Going home from work a few days ago, a car traveling in the opposite direction of me spun out of control and end up in my lane. The short version is the other driver was arrested for driving with a suspended license, traveling to fast for road conditions, and failure to stay to the right. My car was totaled (cracked frame did it).

I'm in the market for a new car, and hope I could bounce some thoughts around. My wife and I have been car shopping and it's amazing how much has changed since we last looked for a car.

We test drove the 2011 Nissan Maxima SV. We were both impressed with the engine when we hit the gas pedal. The trunk size was much larger, and we liked that the back seats fold down. The push button starter caught me off guard. Overall, it was a smooth and comfortable ride.

My concerns are there were a lot of bells-and-whistles that we have lived without and I feel a little overwhelmed by the car. Headroom in the front seat seemed tight. I'm also concerned about purchasing another car that requires premium gas with today's prices.

Last night we test drove the 2011 Hyundai Sonata Turbo. The acceleration was impressive and almost comparable to the Maxima. I liked the headroom a lot. The salesman said that Hyundai offers every other service for free. I was also told that I couldn't use premium gas in the Sonata Turbo because it would ruin the engine. The gas mileage did catch my wife's eye.

My concerns about Hyundai are this would be my first non-Nissan car, and I may not like the car after I've driven it for a couple of months.

Another concern is the closest Nissan dealer is about 30 mins from me, and I've had bad experiences when I had to bring my car into the dealer for warranty. It's very inconvenient to get to this dealer as well. The next closest Nissan dealer is 1 hour away, and we drove all the out there to look at cars.

The Hyundai dealer is about 20 mins away from me. After that, I have to drive 1 hour to reach another dealer.

I've read not-so-positive reports about Nissan's CVT, which is a concern to me. I would be interested to hear from people who have CVT and what they think of it.

My last 2 cars were both Maximas: 1991 and 1999. I drove them both into the ground, but took extremely good care of them. I also realize that the Sonata Turbo and Maxima are two different types of cars. I would be interested to hear objective opinions on what others think of these two cars.

Sorry to hear about the Maxima but sounds like you guys walked away without any major injuries which is really good. To me premium really isnt THAT much more. Say you drive 10,000 miles a year and get 20 mpg, thats 500 gallons. If the premium gas is even .30 more expensive then your looking at $150 dollars extra per year for the higher grade. Like an extra $4 per tank, really not that big of a deal. The price spikes in gas is what kills ya not the higher grade. Just My opinion tho. Sorry cant really offer you a review of the cars, internet is your friend tho. Google, edmunds, car.com any of those can offer consumer reviews for them.

My 2 cents---Dont buy a "brand new" car. If you really want a 7th gen max, look for a 2010.

Brand new cars loose ~25% as soon as you drive them off the lot.

When people talk about not being able to afford premium I laugh. Think about if you buy 10 gallons of gas at $3/gallon...that equals $30. but if you spend that same $30 on premium at ~30c more a gallon, you will lose one whole gallon. Thats not that bad if you think about

I appreciate the thoughts. The accident was a "smashing good time."

We debated about this last night. While the Hyundai was impressive and had good resale value, I decided to stay with the Maxima because I do a lot of driving and most familiar with it. The Maxima has held up very well with the 1999 having 165K. My insurance company valued the car at $5,000 (after my deductible).

We've noticed that many people are holding on to their cars much longer. There weren't a lot of certified pre-owned cars at all the dealerships, and the ones available had either very high mileage or were 4 cylinder engines. I realize this is not the best time to buy a car, but I can't keep driving a rental forever. I also think that new federal and state laws regarding emissions will make it harder to find V6 engines.

ummm, maxima's dont come with 4 cylinder's

If you could tell me your location, I can do some looking for you

Sorry for the confusion. I meant that most certified pre-owned cars that dealers had were 4 cylinder engines. I didn't mean to imply the Maxima was a 4 cylinder. We looked at a lot of car lines on Saturday and everything got blurry: Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Ford, Subaru.

I would appreciate the assistance. I'm in the Danbury, CT area. The two requirements are less than 20K on mileage and must be CPO.

Re: CVT

I'm pretty sure they haven't switched the Maxima over to the 3.7L engine (I haven't looked; you guys can correct me if I'm wrong), so it should have the same engine in my car. I do a lot of driving, with a good blend of auto and manual mode. I bought my car just under two years ago, and I've put 62,000 miles on the car since then. I have had absolutely no trouble with the CVT. Issues with wheel bearings, but no CVT problems. And Nissan's warranty on it has another 40,000 miles to go! I would say that you shouldn't let the transmission scare you.

This doesn't quite meet your stated requirements, but my girlfriend's roommate might be about to sell her boyfriend's 2006 or 2007 G35 AWD sedan. 30,000 miles on it, and it's been in storage since the boyfriend went back to China a year or two ago. It's on Long Island, and I'm waiting to find out if she's actually going to sell it before I make a post in the classifieds. I can keep you posted if that's something you'd be interested in.

From looking at maps.google, you seem kind of close to hartford. So thats the searched city
http://hartford.craigslist.org/ctd/2063011846.html
http://longisland.craigslist.org/ctd/2061115768.html

Also you can look at Altima's. The V6 models are mechanically pretty much Maximas

We finally did buy a car in NY, after having the worse experience Friday morning.

Thursday afternoon, my wife and I had seen a 2010 Nissan Maxima SV advertised on the Harte Nissan's (Hartford, CT) website for $28K with 6800 miles. We called the dealership and spoke with Tavya about the car. She answered some of our questions over the phone, but she didn't seem familiar with the car. I asked her if she worked for Harte Nissan, and she responded that she did.

I asked her if I could stop by on Friday (Nov 19th) to look at the car. Tavya said that she would notify the general manager and used car manager that I would be at the dealership between 10:30 - 11:00AM. We thought: Great, I can talk with a manager and get some questions answered.

On Friday, I showed up at Harte Nissan around 10:15AM. I asked the receptionist for either manager. The look on her face said everything: the general manager wasn't around, and it was used car manager had the day off. Uh? I mentioned to her that I spoke with Tavya, and again I see in her face that I wasn't going to like her answer. She did page the sales manager in his office, but he never came out to meet with me.

A salesman did approach me and asked if he could help. I told him about the car I had seen on the website, and he was familiar with it. We walked around outside, and couldn't find it. He checked the computer, made a phone call, and then informed me that an employee had taken the car home and that this employee had the day off.

Really?!

I could have made a scene in the showroom, but I didn't think this would accomplish anything. It wasn't salesman's fault. I thanked him for his time and left.

What made this the worse experience: I drove over 1 hour to find out that Harte Nissan has a communication problem, the car wasn't even on the lot, and it's being driven by employees and accumulating additional mileage that isn't disclosed on the website.

On my drive back, I told my wife about this experience. She jumped on the Internet, told me about a dealership in NY. I went, looked, test drove, negotiated a fair price, and closed the deal.

I'm still stunned by Harte Nissan.

So what did you end up getting?

A 2010 Nissan Maxima SV, silver with black leather, cold + monitor pack, 4500 miles for $27K and change for Mt. Kisco Nissan.

nice