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Do they have a website?
TIA,
Leland
Thanks much for your taking the time to eval. your
6-speeds. Your comments and those of others have
been very valuable. I really wanted a 6-speed and
having read some magazine reviews which were not
exactly "complimentary" I started to have second
thought about a manual trans.
kbalch: You had no way of knowing but I already
own a Max SE. I was turned off very quickly by
the Altima SE after seeing the "Ford Motor Co."
interior which I think is cheap and tacky.
hookedoncars2: I am a fellow "buckeye." To what
dealer in Ohio were you referring when you discussed it earlier on this forum?
Thanx all/berbel
http://u1.lvcm.com/adman/MaximaOrg/TSB_NTB01-059__1_.jpg
http://u1.lvcm.com/adman/MaximaOrg/TSB_NTB01-059__2_.jpg
I hope the dealer does not give me the runaround.
I have a 2002 Maxima SE with 1400 miles on it and have been pleasantly surprised by the smoothness of the shifter. Like you I heard some of the negatives (i.e. notchy, long-throws)prior to purchasing my Max but so far I have no complaints. I haven't encountered any notchyness and I don't feel the throws are overly long. My expectations were high for a manual transmission car having just sold my 97 integra GSR. Honda/Acura in my opinion makes one of the best manual transmissions and my acura was the smoothest best shifting transmissions I have ever had. I would recommend the Max with the 6 speed. The only negative that I can say about the 6 speed is it has a long clutch take-up (at least longer than other cars I have owned). You should take one for a long test drive and determine for yourself.
I would wait and see if anything else turns out from this situation. If it happens again (hope not), I would follow your suggestions.
Thanks.
The car has only 3200 miles and started to have acid like smell since 2750 miles.
I took it to the dealer and they spray something in the A/C. The smell
does disappear for a few days, but it comes back every time I turn on the A/C.
If I set to AUTO (cool air only), there is no stinky smell (well..actually it
happened once when it's on AUTO mode).
If anyone has similar experiences with the Maxima/Infiniti I3X A/C, please tell me.
Thanks.
For anyone in the Ottawa area, I found that both tires are on sale at a local tire place (Gary's on Merivale) with the RE92 going for CA$170 and the RSA going for CA$165 (much cheaper than TireRack which has the RE92 for US$159). This is a good deal considering Gary's in Bell's Corners is selling the same tires for over $60 more each.
In my 92 and 96 Maxima SEs, I used strictly synthetic oil (Mobils 1 5W30) after the 6K mile break-in (synthetic has too high of a film strength, so you need to use regular oil at first).
Never a problem, and I have used 10K change intervals (remember Mobil used to advertize 25K mile or 1 year oil changes??).
My 2002 SE will get the same diet.
If you are going to use reqular oil, keep in mind that the 3K oil changes went out with leaded gas and that now 5K is more than adequage.
Good luck!
Appreciate your critique. I do believe, all things
considered, that a 6-speed is now in my sights.
Incidentally.......re the clutch take up issue you
mentioned. I could be mistaken, but, I believe that
the point at which the clutch engages can be ad-
justed by a service tech. My last ride was a Ford
Contour SVT. I had the clutch adjusted a couple
of times when it started to give me too much distance before it engaged 1st gear.
*************GERAPAU***************
If you go back to the Tirerack web site and look
for it, I think you will find a link to consumer
comments about various brands and models of tires.
I posted similar concerns about replacement tires
early last winter. Incidentally, the RSA of which
you spoke is the OEM tire on the new Cadillac CTS.
Synthetic Oil: The "Car Doctor," a nationwide
syndicated auto advice column, highly encourages
the use of synthetic oil but only after 1000-1500
miles on the odo. The guy that writes the column
swears by it. Unless they changed the owner's
manual since model year 2000, Nissan DOES NOT
say that synthetic oil is unacceptable. I have
been using it for years!
berbel
So, depending on what you do NOW. You might want to make that decision when getting all new tires.
Did that make any sense at all??
Obi
obiwankenobi1: As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently leasing my Maxima. This means that when the car is returned (summer of '03) Nissan will require me to put a set of tires on it that are similar to stock. The tires don't have to be the same brand but they do require that the tires are the same size and of the same quality (and have at least 4/32 tread left). I figure that whatever tires I buy now will still have the required tread next summer so I don't want to buy a set now and then buy another set next year. This means that buying a narrower set is out of the question. Also, buying a wider set is not an option due to the narrow wheel width (even though I have heard of many people upsizing their Max's tires, most manufacturers recommend at least a 7.5" wide wheel for anything wider than a 225 tire). I guess that this leaves me with the RE92 and the RSA as options. As I mentioned above, most people do not rate the RSAs any higher than the RE92s so I guess that I will be sticking to the RE92s.
The last replacement was with less expensive Toyo's which, after 17k miles are showing some signs of faster treadwear. They are also slightly noisier.
P.S. A friend of mine is shopping for a 2002 Maxima SE 6-speed, so I gave him my 1995 for a day to drive around for comparison. He claims that he liked the handling of the 1995 at least as much, if not better than the 2002. So for all the increased wheel size and tire size, not much, if any, improvement in handling. The weight gain from 1995 to 2002 probably contributes to the equation, as well.
I find the lumbar support position a bit off. The seats aren't as long as the previous versions (eg. leg support).
The shifter is notchy, but I am getting used to it. The sunroof doesn't tilt much, oh well.
The stock Potenza RE92 isn't great for Canadian winters. I put on some Blizzaks soon after I got the car.
I love the looks, and the performance. It would look better if the car is slightly lower, and the 2001 AE body kit would be nice.
Adjust the hood stoppers up a bit and it fixed it. Easiest fix I ever made. I also don't notice a big gap from doing it. The car still looks perfect.
Obi
I just drove 2000 Klms. and noticed it seems to vibrate (or bounce) about the middle of the hood.
My service tech says he has no info on this and I thought I had read about the problem in the US
Any help appreciated.
My post! Easy fix
Obi
I think that I have worn the Toyo's to their limit. New, they were good, but the past 20,000 miles have been disappointing...have 55,000 on them now.
I'm hoping one of you kind people can help me. We have a '95 Maxima that we love dearly. It only has one flaw. Once the car is warmed up, the car makes a high pitched whistling noise when it comes to a stop and is idling. As soon as the gas pedal is pressed, the sound instantly stops. As you can imagine, in stop and go driving this can be very annoying.
The car is otherwise perfect. We took it to our local Nissan dealership service and they suggested it may be the water pump in the engine ($525 to fix) or else it was something else in the engine which would require taking it completely apart (around $2000 to fix!).
So, we thought that we'd ask around on the Internet and see if any of y'all Maxima fans could lend a helping thought to us.
Thanks!
B_Dogg
I spoke to my service guy at the dealer and he knew exactly what I was describing. They installed a supplemental hood gasket kit that prevent excess air from flowing under the leading edge of the hood. For obvious liability reasons, they don't do a high speed test drive to verify the problem.
The kit consists of 3 gaskets - one each along the top of the headlight assemblies and a third on the underside of the leading edge of the hood in the area over the radiator (except where the air inlet to the engine is located). I'm not sure if there is a Technical Service Bulletin on this, but it was done under warranty and there seemed to be a repair kit.
Not sure how the part numbers would be in Canada but here's what it said on my service order:
"Hood flutters a highway speeds
If required test and repair hood bond joints, install bumper/head lamp pack components.
Parts: [all descriptions were truncated]
65829-50A00 Bumper-Hoo
65829-2Y900 Pack-Rim F
65829-2Y900 Pack-Rim F"
Apparently Nissan allows them to bill 0.8 hours for this repair, so its not major.
I've had no problems since then. The installation is neat and the gaskets don't look like some second thought add-on, so I'm satisfied. I did notice that my friend's new I-35 had the same gaskets installed on the top of the head lamp assemblies, so apparently this affected Infiniti also.
Did they give you that watch there on the spot, or something you have to mail to get the watch shipped to you later. I drove an Altima a few months ago and got the same watch shipped to me a few weeks later.
Semper Fi
to your car were actually STANDARD equiptment on the 2k Max. I guess
Nissan did some cost cutting in later models so that they could up-content
the Max a little........ie. auto-dimming mirror, Steering wheel mounted
audio controls etc.
Also, I saw a TSB somewhere that mentions numerous fixes for the hood
flapping. Some cars will have problems in different areas of the hood. One
vehicle may only need the hood stops adjusted and another may have some
spot-welds missing which would require the dealer to use adhesive
in those areas of the hood.
What would anyone recommend for me.
And $75 is what a Mazda dealer told a friend of mine for the same thing.
It's your decision BUT if you think the Maxima is overpriced then you're in for a surprise with the maintenance of a Passat.
Both cars are nice but if you ask me the Maxima with the VQ engine (doesn't burn oil as the VW engines do) and its proven track record (up there with the Toyota Camry) makes it the better choice of the two.
And about the price, I don't know about you guy's in the States but up here in Canada a fully loaded Passat is a lot more expensive than a Maxima GLE.
Just my 2 cents.
You can get a loaded Passat with leather, Monsoon sound, rear sun shade, 8 airbags ,stability control, sunroof, tiptronic shifter(auto/manual) for under 25k for the 4 cylinder turbo. That's recommended over the V6 since it's cheaper and just as fast b/c of weight issues. The Maxima SE with leather around here is at least 27-28k. Plus, the options on the Max are so expensive for things that come standard on the Passat, the Bose is what $700? The Monsoon in the Passat is only $300 and was rated better sound by Car and Driver.
Also, a little point, but the cloth interior in the Maxima is so cheap looking. Just my opinion though. The Max's engine is definitely its strong point, but it exibits bad torque steer which is unsettling when driving.
I absolutely LOVE my 2002 Maxima SE! I eat Passat's for breakfast!
Obi
specifically the VQ powered sedans
The dealer is Ricart in Columbus, Oh. He usually has a decent selection of Maxs, more so automatics. His $5000 off offer was advertised in the Columbus Dispatch (Sat. edition) a couple weeks ago (in April). When I visited his dealership, I asked about the offer. It applies to any GLE or SE on the lot.
By the way, regarding recent comments about the Passat ...
Nice car, but not as nice as a Max. I test drove the 4cyl turbo recently through some twisties, and IMO, it just feels too soft and the tires gave way much too early compared to the Max (SE). Plus, the engine ... turbo lag from the 80s. No thanks.
And the Passat is nicer inside than the Maxima, sorry to have to say. That's, of course, opinion. The Maxima is a very nice car though. And it IS cheaper than the Passat.
At this price range, I don't think $1000 either way is a swinging point, but I did find the passat to be slightly more expensive. The biggest drawback for me was that it felt much smaller inside, like the Acura that I was also looking at. It is 7 cubic feet smaller and was definitely noticeable. A 4 cylinder was a definite no and the 190 HP is a little low for this class of car.
Overall, I found a loaded SE to have the best combination of fun, luxury, size and cost. Passats are a nice, safe, smaller car, kinda like a German Honda, but a Max is a little stronger and edgier if your tastes tend that way.