I've been shopping around for a new daily for sometime now and was given the opportunity to drive a 2011 SV with premium tech package, put it simply, I'm in love. The 2010's seem to be more in my price range so I'm really just wondering if there were any changes between 2010 to 2011 that might make waiting for a loaded 2011 to come down below 30k.. Other than that, I have the following general questions.

1. What's the actual screen resolution for the dvd/rca video?Did the interface and everything remain the same between 10'
and 11' models?

2. Is there a way to override/hack the video playback while in motion?

3. Is there any way to save video on the hdd?

4. What can I expect avg mpg to be? The car I drove had obviously been hot-rodded a bit
and was only averaging 15.7mpg..

5. Is there a monthly subscription fee for the weather info? I thought that was a pretty cool feature.


Thanks in advance for any and all info!

 

Not sure about the screen resolution, but it's not HD. There is a way to override the video playback feature, there's a couple how to threads in here if you search for them, I think a good keyword is "bypass". The different types of roads I drive is pretty diversified and I'd say expect 24-25ish for normal driving. There IS a monthly subscription fee for the weather it's through XM. I just wanted the traffic and not the radio since we have our HDD's and you can get a traffic only service for $3.99 a month. Maybe you can get a weather only service too. There is no way at all to save videos on the HDD.......for now

 

there were no technical changes from '10-'11 models. just minor appearance changes. i've seen some dealerships knocking off like $6k off 2010 models. as far as your questions go....

1. don't know the actual resolution, but the interface stayed exactly the same.

2. yes there's a way to override it to play in motion....as stated above, search "bypass", or "DVD in motion", etc.

3. i don't beleive there's a way to save video on the hard drive....but you can save your music on it. i also know that if you have movies on a flash drive, you can play the movies through the usb port (depending on the file type)

4. i think a good average of mpg of users aroudn here would be 23-26mpg. i personally average just under 24 mpg.

5. yes, there's a monthly subscription for weather. and although i too thought it was cool, it started to get on my nerves during the first 3 month trial period. i ended up turning off the voice for it because everytime i started the car, it would tell me weather conditions up ahead, etc etc....that was cool when i was on my way to work, but if i was running errands (stopping and starting my car), it got annoying. now i just use my phone for weather. the only thing i pay a subsription for is radio. i did away with the traffic also, again, cause my phone has traffic......

 

The biggest change i noticed was the '10 has the rear radio/ac controls in the center armrest while it was removed in the '11. That was the decision on me buying another '10 instead of upgrading to the '11 when my first one was totalled. That and the fact that the '10 is cheaper. Not that i really want people in the back messing with the controls, but there's a lockout feature you can toggle on. I'd rather have it available if you ever want to use it as opposed to not having it and wanting it.

The biggest changes '10-'11 were with the sport model not the premium.

 

You can turn this off. You can make it so it still shows updates without the voice...or it just shows no weather update at all, and you just check it at your leisure.

 

I think they made some improvements to the CVT in 2011, because they dropped that extended warranty. I don't see many people having trouble with the 7th gen CVT though.

I bought 2011 because the 0% financing. You pay almost $37k for a $30k car at 4% interest at 60 months.

 

Wasn't the extended CVT warranty only on the '09? Maybe also on the '10. It was put in place AFTER the '09s had been out for at least six months. Its purpose was to boost very slow initial 7th gen sales by reassuring buyers who had heard horror stories about those CVTs of five to fifteen years ago, telling them the 7th gen Maxima CVT was dependable.

That extended warranty was eventually deemed as no longer necessary by Nissan because this 7th gen CVT has proven to be very reliable, according to all the rating services such as Consumer Reports.

The CVT in the 7th gen 2009 Maxima was a complete redesign from the CVT in the 6th gen 2008 Maxima. Nissan has said nothing about any change or improvement in the 7th gen CVT since the first '09 arrived at dealers June 26, 2008.

 

yep 09' and '10. They did make some modification on the '11 though. Some folks have had some trouble with symptoms similar to slipping on takeoff after extended highway driving at sustained speeds of 70-75 mph. I think you were in those discussions lightonthehill. This isn't just the limp mode you get when you take our car for repeated runs at a track. This was normal sustained speeds. One of the folks that had theirs fixed mentioned that a TSB may be coming soon.

Nissan got rid of the warranty extension because it is very costly on any company to extend a warranty. I have a feeling they have re-engineered parts first for the '11+ models and then made a second order for the '09-'10 models for retrofit after doing extensive testing on the '11. As soon as they have those parts for the second order, I bet we will see a TSB.

Nonetheless, the issues folks experienced were not severe and only lasted for short durations. I did have a co-worker with an 08 Altima have to have his wife's CVT replaced last month at about 40k miles.

 

Thanks, supared. Having had no problems with my '09, I have been somewhat remiss in trying to keep up with everything that is going on between the three model years of the 7th gen. I appreciate the CVT tidbits. I was unaware of CVT changes for '11, or that a TSB might be coming down the pike.