My son'* Bonne has over 200,000 miles on it and needs to be replaced soon. He is considering a 2000-2002 Nissan Maxima. They seem to be rated really well, and the GLE has every option imaginable. The V6 puts out 225 HP. Has anyone had any experience with these, and if so, what do you think of them. Thanks

I had to test everything on one at work once, VERY confusing car (or at least it was to me), maybe that was an Altima though

If you're confused by a Maxima, you'd be confused by a Bonneville.

Myself I like the look of the SE Maxima better. Solid cars that are pretty quick in a straight line and definitely quick in the corners.

coil packs fail often (many hundred dollars for the parts)
o2 sensors fail prematurely (several hundred dollars)
transmissions are nothing to get excited about..similar track record to the bonnevilles.

Overall they are very reliable cars from what I understand

Toasty!!!!!!! He has one

toasty got a SEXima

OK.. 00/01 and 02/03 are very different cars even though they may not appear to be at first

00-01 3.0L 225hp VS 02-03 3.5L 255hp that 30 HO is worth about 1.2sec in the 1/4mile
02-03 also have factory HID headlights, side skirts, available with 6spd manual (compared to 5spd) nicer looking and more comfy interior from the factory

I personally would recommend a well optioned SE vs a GLE... GLE have ugly wheels, ugly chrome door handles, and all options are available on both models (except for no manual transmission GLEs, and no navigation in SEs) SEs also have a slightly sportier suspension

Overall, the Maximas are GREAT cars with GREAT reliability, GREAT resale value, and plenty of power on tap (especially with the 3.5) with a little looking around a nice, well optioned 2002 can be found for 10-12 grand

As for the issues listed by hans above:
coil packs fail often - this is only on the 3.0L motors
o2 sensors fail prematurely - this is only on the 3.5L (these go like crazy around 50k miles)
transmissions are nothing to get excited about..similar track record to the bonnevilles - transmissions are plenty reliable unless they are heavily abused.. there are MUCH more transmission failures on BC than on Maxima.org and Maxima.org has 30,000or so more members

Toasty:
Thanks alot for info. There are two that I am looking at. Both are GLE and similarly equiped except the 2002 has a moonroof. Both are priced at 10,8xx.

2001 has 46,526 miles on it.

2002 has 62,647 miles on it.

Which would you go with?

10000% the 2002. Hands DOWN.