What To Look Out For when Buying A 04' or 05' Maxima?

[toicy4ya]

Hello Everyone,

I'm currently in the market for purchasing a automatic Maxima, possibly 04 or 05. Is there anything I should look out for? Are there any defects on this model car? Is it true that the trainy goes in less that 80k in normal driving. I also heard that the car has a defect with the steering wheel shimy at high speeds, is this true? ALso something about brakes\rotors wasting away quickly?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm really looking forward to purchasing one and becoming an active member in your forum.

Thanks

[allensteiner]

i'm gonna say "don't worry 'bout nothin'" if you scroll through the posts you won't notice too many complaints from the 6th gen owners. 265hp...drive it like you stole it and hope to see you here soon, as a proud owner of a nissan maxima.

[CPS]

The deal with any transmission in any vehicle is staying on top of maintenance. If you skimp by and don't do transmission fluid replacement on a regular basis, then problems will arise. But the number one killer of Nissan transmission's, especially CVT's, are people who don't read what fluid goes in the vehicle. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people put Dexron in a CVT because they refuse to read the manual or call the dealer. You would not believe the damage caused to a CVT due to the wrong fluid.

Fortunately you are looking at cars with either 4AT or 5AT trans, so that's Nissan's Matic D or Matic K respectively. The 4AT seems to get more maintenance done since it takes regular fluid and is not cost-prohibitive to some people like the 5AT can be.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Steering wheel shimmy is one of the more common issues. It's usually not just high speed, though. You'll notice it when you go for a test drive. Severity varies between afflicted cars (while it is common, I'd say most cars don't have the issue at all). The right or wrong tires can make a big difference with this issue.

Which transmission are you hearing goes out at only 80k? I haven't heard about any premature transmission failure issues in any of them. The 5at is shared by a LOT of cars, and I've never heard of any of them suffering from early deaths on any sort of noticable scale. Same story for the 6at, though it's used in fewer models.Just as a matter of prefrence, I wouldn't get a 4at car. The 4 speed is not a bad transmission at all. It is simply and old design, and the newer 5at is better suited for the car. Only select early SL models came with the 4at, anyway.As noted above, later Maximas ('07+) ditched the prior auto and manual options completely in favor of the new CVT. If you're looking at pre-'07 cars, you won't need to worry about that.

The '04s and '05s had a recall on the rear subframe effective in salt states (due to corrosion). Make sure the car you're looking at is either not affected by the recall or has had it done (or looks okay). Run the VIN by a dealer to find out.

[CPS]

That recall has recently been expanded to all states now. Nissan got the northern state cars done first as they were most susceptible to the problem due to salt adding to the corrosion. But the corrosion is showing up in southern cars and the dealers keep the parts in stock now to repair them.