OK, i went ahead and did it...I traded my AE 5 spped for an '03 TE 6 speed. I did it for one main reason. I travel about 3K miles per month for work plus my personal mileage. I bought my AE in late April of 2001. I just turned 50K miles on Friday. I put a decent chunk down on the AE, and got a good deal, but I was still upside down and getting worse with every road trip.

A couple of months ago, the dealer said they would pay off my AE and take $3K off sticker for a 2k2. It was a good deal, but I decided to wait for an '03 TE instead. The dealer had trouble getting the 6 speed, cloth interior, LSD and heated seats (you can't even configure the LSD and cloth interior with a 6 speed on the Nissan Website).

When I went to the dealer for an oil change on Saturday, they had just got an '03 Sheer Silver 6 speed in. It had black leather and all options except Nav. I never had leather before and was going to pass on the deal, but I walked away with something I couldn't pass up. They gave me about $1000 less than what I owed on the AE (I had racked up another 6K miles since the old offer), took $4K off the sticker of the '03 and found 4.75% financing from another bank (no 3.9% on '03s from NMAC yet).

I ended up raising my monthly payment about $30, getting the extra gear, and a new 36K mile warranty.

On the con side, I gave up a car that had virtually zero mechanical issues. I had the fuel cut TSB performed and my rotors finally warped at 45K miles. That's about all that was wrong other than the paint chips.

Impressions in the 125 miles I've driven so far...

1) The '03 is much more quiet and feels more solid. There seems to be more sound deadening material. The trunk in particular has lots of additional sound proofing (see pics on website below). Maybe the '02s have this also???? Because of this, I don't notice any BOSE rattles.

2) The leather looks and feels great, and it isn't that bad in the hot sun. Plus, it looks like the windows come with a slight factory tint.

3) The two tone dash is gone. My AE dash changed colors from the glove box up (although it was a frost interior). The black interior is black all the way to the bottom of the windows. From the windows up, the A pillars and the headliner are beige.

4) I like the new gauge cluster and love the HIDs.

5) Sixth gear turns at a lazy 2200 RPMs at 70 mph!!!! On the flip side, the tranny has an odd drone that is quite noticable when in sixth gear. Once I pop it back to fifth, the sound goes away. The drone is there at any speed in 6th (although I haven't gone past 80mph yet). I think the drone is caused by the extremely tall gear and low RPMs, but who knows??? I will ask the dealer next week.

6) The Fuel cut issue is alive and well on the '03s. Bucking at low RPMs in first and second is apparent. In addition, as others have noted, when you hit the gas there is a momentary lag before the power kicks in. I haven't researched the '02 TSBs yet, but I will. It seems like the drive by wire takes a half second to catch on.

7) When everything does kick in, there is plenty of torque available. I haven't taken it past 4K RPMs yet, but I can hardly wait!

8) The TE rims aren't as cool as I'd hoped. I actually liked my AE rims better.

That's it for now...sorry for the long post. Check out the pics here: http://home.columbus.rr.com/ms2k1ae/car_pics.html

If you want any other pics or info, just let me know.

 

Congrats on your 2nd Maxima. I'm on my 2nd one too, trading in my 2K about 3 months ago with just a few problems just like you. Huge improvement I think going from a 2K to a 2K2 or 2K3.

Anyways congrats!
Dave

 

OOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to be the 1st one here to get the Sheer Silver 6-speed!!

Well, I'd have to say you still got a pretty good deal! The pics of your max look REALLY sharp! If the opportunity was present, I'd probably pass up on the TE package though; but its all personal taste.

Good Luck on your car!

 

Congrats! That color and the wheels look sweet. Did you added the AE door sills or are they included with the TE package?

 

Awesome car.. The combinations you chose are almost exactly what I want to get.

Would you mind taking some more pictures of your car for me ? Ie.. front end, rear end, side view, seats, center console etc?

Once again, awesome choices, your car looks awesome.

Cory

 

Now you need to change your sig.

 

Nice car. It looks good in the pics. You will love it when you finally get to hit it. A much noticed change in power. Get an intake and you will never take your foot off the gas....

 

and 28 ponies!

congrats

 

Sills and drilled pedals come with the LSD

 

I will get more pics posted this evening

 

congratulations on the car! you got a great deal!!

 

Also, the way you describe the black interior is the same as it is with my black interior. It was the frost option that gave you the two-tone dash.

The AE community misses you! Congrats on your new purchase.

 

Thanks!!! I miss the AE already, especially the body kit and rims.

I could never figure out that frost two tone dash...I didn't like it at first, but after a while I didn't even notice it.

 

Ms 2k1 - where are the rest of the pictures you promised ? !

I want to see em !



Cory

 

Cory - sorry for the delay...I got buried up in work the past couple of days. I will try to take some new pics tomorrow night...

 

Cory;

New pics are up at the website... http://home.columbus.rr.com/ms2k1ae/car_pics.html

 

It's...sniff sniff...beautiful! BTW the sills come with the TE package, the pedals come with HLSD.

 

MS 2K1 AE,
Your car looks awesome.
Thanks so much for posting those pictures.. I have been having the hardest time deciding on color for my upcoming 03 Max purchase, and so far the colors have been sheer silver, gray lustre, polished titanium and white (Forgot exact name of the white)

Thanks again for taking the time to post those for me !



Cory

 

Congratulations on the trade-in. You have a photographer's eye.

 

Cory - When I was at the dealer, I parked my Sterling Mist AE next to the Titanium '03. The shades were only slightly different in my opinion.

I love Grey Luster...just too much work to keep it clean.

Let me know if you need any other pics.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MS 2K1 AE
[B]

After 900 miles this week, I have some impressions of the '03 vs the '01 AE.

1) Hesitation/Fuel cut is actually worse in the '03 than the '01. I have the bucking at low RPMs and low gears that is identical to the '01. However, I also have a hesitation issue. At a steady cruising speed, if you floor it (without downshifting), there is a half second to one second delay before the power kicks in. If I ease into it, it is much less noticeable.

For those with 02's - is this an issue for you as well? I haven't really been keeping track of '02 issues. I think it's the fly by wire throttle control, but it could also be an ECU reprogram. This is the biggest issue with the new car!!!!

2) As I posted at the beginning, the '03 is much more quiet. I haven't gone past 5K RPMs yet, but I can barely hear the engine. Wind noise is drastically reduced.

3) The car feels more solid - especially slamming the doors/trunk. However, the car feels substantially heavier in the twisties (although I know it only gained a few pounds).

4) The BOSE rattle is totally gone...I put in "AfroMan" and cranked the bass and volume. The deep, deep base notes were a little distorted, but the was no rear deck rattling.

 

MS 2k1 AE - I hope your not upset at me, but I loved your car/combination so much that I went out and bought a 03 Max with (sigh) the just about the same combination you have ! (except its sheer silver)

Its a 2003 Maxima
Sheer silver
Black leather interior
6 spd manual
Helical limited slip
Titanium package

Some pics of it are here
http://www.modernperformance.com/cory/03maxima/

Check out some of the pictures in the directory.. You will see side shots, front shots, side profiles, leather interior, tinted headlights and taillights as well.

Cory

 

Ms. 2k1AE, the car is beautiful. The color/wheel combo makes a WORLD of difference. Put a body kit on it and it would blow a 2k1 AE away...I mean the headlights + wheels + titanium paint make such a difference. Congratulations!

If the 2k3 Titanium wheels came in 17x8 and weren't soo heavy, i'd get them in a heartbeat!


Oh, and ModernCEO.....your car looks pretty good too

 

I have an '02 SE 2sp, I think I have the same low rpm problems. Do you also notice that in 1st gear, the shifter moves alot when you get on and off the accelerator? My Bose sub does rattle a tiny bit, I plan to do something about that, or maybe just take it out when I install my basslink. And I definitely feel you on the cruising thing. When I'm goin on the freeway, and I try to accelerate, there is a longer delay than I would like.

 

Craig Mack,
Thanks for the compliments
Your car looks awesome!
Very sharp..



Cory

 

You got this car for about $1500 under invoice?? How did you get such a good deal?? I bought mine a week a ago with vitrually the same options, and I dealed with the guy for over 3 hours to get it for invoice. The only difference was they had to do a dealership trade since the 6-speed is so rare with these options.

Congratulations!!

 

Congrats on the new car.
I know how you feel since I traded my 98se for a 2Kse

FYI the link to the picture on the bottom left hand side of the page isn't working for me

 

How do you figure that? It was only $4K off of MSRP, so about $900 under invoice. Still a good deal though. Is the $1000 rebate still going on?

 

There aren't any rebates available on the '03. The sticker price on a loaded SE minus navigation is 30.5k. The invoice price is 27.9k. That is a 2.6k difference. He said he got it for 4k off sticker. The invoice pricing on Edmunds isn't very accurate because of the Marketing Assesment etc...

 

I did get a good deal. Several things got me there.

1) The numbers game. They gave me $1000 less than what I owed on the AE based on the high miles. However, the dealer and I both knew that they were going to make a nice profit on the resale. Once that car sells (and my estimation is that it will sell for about $2500 more than they gave me for it), they will be back in the positive.

2) There was a $500 rebate to the dealer, plus the standard 3% Nissan kickback.

3) This is my second Max from the same salesman in 16 months and I have sent three other buyers through the door that they made money on. They factored all of that in.

All in all, the dealer planned on making about $1500 on the deal. In my opinion, that is fair for both of us. I get a new car at a great price, and my salesman gets to pay his mortgage next month

 

Corey;

Mine is Sheer Silver as well...your car looks great!

No, I'm not upset, the more the merrier. Just don't go pulling up next to me anywhere in Ohio just yet. I'd like to think I'm a little different for a while!!!