthehill

Probably the combination of the fact that strange thread-starting Avalon-looking car was from around four years back, had appeared here several times over the years, was not connected to the Maxima, yet was being confused with possible future Maximas, was more than enough grounds for deleting that thread.

The fact the 2012 Maxima changes had somehow showed up in that thread, then been lost when the thread was deleted, was the primary reason I started this thread. I think the 7.5 Maxima changes deserve their own thread, not as a post in the middle of a non-Maxima thread. It was great of Maximus*** to post the Nissan 2012 Maxima order form. That is the useful kind of info we really appreciate here, and I didn't want it to be lost.

Thanks for reposting the link, as there will be folks who want to check it out.

gizzsdad

Big disappointment dropping the auto up/down rear mirrors. I use that feature a lot.

The revised TPMS should be nice.

Car Addict

I was hoping the next gen max came out in 2013 as a 2014 model but it looks like that isnt going to happen.

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

True and no prob Light as I know you are as a big Max fan as I am and have a similir history with them. According to my sources that still work for Nissan Corporate (I worked there for 7 yrs in S.Cal before they moved to Tenn and me to TX) the 7th gen will run 6 model years, so expect an 8th gen as a 15 model. Also you Z fans expect similiar changes to it for 12 model year as the Max, I hear there will not be a power increase in it either.

Dubl-A

no pics, no bueno

exl_ent_v6

WOO! ILLUMINATED KICK PLATES!
Am I blind or are those not even available now? I wonder if I can put them on my 2010.

lightonthehill

The 2012 Maxima has not been introduced to the public yet. When that time comes (within the next two months), Nissan will release photos. But don't expect to see much. Other than a slightly different grille, different looking wheels and slightly different tail lights, the '12 will look just like the '11. It is, after all, still a 7th generation Maxima.

lightonthehill

And I thought I was the only one using the rear door windows auto up and down every day.

lightonthehill

Like you, I enjoyed my manuals. But I understand manuals are less practical and less desired in today's world.

And in today's world, your beef is grossly misplaced. You and the buying public need look no further than the nearest mirror.

Nissan gave us a manual tranny option on the Maxima for decades. But the buying public gradually bought fewer and fewer manuals. When Nissan could no longer get dealers to even accept manual trannie Maximas, they had absolutely no earthly reason to produce them.

At this point, with the impending government fuel efficiency requirements, there is even less reason to produce manuals, which are less efficient than the CVT, and falling further behind each year.

I loved the Pierce-Arrow, and I loved my Studebaker, but understand those no longer fit the needs of today's world.

Time passes and things change. We either change with the times or are left behind.

bluelion

very interested to see what the grill, headlights, taillights and 19" wheels look like....

ToroMax

Sounds like some decent changes. I wana see how the headlights look.

Cant wait!....

Rking21

Yea me to hopefully they are just minor changes that are possibly implement into the current gen. I really want some lighted kickers!!

Stormzusmc

iTrader: (17)

djtonyg

iTrader: (1)

+1.

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

Well it does not mention any changes to the headlights, as far as the other changes look at what they did for the other .5 gens. Just enough to make it look slighlty different where us Max guys will notice but most others unless seen side by side will not. Ex. probably more lines/bars across the grille, different lighting position of the taillamp, turn signal in the taillight cluster.

BBmaxi

iTrader: (1)

hope it all looks good, nissan has a tendency to make their minor changes look worse than the previous year.

PrISM

I'm interested in seeing the new grille, headlights, wheels and illuminated kick plates. Hopefully these things (if they look good) will be easy to install on ours.

jhatfie

This makes sense, I believe the last stat I read from 2009, was that only 8% of all cars sold in the US had manual transmissions. All my cars up to this point have been manual's except my Dodge Dakota that I had from 2000-2002. However with all the stop and go traffic I have to deal with on a daily basis, a manual fast becomes a chore instead of fun. I really like the dual clutch setups like VW/Porsche offers as they seem to meet in the middle. Getting to the point though, manuals will continue to disappear as the market for them just is barely there any more.

lightonthehill

And if you tell anyone else that I am among those who secretly always hopes for a special performance edition of the Maxima with six speed manual, no chrome, close gear ratio and a tad more oopmh, I will pay the mods to ban you.

lightonthehill

That was what caught me. Back in the early 1980s, while driving my 5 speed manual Datsun 200SX (loved that car), I found I was shifting gears over 800 times (on a good day) on the way to work, then over 800 more times on the way home, yet seldom exceeding 25 MPH. My left leg (already bad from too much basketball) began to give me trouble from all the excessive exercise. And the normal fun of the manual tranny was just not there in such miserable traffic.

But if I lived in the Rockies or west Texas . . .

lightonthehill

Exactly. Most non-Maxima folks will not notice the difference. I'm still sorta curious how they 'rebar' the grille, shuffle the afterburners (taillights), and what the new wheels look like, although, as BBmaxi mentioned, sometimes changes done for changes sake do not improve the looks.

I REALLY do look forward to this TPMS system that gives the pressure of each individual tire. Someday, the government will probably require a TPMS system that also warns of low pressure in the spare tire. I would like that, as my massive trunk organizer makes it impossible to get to the spare unless I completely unload the trunk.

Another month or so and it will be time to begin hanging out at my dealer's back lot awaiting the first 2012s. Always exciting, even if the changes are small.

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

Me to, I bet they are going to change the design of the "honey combs" behind the bars and perhaps remove the bars as they have done back in forth throughout the gens since the 3rd gen and perhaps do what they did with the 6.5 gen (seperated small bar look). 3 gen had bars, 3.5 gen did not. 4th gen did not have bars but 4.5 gen did. I bet they reverse the way the tailight looks like a side ways L when lit to the opposite if you follow me. Can't wait to see the 12 Z and Max.

BBmaxi

iTrader: (1)

they should've left the grille and all that other rink a dink stuff alone and added a bmw-audi esque LED daytime running light bar, on the top and side portion of the headlight housing....now that would've been an upgrade. Heck, even hyundai and kia are starting to rock those.

but nooo, of course nissan couldn't think of that one.

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

Heck, no Nissan in the US has had daytime running lights of any sort....Closest we had was in the 85-88 Max when you had the parking light on they had that lighted section in the inward section of the headlamp that lit, that coulda been daytime running lights... would be nice though!

Car Addict

agreed. or even halos. they look nice on the camaro. and all led blinkers/parking lights.

NissanFreak2000

Was hoping they would offer and AWD option, so that I would be able to get around in winter without issues.

steevo

You will never see that. Whats the point when the Maxima is already front wheel drive? Thats good enough in the Snow unless you need to go through the deep stuff or off road, and you aren't doing that in a Maxima.
Though I guess if you want to make money plowing driveways with your Maxima, the awd would come in handy!

lightonthehill

Very true. The 7th generation Maxima has the lowest road clearance (4.5 inches) of any Maxima ever built. This baby is not going anywhere except in light snow, and FWD is fine for that.

06surftitan

Lighted kick panels are cool, the updated TPMS system is such a waste. I wish all car co. would get rid of this or make it an option not to have it. I had the 4 wheel pressure in my 07 yukon and guess what, it was always wrong, right from the start

Car Addict

Well the tpms are required by law. Back up cameras will be required too in a couple of years.

Stormzusmc

iTrader: (17)

I just want the option then I would have a reason to stay with a Maxima

sg1214

I think Nissan should make the 6 spd Manual a special order, That will only sell at sticker. That sounds fair to me.

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

Sq that ain't happenin as they say..........lol. Sales from 02 -06 with the new 6spd 3.5's put a sour taste in dealers mouths.......the few enthusiast here enjoy/seek them but the general public not so much. I even think sales for the 5spd Max prior to 02 was on the decline unfortunately

lightonthehill

Unfortunately, Monte is correct again. The decline in percentage of Maximas sold with manual trannies was very steady from around the mid-1990s on, and dealers absolutely despised manual Maximas long before production ended at the end of the '06 model year.

Nissan was not even able to get dealers to accept manuals for the '04 model year, when 131,000 '04 Maximas were sold. Now, annual Maxima production is around HALF what it was in '04. Production is down not only because of the recession, but because 7th gen is now a near luxury vehicle, with different target audience, upscale price range, etc, etc.

With the limited production numbers for the 7th gen Maxima, it would not be cost-effective to do the engineering, testing, etc, and meet all government testing and certification for a special-order-only manual version that would sell no more than around 1K copies (if that many) to enthusiasts.

In today's extremely competitive automotive world, simplification is the primary way of maintaining a profit. Recent improvements in quality in South Korean products (Hyundai, Kia, Daewoo, etc) have made things much more competitive for Japanese companies. Improvements in some vehicles from the U.S. 'Big Three', plus the recent push to 'buy American' have not helped the Japanese companies either.

I honestly see no way Nissan could seriously consider a manual option in the 7th gen Maxima. Remember, this is not the same type vehicle as the first five Maxima gens, and the descriptive words that make this difference very clear is the replacement of the word 'affordable' with the term 'near-luxury' in Nissan's description of these vehicles.

Different car. Different purpose. Different world.

sg1214

You guys are both right, Nissan cant afford to lose Millions of dollars just to make a few enthuisiasts happy.

Stormzusmc

iTrader: (17)

So why the fudge make this abomination?