Honda's website shows high cost for Maxima
 

I think they chose a source that suited their purposes, but Honda is savvy at retaining their buyers and getting new ones. Toyota on the other hand bumped up their powertrain to 5/60 and offers HID's on the Prius--good move. According to the chart, Maxima misses being the KING of depreciation by a mere $473, and it is not the worst %-wise. But the chart shows that Nissan Maxima is a high cost to operate vehicle. This concept is what I've been driving at with the 3-Series. It has a very high cost to enter, but if you factor in depreciation, a relatively lowER cost to operate. Throw in the road feel and prestige factors, and that high entry cost is money well spent. But then again, you have to have it in the first place if you wanna play. :thumbsup:

http://www.hondacars.com/models/cost...e=Accord+Sedan

Interesting.

Looking at the retained values after 5 years, this study expects 60% retained value from a Accord and 50% for the Max. 60% is too high in my estimation. In any case that tells me Accords are expensive to buy used, and MAxima's are good used purchases. MAzda 6, Sonata and Taurus whould be best used values, considering they have the lowest used values.

They must be getting desperate for sales. When you have to start bashing other companies to get sales, you are sort of scared by what the other company is doing.

Do you see it as bashing? As a new car buyer it's due diligence to be aware of how much it costs to operate a vehicle. You can go to the Edmunds site and under TOC, go ahead and compare 330i to Maxima. :thumbsup:

Accord is on the C&D 10 Best list, and has been for a long time. 350Z was removed this year only after 1 year. Any co. that wants to educate consumers is ok by me. Honda Motor is far from scared! :king:

I wouldn't really call it bashing. Maximas do depreciate a lot more than Accords. I won't be owning another Accord or a Honda for that matter anytime soon though. :grinno:

Of course the 350z was removed. Honda hugging C&D needed to make room for another Accord, the Acura TSX. :laugh:

I bought a 2001 V6 Accord when I graduated from college, and a big part of that buying decision was the fact that it had won so many comparison tests and was a C&D 10Best for ages. Surely it must be an awesome and amazing car. I ended up hating the thing. :goofy:

Even though the Accord has lower ownership costs, I'd still buy another Maxima. It has a much better engine, is WAY more fun to drive, and (opinion) has a lot more style and upscale feel. I'd even buy one over a 330i because even though the total cost to own is about the same vs the Maxima, the 330i is very small and just doesn't suit my needs for a daily driver.

The 3-series is a nice car and my buddy has one (2002 BMW 330). The exterior, interior, and seats are top notch, but it definately falls short is some areas, especially for a near 40K car. Oddly, his 2002 has more rattles than my 96 Maxima. Granted my 4th gen is one of the few that hardly rattles (even before the SFCs), but his 330 does rattle quite a bit. It drives him nuts. ANother thing that drives him nuts is the fact that my 4th gen walks him in every speed contest (especially above 80mph) and he's never been able to shake me when playing on highway clover leafs. His car hasn't had many mechanical problems other than needing a new water pump, some sort of ignition problem, and a key problem that left him without his car for ~2 weeks while BMW figured out what was wrong with the key/ecu interface, but this is on a car that's barely 2 years old. His father recently bought a 323i and what do you know, it has the same ignition problem and the key is acting funny (not starting the car all the time). BMWs are great driving cars, but their not known for their reliability or peace of mind. Electrical gremlins plague German cars. Talk to most BMW owners and they'll tell you to either:

1) Get rid of the car after warranty
2) Buy an extended warranty
3) Get in good with a BMW shop

For my money, I'd buy the car that dethrowned the BMW 3-series, the G35. It's faster, handles better, has more room, cheaper, looks damn sexy with Eibachs, painted lower sills, and the Aero bumper.

As for the Accord, I think the new Accord is a very nice car (I'd buy it over the new Maxima), but for Honda to start pointing out shortcomings of other cars is pretty weak. They should have left that BS marketing to the Domestics. Also, from what I've read, the Maxima is the most reliable car, historically, in the Camry/Accord/Maxima class. In a nutshell, the bulletproof Accord/Camry is just preceived reliability.


Dave

I will agree with you that the G35 is faster, but it doesn't handle better. The mag tests I have seen state the the handling is more crisp and direct in the BMW. I would also take a G35 over a 330i because it's a great deal. You lose a few minor ammenities, but you save a decent amount of money.

I think what you say makes total sense about the money, but for one major reason--most people on this forum, if not all, DO NOT have the money for a BMW. Now before everyone gets insulted, let's face it, to comfortably afford a 330i one needs to have 2 things happening. 1) have a sizeable downpayment ie 20 grand or more (pymt with 20 grand down will range from $450 to $700 depending on how many months financed) 2) have a fairly high income to be able to cover that payment plus maintenance

Since I get the feeling many on this forum are no older than 18, neither of those conditions apply. If one has money, then there isn't even a question on G35 vs. 330. We don't apply economics into every buying decision, sometimes we want what's better and are willing to pay. But going back to what you said, those who don't have 42 grand will save with a G35.

I don't know what the cost of ownership on a G35 is, but BMW's hold their value really well and come with maintenence included. When you factor in depreciation and maintenence, the price gap between the two vehicles will close. I agree with you that most cannot afford a 330i. I myself was going to buy a 00' C5 last year, until I looked into the insurance costs. I have decided to wait until summer, when I graduate from college to start looking at new cars. Right now, it's not financially smart for me to be making payments on a new vehicle.

Actually BMWs have pretty bad resale value. After 3 years, a BMW holds about 52-53% of it's MSRP. That's really no better than the Maxima.


Dave

Quoting Motor Trend August 02:

"...the G35s steering is even quicker than the BMW, with just 2.7 turns lock to lock vs 3.0 for the 330i. That could make for a nervous chassis, but the rear multilink suspension is as good as the front, and it all works together beautifully. In the test where just a couple MPH can be telling, the G35 boldly runs a 65.9mph speed through the cones, beating even a 330i Sport, and especially our non-Sport example, by 1.7mph and 4mph, respectively. Guess who just outgunned the BMW 330i?"

I've driven a G35 6 speed sedan and I've driven my buddy's 330i and both car's feel great, but the G35 definately has more edginess too it and it more willing to take corners at higher speeds while feeling planted. BTW, it's not like I was throwing either of these cars into turns at dramatic speeds.


Dave

That's simply not true.....

http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/10/pf/a...etained_value/

Nissan is not listed on the top 5........

Wow, your estimation is way-off when compared to what's on Edmund's website. Who knows, they could be wrong but my hunch is they're not. They have the 330i at 63.8% after 3 years. On a car costing 42,633, they say year 1 is 7732, year 2 is 4103, and year 3 is 3610. Is that bad resale? Maybe if Honda says the Accord is at 60% after 5 years in the 4 cyl form, but how you gonna beat Honda? Anyway, your last comment says it all. If you feel from driving both cars, that the G35 sedan beats a 330i Sport Package, then that's the end of discussion as far as you're individually concerned. Nobody should spend 42 grand on a car when they drove it and don't feel it's up to snuff with something less expensive.

Now that we know the Packers are coming to town next week....I am signing off! :grinno:

Consumer Reports Predicted Depreciation:

BMW 3-series: http://www.consumerreports.org/conte...obs/blob_5.gif (much better than average)
Honda Accord: http://www.consumerreports.org/conte...obs/blob_4.gif (better than average)
Nissan Maxima: http://www.consumerreports.org/conte...obs/blob_3.gif (average)


As for reliability, I think the Camry is just a hair better than the Accord and Maxima. The Toyota has won the most long-term dependability studies for premium mid-sized cars by JD Power and it's always at or near the top of Consumer Reports also. The Maxima is good also, but I don't think it's quite as good as the Camry.

BUT THE VQ ENGINES ARE STILL THE BEST!!! Try that Honda and Toyota.

More depreciation = BUY USED! :D

The whole depreciation argument works both ways depending on whether you're buying new or not. Low low depreciation = buy new. High(er) deprecation = better to buy used. Hence, I bought my 99SE 3 years old and still get a kick butt VQ. :naughty:

As much as I love my Maxima, I find BMW's to be such superior cars, their build quality and precision is so far ahead from Nissan IMHO.

Max2000JP and Frank:

Okay, I was off by 1.5%, so shoot me. The point was you're going to loose a crap load more money on a BMW than you will on a Nissan/Honda/Toyota/Infiniti/Lexus. You pay more for the BMW and end up loosing a lot more even though it has a higher resale value (a whopping 1-2% higher than the others).

Also, I made no mention that Nissan has high resale. We all know they don't don't do well resale wise.


Dave

The taurus comes out LOWer than the Korean car?
What I get from this is that the 6 cyl honda is a skimpy 3% better
than the max.

According to KBB there the 5 year total ownership cost difference between the G35 and 330i is 4k. Over the 5 years, you get the extra 6k msrp differnce back in theory. Nissan is not known for its resale values.