Just bought a Maxima AE after much research. I feel I made the best purchase for the value and quality of car. I am wondering what others feel. Is the Maxima the best car for the money in luxury, performance, and reliability? Especially reliability? I am especially pleased with my Nissan dealer as compared with the other brands. What are your thoughts? Thanks for your time

 

If I had another choice, I would get GS300. Or maybe Accord

 

of course its the best car! we all own one

congrats on the new automobile. you will be impressed!

 

In my opinion, the best car between the maxima, avalon, and millennia would be the maxima. luxury and reliability wise they are probably in the same class, but in performance, max will win hands down. i really like the 325 but it belongs with a different class. they are smaller than the max, at least the interior. but you should defenitely go for the max, but wait for the 2k2 model. thats my take, peace out!

 

Congrats, welcome to the forum!

 

You made the best choice! The Max is one great ride!

 

MaXiMaS are a good buy Avalons are for old people and 325s are small as ****...besides maximas are faster than avalon and 325 and is more luxurious...maybe avalon is lil more luxurious but maxima performs much better!!

 

my parents have a 2001 avalon...i don't mind driving it while my car is in the shop, but i love my car a lot more than the avalon...as was said, the avalon is for old people...it has a very soft ride, a lot of body roll, but it has surprisingly a lot of pickup (at least it feels that way)...it is very plush inside and is quite a bit bigger than the max...i like the max, though...if i was older and looking for a non-sporty car, i'd be interested in the avalon

the millennia is no contest (maxima is much better) but the bimmer is in a different class...i personally don't think the 325 is worth the money but i think the 330 is well worth the extra few g's...325 is very luxurious and if it came down to it, i might choose that over the max if i was buying all over again, but i feel that with the max you get more for less

 

zach ur sig wont work nemore.. Photopoint wants u to pay.

 

For the money.....to me the max was the best choice. Unless its a beefed up musclecar, or a pure sports car over 40,000.....there's not much thats going to get in a max's way as far as performance. Handling has a little bit to be desired, but for me on a freeway ride and how quiet it is, it can't be beat. The best part for me was cruising at 20 or 80 i didn't have to turn the radio up to compensate for road noise. Interior....the max is one of the only cars i have driven to date where while driving you can rest your head on the headrest and not point your head toward the sky. Its actually a useable headrest. I love the way the gauges lite up blue at night, cause its so easy on the eyes. As far as exterior....the only thinig i wanted to change was the ride height. I hate that fender gap.

Man i love this car

 

does BMW still make the 325? i thought it was just 323 and 330 now. are you guys talkin bout the previous gen 3-series?

 

you made a great choice...considering the price range of the cars you mentioned, the overal package: performance, comfort, reliability and that funky tailight, you can't beat it.....besides, with the money you saved, you can *cough*cough mod cough*cough now....

 

...consider an Accord V6



I've always been a big Maxima enthusiast (which is why I'm here), but the Accord V6 ended up suiting my needs much better than a Maxima did FOR ME and my specific needs so I bought an Accord.

The Avalon is nice, but it's sorta like a Japanese "Buick" and I don't like Buick's. They have an "oldie" image to them, but they're still nice cars.

The Millenia is a big disappointment. It's overpriced and underperforms. The Millenia was actually going to be the first car of Mazda's new "luxury" division back in the day to compete with Lexus, Infiniti, and Acura, but the luxury Mazda brand was cancelled, but the Millenia was almost nearly complete so Mazda just launched it as a Mazda.

BMW 3-series are absolutely beautiful cars. GORGEOUS!!! I considered a 325i as well, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend $10-15k more just for that cool little BMW propellor head logo on my hood when I would be getting LESS CAR than what I get in my Accord EX V6 or what you get in a loaded Max SE or GLE. A similarly equipped 325i is over $30k, and a loaded 330i is close to or over $40k!! They certainly are beautiful and performing cars, but for me at least they weren't worth the money at this point in my life when I have more and much better things to dump money into than a luxury-brand car.

Reliability wise all Japanese makes are going to be very reliable, except for Mazda which is now fully Ford owned, and their quality has gone downhill as a result, unfortunately, oh and Mitsubishi too - they ain't the greatest. But Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infiniti, and Honda/Acura, and Subaru, are all top notch in the world when it comes to reliability.

Congrats on your Maxima purchase!

 

combination of sports and luxury, and with the best v6 , who can argue, get the max/

 

To the guy who asked, BMW doesn't make the 323 model anymore, its 325 and 330. Used to be 323 and 328. The 323 and 325 have the same engine, its actually a 2.5L V6, contrary to what the 323 name would suggest. Now that they have the 330 out they don't feel a need to make the 2.5L engine look like its significantly smaller than the 2.8L, so they went to the proper name, which is 325. My friend just bought a brand new 325, nice car, smaller than the max though.

 

An Avalon???????

 

A friend just picked up his new GS300 over the weekend and yesterday he let me take it for a drive. Very luxorious and lots of bells & whistles, but that car is a dog when it comes to performance. It has a manual type auto with shift controls on the steering wheel. When I saw that, I thought that it must be performance oriented. Hit the gas from a 10 mph roll and I did not feel much at all. Very sedate and the suspension is very soft as well. If you want luxury and no performance and don't mind shelling out a ton of money, you would like the GS300.

 

It is the best value for what you paid.

0-60 in 6.7secs
Engine ranked among top 10 in North America (or is it the world)

The other car I'd probably consider is the the BMW 325 for it's looks and speed. However, the Maxima AE is roomier, cheaper in price (aaand, fully loaded), just as fast if not, even faster (i.e. after you modify the intake and exhaust).

Wise choice

 

325i beamers feel slow as ****....ive driven one....they are only like 18_ horsepower and rearwheel drive dont make a huge difference..well atleast for the automatic one..and the **** is expensive as ****...the only good thing about 325i is looks and handling

 

I'd take the max over all those others (obviously, i did hehe)

I wish I had looked at Passats tho..

 

I hope your kidding. 325i's are pretty quick for how much HP they have. Even in the automatic form.

 

The 325i only has 184HP and weighs similar to a Maxima.

The stats are 0-60 in 7.1/8.1 for auto/manual configurations. At those times a 5-spd Max could take a stick 325i, and even my Accord V6 could take a 325i"A" in stock form in a straight line. Of course, they'll kill me in the twisties with my stock 15" rims and boaty smooth ride though

The 325i and 325iA ain't THAT fast

 

Before I purchased my 2001 Max AE, I compared it to the following:

BMW 330i: interior space small, small trunk, less horsepower from inline-6, stereo not as good, nice drive, expensive but smooth

Lexus IS300: small like a civic, less horsepower from inline-6, very stylish just too small and higher priced

Maxima AE: bigger, faster, less expensive, only missing some features that are optional on the other cars like (navigation system, memory seats, trip computer). Guess what, all of those features are available on the 2002 Max not to mention 260HP.

Max wins, hands down. All I can say about Avalon is BORING!

 

The Max is kinda like the kid playing "rover" on the baseball field...
He can do a lot more than just one thing well...
Just compare the stats on headroom, legroom and cargo area...why spend thousands more for less space! With the money saved, mod mod mod.....

 

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain Wizard of Oz