Roomy interior, lots of upscale options, sweet V6, available with a manual transmission.
Cons
So-so center stack ergonomics, premium price without the premium nameplate.
What’s new
Improved manual transmission shift feel (thanks to a shorter shift stroke), black-tone brake calipers, additional chrome accents inside and new softer leather upholstery. Auto-dimming outside mirrors are now available, and a new 12-volt power point resides at the base of the center stack.
Edmunds says
Although it's more upscale than before, the Maxima remains one of the best combinations of performance, luxury and value in the midsize sedan segment.
2005 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SE 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 5A)
I bought a new 2005 Nissan Maxima and recently I have had some transmission issues.
The gears have been sticking and slipping and so I took it to the dealership and was informed that I need a new transmission and that my warranty expired 890 miles before I took it in (my warranty on the transmission was until the car reached 60,000 miles).
The dealership then informed me that it would … cost $5300 to replace this.
I did some research on the internet and found out that I am no the only person with this issue, and I also noticed that it is a widespread issue for the model year I have.
Avoid this 2005 Maxima
3.25 out of 5 stars
rcs26, 04/24/2014
2005 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SL 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 5A)
I have bought all new cars Malibu(150k), Camry(225K) & donated both cars while running good. Then I bought new Toyota sienna ( 252K & running good), I decided to buy new & different car & I bought brand new design Maxima "Nissan's Flagship Car" with so much hope. It ran good for 2 yrs & then started breaking down. Dealer fixed whatever was under warranty. After all warranties expired … major things started breaking. I replaced all Camshaft sensors. A/C was fixed twice still leaking. Struts and tie-rods were replaced. Within last year timing chain guides & transmission broke, estimate ~$7000. Now I was told it leaks oil. Haven't decide whether to repair/resale. I still love to buy new Nissan.
Good car for Transmission Repair Shops
2.13 out of 5 stars
gregsandiego, 06/04/2012
2005 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SE 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 5A)
Add me to the list of people with a Nissan Maxima and a bad transmission. Mine had only 52,000 miles when the thing started slipping and lurching in the low gears. A trip to my local transmission specialist confirms the worst, at a cost of $3100 to $4000 to repair.
Only buy if it's a steal!!!
3 out of 5 stars
travisbeamon, 08/24/2011
2005 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SE 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 5A)
The car itself has been good to me for the three years I've owned it until recently. The transmission is garbage. Just like everyone else my Maxima bumps, randomly shifts, accelerates, and downshifts hard when stopping. Sometimes it won't even downshift when I stop it will stay in 3rd gear. Only 70k on the car. This car has been serviced on time by Nissan the entire three years I've … owned it so it has been taken care of. It's just a known defect with these cars. I thought I bought a Nissan not a Dodge! $4500 to repair the transmission. Who's going to pay that much for a car that is 6 years old? I'm looking to trade it in and leave Nissan alone because they won't stand by their products!
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="1200" height="588" fill="none" preserveAspectRatio="none"%3E%3Cmask id="b" width="1200" height="588" x="0" y="0" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" style="mask-type:alpha"%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23a)" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3C/mask%3E%3Cg mask="url(%23b)"%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23c)" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23d)" fill-opacity=".15" d="M581.718 62.893c42.993 1.53 86.281 5.888 129.704 13.204 311.828 52.485 552.538 242.016 657.698 483.656-149.97-147.971-450.891-226.33-789.375-232.079-338.534.839-640.434 74.572-792.746 220.292 108.75-240.047 352.255-425.97 664.832-473.803a1041.548 1041.548 0 0 1 129.887-11.27Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23e)" fill-opacity=".5" d="M611.247 209.93a1458.84 1458.84 0 0 1 139.573 27.692c333.61 83.239 577.16 267.208 668.67 475.188-148.93-138.63-468.279-241.218-835.209-290.421-367.6-43.915-702.265-24.445-881.281 72.561 140.567-178.524 422.355-295.817 766.181-293.074 47.867.484 95.274 3.212 142.066 8.054Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23f)" d="M735.039 879.394c48.524-6.62 97.023-16.967 145.3-31.2C1227.03 746.059 1475.76 472.327 1564.28 145c-151.17 209.633-482.23 344.436-865.05 388.31C315.515 568.571-35.93 504.564-227 330.342-73.333 632.61 226.169 849.617 586.429 878.604c50.15 3.871 99.74 4.07 148.61.79Z" opacity=".3"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23g)" d="M694.222 783.712c50.956 12 103.317 20.27 156.946 24.578 385.102 31.013 738.232-146.76 952.062-439.434-231.22 151.216-613.24 158.795-1012.047 55.796C394.784 312.716 68.643 114.101-55.211-133c37.44 360.528 253.087 691.895 601.449 858.946 48.557 23.091 97.963 42.302 147.984 57.766Z" opacity=".9"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23h)" fill-opacity=".5" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3C/g%3E%3Cdefs%3E%3ClinearGradient id="a" x1="1005" x2="989.087" y1="23" y2="552.522" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23007EE5"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".333" stop-color="%231561D4"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%230A4AAB"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="c" x1="1005" x2="989.087" y1="23" y2="552.522" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23007EE5"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".334" stop-color="%231561D4"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="d" x1="675.999" x2="879.999" y1="648.999" y2="120.999" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23fff"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%23fff" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="e" x1="656.5" x2="637.602" y1="213" y2="622.259" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop offset=".115" stop-color="%23fff" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".944" stop-color="%23017D8D"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="f" x1="398" x2="737" y1="599" y2="387" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%2300ABB5"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%2300A0B5" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="g" x1="1051.5" x2="271" y1="567" y2="575" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%230098C2"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%23033E96" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="h" x1="1005" x2="986.038" y1="23" y2="587.43" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop offset=".813" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".972"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3C/defs%3E%3C/svg%3E)
