1999 Nissan Maxima SE Limited review from North America

As with all cars something will always break and Nissan is no exception. At 77,000 miles the "Service Engine Soon" light came on and was flashing in a sequence of three blinks upon which the engine started to run uneven. I then took the car to a local Nissan dealer and was told after a $90 diagnostic check that the ignition coils were bad, and was quoted nearly $700 to fix the problem, upon which I said "thanks, but no thanks". I came home got on eBay and purchased a set of nearly new coils from an '99 Infiniti I30 for $60. I popped the old ones out and popped the new ones in and viola, problem solved. I then took the car to Autozone and had them reprogram the computer so the light would go out. This was so easy to fix that my disgust for the dealer quote was intensified ten fold.

At 90,000 miles I had the CV axles replaced at a cost of $220 (very fair price) this is common of all makes with front wheel drive at this stage of use.

The original battery went at 93,000 miles, and at five years of age this is normal.

Now at nearly ten years of age the power antenna has broken, but was easily fixed by me at a cost of $12. The biggie came at 109,000 miles when the A/C compressor went out at a cost of $1100. Soon after this the radiator went out and I fixed that myself for $120.

The lesson here is if you can do the work yourself, do it, and save big money, but whatever you do, stay away from the dealer. Do it yourself or find a reputable repair man.

I know this sounds like allot, but it's not, after ten years age and over 111,000 miles she's still running strong, smooth, and straight. Keep clean oil and fluids in this car and she'll last for 500,000 miles.

After five years and At 111,000 miles this car performs very well for a four door family sedan.

I have the SE model with the tighter suspension and the car takes corners very easily with very little under steer, and has allot of torque at take off.

The car averages 20 MPG in the city and around 27 MPG on the Highway.

I drove the car from Jacksonville to Key West last week at round trip total of 1154 miles and had no problems. The car did everything I asked to, on the highway, and in town without hesitation. I was surprised at the fact that I had a trunk full for baggage, three grown men, the A/C going, and the car still had plenty of reserve power to pass on the freeway.

The very reliable and torque 3.0 V6 is rated 190HP and is Nissan's best engineering feat hands down. This is proven by the fact that they have used this engine for well over 25 years, with only slight changes and mods year to year, and believe me it's like the energizer bunny.

While the transmissions are falling out of the Hondas and the interiors are falling apart in the Toyotas the Nissans overall hold up very well in all aspects.