1st Oct 2007, 15:18

I own a 2001 Nissan Maxima 20th anniv edition. I bought it from a Nissan used car dealer with 50k miles on it. I like the car, but there have been things that went wrong on it that should have been covered by some kind of recall or warranty. My advice when buying a Nissan is not to buy the extended warranty; it's junk and doesn't cover anything when you read the fine print.

My first problem at 65k was the right steering knuckle wore out and needed to be replaced; price was close to 750 dollars. The next thing to go out was the automatic transmission shifter. One day it wouldn't shift out of 'Park'. The replacement was not covered under the extended warranty or recall by Nissan. The cost was another 750 dollars.

My leather seats are falling apart. I found through the internet, and other research that the only part that is leather is the part where your butt and back actually contact the seat. The areas surrounding the leather are vinyl and will crack and come apart around 4 yrs old. Nissan does not have a replacement kit, but I found one on the internet for 1000 dollars.

The next thing to go out were my 02 sensors. I had it checked at Autozone and then finally at the dealer. The dealer told me the catalytic converter was bad. The price would be around 1200 bucks to fix. I looked all over the place for an aftermarket replacement and none could be found. I ended up taking it back to the dealer and spending the big bucks to get it fixed.

The car handles "OK" but it feels heavy in tight turns and sways and rolls hard to either side. The Bose sound system is awesome, but the 6 CD changer in the trunk skips and is un-useable. The paint on the front of the car chips more easily than on any other car I've ever seen. I use Castrol Synthetic oil in my car and I have had no problems with the engine and I have 126k miles on the car.

The things that irritate me the most about the car are the paint chips and the fake leather seats. Those two things(and Nissan's unwillingness to cover such things) will send me to a different car manufacturer next time.