Couldn't get used to the front wheel drive and the Transmission.. Ended up trading for a 2010 G37s with 14k on it.... Took a beating on the trade... The maxima I paid 35k for a month later with 3k on it got me 24k in trade.. Really disappointed with the resale.....

You guys take care

mattbcnv

 

Wow...wow. That's a big hit. Hope the new ride is that much of an upgrade for you. Yikes.

 

Yeah, that's a big hit to take.

 

When you trade a car in the dealer will lowball you big time should of kept it longer or sold it yourself,im betting that the dealer now has it on there lot for 30-31k and sell it for 29k thats how trade ins work.

 

Exactly.

If you're looking to unload a car quick ... trade it. If you're looking to squeeze every cent out of it ... sell it yourself.

My 2003 SE Titanium Edition (120k miles, fair condition) ... got $4500 for it in Auburn MA. Found it being sold at a used car lot in New Britain CT for $8500. Even test drove it, still had the same shot suspension and bald tires. All they did was wash it and TLC the interior. I told them they'd never get what they were asking for it. 2 months later they dropped the price to $8000 and shortly after that it was no longer on the lot.

 

24k seems way low unless it was an older model. My 2010 with 55k was just appraised at CarMax for 17k. It does have the premium package but I thought the value was right on what I expected

 

Its probably makes it complicated the fact that your car is valued more than the infiniti you bought. They cant break even so they prob had no choice but to lowball you.... I mean if you trade in a new car so quickly of course this is going to happen. Should of test drove/rented it for a week or 2/bought a used Max.

 

Don't believe everything you read in forums.

No way someone took a $10k hit after only being in the car for a month. I'm not saying it can't happen but I'm saying no one in their right mind would accept a loss of this magnitude.

How can someone make a purchase without really knowing what the getting into and then realizing they couldn't get use to the transmission, whatever that means.

 

I was thinking the same thing....

 

Well I did.... I overpaid for the Maxima, it is a lesson on resale I will not soon forget, lesson learned..
And as far as the transmission goes.. Seems like the Maxima, under hard acceleration, made the car "squirrely" as it pulled the rest of the car behind it.. It is what it is... I should have rented one first..

Thanks for at least "thinking"

mattbcnv

 

Well...I didn't understand why one would take that big of a hit without a "real" reason. At times circumstances arise where your hand might be forced. That wasn't an issue here. I think that other options mentioned in this thread would have been better.

 

I'm not going to comment on the purchase price vs trade in value. You know what it was and I wasn't there. I will say that I do understand your concern with the front wheel drive and CVT transmission and you looking to trade out of the Maxima. This is the first vehicle I've owned with the CVT and it takes some getting used to... Which I'm still not used to myself.

 

Agreed, get used to the FWD and Tranny or get used to making horrible financial decisions. It's a free country. Some salesman is now shopping for boat upgrades.

 

Because of my style of driving, and the situations in which I drive, I prefer FWD to RWD. I did drive RWD vehicles from the 1940s until 1984, so know how they drive.

In driving the very curvy mountain roads of the Blue Ridge, I found that having the drive wheels PULLING IN THE DIRECTION I AM TRYING TO TURN actually enabled me to take curvy roads faster than RWD.

RWD simply pushed the car straight ahead, with impetus often lost in understeer, or control compromised in oversteer. I also can maneuver better on slick or icy roads with FWD (because 2/3 of the weight of the car is over the drive wheels).

I feel the major advantage of RWD would be in time-elapse accelleration runs, and I have no need for that. Of course, drivers who have driven RWD for years may enjoy it more than FWD, and I think that is a problem for some drivers new to the Maxima.

The CVT does take some getting used to. But I had read many articles on the CVT before buying one, and understood that driving it efficiently would be like trying to learn to drive again. I also understood that a non-shifting tranny would be more fuel-efficient than any tranny that shifts.

So I eagerly looked forward to the CVT. But early CVTs had many problems, and were no fun to drive. The CVT on the 7th gen Maxima was the first one that I felt was both reliable and gave a satisfactory driving experience. Even then, it took me several months to adjust to where I felt I was driving it efficiently. The key is to keep one eye on the tachometer, synchronizing my gas pedal pressure with the RPMs.

At this point, I will never own another car with a shifting tranny or RWD. As the government continues to increase fuel efficiency requirements, shifting trannies will increasingly disappear from most mainline mass-produced passenger vehicles. Manufacturers who are going to 6, 7, 8 speed automatics and manuals are simply putting off the inevitable.

Time passes and things change. Sometimes those changes seem to be taking away things we have assumed we would always have. And that tells us we are getting older.

 

I have a 13 max and 13 G37X ( wifes) and I enjoy the max more now that the dealer fixed a few problems I had since new

You should have gone for a 2013 G37, heavilly discounted right now

Was it an even trade ? Hopefully they threw in an extended warranty as your is just about up.

 

I have a 2011 SV and understand your displeasure of the twitchyness of the car under hard acceleration but my solution is to not put my foot into it very often and the problem never comes up under normal driving, good luck with your new car.

 

eyeball - There are two 2.5 generation (1987 and 1988) Maxima station wagons still on the road near where I live, and every time I see one of them, I remember my two great 1985 Maximas. Those two '85s gave my wife and I over 200K fun miles each.

But I don't see Nissan considering another Maxima station wagon. The growingly sportier (lower and wider) shape of the Maxima no longer lends itself to a station wagon option.

 

You should be a writer for an auto magazine. This was an amazing post and very much simply written and very insightful.

I love the CVT and it did take some getting used to but when you want it to GO, it will go! I had the 6Gen and I loved it as well but with the 7Gen I have no issues especially with the transmission and since I've never known what it is to drive a RWD vehicle, there is nothing to miss about it.

I feel that this car is the fastest one in our class and very much aesthetically pleasing inside and out, in my opinion. The key words are research and understand. It took me 7 months before deciding to go with the 7Gen instead of something else. In that time, I test drove 8 times and kept it for a weekend twice just to be sure. I was really sold after the first drive. :-) Not everyone will be satisfied with their purchase and many may have remorse, but that should come in the beginning to avoid getting cheated. To each his own but for me, this one is staying in my garage until 2017.

 

Propa Teknique - Thanks for the kind words. I have written for a few mags, but nothing related to automotive issues.

You and I like the CVT, but we both understand there will be those drivers who prefer the power trains they grew up with. If I were into track performance, I would not be buying the Maxima.

I remember when the Chevy Powerglide automatic tranny came out in the very early 1950s. Up to that point, I had driven nothing but manual trannies (since nothing else existed until the Powerglide arrived), and looked forward to an automatic tranny.

But the early versions of the Powerglide, although welcomed by folks that did not enjoy shifting, was a great disappointment to me. It felt like it was slipping and was using mashed bananas for fluid. The fuel efficiency and acceleration was just not there. I went back to a manual '53 Chevy. Then, by 1955, Pontiac had an automatic tranny that was vastly superior to the early Powerglides, and I drove automatics until I bought my 5 speed manual '78 Datsun 200SX.

The real power spot on my '09 Maxima comes on from around 35 MPH to around 85 MPH, and it can make that jump in just a few seconds, planting my behind deep into the seatback. I much prefer my power at that range, as it enables passing quickly in short passing zones. I have little interest in moving from zero to 35 quickly. I guess one could say I am far more intersted in ROAD performance than in TRACK performance.

CVTs are still fairly new when compared with manual trannies and automatics, and will continue to be improved. I expect that by around 2020, the majority of drivers will have made the conversion to CVTs. But those drivers who still have Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys playing Little Deuce Coupe in their musical gizmos will probably never care for the CVT.

Having seen my favorite brand of almost everything disappear over the last eighty years or so, I do have sympathy for those who are not always enamoured with 'progress.' Some very enjoyable things have disappeared during my lifetime.

 

I respectfully disagree with your observation and would like to offer another opinion.

It is well known FWD cars Push or under-steer MORE than RWD cars once the level reaches the limits of the car. There are many reasons for this, one, being excessive weight over the front axle, two, the drive wheels can not turn the vehicle once adhesion is lost while accelerating, three, the front tires have a tendency to over heat sooner and four, controlling cornering balance as you would with a RWD car will make a FWD car drive straight off the road. In other words, your committed once you enter the corner in a FWD car.

Now in all fairness, add rain or snow to this discussion and I'd take FWD all day.

My opinion was made at Laguna Seca (Mazda Raceway), Sears Point (Infineon,Sonoma), Willow Springs, Button Willow, Thunderhill, Phoenix Int. Raceway, Las Vegas Speedway and a few others.

 

You can make arguments for and against both FWD and RWD and which handles better or whatever. There are drivers out there that can turn fast laps in one and look like they're driving Miss Daisy in the other. I've driven both and my driving style is more suited for RWD. I'm still having trouble adjusting to the CVT and FWD.

 

Gentlemen, the compromise is to live in an area where the weather is decent year round and then have vehicle(s), one with FWD the other RWD. I hated the CVT when I first test drove it years ago but I knew if I stayed with Nissan that I would have to adjust. But nothing (to me) compares to sliding around a corner in my RWD 69 Cougar.

 

Are RWD safer vehicles or are they simply good for performance specifically cornering and handling?

 

The latter. All cars today come with electronic stability control and traction control. With these systems on, you can't lose traction for more than a moment, regardless of which wheels are driven. There's an argument that FWD has more traction on snow or ice. That difference is a far lower priority than having snow tires.

Tires have a friction circle. If you use maximum grip to turn, you have nothing left to stop or accelerate. Likewise the converse. Because RWD vehicles devote one set of tires to acceleration and another to turning, they will have higher cornering limits than an equivalent FWD vehicle.

 

Oh okay. That does make sense. It also makes sense that RWD seems more expensive than FWD. However, since I've never owned a RWD only driven one (a family member's to simply go somewhere quick) I don't really miss it or don't know the capability. I guess it's one of those things where it's necessary to have driven both vehicles for an amount of time.

 

Hell yeah!!! I miss my Charger. I feel like I had more control behind the wheel of her than the Maxima.

 

A Charger? What is that? RainMan mentioned Cougar, however.

 

You guys are killing me.

 

Wow, 11,000 loss after a month?

I drive a 2008 and a 2010 Armada. I wanted to go trade the Armada in after only 5 months of ownership and I was getting hit only by $5,000. But I decided against trading in my Armada for a brand new one and having very high payments.

You should have sold your car alone. Oh well, what is done is done. Enjoy your new ride.

 

My apologies for digging up an old thread - I have learned that there are some very strong opinions about CVT vs traditional gearing. I'm chiming in because I'm sure there are people out there trying to find out more about the 3.5 & CVT combo that the Max offers. All in all, I think lightonthehill hits the nail on the head.

I just traded out of an Accord Coupe V6 5sp Auto into a 2013 Maxima (obviously, CVT).

Full throttle in a straight line, my Accord reminded me of my 2000 Z28 - plasters me in the back of my seat and shows me there is more engine than that Accord can handle. Around town the Honda was always a slow drive because there was no room to open the car up. Of course, using the paddle shifters would tip this equation - but the switch from full automatic to full manual isn't quick enough and it's not practical to use the paddles full time. A 4cyl Accord could win a race around town because a 4cyl opening up is perfect for cramped areas... whereas my V6 would have driven me into a curb because there isn't enough distance to open the car up.

(Not that I race around town - but in the north-east, sometimes you have to react quickly to other drivers around you)

The CVT with the Maxima FEELS like I have more variable control of the car's throttle. I'm guessing it is more efficient at converting power from the engine to the wheels - I don't "feel" straight-line acceleration - it just kinda gets me going quickly without feeling much of anything. Kinda like an elevator, lol.

Around turns, when passing and maneuvering, however - this is when the Maxima, it's CVT and steering system surprises me. It feels as though I can "open it up" just as much as I want and put the car where I want it - and that's something on-demand that I've never had from an automatic trans before.

Even with paddle shifters on a "shifting trans" - I don't drive with them full-time and they don't respond quick enough when I need them on-demand.

The CVT on the Max, for this reason, seems to be a perfect balance between control and convenience.

 

 

Huh? Driven you into a curb? Your right foot is what would do that for you. I fail to identify with your observations.

 

Overpays ($35K)
Excessive miles (3K in one month)
Gives it away ($10K lost to drive 3 year older technology, no less)...

I still think this was a troll, right out of the gate.

I appreciate the thoughtful discussion afterwards, however. I'm on my 2nd 7th Gen (60K miles total between a '11 and a '12) and also like the CVT a lot. I've been driving FWD for so long I can't remember what RWD feels like, however, but living in New England I'm not in a hurry.