Better than most cars I have owned
Check engine light has come on numerous times over the years.
Drivers seat started to wear from day one and is now is quite worn.
The car is compfortable to ride on both short and long trips. The truck is quite roomy.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 10th November, 2007
Nice design... expensive to maintain
OK EVERYONE PLEASE LISTEN!!! IF YOUR 2000-2002 Maxima has issue with stalling in park or while idle DO NOT TAKE TO NISSAN DEALERSHIP!!! They will try to tell you that either you need Mass Air Flow Sensor ($650), Ignition Coils ($1,000), or 02 sensors ($500).
All you need to do is take the car to a local mechanic and tell them to please clean the throttle body & mass air flow.
Cost me $69.00 and car runs like its brand new again. The mechanic mentioned that they will not clean the throttle body for you at Nissan because they want to lure you into replacing all these other parts. The Maxima especially gets a lot of build up of this black gunk inside the throttle body.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 1st October, 2007
Great performance and reliability!
I have had my Maxima since new and have had no problems with it. Despite driving the car daily for the past 6 years, my commutes are relatively short, and the car has less than 50k miles.
Just this year I changed:
Original front and rear brake pads.
Original tires (had approx 5k miles remaining, but were beginning to dry and crack).
This is the my 4th Nissan. Excellent performance in terms of pickup and responsiveness. Braking is excellent. Styling is great.
Turning radius is the worst I've seen in any car. I can rarely make a U turn without first positioning the car with the wheels cranked.
Leather doesn't feel high quality, but no cracking thus far. I condition it twice a year with Lexol leather conditioner.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 14th August, 2007
Unreliable after 100,000 miles!
O2 sensor at 60,000 miles.
O2 sensor at 85,000 miles.
IACV at 112,500 miles.
ECU at 112,500 miles.
Service engine soon light is on again - who knows?
Leather seats are falling apart.
Paint chips very easy.
This car isn't dependable any more.
Bose stereo system is failing.
A very solid car that was very good until about 100,000 miles. After that it has become an electrical nightmare.
When the idle air control valve goes, it takes the car's computer with it. This is about a $1,500.00 repair. What's worse is the technicians at my Nissan dealer didn't seem to have a clue how to fix it. I had to learn the procedure on the internet and explain it to them.
My advise to anyone that owns one of these is to have the IACV replaced every 80,000 miles as standard maintenance or you will be buying an ecu as well.
The O2 sensor is obviously defective as everyone I know with one of these things has them go out every 60,000 miles.
The car is in the shop again as I type this - the service engine soon light is on again and the car is running erratic again. I wouldn't consider this a reliable car after 100,000 miles.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 6th April, 2007
I don't understand how the Idle Air Control Valve interferes with your computer system.
Hey, I'm the original poster. When the IACV goes out, which it ultimately will, the circuit to the computer shorts out causing the ECU to burn up. There should be a fuse of some kind to protect it, but there isn't. When the ECU goes out, it is a very costly repair.
You expect a japanese car to go farther than 200K? this aint no 300D...
My idle air motor went on mine too, at about 98,000 km.
It does take out the computer with it. Sends 12 volts to it and fries the circuit ECU, which runs on a 5-8 volt system.
I was lucky the warranty covered the ECU, but had to go for the idle air motor ($285). It is changed up so it shouldn't happen again. Brakes were done at about the same time.
Check engine light is on, and it is the 02 sensors. Runs fine though.
These are the common complaints with it. Wish it had better MPG too, but it is a great car, handles like a dream, sound system is great, and I did get the cloth seats.. the only way to go there.
So true about the main computer! Mine went twice and they still never knew the cause.
Actually, Nissans aren't known to be very reliable BEFORE 100,000 miles either!!
Could using premium fuel instead of regular fuel (which is required by Nissan for the Maxima) prevent the all too common failure of the electronic sensors that always go bad in the Nissan Maximas?
10th Mar 2009, 16:28
I am wanting to know if you had any other sensors out while this was happening?