dispite all he had said about his maxima...i knoe deep inside he really loves it...u want proof??? this is his quote "This is my new car. It is a 1997 Nissan Maxima SE. After the old Camry, this car is alot more fun to play with. It can do massive burnouts." then i went on and found this quote "This is my new car, it is a 1997 Nissan Maxima SE. It was the perfect car I was looking for, I got it used from Carmax with 43,000 miles in mid June, 2000. I found it to be a good cross between luxury, style, performance, practicality and comfort. It is a 5 speed manual transmission vehicle with every option (sunroof, leather heated seats, keyless entry/alarm, automatic climate control, Bose CD stereo) except for the automatic transmission." so ya'll pay him no mind when he talks shiet about his maxima cuz deep down inside he loves it...why else would he not get rid of such pos???



















how long has it been since u updated ur homepage eric?

 

just to lay it out on the table...hope this don't offend ya...just having a lil fun...

 

stalker alert!

 

atleast we kno that sum people put use to the search function

 

I find it funny how obsessed some members are about others and the nature of their posts.. Seems like everytime Russ posts something there is 15 people talking **** and making fun of him regardless of what the post said. Same goes for Eric and most of his threads.... Not pointing fingers or dissaproving of anyone, just stating the obvious from an outside view

 

Russ gets it ten times more then Eric. People **** me off all the time I just control my self.

 

Haha my homepage hasnt been edited since 2000, which is 2 years ago. Obviously my feelings towards the car has changed. I think I liked this car for a total of about a week. I *thought* it was the perfect car until one thing after the other just dissapointed me. Its sorta like that x-girlfriend, at first site everything is perfect, then one thing leads to another and slowly and surely you get sick of her and pitch her. Well, it isnt so easy with this situation seeing as I have no money and I already threw enough away at this one. I like the saying "YOU CAN'T POLISH A TURD!" Infact my next license tag is going to say "H8MYCAR".

 

All cars have their problems. If the Maxima is such a bad car why has is it so popular? Maybe you should keep that license plate for your next car as well.
-Cyrus

 

Yeh, if you don't like driving a 5-speed SE Maxima, then I think you're either confused with what you want, or don't know how to get what you want

 

As much as we rag on Eric, he provides a LOT of information to the .Org!

His documentation on the 5-spd tranny install, Quaiffe install, making his homemad Engine Mounts, etc..it has helped many! Unfortantely I only understand half of the technical stuff that he writes..but his pictures do help.

 

I know all cars have their problems, its just that this one has far too many design flaws. I'll spare you of why I think this car sux and I'm sure you already know them by now.

Oh by the way, how do you figure the maxima is "so popular"? It has NEVER been number one in anything, NEVER beating the accord or camry despite its "world class v6 motor". 2002 isnt over yet so we'll have to see how it does vs. the Acura CL-S's since its now stepped up in that price league. If its "so popular" why is the depreciation so bad? Don't believe me, visit www.kbb.com and/or www.edmunds.com and see how badly the depreciation stacks against the 4 cylinder competition.

 

yea all those goddam rice boys raise the popularity on them

 

The Maxima has been the #1 selling mid-sized import V6 for awhile. Nissan sells more Maxima's than Honda and Toyota sell Accord V6's / Camry V6's combined. The reason they've never outsold the Accord or Camry altogether is because of the lack of a 4-cyl engine, which would be sacrilege on a Maxima. Most people buying "family sedans" don't even rank performance in their top 10 most important features/qualities, so this is why you see a zillion 4-cyl Accord's and Camry's yet hardly any V6's. The people that want power and performance have long looked to the Maxima over a Camry V6 or Accord V6. Plus, the Maxima has always been a more upmarket car than the Accord and Camry, and this is where the new Altima comes in.

Yes, Maxima depreciation is "not the best". The Accord is rated by Consumer Reports to be "better than average", but the Maxima is only "average". The Camry is also only average too. If you want to talk about "bad" depreciation, just look at some domestic cars that are literally worth almost nothing after a few years because they're so prone to falling apart. Depreciation on the Ford Taurus, a *very* popular car, is ranked by CR to be "much worse than average", which is the magazine's lowest rating.

Buy used, make a large downpayment, pay cash, or plan on keeping your car for a long time and you don't have to worry about depreciation issues.

Got my 99 used

 

Damn straight!!

I just wanted to add, part of the reason for lousy depreciation, every Maxima comes with the same fantastic V6. Becuase it is standard issue on every Maxima, the market doesn't get a chance to appreciate just how good the V6 powerplant is.

DW


Yes, Maxima depreciation is "not the best". The Accord is rated by Consumer Reports to be "better than average", but the Maxima is only "average". The Camry is [u]also only average too. If you want to talk about "bad" depreciation, just look at some domestic cars that are literally worth almost nothing after a few years because they're so prone to falling apart. Depreciation on the Ford Taurus, a *very* popular car, is ranked by CR to be "much worse than average", which is the magazine's lowest rating.

Buy used, make a large downpayment, pay cash, or plan on keeping your car for a long time and you don't have to worry about depreciation issues.

Got my 99 used [/B][/QUOTE]

 

And don't forget that this year the Max won "Best Import V6 sedan" AGAIN and that the VQ engine made Ward's top 10 engine list AGAIN (the stipulations for WARD's is that it has to be available to the public and in a car that's under $50k...or is it less? number of cylinders is irrelevant)

 

Turd. hahah.

 

Damn Steve you always hit the nail on the head. Instead of opinions you always lay down the facts. Good job man.

Ericdwong; what car would you get if you got rid of your Maxima??

 

Thanks. This is also why I got flamed off of the Honduh boards.

They couldn't handle the truth.

 

We can also take another perspective on this as well. The Altima (this speaks for BEFORE 2002) 4 cyl should be aimed at the Camry/Accord segment yes? According to Forbes.com, in model year 2000 Toyota sold 423,000 Camrys, Honda sold 405,000 Accords, but Nissan sold 137,000 Altimas and another 129,000 Maximas. If you add the two numbers in Altima and Maxima it STILL does not come close to topping Accord OR Camry and thats for the sales of TWO completely different and priced cars! so that will account for both the v6 and 4 cyl market in the midsize car segment on Nissan's part. According to msncarpoint, in 2001 the Accord finally outsold the Camry, after Camry dominated for the last 4 years. We'll have to see how 2002 does.

Yes I too was the one who looked at maxima for performance, but am realizing how this car fails in its attempts at performance. I guess it should be OK as a family sedan, but if that were the case I'd buy differently. This whole notion of trying to soup up a FWD, 3000 pound boat is almost as pathetic as people trying to soup up minivan and call them performance.

I also would not consider the maxima an upscale car by anymeans. The interior feels cheap cheap cheap, the lack of refinment or quality paint also takes away from this.

I would disagree. A quick plug in of numbers at kbb.com reveals that a 4 cylinder Camry of same year, similar mileage, region, condition, options, tranny etc is just about the same as a similar v6 Maxima. Wanna hear whats funny? Plug in numbers on say a 97 Infiniti I30 and then plug the numbers in on a 97 Camry XLE and the difference in blue book price is only about $300. Sorta says something about supply and demand huh?

Yes this is true. However many Taurus goes out to fleet sales. I dont know what the exact percentage is, but it is very high for rental cars, taxi's, corporate vehicles. And, it is american. American cars naturally have lousy resale. The Maxima is supposed to be a "class in its own" car, yet it has the resale value of an american car. What gives?

I too got my car used. I also paid cash. Fact of the matter is, when has the maxima ever been considered a "cool" car. When was the last time you heard "I want a nissan maxima family sedan as my dream car?"

 

no flames or nothing...let's just make this a discussion and not let it get out of hand....

the numbers of cars sold does not tell squat about the car's reliabilty, performance, and such....and i think that comment of ur's about fixing up fwd car that weighs 3000lbs is gonna offend many peep on this board...there are plenty peep here that has their maxima to the performance point where they can hang with $40,000 sports car...every heard has it's black sheep...and i do think that ur maxima is that black sheep...i have experience with camry and accord...only think i like about the camry and accord over the maxima is the ride quality...other then that...i pick the maxima over the camry and accord any day...what car am i comparing this with...my 95 max, my sis 92 camry v6 xle, my sis 93 camry le, my bro's 95 camry v6, and my friend's 96 accord v6...

 

A lot of teenagers want a Maxima for a car, maybe not as a dream car such as a Ferrari or Porsche, but they all would definatly pick the Maxima over other cars in its class. Atleast where I am from. Maximas have always been in its own class, people refer to it as Maximas not as Nissans. Like in rap songs, they mention the Maxima as a brand identity rather than Nissan as a brand. Example: "I like to Max in Maximas and Acuras..." - Notorious BIG. It may be just a rap thing, but it does show how people percieve Maximas.

Ever since the 3rd gen, a lot of people have wanted Maximas. I can't find another car as practical and as fun as a Maxima. You may have different views, and that's fine.

Personally I don't even know why you want to modify the Maxima, or any car for that matter, when you already have a sports bike. That should satisfy your need for speed/performance/handling. Atleast it would satisfy mine..but then I'm a simple guy.

 

Well as we all know everyone is entitled to their opinion. I think that EDW has chosen to dislike the maxima because it seems that it doesn't live up to the popularity contest he lives in. No flame, just seems to be the truth. If I was looking to buy a popular car that all the KIDS have, then I would buy an accord or camry. I simply wanted a luxury sedan with a stick under 30k. Honda doesn't offer it, neither does acura, lexus, toyota...NO ONE offers a V6 luxury sedan in a stick till you start looking at other performance sedans-bmw is the only other manufacturer of a mid priced lux sedan with a stick. Nissan doesn't appeal to the whole US market, that isn't being disputed.
Honda/Toyota spend millions on keeping their cars looking like each others.

Also this is one list I dont want my car to be on the top of, but it seems honda and toyota are both tops...
MOST STOLEN CARS IN AMERICA.

 

Steve is the man.

Uhm, since when do the numbers of a car sold mean anything other than that is what people are buying at that specific count time? The maxima doesn't fit in well with things like Camry's or Accords, as the models of the latter that are evaluated are the 4cylinder standard models. The Maxima comes with a v6 as a standard, not a 4cyl engine, as we all should know; it competes more with the 3.2L Acuras, but is actually cheaper, and has more options as far as trim levels are concerned (a larger range in low-high pricing). Check the numbers on things like TL's versus Maximas and I30's, although I really think sales numbers mean hardly anything.

 

Not exactly. The previous Altima was a failure (in relative terms) because Nissan tried to compete in multiple markets, both of which have unique demands, with only one car. The Altima tried to compete in both the mid-sized and the compact market at the same time. It was larger than a Civic, yet smaller than an Accord. I guess Nissan hoped they would find a balance between the two markets and have a winner but all they ended up finding was a niche, and niche-market cars don't make a lot of money.

The previous Altima is one reason for Nissan's poor performance in the US market over the past decade. Meanwhile the next step up in Nissan's lineup was the Maxima which wasn't available in a 4-cyl, so Nissan didn't have a bread-winning mid-sized family car until the new 2k2 Alty. As for minivan's, the Quest has never been truly competetive. Hopefully with the new models coming out Nissan will start to do much better. Things are definitely looking up so far, but there's only one way to go for Nissan, too.

The Maxima has been one of the best performing family sedans for over a decade now. If what it offers isn't good enough then you seriously bought the wrong car. Not only did you buy the wrong car, you bought the completely wrong class of car for yourself.

But then again, you already know that

I thought I read in a thread once where you were hating on Maxima's that all of your friends had Z28's and SS's and that you wanted an SS too, or something like that.



People here (except you) all like 4-door mid-sized sedans that can lay the smack down. I wanted a Maxima but thought an Accord V6 would suit me better but I was wrong and now I got the real deal and am much happier. Is it going to ever smoke a Z06? Hell no, but it will open up a can of whoop @ss on every other car in its class, and even some cars that it's not supposed to beat. But I know its place in the world, and most other people here do too.

But are you going to tell everyone here that guys like Y2KevSE who has built himself a 400 HP Maxima automatic "pathetic" for souping up his FWD 3250 lb "family sedan" when he can beat a MkIII Supra Turbo and hang with an M5 until he would run out of gears at 130mph? I think not.

Are you going to call all of the other guys with the S/C that are running 13's and beating up on modded Mustangs and Camaros and other "sports" cars "pathetic" because they souped up their FWD "boaty" and overweight Maxima too?

What about a Ford Windstar minivan driver that hooks up that Kenny Bernstein S/C kit and then goes out and smokes cocky 3-series drivers all day.

What about an old-school Dodge Caravan with the 2.2 turbo motor with a good ol boy that goes and hooks up the turbo and intercooler from a Ford Powerstroke diesel to that sucker and then goes out and runs 10's and beats up on Camaro SS's with over $5000 in engine mods all while having FWD and being a daily driver?

Or how bout the classic "TurboCivic vs C5" story?

I think you get the point.

Welcome to hot rodding.

I'm sorry that you think souping up 3000lb FWD family cars is pathetic, but since when is it only okay to fix up muscle cars or whatever car it is that you would like to own?

The paint on my 99 Super Black is perfectly fine. And while the Maxima may not be "upscale", it's certainly more upscale than the other cars in its class. The last time I checked, the Accord V6 didn't have heated seats available, nor did it have outside temp display or a Bose stereo. And the last time I checked it didn't have a world class V6 in it either. Not "upscale", but certainly more so than an Accord or Camry. It's even got NAV now too :-)

If you go to an "upscale" car board like for the TL-S, you'll often see a bunch of threads of them all complaining about their cheapo interior and all of the squeaks and rattles that they have too, and how there's too much "non-luxury" Accord switchgear in there.

I think your problem is that when you bought your Maxima you probably expected way too much of it. If you want a dream car, go buy a Porsche 911 Turbo that every teenager dreams about. Or how bout a Skyline GT-R R34 from Motorex? Or how bout an M5?

Can I afford any of those? Hell no. But I'm not going to cry about it and complain that my measly little Maxima isn't cool like those cars. Life is too short to complain. Just appreciate what you have and enjoy it for what it is. You have one of the best performing family sedans on the planet.

You can go ahead and get your "H8MYCAR" plate if you want, but then I'll just go and get "LUVMYMAX". Life is too short to hate.

 

OK the reason I brought sales numbers into this was to refute Vyrus' saying that "If the Maxima is such a bad car why has is it so popular? ". Of course this got misconstrued and everybody is thinking that I like to go with the mass of the market and buy what everybody else buys. If this were true I'd be driving a Ford F150. If this also were true I wouldnt have a sport bike. If we want to talk about performance and reliability, then lets do it. I'm gonna say off the bat this goes for PRE 2002, since things have changed in 2002 however alot of it still remains.

What is so special about the performance of a pre2002 Max anyway? The vast majority are automatics, and in stock form, and sometimes in modified form they're no faster then the Camry v6 competition. As for the modified ones beating $40,000 sports cars, #1 how much $ was put into mods to get it to perform that much and #2 most the time we compare a fully modded maxima to a bone stock $40,000 sports car. Now imagine that $40,000 sports car (or any other true performance car for that matter) thats modded...

Now lets talk about handling. Despite all my handling mods (Sprint springs/AGX struts, Quaife differential, Addco RSB, 225 50 16 BFG Comp TA tires) my car still feels like a boat and understeers. The chassis is super flexible (look at the difference SFCs and STB's work, also how much the cheap plastic interior squeeks and creeks) and we (4th gen)got a poorly designed beam axle in the rear. The nose is entirely too heavy and the car is FWD. FWD is aweful for perforance particularly on such a heavy car. Torque steer, wheel hop, understeer are all characteristics of FWD. Somehow with FWD we are able to defy the laws of physics thinking FWD is OK for performance, yet every mid to high end vehicle that is truly performance oriented is RWD/AWD. This includes: All BMWs, Subaru's, G35, LS430, GS430, SC430, Miata, MR2 Spyder, Mercedes, Supra, 300Z/350Z, RX7, S2000, Audi TT, Corvette, Viper, Ferrari, F body, Mustang, NSX, even the 240sx is RWD.

Lets talk safety. The 4th gen has NHTSA 5 star ratings less then a "domestic piece of iron" Camaro. http://www.nhtsa.com/NCAP/Cars/1998MidS.html Camaro in 98 gets 4/5 stars driver/pass. maxima gets 4/4. Ford Mustang gets 5/4. Toyota Camry gets 4/5. The IIHS tested the 95-96 maxima's and gave it its LOWEST rating of POOR. The 97-99s did much better, but then the 2000-2002's only do Average, yet they still rate at the bottom of the "midsize moderately priced" range. http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/...ary_midmod.htm just look at the chart. What 2 vehicles are at the very bottom of the 2 lists? THe 00-02 Maxima and the 95-96 Maxima. Not the safest vehicle on the road by any means.

Lets talk about dealership experiences. On the whole nissan dealers do not do a good job to satisfy consumers. How many times here have people said "my dealership service guys sux" or the "dealer i bought my car from are a buncha crooks?" This is also evidenced in Consumer Reports, who's survey put Nissan dealers 2nd to last place in terms of Customer Satisfaction for buying/leasing for at least 2 years and running now. Its page 6 of April 2001. I dont know April 2002.

Lets talk about engineering and quality. Its painfully obvious nissan cut way too many corners, particularly in the 4th gen. On such an expensive and "advanced" car, there still resides a non-independent rear suspension, a superflexible chassis, ancient transverse filament 9004 and H3 bulbs all the way to 99. To me nissan threw all the $ on the motor and forgot to engineer the rest of the car.
The 5th generation forum was starting a list on people's paint who are of paper thin quality and chip very easily. They were going to threaten legal action to get nissan to fix their plss poor job of painting the car. Do a search and many 2002 members already complain about how many chips their front ends have in so few miles. We even have a "Minima Club of America" on this forum to poke fun of the lousy cost cutting and build quality. The leather seats are mostly fake and are of cheap quality. The dash creaks and cracks to the flexo-chassis. The sunroof cover feels like a piece of recycled card board.

Lets talk reliability. Reliability is supposed to be excellent, as indicated by Consumer Reports. I would have to agree for the most part. My car has been fairly reliable except for the transmission. I won't count the gears blowing, as that could be related to enthusiastic driving. However, the imfamous differential carrier bearings has affected far too many 5 speed 4th gen guys, and NOT ALL OF THEM DRIVE THEIR CAR LIKE I DO. Since most of are enthusiasts here, that reliability rating gets a twist and stuff does break. The cost to repair a busted part is outrageous. A new 5 speed transmission is $2200! 2nd gear on the main shaft in the transmission is $80 alone. The input shaft is $200 alone.

Lets talk aftermarket. I have not had good luck with my aftermarket at all. Yes there is more stuff available on the market now, but we are still relatively limited. We have ONE supercharger (which has its share of problems), ONE aftermarket "positraction" (which is expensive as freakin *****), ONE fully assembled adjustable strut. we have NO heads, NO cams (yet, and when we do it'll be by one company) NO aftermarket pistons, rings, valves, headgaskets unless custom made.

Lets talk insurance rates. For comparison's sake (not saying this is my ideal car) one of the most expensive cars for a young single male under 25 to insure such as myself is a LS1 Camaro SS. Yet, it costs only $250 more per year for me to insure then my maxima. Its not the horsepower that makes insurance rates high. Its a combination of things. This FWD family sedan should NOT cost 1/2 this much to insure. Its partly because of the crash tests. Its also partly because of the cost of parts when the insurance company needs to repair.

Should I put out any other reasons why I think this is a bad car?

 

Haha, I don't feel like really reading all that BS, but these two stuck out in my mind.

Dealerships???? Are there any dealerships of ANY manufacturer that are worth ANYTHING anymore? No. The Acura dealership where my mother's previous car was serviced told her some ridiculous BS story about how they couldn't replace her front brake pads without replacing her rotors (the rotors were fine, not even warped), then they left food and a paper towel IN HER ENGINE COMPARTMENT and let her take the car home.

Aftermarket support, huh? Maybe you should do a little more research before you buy a car. This pertains to just about everythiing you said, by the way. You should do more research before you buy a car; find out what the aftermarket parts line ups are (if you are interested in that), see what people do with the cars, etc. It's not that hard. Take a month and read/join the boards of the cars you are interested in.

I need to go now, so I can't respond to all the rest of that stuff. ALl the things you mentioned have been addressed, generally, by Nissan or whatever (crash safety being one thing).

 

Here we go again!

Eric, spare us thanks.

Besides, you bash Nissan for low quality, low resale and low service. But you want a domestic to replace it. Okay.

Domestics have great aftermarket and parts ar cheap. But then again, the cars are put together cheap. Any quality/dealer problems you mention on Nissan is going to be worse w/ any domestic.

As far as fwd/rwd. Well I thought after the camry, you would have figured out the fwd/rwd thing.

Chassis stiffness. Well the SFC idea came from the domestic muscle car area so I guess those domestics aren't that stiff either.

I know I've said this before, but I guess no one reads the old posts.

 

hey eric...u wrote so much i lost track of wat we were talking about...keke...anyway...just to make things fair...let's compare apples to apples here...as most of us would agree...nissan maxima is pretty much equivalent to toyota camry v6 and honda accord v6...since i have a 4th gen i'm gonnna compare wat i have to wat my siblings have....my insurance is cheaper then a 1996 honda accord...how do i know? my sis insure my car and her bf's 1996 accord...as i stated before camry and accord rides better...accords brake is better then the two...my car is faster then the other two....looks is in the eye of the beholder....so i'll leave that alone...i have auto climate control while both the camry and accord is top of the line they still didn't offer it till 98 and later gen i believe...my sis camry auto tranny broke @ 50K miles....mine broke @ 125K miles....the accord is still running @ 150k miles...accord to this day still does not have a 5 spd...camry offered 5spd for 92,93, and 94 i think but didn't offer it at 95 and 96...in general nissan dealership does sux...not because of nissan...it's because of the peep who works there...but there are nissan dealership out there that does offer good service...i can *** up with more but i'm not a good debater....but i can say...prior to buying my car...at the time...my 95 max gle offered more then what i have seen in the camry and accord.......

 

Eric, to me it sounds like you bought the wrong car and the wrong type of car. You do make many vaild points about the Maximas shortcomings and I (and many others) appriciate the work and research you have done. However you often compare the Maxima to sports cars and much more expensive cars. (For example - 'All BMWs, Subaru's, G35, LS430, GS430, SC430, Miata, MR2 Spyder, Mercedes, Supra, 300Z/350Z, RX7, S2000, Audi TT, Corvette, Viper, Ferrari, F body, Mustang, NSX, even the 240sx is RWD.' )


I needed a mid sized 4 door sedan for my family but wanted a powerful fun to drive 5 speed too. The Maxima was the only car in my price range that I feel met my needs. Of course it is no sports car or $40,000 BMW but for the money it gives a little performance you can't get with the Accord or Camry and practicality you can't get with a real 'sports car'.

 

I put:
Y pipe-200 bucks
K&N filter-100 bucks
high flow cat-100 bucks

so 400 bucks...took down a E36 BMW M3. I don't know if they were 40k but they are now. and to roll with him up to 125+ thats a savings of about 22k. So please strike that from your post please sir.


I think its safe to just say that this is probably as riviting as Roe V Wade. But can we just say, that if you car is paid for Eric, trade it in with your older camry and get a lumina or a newer camry. my neighbor is selling her 82 accord if you want a home boy hook up. Lets not ruin miller time.

Stevetec-Dude you make me wet When i read your arguements. This has to be a staged argument. Dont worry Eric, your rebutals are wood worthy-but Steves is just great.

 

LOL, well just as eric can post up a nice little 1000 word essay (1067 to be exact) about everything that sucks or just "isn't the best" (seriously, some of that stuff was really splitting hairs), I could type up an equally long essay about everything that sucks or just isn't the best on the Accord V6 (my previous ride), but given this is a Maxima forum, I won't bore everybody. Everybody here knows the Accord V6 is slow as shia anyways. No need to state the obvious

Anyways, so a couple of your points...

First off forget automatics. Nissan continues to support the enthusiast market with the availability of a manual (and it's awesome VQ engine), and this is what sets the Maxima apart from the rest of the crowd. What other mid-sized import V6 family sedan can do 0-60 in under 7 seconds, and run 15.0 flat in the 1/4 mile?

Camry V6? Maybe the old 5spd's, but less than 5000 of those were produced from 97-01 and were pretty much special order only, and Toyota doesn't even offer it anymore on the Gen5 Camry's. Nothing from Toyota.

Accord V6? Not even close, and they don't even offer a manual on the V6 models. They have a hard enough time just breaking into the 15's much less running a 15.0 flat.

Mazda 626 V6? Nice try, but not quite.

Subaru Legacy V6? Not even close...

Passat V6? It weighs more than the 00-01 Max 5spd's by almost 100 lb yet doesn't have any more power than the 4th Gen's. Close, but no cigar. Plus it's German and not nearly as reliable.

The Maxima simply has the best performance in its class. For people that want a decently roomy 4 door sedan at below $30k that's still fun to drive and has great performance, the Maxima just can't be beat.

You're asking your Max to handle as well as a RWD/AWD car despite having all the limitations of a front heavy and pushy FF car. What do you expect? Let's keep the playing field level, shall we?

Maxima's come standard with 17" rims and lower profile tires, and the SE's have a stiffer suspension setup for relatively very good handling. For a family sedan. Now compare that to my Accord V6 which came with 15" rims and floppy high profile (65 series I think) tires. You think your Max has a "boaty" ride?! bwahahahaha!!! You ain't seen nothing yet. I can take turns in my Max at a good clip faster than my Accord V6 could ever hope to. But I'm not gonna complain that it pushes at the limit because DUH, it's an FF, what do you expect? To get my old Accord V6 to handle as well as my Max I'd have to spend a butt load of money on new rims, and a bunch of suspension upgrades that would total up to about $2000 at least probably. But then you have to consider that the Accord V6's engine is so damned weak that it doesn't even have the torque to turn 17" rims without losing serious performance. (The Maxima's VQ has no problems whatsoever). So then on the Accord I'd have to spend even MORE money on lightweight racing rims.

Yeah the rear beam sucks compared to the 4WIS in the Accord V6, but I don't like cars that can't outrun Mercury Mountaineer V8's so I call it an acceptable tradeoff, LOL

(Yes, I did get outrun in my Accord V6 by a Mountaineer V8. I had mods too. Stupid 2nd/3rd gear hole at 60!!!!!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On safety you're just splitting hairs trying to find something to gripe about.

Dealership experience isn't even about the car. My dealership experience with Brown's Sterling Honda in VA was quite good. Didn't get hassled, just a good, down to earth, straightforward and professional salesperson that wanted to sell me a car.

Engineering and quality is a moot point. Almost everybody I've talked to that has owned older generation Accord's has said that this, that, and the other thing were all "better" in the old models. Cost cutting and poorer interiors is something universal to Japanese cars in recent years and this has more to do with Japans slumping economy and international economics. The cars are still built in the same places, and designed by the same people. My old 90 Toyota Camry that's in my sig had fewer squeaks, rattles, and noises at 207,000 miles than my brand new Accord V6 did at only 2000 miles, along with my 99 Maxima at 52,000 miles. They just don't make them like they used to, but that goes for most Japanese cars. Blame international economics or the weak yen or whatever. I don't know about these things so I'll shut up now. I'm an engineer. I just spend money, I don't know anything about how to count it :-p

Reliability? Geez, if you beat up on any car it's gonna break. The Maxima has been rated by Consumer Reports and JD Power & Associates as one of the most reliable premium mid-sized cars in various years duking it out with the Accord and Camry.

Aftermarket? What do you expect? The Maxima is a family car that just happens to have a small enthusiast following because messed up people like us all like fast 4-door grocery getters with Pooh bear window shades in the rear windows for the kiddies that just happen to have enough under the hood to take out a lot of 3-series Bimmers and other "sports" and "sporty" cars. If you want cams, heads, pistons, etc, go buy a car with a Honda B-series and knock yourself out. Hell, you might even be able to find a leftover 2k1 Prelude with an H22 too. And the K-series i-VTEC engines in the RSX are already piling up a big list of mods. Oh wait, those are all FF cars. But wait, what do you care? You say you're broke so would you even have money for that stuff?

Maybe an FR Camaro or Mustang would be more for you. Cheap and effective mods too, thanks to underperforming factory engines that aftermarket mods take care of. Seriously, engines like the VQ and other import engines already perform extremely well from the factory. It's just not possible to get much more performance out of them with NA bolt-on's like you can with domestics. If you have a 3.0L V6 cranking out 200 HP that's damned good. If you have a 5.0L V8 only cranking out 200 HP that sucks, but this is where aftermarket bolt-on's really shine. They work as well as they do because the factory engines aren't nearly as optimized as import engines are.

Insurance rates? Well I don't know about you, but my 6-month premium went down $200 when I switched it over from my totalled Accord V6 to my Maxima. You're in Baltimore, right? That's pretty close to me - I'm over in Germantown (for another week) on I-270.

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No, the Maxima isn't anywhere close to being a perfect car. But neither is an Accord V6, Camry V6, or any other car for that matter. But the Maxima has always been the enthusiast's choice in this segment and for good reason. It may not be as fast as an American iron dragger, and it may not handle like a BMW, but when you can only afford one car and want something practical and roomy but still be fast enough to be exciting, and handles well enough to bring a smile to your face, there is no better sub-$30k car out there than the Maxima.

If you love cars, for the love of GOD, get a car that you enjoy. Life is too short to waste your time in a car that you don't enjoy, or even flat out HATE. My Accord V6 was a nice car, but I can't say that I enjoyed it at all. In fact, I was almost in the process of working on trading my Accord for something a little more to my liking (WRX, 2k2 Max 6spd) and maybe taking a bit of a hit on my loan when some poor bast@rd did me a BIG A$$ favor and totalled it for me. Now I'm in a car I'm MUCH much happier in (and that's putting it mildly)

Hey eric, maybe you should try to get your car totalled. I know some real good spots to get T-boned along I-270 and 355 here in the Germantown/Gaithersburg/Rockville area. IM me

I guess you can't sell your car because you wouldn't get enough for it, but at least if it got hit and totalled you wouldn't have a choice and would HAVE to get another car that would suit your needs better.

Anyways, I can see myself being happy in my Max for a long long time. When I get bored with it I'll just start modding it

 

did u stop cuz of the byte limits???

 

LOL. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the show. I just thought I'd bring a little balance and objectivity to the thread is all.

Anyways, I don't want this to balloon anymore than it already has so I'll throw in the towel.

You may not realize it, but your mind's perceptions and expectations that you have seem to play a really big role in how satisfied you'll be with a car.

My 01 Accord: squeak-squeak....rattle-rattle..TWANG! Dammit, WTF is this shia? This is a BRAND NEW $25k car that's PERFECT. It should NOT be making all of these damned noises when my old Camry didn't have a single rattle even after 200k miles!! squeak..rattle rattle...TWANG! AAAAAAAAAARRGGGHHHHH !!!!!

My 99 Maxima: squeak-squeak....rattle-rattle..TWANG! Ah, whatever. It's used and they all squeak like this. It's not like it's a brand new car or anything. Damn if that's all that's wrong with it I made out pretty well! squeak..rattle rattle...TWANG! What was that? <shrug> Damn, let's have some fun in 3rd gear again!

My Maxima has the same or similar squeaks and rattles as my 01 Accord did, but since my perception and expectations were different with the used Max all of these noises seriously do not bug me. They darn near drove me fricken crazy in the Accord though.

Just realize when buying a car that it's NOT perfect and no matter what you think of it, you're going to find things that you don't like. As long as you realize that up front, you'll probably be much happier with and more accepting of the car in the long run. It's much much better to realize that before you sign the papers rather than after. ;-)

 

LOL...close I think.

8241 characters with spaces and 1520 words. 10,000 characters is the default limit I think. At least that's what we have it set at over at www.Accordv6.com

I've hit the limiter on occasion both here and there.