lightonthehil. My source was right on the money with Murano and also had shown photos way before it was revealed. With that said, I am not buying into the AWD stuff.

 

Light, I really appreciate your historical perspective of things. Here's a question for you and others...
We know the 8th gen will come out sometime next year as a 2016 model. So, the current 7th gen will continue to be sold until then as a 2014 ... (and maybe also as a 2015?).
My question is given this scenario, does the quality of the continuing production of the current 7th gen suffer greatly because all of the best resources and highest priorities of the company are being focused on the successful intro of the new generation? .... Or is the 7th gen so stable that it doesn't matter because all major problems have already been resolved over the last six years and Nissan can easily pump out a quality 7gen Max? In other words, is quality another good reason to wait for 8th gen rather than buy a brand new 2014-15; or is it a reason to consider a good buying opportunity for a proven, yet old in the tooth, 7th gen? Any comparable history, or opinion?

 

The 7th gen is already outdated in terms of feature offerings. Nissan is no longer adding new features to the 7th gen. They are saving them for 8th gen. Just look at all of the new standard features found on the 2015 Altima.
You can get a new 3.5L Altima with all that for $30k or less. If Nissan does not release the 8th gen and also bring in those new standard features in 2015, then there is no point for someone to buy a 2015 Max.

 

What you are saying is true. But I would add one detail -

The fact Atlanta area Nissan dealers are selling their new Maximas for around $22 to $25K for the 'S' and around $27K for the 'SV'. And the 'S' and 'SV' have exactly the same engine, tranny, etc, as the Premium and Sport models.

Even the Premium and Sport Maximas are being let go near loaded Altima prices. With prices such as that, I prefer the Maxima, especially since the new Altima is having reliability problems. But that is just me.

 

Max2013 - As Albert correctly pointed out, Nissan is doing virtually nothing to the current Maxima, so reliability should actually be slightly improved, as known problems that are easy to fix might be fixed, but nothing more is being done to what is, per Consumer Reports, a better than average reliability vehicle.

 

I wanted this color so badly when I had my 200sx SE-R, at the time it was called Sunburst Orange.

 

Yeah, and I just purhcased a 2011 Maxima, I wish i was able to get a loaded 2014 for the price of my 2011 now that the new model is about to come out.

 

The Nissan concept 4 door sedan introduced at the Detroit Auto Show last winter (which most folks agree is essentially the 8th gen Maxima) was in a beautiful burnt orange color. This time, Nissan called the color 'Strad' because it was taken from the rare, world-famous Stradivarius violin.

I suspect Nissan may do this 8th gen the way they did the 6th gen 2004 intro, with the burnt orange being available for only a few months as an 'introductory' color. If so, I may have to rethink my habit of always choosing between silver and white.