I have a 2010 with about 55k Miles on it... When im driving and take my foot off the gas I feel the transmission starting to possibly retard itself. Is this normal?

 

Yes, it is normal.
It is a built in function that Nissan calls Deceleration Mode. (Or something like that)
What it does is on "D" mode, it will moderately keep you from accelerating downhill, (unneccisary acceleration as Nissan calls it), and in "Ds" Mode, it does it with more force.
On flat roads, the effect is there, just less noticeable. I learned to live with it and use the function instead of wearing the brakes faster.
Nissan can disable to function if you really want it. I think Serpent on here has asked for it to be turned off.

Also, at 55k miles, you should be nearing another CVT fluid inspection. Bring it in sometime and let them check on it, and if you really want, they can also change it for you.

 

Thank you... I had it in last week for a new hub assembly and they didnt mention anything so I guess its fine....


Im actually dropping it off in 2 weeks for them to take care of my Main bearing knock

 

So very true^
I actually love this brake saving feature. Pretty simple once you understand and learn how it works.

 

The first time I had this compression braking was on my 2004 6th gen Maxima SL. I quickly grew to love it. Never needed brakework on that car in five years, and I have never needed brakework on my 7th gen '09 in five years, either.

Some folks justify it by listing the positive benefits, while others pan it by listing the negative aspects. The truth is that neither the positives or negatives actually carry a lot of weight. It boils down to the fact this feature makes the ride a tad more sporty, and some folks like it and others do not.

 

93,000 miles on original brakes. 2010 SV. I have been overly abusive to these brakes a couple times....to the point that they were smoking a little.

Dunno when they will need changing, but they're still going strong.

And there's nothing NOT to love about the CVT, IMHO. Best transmission ever put in a vehicle and definitely the best part of the Maxima.

Late,
Trav

 

+ One

 

Hopefully Nissan will keep the current version of the Maxima CVT in the 8th gen. Many Altima and Pathfinder owners have experienced very serious problems of both the quality and performance of newer gen versions of cvt in those vehicles. Agree the current Max cvt is great!

 

No it isn't. It's good. I like it, I bought the car because of it. But there's definitely room for improvement.

I hate the brake feature. It just wastes gas. If I wanted to downshift, I'd do it myself. Ratio changes don't occur fast enough. You don't get full power in this car until 45 MPH. It's losing at least a half-second to 60. There's low-frequency vibration around 1200 RPM. Gas mileage sucks because the internal friction is high and the gear ratio spread isn't wide enough. Acceleration above 90 MPH is akin to a car with a hundred less horsepower. Sport mode cuts power between arbitrarily-placed faux ratios, so it's slower than D. Part-throttle acceleration from 20 MPH is non-existent; once the car has decided to lug the motor, it takes massive inputs to get it to wake up again.

A lot of this was corrected in the Altima transmission. That car is less satisfying to drive for handling reasons, but the powertrain is unquestionably better. It's about halfway to where I hope the 2015 Maxima ends up.

 

The brake feature does not waste fuel. The engine revs higher, but enters fuel cut anytime accelerator pedal is released, regardless of rpm.

Not real sure what you expect out of this transmission. There are a lot of compromises. But Nissan did a phenomenal job at creating a great performing transmission in a FAMILY SEDAN that provides economy on par with any other transmission out there.

Maybe someone should suggest the GTR transmission be put in the Maxima. Maybe then the Max wouldnt have such horrible economy and power delivey.

 

No hopefully they dont CVT is suppose to improve the MPGs and thats not the case. It's 2014 all cars should be hitting 30+MPGs. We need an improved CVT! They could do better. Why should they keep a piece of hardware designed 5 years ago?


To OP:

http://forums.maxima.org/7th-generat...aking-off.html

 

If the braking is slowing the car down than it is wasting gas. Its lesser distace traveled - Less coasting. Negative hit on mpgs.... but i cant imagine nissan to want to save brake life over mpgs.

 

Have you driven the '13 Altima or Pathfinder for any significant amount of time? The cvt on the 3.5 is annoyingly jerky at lockup and has a well documented history of problems. Maybe not every single car, but enough to have tsb's issued and replacements of TCs and/or trans are common. I hope the 2015 Maxima ends up nowhere near the Altima cvt... And I suspect Nissan is smart enough to not compound their problems. Comparatively the current Max performs much much better than Altima & PF. Same with current Murano. Fact.

 

Actually the DCT is very fuel efficient. And in reality it would placate the majority of people who gripe about the CVT.

 

Engine braking can be turned off or just adjusted with Consult 3+.

I'd love to see the Max migrate to the RWD Q50 platform and be available with a 6 speed stick. IMO, the 4DSC died with the manual trans option.

 

If Nissan switched the Nissan sedans to RWD, then one of the primary reasons for the existance of Nissan's Infiniti brand disappears. Will never happen.

As for the stick, Nissan continued to make Maximas with the stick option for EIGHT YEARS after folks essentially stopped buying them in meaningful numbers, and THREE YEARS after dealers stopped accepting them.

The public had the option of keeping the stick Maxima as an ongoing option, and the public responded with a resounding NO. Nissan would be very foolish to try that route again on what is now a low-volume vehicle.

Except for a few folks who fortunately live where speeds are not always restricted by other cars jammed into every inch on all sides, the manual is now simply a plaything for those who still like to bring back the 'good old days.' With today's ever-growing traffic congestion, the manual in low-volume production affordable family sedans is a 'dead man walking.'

 

We sort of have 'mixed metaphors' here. Yes, the newly designed CVT on the new Altima clearly does have better performance characteristics than the old one that has served on the Maxima since it was released in June of 2008. And yes, this new Altima CVT has run into reliability problems.

And yes, this new Altima CVT is the tranny that Nissan had planned to use on the 8th gen 2015 Maxima to be released this spring. And yes, Nissan was smart enough to NOT release a new generation Maxima with this new CVT until it becomes reliable. So the only wise choice was to postpone the 8th gen Maxima until a smooth-performing reliable CVT is available.

I expect the 8th gen to be released in spring of 2015 as the 2016 Maxima, with a CVT that is better performance-wise than the current Maxima CVT, and more reliable than the CVT powering the new Altima.

 

Nissan was not thinking of brake life with this engine compression braking. The thought was nothing more than a sportier drive. Try assaulting a mountainous curvy road at sporting speed with this Maxima, and the engine compression braking makes for a much more fun drive.

Those that don't like engine compression braking will find that virtually all non-sporty sedans do not use engine braking. Avalons, Camrys. Accords, Buicks, Chevys, Fords, etc, do not generally have compression braking on their sedans.

As soon as I found my '04 Maxima SL had engine compression braking, I immediately began taking advantage of it, was very happy to see it was still there on my 7th gen Premium, and long ago came to love having it.

 

Yes, a new CVT on the 8th gen Maxima is absolutely mandatory.

I think you will find that the CVT on the current Maxima was designed over 7 years ago, not 5. In fall of 2007, there were test versions of the 7th gen Maxima running under camouflage in Southern California and the Phoenix AZ area.

At the Dec 2007 auto shows, the 7th gen Maxima began showing up. The Smyrna assembly lines began producing the 7th gen 2009 Maximas in volume in January of 2008. I saw over a thousand of them parked in the far back lot at Smyrna in late February of 2008, and sat in one the first week of March 2008 at the Atlanta Auto Show. The 7th gen Maxima began arriving at dealers the first of June, 2008, and the first day dealers were allowed to sell the 7th gen 2009 Maxima was June 26, 2008.

I suspect the design window for the current Maxima CVT was probably from early 2005 to late 2006, as once the design was complete, then machines had to be designed and built to begin producing the parts for the new CVT. And we know completed 7th gen CVTs were on the road being tested in fall of 2007.

 

True, that was a bad guesstimate of mine. I should of said "over 5 years ago".

 

Light, if your prediction is correct (it does make sense to me), would you also expect Nissan to continue producing and selling 2014 models until the spring of 2015? Or would they come out with a short lived 2015 Max that is just like our current 7th gens? Or do you expect some other scenario in winding down 7th gens?

 

I can already tell you were gonna have to agree to disagree. There are and has always been plenty of Infiniti's that are also sold down the street as Nissan's. Ask anyone in Nissan's marketing department, there's very little Nissan/Infiniti cross shopping. Most car makers are shifting their large sedans back to RWD.

As for the manual transmission... Car makers are moving away from sticks for reasons other than demand. About 15 years ago, the major car makers decided to start marketing 100% to Baby Boomers. This is why alot of "retro" cars started hitting the roads. This is also why many cars weren't offered with sticks. The manufacturers decided not to invest any money in development because the Baby Boomers didn't want sticks. With no sticks available, many people settled for the car they wanted with an automatic rather than switching to a different car that's available with a stick. I don't know a single person who enjoys driving who prefers an automatic. Everyone I know with an auto views driving as a chore. I'm 40 and have always had at least one car with a stick (right now, 3 out of my 4 are sticks). I'm frequently stuck in traffic, but it doesn't bother me because I'd rather be driving than texting. I don't need to keep my right hand free for other tasks. Nissan is primarily switching to CVT's for CAFE.

If the Max satys FWD, it will have to be CVT only as Nissan no longer has a FWD manual trans to use. However, as a RWD sedan, they could use a Z trans.

 

The stick will never appear again. It's an EPA non-starter and totally out of character for what the Maxima brand has become. I wouldn't dwell on it for a second.

I drove the '13 Altima V6 for about an hour and put it through every test I could think of. It doesn't have any obvious bad habits. There's still a bit of low-frequency drone, but it's down by half compared to the Max. I'd probably like the DSG if it had enough gears that the engine wasn't constantly falling out of the powerband.

 

For many Altima and Pathfinder owners the cvt problems did not begin until after 2000, or sometimes several thousand more, miles had been driven. Anyway, I am sure Nissan is working hard to resolve issues, just hope they are able to make it bullet proof before putting it the Maxima.

 

Bingo! With auto transmission, ECU is in complete control of everything. On-throttle to off-throttle transition causes large NOx emissions during gear change with manual transmissions.

Late,
Trav