2001 Nissan Maxima SE 3.5 Liter V6 from North America

Summary:

Fast, fun and reliable, but very thirsty and not at all happy in the snow

Faults:

In the time that I owned the car, absolutely nothing went wrong with it.

General Comments:

This was the absolute best car that I ever owned. It was very fast (faster than anything else I've owned.)

I used to love taking it out on the backroads and throwing it into corners at speeds I wouldn't have even dreamed of doing in my old Accord.

Despite poor reviews of other Maxima's on this site, I never had a single issue, and I drove it hard. Back then, and still today, I had 100 mile commute 5 days a week, that's how I put so many miles on it in the 2 years I owned it.

I'll also admit to not taking very good care of it. It was lucky to get even an oil change every 10,000 miles. It never had any other maintenance done to it, and it still ran flawlessly and never once broke down.

I wish that I could have kept it. However, a car this fun comes at a price. It loved its premium fuel, and when I first got it, gas was cheap, so it was no big deal that I was only getting 20 MPG. But when gas prices got so high, it was literally using nearly my entire paycheck to fill it up each month, and with my 100 mile daily commute, I was using a lot of gas.

It was also very bad in the snow. It had so much power, and some much torque, that despite the fact that I had winter tires put on it, it still spun its wheels like you wouldn't believe. It also slid very easily on icy roads.

Had it not been for the rise in gas prices, and the fact that I live in New England, there's no doubt in my mind that I would still own it today.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th February, 2010

23rd Feb 2010, 09:23

Come on, you only have 70K miles.

Let's wait until it passes 100K, then you tell me it is a good car.

The fact is because it breaks easily after 100K, your car's current value probably is not high either.

2001 Nissan Maxima SE V6 from North America

Summary:

A fun car to drive, but not worth the repair costs

Faults:

The check engine light went on shortly after purchasing this car, which was obviously a bad sign.

We have owned this car for a mere 1 1/2 and we've already had to replace a number of things.

The alternator and generator both needed to be replaced within the first year of owning it.

A couple of months ago, the harmonic balancer and 2 belts needed to be replaced.

The check engine light is still on. When I hooked a code reader up to the car, it said that all 4 catalytic converters needed to be replaced.

Since the car doesn't actually have any performance problems, I assume that it is actually the 02 sensors that need to be replaced.

General Comments:

The Maxima is a very fun car to drive.

It handles well and generally has very high performance.

However, the repairs we have had to make in the first year of owning it were very costly.

In retrospect, I wish we had purchased a Honda or Toyota.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 22nd November, 2009

3rd Mar 2010, 19:14

Sorry to hear of your tough luck.

IMO the repairs you listed were not that bad in general. All listed fairly inexpensive repairs that are expected at at or before 100,000, with exception of the cat.

There is a little relief. only one may be bad, and throwing a code for all of them, and there's even a possibility that its not the cats at all. All the OBD tool does is give you a start point for a repair.

I'm not sure if you've been quoted, but it would be VERY expensive I'm assuming for that fix. In the area of $1000+ if they tried to change em all out.

So again, sorry to hear of you luck, but maybe you can do a little greasing, and turn your expensive problem into a 3 hour non expensive one... After all, that 3.0l Nissan will run to 300k if you treat her right.

In reply to 3rd Mar 2010, 19:14

28th Sep 2011, 16:44

I bought my 2001 Maxima brand new 11 years ago. I only have 73K and change on it.

2 years ago everything started going wrong. First I went through the O2 sensor situation that started at 15K, then on and off with that for a while.

I have replaced my starter 2x, front cat, all 6 ignition coils, passenger side hub and bearing.

I refuse to get rid of it because I really do love the car. When it's running good, it's awesome. I have put a lot of $$$ into fixing it though, but I can't afford another car payment right now. I'm very nervous to reach 100K at this point.