New Maxima owner
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Member
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 155
New Maxima owner
I am a big guy (6'4 330) and for whatever reason I have always driven small cars. Lets see 87 Mazda B2000 truck, 95 Mustang GT, 99 Cougar, 01 Ranger (only reasonably big cab previously) 02 Eclipse GT, 03 Focus, 02 Cougar RX and then my last car was an '11 Cruze. The Eclipse was the first and last brand new car that I bought, the Ranger was new but it was leased.
I am a bit frugal and the hit I took on the Eclipse scared me away from buying new again. Anyway, last week I took a trip in my Cruze and decided I was done with small cars. I was tired of squeezing in and out of the damn thing, the last draw was forgetting to tilt the wheel back before I got out and crushing the screen on my 2 month old iPhone that was in my pocket between the steering wheel and my leg.
I researched lots of different cars, and drove a lot including a couple 2-3 year old Cadillac STV's, an 2014 Escape and a 2013 Altima. I had never considered a Maxima, I did not think I could find one in my price range with less than 25k miles and no more then 3 years old. The Altima was the 2nd to last car I drove and I liked it, loved the price. The salesman, who by that time we realized was a child hood friend from back when we were like 6 years old lol, said I should try a Maxima.
I was leery, because doing my searches I did not find any CPO Maxima's listed in my searches (30k and under, 2011 or newer and 25k or less miles) on autotrader/cars.com. He said they had a couple, but they did not list them because the managers liked driving them. The first one he showed me was covered in hail damage, but I loved the interior, especially the leather. The first huge thing for me was seeing the steering wheel automatically tilt when I got out. The crushed iPhone was still fresh in my mind lol.
He pulled the keys reluctantly out of his managers hand for the other one, which was silver, a huge plus for me. Red, charcoal or silver are my colors. Just pulling out of the lot I could feel a huge difference from the Altima and even the Cadillac's I had driven. LOVED it from the very first moment. I have never felt such a massive difference like that before I even left the lot, just such a solid and significant feel to it. I was sold by the time the test drive was over, but I was worried about the price. They were asking $27,989 which was below book (SV+Sport), but I knew with 22k miles on it I would need a warranty and I did not want to finance more than 16k, and I figured I would get 9-9.5k for my Cruze max.
I dreaded starting the negotiations, especially since I had my 8 year old son with me who does not just sit still for hours that buying cars sometime takes. So instead of just letting things happen, I told him I use to sell cars and if he wanted this deal to happen, depending on what they had in the car, was probably going to be a mini for him (meaning the deal would not make the dealer enough to pay a traditional commission, so in these situations the dealer calls it a mini deal and pays a set fee, usually around here about $300-$500 to the salesman). He said he was fine with that and to my surprise pulled the sheet on the car and showed it to me. They had $24900 into the car. It had been on the lot for only a few days. They sold the car in May of 2013 and they guy that bought/traded it buys a new car every year, so it was exactly 1 year in service even though it was a 2012. Seeing that I thought I was sunk, it was new inventory with a history they knew and usually they can squeeze a little extra $ out of cars like that.
They took the keys to my Cruze to start the appraisal. Since he showed me the sheet and said he would take a mini, I figured they would low ball me on my car. It had 6k miles on it when I bought it in Aug. of 2012 and now it had 50k miles on it, I drive about 80 miles a day to commute to work. It was in immaculate shape though, my cars always are. But, it was a base model LS with a 6 speed stick.
A few minutes later he brought me the offer. I came very close to asking what the catch was lol. $25,500 for the car and $10,500 for my car, so they would trade me for a 15k difference!! Normally when you trade in a car, they will discount the price of the car but make it look like they are offering more for your trade then they actually are, but they were only asking $600 more then they had in the car and still offering me over book on my car. I think he saw my hesitation and told me nothing funny going on, he had another appointment in 15 mins and knew I liked the car so they gave me the very best offer right off the bat instead of playing the normal game. Uh, done deal!
I had a pre-approved loan ready to go, my divorce, or actually my ex wife, killed my credit. I was not thrilled but still ok with paying 12% interest considering my credit, even though my cars have a perfect history, it was my wife that deliberately stopped paying on her car (in both of our names of course) after the divorce to hurt me. I had been handed off to the business manager and he tells me he is pretty sure he can get me a better rate, so I decided to let him try, they had shot straight with me so far. He talked directly to Nissan, I heard them discussing the repo on my record but heard him say that something obviously happened but my records before and after that time was spotless so they should give me the benefit of the doubt. They did, he got them to go down to 6%! Then he sold me the 7/100k warranty for dirt cheap. Took all of 15 minutes to sign all the paperwork and get me down the road in my Maxima!
Sorry, I am starting to ramble a bit, but that was not even the end of it. Got home and noticed the driver side rear wheel was bent, quite badly. Since this is the sport package, I would hate to know what one of those "19 wheels cost to replace. I called my salesman and he called me back an hour later and told me to drop it off on the way home Thursday and they will give me a loaner and take care of the wheel.
Happy guy here, by far the nicest car I have ever owned!!
I am a bit frugal and the hit I took on the Eclipse scared me away from buying new again. Anyway, last week I took a trip in my Cruze and decided I was done with small cars. I was tired of squeezing in and out of the damn thing, the last draw was forgetting to tilt the wheel back before I got out and crushing the screen on my 2 month old iPhone that was in my pocket between the steering wheel and my leg.
I researched lots of different cars, and drove a lot including a couple 2-3 year old Cadillac STV's, an 2014 Escape and a 2013 Altima. I had never considered a Maxima, I did not think I could find one in my price range with less than 25k miles and no more then 3 years old. The Altima was the 2nd to last car I drove and I liked it, loved the price. The salesman, who by that time we realized was a child hood friend from back when we were like 6 years old lol, said I should try a Maxima.
I was leery, because doing my searches I did not find any CPO Maxima's listed in my searches (30k and under, 2011 or newer and 25k or less miles) on autotrader/cars.com. He said they had a couple, but they did not list them because the managers liked driving them. The first one he showed me was covered in hail damage, but I loved the interior, especially the leather. The first huge thing for me was seeing the steering wheel automatically tilt when I got out. The crushed iPhone was still fresh in my mind lol.
He pulled the keys reluctantly out of his managers hand for the other one, which was silver, a huge plus for me. Red, charcoal or silver are my colors. Just pulling out of the lot I could feel a huge difference from the Altima and even the Cadillac's I had driven. LOVED it from the very first moment. I have never felt such a massive difference like that before I even left the lot, just such a solid and significant feel to it. I was sold by the time the test drive was over, but I was worried about the price. They were asking $27,989 which was below book (SV+Sport), but I knew with 22k miles on it I would need a warranty and I did not want to finance more than 16k, and I figured I would get 9-9.5k for my Cruze max.
I dreaded starting the negotiations, especially since I had my 8 year old son with me who does not just sit still for hours that buying cars sometime takes. So instead of just letting things happen, I told him I use to sell cars and if he wanted this deal to happen, depending on what they had in the car, was probably going to be a mini for him (meaning the deal would not make the dealer enough to pay a traditional commission, so in these situations the dealer calls it a mini deal and pays a set fee, usually around here about $300-$500 to the salesman). He said he was fine with that and to my surprise pulled the sheet on the car and showed it to me. They had $24900 into the car. It had been on the lot for only a few days. They sold the car in May of 2013 and they guy that bought/traded it buys a new car every year, so it was exactly 1 year in service even though it was a 2012. Seeing that I thought I was sunk, it was new inventory with a history they knew and usually they can squeeze a little extra $ out of cars like that.
They took the keys to my Cruze to start the appraisal. Since he showed me the sheet and said he would take a mini, I figured they would low ball me on my car. It had 6k miles on it when I bought it in Aug. of 2012 and now it had 50k miles on it, I drive about 80 miles a day to commute to work. It was in immaculate shape though, my cars always are. But, it was a base model LS with a 6 speed stick.
A few minutes later he brought me the offer. I came very close to asking what the catch was lol. $25,500 for the car and $10,500 for my car, so they would trade me for a 15k difference!! Normally when you trade in a car, they will discount the price of the car but make it look like they are offering more for your trade then they actually are, but they were only asking $600 more then they had in the car and still offering me over book on my car. I think he saw my hesitation and told me nothing funny going on, he had another appointment in 15 mins and knew I liked the car so they gave me the very best offer right off the bat instead of playing the normal game. Uh, done deal!
I had a pre-approved loan ready to go, my divorce, or actually my ex wife, killed my credit. I was not thrilled but still ok with paying 12% interest considering my credit, even though my cars have a perfect history, it was my wife that deliberately stopped paying on her car (in both of our names of course) after the divorce to hurt me. I had been handed off to the business manager and he tells me he is pretty sure he can get me a better rate, so I decided to let him try, they had shot straight with me so far. He talked directly to Nissan, I heard them discussing the repo on my record but heard him say that something obviously happened but my records before and after that time was spotless so they should give me the benefit of the doubt. They did, he got them to go down to 6%! Then he sold me the 7/100k warranty for dirt cheap. Took all of 15 minutes to sign all the paperwork and get me down the road in my Maxima!
Sorry, I am starting to ramble a bit, but that was not even the end of it. Got home and noticed the driver side rear wheel was bent, quite badly. Since this is the sport package, I would hate to know what one of those "19 wheels cost to replace. I called my salesman and he called me back an hour later and told me to drop it off on the way home Thursday and they will give me a loaner and take care of the wheel.
Happy guy here, by far the nicest car I have ever owned!!
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 966
From: Houston, TX
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 966
From: Houston, TX
no jinx, just the facts 
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 1,326
From: WA
Welcome to the forum!
@ 6'4" you will definitely appreciate the entry/exit function of the seat and steering wheel.
Edit...something tells me the seat will not move from the furthest aft position.
@ 6'4" you will definitely appreciate the entry/exit function of the seat and steering wheel.
Edit...something tells me the seat will not move from the furthest aft position.
Last edited by dr_2010SV; May 15, 2014 at 06:07 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 478
From: Menifee, CA
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 876
From: Lagos, Nigeria
I thought that issue was resolved after September 2010 or thereabouts. His is 2012 so he should have no fear with the steering wheel locking on him.
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