As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I have been invited to my dealer's training session with the 2016 Maxima. I really have no idea if I will be able to ask any questions, but in the event that I would, offer some ideas for salient questions we would like to have answered before the car shows up at dealers.

I think it best to ask about what the car is/will be, rather than what it is not. I will take the 6-8 best ideas with me when I go.

I'll throw out a couple - 1) Will any of the optional wheels we have seen on the car at the auto shows be available?, 2) How will the NAV be updated?

 

I'd like to know if they're bringing back the lamps in the front bumper that illuminate the direction you want to turn into when you signal for a turn. (I don't remember what they are called)...

 

I don't know what they're called either...but I miss them! Almost a safety feature...very usable in my mind.

 

Power folding mirrors?

 

Heated/cooled rear seats?

 

how does the remote start work? what type of signal is required? how far away from the car can you be? can the car be in a covered location with weak cell signal?

 

'Cornering Lights.' The appropriate one comes on when we turn on the turn signal. I loved them on my two 1985 Maximas, but do not see them mentioned in any of the 8th gen literature.

 

No. Not even on the Platinum. Only manual folding outside mirrors. The upscale 2016 Maximas do have a 'reverse-down' feature on the outside mirrors to help avoid curbs when parking.

 

No. In fact, only the Platinum has climate controlled (heated AND cooled) front seats. I have enjoyed these for almost seven years on my 2009 with elite package.

 

As I read the Nissan literature, they say the remote start can be operated from either the fob, your computer or your smart phone. I don't know the range, but I can turn my security system on or off from over 300 feet if the car is in plain view. Any obstruction or weakened fob/phone battery reduces this distance. I don't know if Nissan intentionally reduces the distance from which the engine can be started.

 

I am pretty sure the SR has heated and cooled front seats as this was a must have here in this Texas heat for me, lol!

 

I have one that I didn't get time to ask yesterday.

If they're so concerned about meeting CAFE, when will there be a serious hybrid option offered?

This engine mated with a 30+ kW electric motor would offer much better city mpg and better acceleration. The setup could be similar to what they used in the Infiniti M35h but needs to be a more serious effort than what they offered in the 2014 Pathfinder Hybrid.

My list of possible rubbish responses:
1. The (RE0F10J from the 2015 Pathfinder) CVT isn't designed to handle that much torque.
2. Packaging
3. Cost
4. No interest

 

NissanFreak is right as usual. The SR and Platinum are the only two 8th gen Maxima versions with heated and cooled front seats.

 

Through the recent recession, I felt the high price of fuel and the growing CAFE requirements might result in a possible hybrid option for the 8th gen Maxima, but that would be a big step on a car that Nissan plans on selling less than 100K. But the CAFE requirements continue to climb for the next ten years, and there will come a time when something must change on the Maxima power system.

There are several possibilities. Maybe a system where several cylinders are inactivated except when needed for acceleration. Maybe a turbocharged 4 cylinder. Or maybe, as you said, an electric motor for supplementary power when need, mated with a four banger.

The only thing we know for sure is that something will change. This change could possibly come as a new option with the 2018 gen 8.5, or with the 2021 gen 9. It will be interesting to see where Nissan goes with the Maxima power system.

 

LOL, not really, but I was pretty sure because that was a very important feature for my next car purchase, so I made sure the SR model had it before I fully set my heart on it!

 

Yep. If I lived in Montana, this would be a meaningless feature. But, where you are in Texas, and where I am in middle Georgia, summers seem to last eight months, and the thermometers in all smaller towns around metropolitan areas always read over 100 degrees when the official readings at airport weather station always read 89 degrees. The Chamber of Commerce probably pays the Weather Bureau a ton of money to convey more 'moderate' readings.

And, like your reason for buying the SR, this feature is one of the reasons I will be buying the Platinum, even though I am not thrilled to have the word 'platinum' on the back of what is supposed to pass for a 4DSC. The letters SR impress me far more than 'platinum.'

 

With regards to temperature readings...official temperature measurements are at 2 meters above a grassy surface...in the shade. Therefore will very often be more reasonable than the exaggerated temp readings at banks and similar locations where concrete or asphalt are nearby.

Now that I know that an SR can have cooled seats (A necessity for me to get leather), It may be an option instead of a Platinum for me. I want to have the paddle shifters again.

 

Grass at Atlanta Airport? Not since maybe 1930 or so.

Kidding aside, the parameters you gave are exactly the same as came with my weather station. Only one of my four thermometers qualifies under those rules. I do have all four in the shade. When we have a backdoor 'cool' front, we usually have the TV weather report showing Gainesville (40 miles northest of Atlanta) as 15 degrees cooler than the Atlanta Airport, while LaGrange (fifty-five miles southwest of Atlanta) is 15 degrees warmer than the Atlanta Airport. That shows that the Atlanta Airport weather report is actually for the area around the Airport only. The weather is different for the other 90% of the three million folks living in the metro area. There is not much the weather folks can do about that.

My main problem is that I am usually outside working in our seven acre yard (don't EVER get in that situation). Working in the sun is a lot hotter than sitting in the shade, so even a nominally hot summer day leaves me totally drained. Part of that is due to being an octogenarian. The heat hits me harder than it did when I was back in my sixties and seventies.

But being able to step into my Maxima with cooled seats is such a pleasant relief. When summer storms or winter ice knocks out our power, we in a fairly rural area, so the power tends to stay out awhile. But we can always retreat to our Maxima and be comfortable.

 

One thing I hope to confirm is quite exciting for me. It appears they have managed the HP gains and improved fuel economy without going to direct fuel injection and sticking with port injection.

I am seeing increasing reports of intake valve deposits developing on direct injected engines. While there is not a consensus on how bad this may be, I don't want to mess with it until manufacturers have developed a proven method for managing the issue.

http://www.underhoodservice.com/dire...rbon-deposits/

 

I had not thought of that angle. Something to be said for proven technology.

In adition to HP gain and improved MPG, the combinationof HP gain, weight loss and elimination of CVT damping on takeoff probably means quicker acceleration. I would not be surprised if this new Maxima approaches 5.5 seconds zero to sixty, and this should be the fastest of any production Maxima in the 35 year history of Maximas.

But then those who insist on wasting energy and time in order to have a shifting tranny to play with will miss out on this new, improved performance. Such is life.

 

I do expect this Maxima to be pretty dang quick, especially with the improvements and weight loss! Can't wait to get one of these to call my own!

 

I am quite certain the reason Nissan put tight restrictions on what could be ordered with this 'early order' campaign is because those are the specific versions they are already building. They will be sent to the appropriate dealers in around a month or so in order that the dealer will have the shipping padding and protection removed and the car checked, prepped and ready for delivery to the customers who ordered early on Tuesday, June 2nd.

Even when the 8th gen goes on full public sale, probably in late June, just as the 7th gen did - June 26, 2008, I don't think Nissan will vary greatly from the '5 version' system. Maybe optional wheels, but not much else. Even the spoiler variations may be handled by dealers, not Nissan.

 

I suspect that you are are! I don't mind the new ordering method as the SR has everything that I would have gotten on mine anyway. The only thing I would have liked to be able to choose was to have the mirrors tilt when reversing and the around view monitor for parking, however, these are things I will gladly trade to get the sport suspensions, tuning and wheels.

 

NissanFreak2000 - You may be wondering why my text as it appears in your quotes is usually different from what eventually appears in my post. The answer is simple - If I take more than a few minutes to compile and type my post, the system knocks me off the site and tosses my post away. Exceedingly annoying. So I simply type a 'first run' quickie, submit it, then edit it to so the post will be the way it would have been to start with if we had a few more minutes before being thrown off. I'm not helped by having a computer that allows no cookies or other internet markers, is very slow due to many security checks, and is being operated by a person whose 35 year career was in developing and maintaining computer software, but who never learned to type . . . you get my drift.

 

+1 and Cheers!

It looks like you are doing a good job at "data entry" for sure. I do the same with posting then editing afterwards. I've lost way too many posts due to a session timeout.

Unlike the days of punch cards, we get to edit as we go. Sometimes I do miss the simplicity of the S370/168 and OS/VS1 that I supported until the bigger, faster, better S390 finally came a long.

My first real world computer is in the picture below. Today's average smart phone has more computer processing power and storage capability than the one in the picture below.

Oh wait! The new Maxima will have more computer processing and storage capability then the computer in the picture below.



But as the 23 yo kid in me decided i needed something sporty and reliable, so I took a chance om a newly intruded Datson by Nissan 280 XZ that offered plenty of leg room and it ad a opening deck lid for for luggage in the rear that Corvettes of that era lacked.



Not to mention better gas mileage and being tall enough to avoid parking lot damage to the front air dam. I loved that old Z and drove it into the dirt. Unfortunately my fiancee the time did not like the way it looked on Country Club.

So I traded it for dark blue metallic over tan leather 300D so we could be heard clattering up and down the Heights hills and boulevards along with her other buddies from the Junior League. The early 80s was a good time for Diesel powered Mercedes Cars in my area. Unfortunately the Diesel fad came and went over a period of 24 months along with Jeep Grand Wagoner Limited with all the wood grain paneling.

I think I like this picture best of all -- especially with tinted windows.

 

CS AR - I really like the 8th gen shown in that side view, and was disappointed to see posters here who did not like the rear half of the car in that view.

I didn't realize there were still folks alive who went through those early computer days. I was the computer programmer for the Montgomery Defense Sector of the SAGE Air Defense System from 1960 to 1965, and I could tell some hair-raising tales about Bomarc missiles inadvertantly launched at passenger airliners, coding an intercept system that would enable one our fighters to shoot down Sputnik if needed, examining one of the Russian Bear reconnisance planes at Cecil AFB, watching the first landing of the SR71 Blackbird at Eglin AFB, but I will close by saying those early Zs were very beautiful, and I almost bought one. At the time, I was 'pooling' in a Datsun 2000 roadster.