02-04 maxima reviews

im lookin to purchase a 02-04 maxima in about 4 months and am wonderin how you guys would rate the car overall. im lloking for a 03 6spd SE, and want to know if current owners are satisfied with their cars

Well first of all, the 02-03 and the 04 are different cars. I'd definitely get an 03 6-speed though.

yea i knew they were different, but were just the models i was considering...th

Well I'd stick with the 5th gen....the 6th gen have hate-it-or-love-it styling, and they grew enormously in size over the previous 5th gen model, so they aren't as nimble...they are however, nice cars...it just depends on what is most important to you.

Go with the 03. They are so much a better car and much more agressive looking

03 6 speed all the way, best Maxima ever. The '04's have such a nasty interior, and the interior on the 02-03's is beautiful, especially in black.

Got an 01 SE w/ 60k miles. So far replaced all O2 sensors ($80 each) and 1 pre cat, $1k out the door; regular stuff; another $1k for tires and exhaust already $hit the bed. (yes after only 60K easy miles, never raced or beaten on, wifes car) Personally I think the car is a peice of $hit, will never own another Nissan anything as long as I live. I've had American cars run better and need less.... They have this stupid design that incorporates 4 catalytic converters and 4 O2 sensors, 2 of which are heated, in an exhaust stream, go figure. This design is more problems than it could ever be worth. Poor design, poorly manufactured car. There is another guy on this site who has problems with the Mass Flow Air Sensor, it goes about every other month on him and costs like $400 a pop. If I had it to do again I would get something with a 100K warranty no matter how ugly.

Got an 01 SE w/ 60k miles. So far replaced all O2 sensors ($80 each) and 1 pre cat, $1k out the door; regular stuff; another $1k for tires and exhaust already $hit the bed. (yes after only 60K easy miles, never raced or beaten on, wifes car) Personally I think the car is a peice of $hit, will never own another Nissan anything as long as I live. I've had American cars run better and need less.... They have this stupid design that incorporates 4 catalytic converters and 4 O2 sensors, 2 of which are heated, in an exhaust stream, go figure. This design is more problems than it could ever be worth. Poor design, poorly manufactured car. There is another guy on this site who has problems with the Mass Flow Air Sensor, it goes about every other month on him and costs like $400 a pop. If I had it to do again I would get something with a 100K warranty no matter how ugly.
Hey, maximas never claimed to be an accord or camry...in other words, they won't be as reliable, but they aren't as goddamned boring either...I've had to replace 3 wheel bearings, a front hub, 2 CV halfshafts and an entire transmission after 62k miles, but I still wouldn't be caught dead in a camry or accord...again, it all boils down on which is more important to you...in this case, reliability or fun.

So far I've owned 5 Nissan's B12,R32,S13,A31. Maybe I have been lucky but I havent replaced that many things. The worst was probably my Sentra having to have CV joints 2X & my Cefiro exhaust mani has shit the bed twice and thats about all the problems Ive had. The Silvia and Skyline I didn't keep as long so I couldn't tell. I am buying a 02 Max SE, this week. I'm hoping I wont have as many problems as the masses are saying they have i.e MAF and mission problems. Every design has its flaws and if I had to say one common with Nissan was ex mani gaskets. At the moment Im still happy with Nissan until I can get into a M3 or an STI.

My 03 is the second Maxima that I've owned. I replaced the rear shocks in my 96 at about 100k miles and that was it. I had that car from 35k to 116K and that was all that went out. My 03 hasn't even had the tires changed out yet and its got 42k miles on it. It sound like someone has been doing some bad backyard auto work or needs to find a new mechanic. The only cars I've known that have had that much trouble was a Cavalier or Ford Explorer.

Its possible that perhaps my 01 SE was built on a monday or something stupid. The mechanic I've been using is the "Certified" Nissan dealer in Groton Ct. and only sees minor repairs in the back yard that I'm more than qualified to tackle. Not to mention these repairs have been straight replacement which you could train a monkey to do. And these engine codes that have come up on this peice of garbage are the exact same ones that other people on this sight have had come up, maybe they too (even the girls) do too much backyard service. Sounds to me like someone has just been shot in the ass with luck.

Note to self!? (No backyard maintenance) What codes are generally faulting?

P0420-Catylist effeciency below threshold (really means $1k cat replacement)
P0138-O2 sens high voltage
P0139-O2 sens circut low response time
P014?-O2 sens circut failure