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and the kicker was, i mentioned there was a TSB on the rotors, the tech said.."on the maxima?" i'm thinking to myself...there's about 50tsb's on the maxima..do you work for nissan or are you just a good liar and like playing dumb.. maybe this is a common practice at certain service depts..
well..the moral of the story is.. i went to Koeppel Nissan even after hearing horror stories from one of my neighbors (happened to him 3 yrs ago with his new pathfinder), but i decided to give them a chance..what was i thinking!? some things never change...
Koeppel Nissan, Northern Blvd..Queens, NY.. potential service customers BEWARE!!!
The dealer said my car would fail inspection unless I fix the lense, and I was quoted a price of $200. I thought that was a rip off price, so I wanted to leave, but they said I had to pay the inspection fee even though they had not done a thing except looked at the lense. I did not want to pay so I called the cops. When the cops came, I told the cops that if the dealer wanted to charge me for inspection, they should do the inspection. They did, and they failed me.
The next day, I took the car to a nearby gas station and they passed me by simply putting a red tape over the slightly cracked lense. Thereafter, I replaced the lense for less than $50. A few weeks later (when the weather became humid and rainy), I had trouble starting the car, even though the car only had less than 20k miles. Then I noticed the plastic housing over the distributor cap had a hair line crack, and I had my suspicion of who might have done it, on purpose. Needless to say, I never returned to that dealership.
In order to compensate for their losses may be they resort to gouging the customer in their parts and service departments.
I have owned ( and do own even now ) Honda, Nissan and Toyota vehicles. But I have seen the Nissan dealer in town to be the greediest of the 3, especially in the service department.
But I understand where the Maxima owners are coming from. Like I previously stated, my step grandparents drive nothing but Nissans...especially the Maxima. They have never considered the Altima or the Sentra and probably never will.
I can understand the point of people not wanting the new Altima as a replacement for the Altima. But like Bowke said, the Altima 3.5SE is supposed to be the replacement for the older Maxima models. Some do not see it that way. I am sort of in the median.
To me, if the Altima is supposed to replace the older Maxima, why is there no GLE-type model? The SE is the sporty Altima and to me somewhat replaces the Maxima SE ONLY. Its ride is more harsh and rough than the comparable GXE or GLE Maxima.
Don't tell me that the Altima SE with the leather package is the replacement for the older model GLE, not so in my eyes.
I guess that is what the new Maxima is for? It confuses me a bit.
Also, like many other posters, I feel that if the Altima is suppose to replace the Maxima, it should have interior materials that were at least on PAR with the last generation Maxima.
Not so...
But I hear that the interior will be redesigned for 2005 and mimic the Accord (aka the supposed Benchmark)
Sometimes I wondered why they just didn't get rid of the Maxima, but then I think about my step grandparents and other loyal Maxima owners and I see why. The only problem is that my step grandparents don't like the styling or the interior of the new Maxima...ummm
At some point, probably soon, the Nissan will probably offer a manufacturer's rebate on the Maxima, unless demand picks up.
It is my understanding that new car sales, parts and service are separate departments at most dealerships and have their own balance sheets, so I'm not sure if new car sales can benefit from increased prices in service or parts.
I did see that Nissan is offering a $2500 rebate on remaining 2003 Altimas, Sentras, Frontier, Xterra and Pathfinders.
also, did you realize that the other 4 you mentioned are the vehicles that have not been recently redesigned?
nissan is trying to move away from the rebate game. interest rates are another thing, but rebates really put a drag on the resale value. once the pathfinder, xterra, frontier, and sentra go through their next full redesign, the cash incentives will all but stop.
you may see a few extra bucks for outgoing models or model year-end units, but thats going to be pretty much it.
as far as what maximas are selling for, they are no different than maximas of the past. a dealer will put a price on one in the paper, and have it apply to only 1 maxima. probably a demo or something. otherwise, we make pretty good profits on maximas in general.
respects.
I traded my 00k SE but I did not trade on a new
Max. I am a Max person at heart and really wanted
the new model despite some misgivings about the
exterior. I was willing to overlook those "issues"
until the sales rep quoted me several thousand over
and above what my '00 retailed for in order to get
me into the '04 model. I laughed in his face.
What killed it for me was Nissan's forcing you to
buy options you didn't want/need in order to get
the option you did want. I also didn't care for the
"trendy" silver accents which now replace the
"warm" looking interior accents of wood (even if
the wood is fake.)
The cost of these option packages drove the price
of the '04 to $4000.00 over and above the retail
of my comparably equipped '00 which retailed just
a hair over $30,000.00. That was a rude awakening
for me.... not to mention the previously standard
equipment (such as HIDs) now being an "option."
Nissan needs to come to their senses regarding
their pricing strategies or they will continue to
lose customers such as myself who they have totally
alienated with their greed. Perhaps the current
sales figures reflect their shooting themselves in
the foot over this and other matters.
berbel
As long as I've got your attention, is it true you can't get the limited slip differential without first getting the Drivers Package?
Nissan's problem is that they have the opposite problem GM has; too few cars for their two divisions. The 04 Maxima *should* have been the G35, no question. For everything else, considering they only have two divisions they do an *awful lot* of badge engineering (FX/Murano, I35, Infiniti's as-yet-unnamed Armada clone).
They should have killed Infiniti in the 90s. Now, all they're doing is hurting Nissan-branded cars by cheapening them so the Infinitis look better.
That's my spectatin' half a cent, my-humble-opinion, so don't flame me too hard.
if your 2000 SE stickered for a little over $30k, then a comparably equipped one would be closer to $32k. the difference is about $2100. this gets you more HP, torque, room, more features (driver preferred pkg.), and 4 years newer. not that bad a deal to me. people are assuming the elite pkg. with the rear buckets and navi were available before, and they werent. not for free, anyway. you also arent paying extra for the xenons. you just have the option to drop the price by $180 and get regular halogens.
also, previous maximas continuously had a $2k rebate attached, which is why the difference SEEMS so much more.
lichtronimo...
yes its true. the helical limited slip diff. is only available with the 6-speed manual, and the driver preferred pkg.
Besides the Acura being a superior car to the Max, I think that Acura dealers’ level of customer service and customer respect is better than at Nissan. This is based on our experience (wife and I) of Nissan dealer service on 7 years of ownership of a 97 Max SE (154K Mi) versus 3+ years Acura dealer service on an 01 TL (71K) and 04 TL (2 months). All service work at Acura has been excellent and the staff has always been courteous and respectful. The Nissan dealer generally does a very good job, but still does not "strive" for nor achieve the level of excellence provided by the Acura dealer.
First, Nissan has treated the Max as its "flagship" car for many years (20 plus years?). Toyota has deemed its Avalon (since 1995?) as its "top of line" sedan, saying it is a roomy ES 300 for less money.
Second, Nissan wants the Altima to compete with the Camry as "the bread and butter" car, leaving the 04 Max (which will sell much less in volume) to compete with the slow-selling Avalon. (I don't want to compare the new Max with the new TL because enough has been said.) Is this a "race to the bottom"? I hope not.
Third, the 04 Max has been called by some (on this Board and elsewhere) as a "Japanese Buick." This title truly belongs to the Avalon because that is its middle name. LOL!!
Fourth, the 04 Max is based on the same platform as the Altima. The Avalon is based on the same platform as the Camry. Both are stretched versions of their respective base cars and both are U.S. made Japanese cars.
May be you can think of more. Don't be shy, speak up.
Having said that, however, the Max has gone through significant changes since 1995 while the Avalon remains substantially unchanged since its debut in 1995. So, it is understandable why the Avalon is a slow seller because little or no R&D has gone into it (I heard Toyota dealers are now selling the car at $4k below MSRP - see Edmunds Avalon Board). But why is the 04 Max also a slow seller even though it is a newly redesigned car? Will Nissan, like Toyota, give $4k incentive or rebate in order to move the new Max if sales remain stagnant? Time will tell.
But Nissan calls the 04 Max sales figure in the past six months as "meeting expectations" (I read it here on this Board in the last few days). If that is true, it is quite pathetic because Nissan does not expect much from its "flagship" car, particularly if you see the amount of advertising money that has been poured into the new Max.
I have been thinking about various ways that Nissan can boost the sale of the new Max. I will post my thoughts in the very near future. Stay tuned :-)
The Altima came out in MY 1995, was redesigned by 2000. The Avalon has changed a lot style wise both for the exterior and the interior.
I am not sure about the chassis changes for the Avalon, but it has been redesigned at least once and will be up for another redesign for 2005 I believe
Nissan tried to match Camry and Accord with a smaller 4 cylinder Alima and a bigger V-6 Maxima. Problem is Toyota and Honda sell more 4 cylinder Camry and Accords and the Altima couldn't compete because of size. Nissan's solution has been to increase the size of the Altima to match Accord/Camry and offer the same potential engine combinations in its basic family sedan.
This change to the Altima's position basically encroached into Maxima territory. Nissan's response is to push the Maxima more upmarket to compete more in the entry-lux category against its own G35, Lexus ES, Acura TL, et al. My guess is that Nissan will drop the Infiniti I35 when the new "M" debuts with both V-6 and V-8 power. This move focuses Infiniti more towards an international all rear wheel drive/all wheel drive range and leaves Maxima to provide a front drive option.
Its interesting that the TL is held up as the gold standard for the Maxima to beat. Read other boards and you will see arguements that Acura is not a legitimate luxury/performance brand because of a lack of rear wheel drive platforms. Nissan is trying to provide focus to Infiniti that separate it from Acura.
I'd love a TL, but it comes with so much extra stuff, that its out of my financial reach. Further, the Maxima offers more interior and trunk room making it a better choice for me.
http://www.freshalloy.com/site/cars/nissan/2004/maxima/understand- ing/home.shtml
The quote I received from that dealer DID NOT include the Elite Package. The quote was way off
base for the car I configured for them. I wanted
to retain a three passenger back seat and made
mention of that during our negotiations.
What I believe drove the quote through the roof
was Nissan's posture concerning having to buy
option pkg. #1 and #2 in order to get the options
in package #3. That's a lot of b.s. which I had
no intention of tolerating.
I am VERY FOND of the Max and frankly wish I was
in one now but the company has made that out of
the question. If things change in the future, per-
haps they will regain me as a customer but for the
time being they have lost my loyalty.
berbel
First of all you never expect to sell your "flagship" car in great numbers. Flagship translates to best, which translates to expensive. How many "flagship" Mercedes S600 are sold vs. the popular C-class for instance? How about BMW's 745?
Secondly, have you actually seen the "amount of advertising money that has been poured into the new Max."? If so - let us know.
if you're starting from scratch, i would look into getting one of those systems with the motorized 7inch screens that come out.. i saw a maxima recently with that setup, and it looks great...
i would do it myself, but i already have the bose system in mine and replacing the headunit requires replacing everything else too..
TL is the 'gold standard'? Car and Driver tested one and said it should have RWD. "FWD sports car" is an oxymoron, luxury makes are moving away from FWD. So, Acura is hardly a "standard bearer" anymore, just a "nicer Honda". I can't wait to see the 'Acura Element' soon.
As to the amount of advertising, I was comparing the 04 Max with the Avalon, and my statement is based on my observation of the frequencies of ads that have been run on TV, newspapers and magazines in the past 6 to 9 months. How often have you seen Toyota promoting the Avalon during such period? On the other hand, unless you are oblivious to ads or pay no attention to car commercials, it is difficult not to notice how Nissan has been trying to push the 04 Max.
So, it does not take a statistician or a financial analyst to conclude that Nissan has spent much more money on the 04 Max than Toytota has spent on the Avalon. Do you have facts or figures that will prove the contrary? If yes, kindly post ASAP.
Comparing the '03 Max to the '04 Max is also apples to oranges as Nissan changed the market position of the product and has said that they don't expect to sell as many Maximas as they used to.
Besides, those '03 Maxima sales were with heavy incentives that the '04 doesn't have.
In fact, a lot of pre 2004 Maximas were in rental fleets, a local Hertx lot has three 2003 Max's for sale. Also, I rented one on a business trip in 97.
I hope the 2005 Altima will be a more attractive car. I don't know if a comment about Altima belongs in the Maxima discussion, hey what the heck!
I'D LIKE TO HEAR WHAT ANYONE IS WILLING TO TELL ME ABOUT THEIR MAXIMA SE'S THAT FALL WITHIN THESE 2 YEARS OR WHAT THEY'VE HEARD ABOUT THEM. THIS IS A CAR THAT HAS TO LAST ME FOR YEARS TO COME AND I'M TRYING TO FIND OUT ALL THAT I CAN ABOUT THESE CARS. ANY INPUT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. THANKS AND NICE TO MEET ALL OF YOU.
--SEAN--
Regarding yur question, I have a 1995 SE that has been supurb for 9+ years and 148k miles. However, I have 3 friends/associates who bought 2000/2001 Maximas (2 SE's, 1 GLE) and none are as pleased with their ownership experience. They have all had more brake/rotor repairs & replacements in under 60k miles than I have in nearly 150k miles. And, in spite of the 2000/2001 being "rated" at 222 hp, it is essentially the same 3.0 liter 190 hp engine in the 1995-1999 (in fact, the torque to weight ratio of my 1995 is better than the 2000/2001). Combined with the higher weight of the 2000/2001, I find that particular model to be neither as quick or as nimble handling as the 1995 5-speed; but that is only my subjective opinion.
If I were you, I'd save even more money and find a very good condition 1998-1999; or if you can afford it, go for a 2002/2003 with the 3.5 liter engine and 6-speed transmission. The 2000/2001 would not be on my shopping or recommended list.
And while we're on the subject, it must puzzle some people who have just bought 04's and are ecstatic about them to see all the previous Maxima owners complaining so much! I think the Maxima has always gone for being "different" and has changed its looks quite often. If you want the same or slightly modified look, year after year, get an Accord (a great car, BTW). I think cars in general keep getting bigger, perhaps as we boomers do . . .! Look at the size of an 80's era Accord -- it looks smaller than today's Civic. So for those who don't want the extra room, the solution is to downsize, as some people were recommending with the Acura TL.
But it might be nice for some folks with 04s to talk about what they like about their car without fearing the wrath of the earlier gen owners! I'd be interested to hear what they have to say.
'17 Chevy Volt Premiere
My real question is, do you see a difference in 03 and earlier Maxima buyers vs. 04 buyers? Age, sex, etc.? It would be a shame if the 04 truly alienated the "enthusiast" crowd, which most of us are.
Maybe I should go take a look at the Altima board - I wonder if they mirror us in general makeup.
advance auto parts sells WearEver rotor's for $70 front rotors each and $50 for rear's.
=( i haven't driven my maxima since Oct because of the brake issues. well, also the fact that i want to put as much miles onto my truck as possible.
oh ya... DON'T GO TO KOEPELLE NISSAN IN QUEENS for service!! they're rip you off...
more bang for the buck with similar acceleration and better handling.
its bigger inside than the old max also.
I also visit another Max fan website on occasion, but I sense more bashing going on there, which intentionally divides the Max discussions by generations. IMO, that site seems to cater to Max fans who are more interested in making modifications to their Max and few, if any, have retained their stock cars.
'17 Chevy Volt Premiere
Purchased brand new 2002 Maxima SE fully loaded.
** 3,500 miles engine light came on. Nissan repaired it.
** 8,000 / 10,000 / 15,000 /20,000 same thing and nissan repaired it.
Everytime it was a different sensor causing the issue.
23,000 miles the light came on the engine would not start.
Nissan repaired it.
I have filed lemon law expecting nissan to take respsonibilites. No such luck. They feel there is no issue and i do not fit the bill. My lawyer is fighting the case. At this point I just want to close the case and buy another car.
I feel as though I bought a lemon and Nissan does not want to take any respsonibilites of this issue. I would be happy to buy from Nissan if they would take the car back.
Infiniti Lexus BMW Mercedes they all take there cars back without questions....
oh yeah the light is on and now I smell gas....
Any ideas on how you would handle it?
Note: If your post is not a complaint, what is it?
My service manager has indicated that Nissan's electronic warning lights can be very sensitive. He has replaced the entire system in a couple of cars under warranty for constantly issuing false alarms. Has this been done on yours?
By the way, if it's any consolation, don't think that Infiniti, Lexus, BMW and Mercedes take back their cars without questions. BS. I only know of one person who had their BMW taken back and the "credit" they got had to be negotiated through a lawyer. They live in California and according to their attorney, it's one of the easier states to win judgements. I also have friends with Mercedes ML320/430's that have a shopping list of problems that would make yours seem minor and Mercedes hasn't stepped to the plate to buy any of them back (yet). I suspect the number of Lemon Law buybacks is few and far between for any manufacturer.