Nissan Maxima

spongefrisk, Feb 14, 12:01am
Just considering a larger car and was looking at the older Nissan Maximas. around a 96 vintage.New NZ.
Any one have opinions on them.good, bad , indifferent!
Any known issues with them !
cheers.

rayzor14, Feb 14, 12:14am
Yes, they are far from my favourite form of motoring.
Woeful fuel economy, over heating issues on the first generation NZ New ones which I believe was cured to some extent by 1995 ish.
Transmission specialists love them too.

franko171, Feb 14, 12:40am
i have a 1993 nz se no problims good fuel economy done 305000kms

ppika, Feb 14, 2:44am
you can get 2004 3.5L SI NZ New model for under $10k

cuda.340, Feb 14, 3:49am
wife has a '95 model. runs real well, eccomnomical if you don't hammer the loud pedal & rather comfortable on the longer trips. her's has done 245k & still rides smoothly on the open roads. loads of room in the back seat for my long legs & the boot is rather generous. i was sceptical when we first got it but i'm a convert now. cheap to buy too,

daryl14, Feb 14, 7:00am
2003 Maxima cost me $3500 in 08. 320 km almost on the clock now. nothing has ever broken.
Why on earth would you go any older than that!
04 and newer are a much nicer shape.
Cefiro/sylphy also very similar cars.

spongefrisk, Feb 14, 9:27am
Great info guys thanks. I hadn't realised about the more powerful engine and probably won't touch an import one.

Most of the driving is to and from work.60k round trip on open roads.no traffic lights.just 2 round abouts and a give way.

Will keep looking. what other cars are comparable that are worth looking at!

stevexc, Feb 14, 9:35am
They are good on gas on the open road.No different to any of the 2.0 Accords or Bluebirds or Primeras etc that I've owned over the years.

thewomble1, Feb 14, 11:25am
I have a 2004 and a 1997 MAXIMAS. Both hungry around town. 2004 uses slightly less petrol than the 1997 when cruising despite having a bigger motor.

vjregal770, Feb 14, 6:26pm
I've been told that the pre-2003 Maximas are thristy sods and they look a bit frumpy IMO.

My 2004 Ti even with the bigger 3.5 easily sees 600km between fills. I was only warned to avoid the post-05 models with the CVT transmission. The standard 4 speed does the job just fine.

flack88, Feb 14, 7:41pm
They not that bad on fuel,depends on the application of the rite foot!just surf on the torque curve,makes big difference.

jason18, Feb 14, 7:54pm
The 3.5 cvts are very good. They are the xtroid. Nothing wrong with them. If you want to avoid nissan cvt the ones that are on the primeras etc are the ones.

vtecintegra, Feb 14, 10:05pm
The A32 and A33 Cefiro are similar to the A32/33 Maxima but are available with smaller engines. The Japanese Teana is similar to the newer shape Maxima (again with smaller engines as an option)

The Bluebird Sylphy is similar to the NZ Pulsar - much smaller, no V6 etc