Not really a trade, more a matter of the timing of the lease expiration. I was hoping the next gen would be here by now... unlucky me. I have some observations which might help some buyers and owners.

I did the gunmetal, which is a nice color for the shape. I'm in the car business, and I've had some pretty jaded car people comment that it is a nice color. I did the SV Premium package again, and this time I did the Tech package. I just spent 2 hours setting up the commands; nice stuff. Very techy.

I have the same climate controlled seat heater problem that I had on the '11: if I turn on the heat before the seat is warmed up, a relay causes it to shut off from being too cold. Has anyone else experienced this? If I wait about 10 minutes to turn the heated seat on, it works fine. Since I've now had it on two models, it appears to be "just the way it is." Annoying, for a $40k car.

One difference in the driving, the '14s steering seems more disconnected, with less of a centered feel. The car itself behaves the same as the '11, but the feedback isn't as good. Less sporty, more Buicky. Not that big a deal, but I did like the '11 better in that regard.

I do love the hell out of these cars though. Our first Max was an '87, for whatever that tells you.

 

I had that issue on my 2013 but I set the heat to Auto ( all it does is blow cold air before the car is warmed up anyway) and the problem was gone.

 

What happens with my 14 and seems to happen to all CC seats 09-14? Is that the back of the seat heats up great but the seat bottom does not heat. Does this happen to your 11 and 14?

The CC seat control unit senses the wide disparity in temperature between the back and the seat and shuts the CC seat off. The vehicles climate control has noting to do with the seat. The CC seats are a totally separate unit.

 

I can see that I was ambiguous and have been misconstrued. I meant to write, "...turn on the heated seat..."

By sitting in the seat for about 10 minutes, the temperature differential must lessen, allowing the seat to operate properly. I thought it might be a thermostat that needed to be warmed by body heat, but either way it works if you wait. What stinks is that my commute is about 12 minutes.

I have the technical bulletin, NTB10-026b, saved. I will check with the techs next week and have them look for blockage in the air flow to the seat back. I hope that's it, because it ticks me off that it might be a flawed design.

 

Funny you say that, I drove a '09 that had much better steering feel than my '13. Both had 18" wheels.

 

I have a 11 sv with the 19 alloys and it handles like a dream I haven't really pushed it too much with the kids in the car but it turns on a dime .

 

I'm thinking it is flawed design or all control units were not manufactured properly. The back cushion TED heats up great, such that you have to turn it down after 5-10 minutes. The seat bottom TED does not provide any heat. This is due to the control unit for the seat not working properly.

It's possible that all 2009-2014 climate controlled seats may have this issue and Nissan never addressed it. Let us know what you find out.

 

Yea same here my commute is about 10 minutes! At least the heat A/C only takes a minute to work.

 

My '11 with the 18s was great.

It's not the handling; the grip and predictability are pretty good for a heavy fwd commuter sedan. It's the feedback, the feel. It's not as bad as a Camry or an Impala, but it's not as good as the earlier 7th Gen Maximas. There was more on center feel in the older cars. It's over-assisted at low speeds, and not progressive at higher speeds.

It's a minor quibble, one that will go away with familiarity. I just put it out there as a data point for those who can't wait for Gen 8, like I couldn't. I had to take the current deal because my lease was out of time, and I would have lost the incentives.

Regarding the climate controlled seat, I showed it to our Service Manager, and he is researching it. I'll make an appointment at my convenience for them to check the seat ducts for blockage.

 

Let us know what he has to say. Seems like not many people are not having any luck getting this issue resolved.