Approximately 53,000 miles: The car almost broke down when 5 of the 6 ignition coils burned out. The Nissan dealership charged $850 to replace all 6 coils.
Approximately 60,000 miles: Replaced front and rear brake pads. Cost $481.00.
Approximately 60,000 miles: Replaced the brake light wiring harness because it chafed and shorted the brake lights and the tail lights. Cost $132.
Approximately 63,000 miles: Replaced the brake light wiring harness because of the same problem. Cost $200.
After 2 years: The motorized antenna sounds like a DC-9 when extending or retracting.
I purchased this vehicle new. In general, this is an overpriced and unreliable for a Japanese-manufactured vehicle. I would never purchase another Maxima unless I am receiving at least a 50% discount from MSRP.
The vehicle lacks performance (190 ponies, but Nissan rectified this issue with the newer Maximas) and handles slowly. Nissan should have borrowed the handling design of the Infiniti G20 for the Maxima. Additionally, the transmission tends to stay in second gear unless I come to a complete stop. Gas mileage is adequate--probably due to the weight of the vehicle. The interior wind noise level is acceptable (not as good as an Acura TL).
I should have spent the extra $5,500 and purchased the Acura 3.2TL. Would have been a lot happier.
About the brake light harness... why did you pay more to have it replaced the 2nd time? Something like that going bad after a replacement from a few months/thousand miles prior should be repaired at discounted or no cost, did the shop offer any kind of warranty on the repair itself?
What do you mean by lacking performance? Did you even test drive the car to begin with? The VQ30 is superb and responsive, the majority of 4th gen Maxima owners bought the car for this reason alone. If you had wanted more power you should've bought something with a larger engine to begin with. Also the slight horsepower gains in the newer Maximas were offset by their weight increases. The coil problem is a pain, which Nissan has regrettably never addressed.
Why did you pay $420 for new brake pads? It costs about $65 for the brake pads at an auto parts store and takes about 30 minutes to complete! Next time just read your car's manual.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed 
is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site