2003 Nissan Maxima SE review from North America

I have had this car for five years, I bought it the same week it came out, and had the struts changed on warranty at 22000 miles. Plus a couple of recalls. Not other problem for four years. Until…..

The transmission started jerking on 1rst, 2nd, and sometimes 3rd. I took it to the dealer for that reason; they said that the speedometer was not communicating with the transmission. They ordered that part $1,375.00; the new one (they told me) came defective, I had to wait for two weeks for another one,---in the meantime I picked the car up and taking the off ramp to my house that day the car shut-off and would not stay on unless I give it gas. I brought back the next day and they kept the car (they advised me not to drive it). The part finally came, this one was not communicating with the computer again (remember: the one the car had, the defective one, and the third one had the same problem). They said the problem seemed to be electrical and suggested to check all the ground and connections. Could not find the problem.

They checked everything on the car and said the car was not giving them a reading or code to point to the transmission as the problem. After two weeks of waiting for the part, plus another week of testing all the wires and supposedly cleaning the grounds $300.00, they came to the conclusion that the ABS module not working was making the transmission act like that---the ABS light was on for a year and they had said to me in previous occasions that that system works separately from the regular brakes and would not affect anything. So I said ‘if that is what is going to take...do it!’ $1,800.00. I had to wait for two more weeks for the ABS module to come. On 03/18/2008 they installed it and said that the lights for the ABS were off and the ABS was working fine and that the speedometer was communicating with the computer…..but the transmission is still doing the same….so they think I need a new transmission.

For a rebuilt transmission from Nissan is between $2,800.00 and $3,800.00 plus over $800.00 labor.

I had Nissan cars in the past…I will never buy the first year of a brand new design and if I keep the car after the warranty I will buy the extended warranty.

I called nissan they said there is not much they can do, that dealers are independent companies with the Nissan logo.

Fun to drive it.

Spacious interior.

A lot of power.

Boring dashboard lights.

Lots of options for price.