I have always heard stories like this but I never thought I would be writing about this.

I was on a business trip to el-arm-pito. I walk up to the National desk to get my ride and the clerck says "Sorry sir, we don't have anything left in your class. (POS, "intermdiate") We can give you a Maxima." "Ok", I begrudginly say.

So I walk out to a grey 2K2 GXE with 14K miles on it. Automatic, of course. heated cloth seats and the base Bose system. I did 300 miles in it and here are my impressions:

The car seem much quieter, even though it's a fairly base GXE. Though the lack of sunroof, or addition of cloth and insualtion may account for that.

I really like the 2400-2500 RPM @ 75 MPH. The car just seems to be sleeping. It should help milage a bit.

The HIDs are not too bad, but the pattern on low beams is too low. No light makes it down the road. Highs are OK. They look cool but I think there still is some work to be done.

The steering mounted audio controls are nice. However, the buttons, especially the Mode button is awkward, and with gloves on I often changed channels when turning the wheel. The acutal sound sounded flat. I don't know if it was all the cloth or what but it just sounded empty, even with the same settings I use at home. Though the lack of sunroof and extra insualtion, lack of sub and the addition of cloth may account for that.

Nissan still has to put a telescoping steering wheel and an intermittent wiper with a shorter minimum delay than 2-3 seconds. I do like the single wipe option. They still have to find a more comfortable left arm rest.

The car seems, at best, as fast as my 2K stick. The shifts were kinda solid and somewhat precise. A stick is a stick and this thing with a 6 speed must be tons-o-fun. The one redeming factor of the auto was the addtion of traction control. It makes winter driving brainless! If only they had them on the stick.

The heating system seems a litte weaker. I had to run fairly high heat and blower all trip. Unfortunately there was no heated steering wheel. Could I have used it!

The auto-dim mirror is neat, but I don't like the LCD tint that comes out of it. Maybe I am just biased since my rear window is tinted and hardly use the flip.

I think Nissan did some work on the ABS system. It seems alot smoother, with faster, less harsh pulses. Though the Arctic Alpins may have had something to do with it. (yep, you read right, a rental with winter tires! Yep, you Canadian guys read right, a rental with winter tires.... 12$ a day extra!)

To end it all, I rode home in my 2K, and the high revs in 5th gave me a nice sound, the sunroof gave me some cool air (22 degrees?) and I had smiles! It's a close call, but I prefer my baby.

Oh, in case this post ever comes up in a "buy (rent or lease)" search. If ever you see a 20K-30K dark grey GXE, don't touch it... Trust me, don't touch it!

 

I take it some rental car driving was really done eh?

 

i def. think my low beams are aimed too low. but someone told me they can be raised.

 

Renting a 2k3 SE automagic ended up costing me $28,000... My wife made me buy one for her today. I tried teaching her to drive my 5spd but she's one of those who will never learn.... Oh well, atleast my y2k Max is faster than hers

 

im sure she made you do it right? lol u know you wanan drive it too.

 

hehe I didn't have much influence on her... The rental Max did all the talking.... She drives a 97' Camry, need I say more!?!?!?

 

Strange.... are you sure it was a GXE? Perhaps in Canada, the trim and equipment are different. I have a 2K2 GXE and you CANNOT get Bose, heated seats or traction control on the GXE.

 

My buddy was rear-ended and had his 240sx totalled. He might buy a max or an A4, but in the mean time, he's rollin in an '03 rental Max GXE. Both of us took it out on the back roads for some "spirited" driving.

I had the opposite fealing about the breaks - I hated them. Pedal feel was bad at best and when they got heated up, forget about it. The cloth seats while very comfortable, really felt like you were sitting in molded foam, less support. This one had the sunroof, but no bose.

Road noise was not bad. The suspension was very "floaty." It turned well.. Less body roll than my 4th gen had pre-mods, but you could definitely feel that the car was too high. Not too bad for stock.

The engine is unbelievably great, and the auto is smooth as silk. Dropping to 2nd at 60, it didn't miss a beat. Doesnt give you that jarring push back immediately, but feels more linear. However, even on the sport tires, it only took a quick jab at about 60% throttle to spin the tires loose

Also, I really liked the lights. The HID's were aimed a litte low like you say, but not too bad, and the brights certainly did their job. All in all, a very fun car.

My friend would probably buy one if they had the 5spd tiptronic for the max, and ESP to go with it. He's a wimp and doesnt feel like sitting in traffic with a stick

 

Was this in the US? This is again strange as you can't get as the sunroof isn't even an option on the GXE in the US (at least not on 02, and Nissan's site confirms it's not an option on 03 for GXE).

Are you sure it wasn't a SE? Did it have white or black-faced gauges?

 

Where'd you rent it, YUL? I'll have to remember that next time. I think I usually do Budget and they have GM products. I remember getting to Montréal during a heavy snow storm and the girl was trying to upgrade me at my cost--she said I need a bigger car for "da snow." I said non, non, non, non, and after the 5th time she finally gave up. They gave me an Olds which slipped all over the place--because it had a flat! How you got the Arctic Alpins I don't know.

Anyway, aren't HID only for low beam? That's probably why you felt the high beams were fine. There's alot of myth with Xenons. If they are poorly aimed they s***. I don't think Maxima self-levels either (that isn't the greatest either on the BMW).

 

Hey! Don't dis my home town... I said I was out in the middle on nowhere... YVO, Val D'or. Yep believe it or not they had a Max! Most places here don't even offer winter tires, you really have to be in the boonies to get offered winter tires. I am off to 7 Iles next week, technically further north than Val D'or and they don't have winter tires to offer.

I run winters on my SE and there is no way that driving 200KM out in the boonies I am going to risk it. (plus it's more fun!) Like I said it was a 12$ a day option, so it's not like they just had some lying around.

The lows seemed much lower than my lows. I know it can be simple aiming but the car didn't look like it was ever in a smash, so they should be as level as they came out the factory.

 

Québec is the best! I always say I'm gonna retire there, who knows if I'm just playin' because it's so far down the road. But the exchange rate plus the beautiful women are 2 definite plusses.

Anyway, when my friend got his 323 the xenons were horrible, and they are self-leveling. He got them aimed under warranty and it was a little better. He says his next car will not have xenons unless they're standard, because he doesn't like them.

 

Oops, yeah. It was an SE. I wrote GXE after reading the other guys post and also the fact that it was pretty stripped down other than sunroof and HID's