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I'm down off my soap box now. We now return to our regularly scheduled discussion.
Let me make a suggestion: If someone wants help with their fight against Nissan, maybe, just maybe, rather than posting a seven-screen tale of woe here, post the thing where it belongs? Then post just a two-liner with a link here?
Just my 2c.
I'm sure these same questions have been posted way back in the 100's.
I am looking at a new '01 SE for my family (myself mainly), I want it loaded (leather, Bose, sunroof, auto. trans) - Edmunds says the TMV is about 26.5 - has anyone gotten that price for one of these? Is it worth that kind of money? Will this be a reliable car for years to come? - and - Are there any serious issues with the car besides some wind noise around the passenger side door in the '00?
Here's a tid-bit of info. about a fight against Nissan - Go to www.nissan.com - Nissan is trying to sue this guy over his web address, even though his last name is Nissan and he registered the domain name first.
If the price seems a bit steep, depending on where you are you might be able to find an '00 model that the dealer would let go cheaper, but could be a needle in a haystack search. And of course it already has a year's depreciation, even if it's a brand-new car, so factor that in as well - could be a plus or a minus financially depending on how long you intend to own the car. Good luck with it!
Thanks,
L8_Apex
Host
Sedans Message Board
I'd say it's simply due to the high idle speed when the engine is cold. You report it only occurs when first driven on cold days. Give the car a few minutes more to warm up before driving it -- or make sure your foot is firmly on the brake and the car is stopped before changing gears.
If you think it's bad now, you should have driven cars from the 70's, before catalytic converters and fuel injection. Those things idled so high when cold that you had to drag the brakes to keep the car to 15 MPH or so in a parking lot. And they'd certainly slam when shifting drive gears unless you had your foot firmly on the brake.
Furthermore, one detail that you may note: The interior in some selections combines blond leather with gray plastic - oh so terrible.
We selected the gray (frost) leather. I think it would be a nightmare to have black leather where most of the days are sunny and warm. Our leather looks like new almost one year after purchase!
BTW, wg - thanks for turning the light on in my head!
SSN66
If you always slam hard on the brakes, then it follows that you would then have to accelerate more often from a complete stop or at least from a lower speed, which means you would be in a lower gear which uses more gas! How's that for an answer? I only came up with it after reading your question.
I saw the replacement shaft in place with metal pieces in the cam tray. The mechanic is going to do a compression tests to see if the valves were bent.I do trust the mechanic.
Nothing was said about checking the other three cam shafts. They might have come from the same batch made in Thailand.
Nissan offered to extend my warranty to 100,000 miles. Stay tuned to this same Bat Channel.
I just picked up a 5-speed 2001 SE in Sterling Mist with frost leather, the C&C package, Bose, the micron air filter, floor mats, and splash guards. It cost ~$25,800 (no destination charge was levied); hard to fix a precise price because I was trading in my horrid '98 Accord V-6 EX. I LOVE my SE.
I had not wanted leather after being rather ambivalent toward it on my last two cars (an Integra GS-R and an Accord V-6 EX). The Nissan leather is MUCH nicer and softer than the Honda leather I had previously, and I am appropriately pleased with it.
Enjoy your new wheels!
my .02
I have a 2001 DE 5spd, Sterling Mist/ Frost
I&I, dose, Leather, Meridian
Bought it 10/25/00
paid $26,300 plus tax, tag & title
Currently have 6,300 miles
Average MPG 21.7 city 25.78 why
One speeding ticket.
I really love this car!
Here are my experiences so far:
When I picked my Maxima up it had two scuff marks on the passenger side door moldings, and a small scuff on the comer of the spoiler. Also marks on the sun roof visor. This all happened when some dweeb in make ready (detail) went buffer happy... They made him pay for it all and they gave me new moldings and a new visor, and I have to bring it in to have them replace the spoiler when it comes in. The manager made sure I was well taken care of.
The "Service Engine Soon" Light came on at about 3,000 miles.
This was my fault, I filled my Maxima up with gas while the engine was OFF, but I had the key turned ON so my wife could listen to the awesome dose stereo, as I put gas in my Maxima. I hated staring at that light, it did turn off after a few weeks.
I posted in here about a month ago about a slight wind noise from my passenger rear door at why speeds. I brought my Maxima in to the dealer, they took a look at it and felt is was the small window in the back door. They had to order some parts (moldings, weather striping...) which took about a month to get in. I had my doubts that they would be able to fix it (joenissan even said he did not think it was the small window) . Anyway they called to say they got the parts, I brought it in and they even gave me a loner car!!! (When I bought my ax they said they don't do loner cars, so I was happy when they gave me one). They had my car all day, the Service advisor even called me at work to update me... he said they brought in a specialist called the "Water Doctors" they specialize in water and air leak detections/repairs, they even had an electronic tool to pin point air noises. It turned out it to be the small window in the back door just like they thought. They said that Nissan must have cut the glass to small or used too thin weather stripping, so they added weather stripping, they even found a very slight air leak on the drivers side and fixed that one as well. The service advisor said they have had two other Maxima (and a few Altima.) owners complain of the slight wind noise at why speeds from the back door area and now they now how to fix it. My Maxima is quite now. Let me know if anyone needs more info or wants to contact my service advisor.
I have read some posts on the Paint being too thin. Unfortunately I was behind a dump truck that dropped some rocks on the interstate. I do put a nose mask on when traveling on the why, and it did save a lot of damage (I could see white marks every where a rock hit the nose mask). I did get a small chip on the middle part of my hood. I just took a trip to Alabama from Orlando FL, and when I was about an hour south of Atlanta on I-75 I went through a nasty storm with hail (large grape size hail), at the time I did not worry about my Maxima, I was really worried that tornado would pick me up an throw me around. Of course, after the weather let up I exited the interstate and closely inspected my Maxima and to my surprise I saw no damage on the body. When I got back home and washed my Maxima and saw the side view mirrors got a few chips in the paint and the windshield has about a dozen tiny chip marks. I feel the paint did hold up pretty well considering how large the hail was, it sounded so bad hitting my car. Later I saw on the evening news that stores/businesses had damage just south of Atlanta, they thought a small tornado may have touched down right where we were.
The frost leather is easy to care for...I was concerned since I never owned a car with leather before, I wanted black cloth but could not get one with 5speed, and the heated seats (which are so nice) in my color choice. I'm so glad I did, I love the climate control which is part of the leather package.
The only thing I would change would be to have black floor mats instead of the gray (frost) ones, they get so dirty so fast, I plan to buy black ones after the gray ones get really bad. Also the CD changer would have been nice, I can always add it.
I feel the Maxima SE is a great value and meets all my needs... it really is a 4DoorSportsCar! I'm very happy with my it, I really enjoy driving it.
I would buy another one again in a heartbeat!
I love my Maxima!!!
-Jamber
Joe
BTW, stay away from that spell-checker ;-)
Joe
Nissan did give me a real good warranty extension w/o a deductible. Probably won't need it if the engine hadn't let go. I'm afraid that the engine may decide to let go again about 65mph and those things are real hard to stop or steer with the power off.
"dose"...I don't think so!
I use Tide and a white bristle brush to clean mine, I then rise them well with the hose, the only bad part is it takes all day hanging in the sun to dry, but they come out real clean, even the white "Maxima" words.
Question on oil changes...........I've always changed my filter when I've changed my oil, but I saw here a while back (particularly with Mobil 1) that some suggest changing the filter more frequently. Joe, do you have to drain the oil pan first? I would think that oil will drip out of the filter area if not.
I pick up my Max today!!
Sometime back, I think it was you that mentioned
some type of carpet cleaner that was particularly
good at getting out stains. The carpet in my SE
got badly stained around the left foot rest and
I've tried at least 4 different carpet cleaning
products and the stain won't lift out. Can you
recall the name of the product you might have men-
tioned here and your source for obtaining it???
Thanks, Joe!
Berbel
I'll say it again.....conventional oil, or synthetic...BOTH get contaminated by metal shavings, combustion byproducts etc. THAT is the main reason for changing your oil...especially with Mobil 1, since it won't break down and gunk up like conventional oil.
Some manufacturers claim you can go as high as 15k between oil changes...sure they say that...they'd love to put a new engine in your car. Even if that were ok....and engine that's had it's oil changed every 3k will be much cleaner, and have much less wear than an engine that's had oil changes at 7.5k-15k intervals. There are a lot of different views on the subject but....I've taken apart many engines and have seen the proof myself...so....I would recomend what I do.....Use Mobil 1 (conventional oil is fine if you choose), and change it and the filter every 3 to 5 thousand miles (no more than 3k with conventional oil). It's not that expensive and you'll know for a fact that your engine will stay clean and be well protected. Will your car last if you don't do this ?....sure...it might...but...why take the risk...especially if you plan on keeping your car for a long time. I've seen the damage that lack of proper oil changing can do. Unless you're leasing your car (lol...then I think maple syrup will do just fine...J/K) proper oil and filter changes are critical...regardless of which oil you choose.
Again...everyone seems to have a different view, and/or opinion on this matter. I can only share with you my experience...and through that experience...my opinions and oil changing habits.
Hope it helps.
Joe
BTW, I was surprised how dirty the Mobil 1 was when I changed it after 3,200 miles, although it still looked much better than conventional oils!
I'm trying to find the links to the oil filter tests done by an independant company....if and when I find it...i'll list some other filters that are also good to use.
Joe
Removing the oil filter, with the oil pan full, will make no more mess than removing with the oil pan empty. Oil must be sucked out of the pan and pumped by the oil pump under pressure through the oil filter. Otherwise it doesn't arrive at the filter or anyplace else in the engine. And if the filter has a good anti-drain back valve, it should still be full of oil regardless of how long the engine has been idled. Otherwise you get dry starts and the engine runs dry the first few seconds after starting until the oil filter fill and the oil pressure comes up.
for those of you that don't know, the oil is the only bearing surface between the connecting rod and the crankshaft. It only takes a little while without that bearing surface to ruin the crank and seize the engine. I watched it happen one time on a rebuilt engine that had been assembled incorrectly.
As to changing the oil filter -- I suggested that because, in part, the Nissan oil filters are so small, and therefore have so little surface area to catch the metal particles and dirt particulates JoeNissan mentions. When the oil filter clogs (or the oil is too thick to pass thru the filter at the volumetric flow rate) a bypass valve that sits on top of the oil filter will open and bypass the filter (as the name suggests), sending unfiltered oil and those little metal shavings back into the your engine.
Therefore (again) I suggest changing the filter more frequently if you use synthetic oil and opt for extended changes. I do, have done so for 15 years And every car I've owned (all 5, except one) has had more than 100k miles on it with little oil consumption and emissions that read the same at 100k as when the car was new (I have the annual emission test requirement due to SMOG in Phoenix), and engine oil that still requires a couple of thousand miles to begin to look dirty.
The one engine that didn't make it to 100k miles failure failed due to water in the oil caused by a failed intake manifold gasket (one of many problems in that Chevrolet) that dumped the coolant into oil. No oil, synthetic or refined will protect when so contaminated with water that the oil has turned white.
So the answer is change your oil -- at least at 3-5k if using refined oil; 3-k if using synthetic. Think about changing the filter earlier if using synthetic to extend your oil changes. And make sure to change the oil by 7500 if the car is in warranty to maintain your warranty.
-- Walter
You have...fully loaded...
leather trim, automatic
with micro filter, mats, mud guards, sunroof wind defector, bose, c&c package, traction control, and meridian package
for $26,600
(plus a good deal on the changer)
I'm very happy with my deal which was.
Fully loaded...everything you have listed above, except automatic & traction control ($800 value), I did get a deal on a nose mask & wheel locks for dealer cost. (I wish I would have asked for the CD Changer deal like you did, I was just happy to have a CD player at the time).
I Paid $26,300 (My sticker was just under $30k)
I have a friend that got his Maxima last year this time, he has the same car as you (but a 2000 model) minus traction and meridian, he paid $31,000!!! Of course he was one of the first ones to have the new body style.
You did very well.
Since I bought my Maxima, Anyone who askes me advice on buying cars, I point them here to Edmunds to get educated on the prices. A great resource!
Congrats on a awesome car and a great deal!
Enjoy those heated seats... they are great.
By the way...I'm sure the engine you spoke about being ruined, was ruined by the forementioned improper assembly..and not the oil.
Joe
Please feel free to use this new topic for all your non-technical discussions about your maximas. This conference use to have good technical discussions about maximas, now this conference might be a good place to learn about bathroom cleaners and carpet cleaners and that's about as technical as it gets here.
Here's the link to the new topic, please use it for non-technical discussions.
/direct/view/.eea48e3/0
Joe
I have not been here much but to lurk before, but Saturday wife and I got a new 2000 leftover SE with 5speed, C&C, leather, bose, spray flaps and of course floor mats. We'll be getting the airdeflector and filter when they come in (ordered them).
We researched cars heavily and liked this car a lot, but it was always too expensive and I couldn't find a nice used one. Saturday, stumbled on a rebate program for the 2000's and the dealer wanted out of those cars badly. I talked him down to $2,250 below dealer invoice, or $23,700 and my sticker reads 28,384 before the dealer installed tint and stripes! I am very happy with this deal.
I can testify to Mobil 1 being a great oil. I have a old turbo shadow and after 140k miles the original turbo is still good as new. One time my car overheated badly and my wife drove for quite a ways on just air cooling and mobil 1 keeping it together! Another time the dealer drained thecar before thanksgiving and then afterwards forgot what they had done and started it and it ran for a while on just residual mobil 1. A buddy who's a professional mechanic said he had to tear into his Grand National one time for a rear main seal and when he droppped the pan the motor looked like it was brand new.
In my opinion, new motors like the Max's are better designed and you can easily get 5k on a oil like mobil 1. My turbo would soil its mobil 1 much faster, but I doubt the max will be harder than most normally aspirated motors. Unless you are getting a lot of blow-by from rings your oil is probably not getting contaminated very quickly, and making the inbetween oil filter changes a waste of time and money. But cut one open and see for yourself.
How you drive makes a difference - so use your own judgement and experience. The color of the oil is probably as good of a indicator as anything save a technical analysis.
Slope
ps. what air pressure is "recommended" for the 17" tires? Max is 44psi, but it doesn't say what to use, so I put in 44.
Joe
If someone wants to make a new topic that should be welcomed, but ONLY if GATE KEEPER joenissan agrees to it!!
George
I also happen to believe that the lowest period in the last six months on this board occurred in December and early January when many posters were driven away by nonsensical drivel! ....and yes, I prefer to see Joe participate on a regular basis. No one else stepped up to answer even the simplest of "technical" questions in his absence.
I never implied that I thought anyone should get under their car to replace the solenoid valve or inside their car to replace their TCM. But I would think that people would be concerned or interested in technical issues that effect the operation and fuction of their Maximas and not just how to clean their carpets.
As far as no one else stepping up to answer questions in the past, maybe people that use to come here have gone elsewhere and maybe people who still stop by get frustrated with the questions being discussed. When people post an open question asking how much mud guard cost. This question can easily being answered by calling their local Nissan dealer and just ask them. Different dealers have different prices.
George