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Used 2017 Nissan Maxima Sedan Consumer Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
66 reviews
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Pros
Cons
5 out of 5 stars

Best sedan I've ever driven

Reese P, 01/23/2017
updated 01/26/2018
2017 Nissan Maxima Platinum 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
69 of 70 people found this review helpful

Incredible car for the price. Quiet and super comfortable. CVT transmission took a bit to get used to but car is fun to drive! UPDATE after 7 months ownership: The Maxima is in the "full size/large car" category along with Toyota Avalons, Kia Credenzas, Chevy Impalas, etc. The outside dimensions are about equivalent to those other cars, but the interior is at most the size of a midsize car. Having had an Avalon before my Maxima, it has been an adjustment to get used to the reduced cabin and trunk space. Fortunately, I knew when buying that I no longer needed such a big interior. In return for less space you get very thick doors which I believe is one reason the car rates so highly on safety. Such thick doors makes it a little hard to get into the vehicle. But once inside, the Maxima is beautiful, incredibly comfortable (except for people taller than about 5'11 in the back seats), super easy to use and understand. The interior (Platinum level) is nicer and better laid out than many cars I have been in costing tens of thousands of dollars more. I have never heard a better sound system in a car than the Bose sound system in my car. I am now used to the CVT; when "flooring it" the car simulates a regular transmission and with 300 hp has a few times scared me a bit with its pickup. I regularly get 33 mpg on the highway even at 75 mph. The Maxima Platinum is a luxury car with fun performance and very minor faults. By far the best sedan I have ever driven and an incredible car for the price I paid. UPDATE AFTER A YEAR OF OWNERSHIP: Still the best car I have ever owned. Heated steering wheel is an incredible luxury during winter and warms really fast. Entire car heats up very quickly.

Safety
5 out of 5 stars
Technology
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
5 out of 5 stars
Reliability
5 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
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5 out of 5 stars

Broke all the rules with this one!

Jason R., 10/20/2017
updated 04/20/2018
2017 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SR 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
29 of 30 people found this review helpful

I swore I would Never buy a new car. I also swore to never spend $35k on any car. I broke both of these rules after my girlfriend brought home a 2016 SR as a loaner while her Rogue was in the shop. We both fell in love with the handling and style of this car and we both end up buying one. Hers is a blue pearl SV and mine is pearl white SR. The SR has a stiffer sport tuned suspension which I love, but beware of this before buying as some may find it a bit too stiff. The car has great power and looks. After nearly a year of ownership, I still have to turn around and stare as I walk away from it after parking. I have had more compliments on this car than I ever have with any of my BMW's, Mercedes-Benz etc. I have had people try to take pictures of my car while driving down the highway next to me! Coming from a Lexus LS430, this was a bit different as it is more sport and less luxury but I love it nonetheless. I average 26-27 mpg every tank and the car has more features than you can shake a stick at. The other day it said one of my tires was low at 28psi (temperature change with fall setting in). The other 3 were at 29psi so I stopped to air them up. The car will actually honk at you when you reach the 33 psi level the tires are supposed to be set at while airing them up. I couldn't believe it! Also, if it is really hot outside and you remote start the car, the A/C will automatically run on high to cool the car down, even if you shut the car off the last time you drove it with the blower off. In the winter months if the temperature is below a certain degree and you remote start, the heat will come on and the heated steering wheel automatically activates. This car is SMART! So many features that once you have them, you will certainly not want to be without after being spoiled with them! The LED headlights are great also but only come standard on the SR and Platinum. I added a set of LED's to my girlfriends SV for $50 aftermarket which was not bad. After 7K miles with this car I have nothing bad to say about it. I normally go through 3-4 cars a year but this one has made it nearly a year and short of finding a killer deal on a Porsche Cayman, I foresee keeping this car a while. I'm sure I am missing more good to say about this car. If you research these cars you will find that the designers at Nissan sculpted this car after the design team spent a day with the US NAVY Blue Angels team and took styling cues from the jet fighters. The cockpit portrays this in every detail as well as the outside of the car. I came from high end German cars but I was blown away by a Nissan Maxima! Ha!

Safety
5 out of 5 stars
Technology
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
5 out of 5 stars
Reliability
5 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
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5 out of 5 stars

Dream Empty Nester Cruiser- 2nd Udate for Jul 2020

Ted, 01/15/2017
updated 07/22/2020
2017 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SL 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
72 of 77 people found this review helpful

Update: All I have to update about this car is that I still love it as much as when I first bought it in Dec. '17. Not one problem. Gas Mileage is still great, uses no oil or other fluids. Still the quietest car I've ever owned and I now have 45,000 miles on it. The only thing I have changed is oil, oil filter, and added just a bit of power steering fluid. This is one nice road and around-town car. Plenty of room for passengers. I've received more compliments on this car than any I have owned. Oh, did I say I run Reg grade gas? Premium- never.

Safety
5 out of 5 stars
Technology
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
5 out of 5 stars
Reliability
5 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
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2 out of 5 stars

Great car but strange problems

Derrick, 08/10/2017
2017 Nissan Maxima Platinum 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
38 of 40 people found this review helpful

I've owned the car for 6 months and the it has been in the shop for 4 months (and needs to go back). Filed a lemon law case with Nissan. Don't get me wrong I love the car - beautiful inside and out. But from day one the glass panoramic roof would pop and crack over bumps and turns... eventually the whole roof was replaced because they couldn't solve the problem. Now entire car rattles, pops and cracks. my roof isn't mounted correctly and is protruding in the back where the rear window meets it. When on the freeway the the car is extremely loud (like the window or sunroom are open) I believe it is due to the roof issues - because I don't recall this issue before the replacement of the roof. The rattling and popping is driving me insane - can't wait to get this replaced or my money back. this is my 4th Nissan in 20 years... huge fan of the brand - never had any issues with Armada, Altima and older Maxima. I have a feeling that I am in for a fight with the lemon law buy back!

Technology
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Reliability
3 out of 5 stars
Value
4 out of 5 stars
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5 out of 5 stars

Made the leap From Altima to Maxima

Chris Holcomb, 07/20/2017
updated 07/20/2020
2017 Nissan Maxima Platinum 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
13 of 13 people found this review helpful

I am loving my new Maxima Platinum 3.5 V6! All the things I loved about my 2007 Altima SE 3.5 V6 are in my new Maxima plus a ton of new technology and design improvements. I loved the powerful V6 CVT engine, the ultra comfortable seats, and the incredible reliability of my 2007 Altima, and now my daughter will be enjoying it too for the next few years. All of those things continue in my new Maxima, but now with I have soft and comfortable leather with the stylish Alcantara inserts, power front seats that are heated AND cooled, and all the driver infotainment comforts that anyone could wish for! Navigation, Satellite Radio, Apple Carplay, a great driver information computer/display, and sporty styling are all things I love about it. I live in Texas so my favorite new feature so far is the cooled front seats. They really make a big difference.

Safety
5 out of 5 stars
Technology
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
5 out of 5 stars
Reliability
5 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
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3 out of 5 stars

Love this car BUT weird problems

LORAANN72, 09/12/2018
2017 Nissan Maxima Platinum 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
11 of 11 people found this review helpful

This is my first Nissan and I love the look and feel of the Maxima!! The inside is awesome and the outside is very sleek and cool looking!! However, at 16,000 miles and 9months owning it I’ve had to bring it to the dealership for several small but strange issues. The black piece behind the passenger window just fell off, the cruise control toggle has cracked where the silver piece is, the plastic lining that protects the front window from shattering if hit came loose and the entire window had to be replaced, there’s a rattling in the passenger side that won’t go away even after the dealership “fixed it” and the paint on the corner of the bumper just under the hood where it connects to the front headlights has begun to chip. This problem is actually not as weird as possibly shady on the part of the dealership. They say the bumper is lopsided due to the car running up on a curb so the painted piece is rubbing the light and chipping. I went back and looked at the video I made of my car a few days after purchasing and sure enough you can see the bumper is off a bit. Looks like it happened at the dealership before I bought the car. So this problem is still pending. Idk if I got a lemon or if others have experienced these weird problems as well. Makes me sad because i love the car but hate thinking I may face all the nuisances throughout my ownership.

Safety
5 out of 5 stars
Technology
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
5 out of 5 stars
Reliability
5 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
Report Abuse
5 out of 5 stars

Professional Critics: Stop saying the same things

Frank, 02/12/2017
updated 02/25/2019
2017 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SL 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
64 of 72 people found this review helpful

You will notice the professionals who review cars say the same things over and over! Here is a different view to them where I agree and disagree. First, I love the Xtronic (CVT) Transmission. After driving the Maxima for a while, and then driving other cars with a regular transmission, I love the CVT!! It is smooth and sounds so much better - so relax "car pros" - you think you are sooooo smart to shake your head at the CVT, but I LIKE IT!! The interior is amazing and the looks suite me just fine. The handling is good, but I will agree with the pros that front wheel drive can be a negative for some (until you drive in the snow) - and all wheel drive would be nice as well (but would add cost). It is a FUN CAR TO DRIVE, so sorry "Pros," I am good with the 4DSC moniker. (so there!) Ok, here we are about 2 yeas later. Everything above is still true. It’s fast and fun. Still beautiful to look at. Love the Bordeaux Black color that they no longer offer. Not great in the snow so all wheel drive would be a nice option.

Safety
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
4 out of 5 stars
Reliability
4 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
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5 out of 5 stars

Fun car to drive but it's not a 4DSC!

T Field, 01/13/2018
updated 08/12/2020
2017 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SR 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Bought this car, the SR version, for my wife on Black Friday, Nissan dealer had some REALLY good incentives, and so far it's been a lot of fun to drive. I told her the SR model didn't ride as well as the other models but she didn't care she loved the color. I was happy because it comes with features she'll probably never use like the SPORT button, which changes the steering, throttle response, and it has Paddle Shifters, which surprisingly even though it has a CVT transmission, feels like it shifts gears slightly and has 7 speeds. Overall the car rides pretty well. On choppy roads however it's no Lincoln. I haven't pushed the car that hard but it handles very well for a FWD car. As other magazines have said, if it was RWD or AWD it would be more sporty. As far as acceleration this car is pretty darn quick. We have about 2000 miles on the car and I'm averaging 28.9 MPG. It records best mileage and on one trip I got 35.2 MPG! Very surprised, however I've already replaced the air filter with a K&N OE replacement type which I'm sure helped mileage. My son, for Christmas, bought me a set of LED driving lights to replace the Halogen fog lights in the front. Looks very cool and because we live in Southern Arizona we never get fog anyway. The interior is probably the best feature in this car. The SR version comes with better seats, which are heated and cooled, half leather and half a type of cloth, which in Arizona is welcome for me, an upgraded Bose stereo which sounds real good. Never was a Bose fan but this car changed that. About the only feature you can't get on the SR is a sunroof which I don't care for anyway. I think we'll get many happy miles driving this car. By the way I'm above retirement age but still love to Drive a car! Update on 1/15/2019. Still a fun car to drive. Wife achieved a best of 36 MPG on a recent trip. Only thing I don’t like about this car is the rear seat belts. Not sure if it’s the angle or what exactly is the issue but they are extremely hard to engage into the latch. Have not had any large framed people in the back only small and a child booster seat. Takes forever to latch and I’ve had to help the person trying to latch it. Kinda embarrassing really, especially if it’s a woman or your Aunt. Other than that the car has been flawless even though we don’t have that many miles on it, (Wife doesn’t let me drive it very often). Hoping to take a fairly long trip this spring with it and will update after that. Update on July 29, 2019. Just completed a trip to Wichita, Kansas through Albuquerque, NM and back here to Tucson. Around 2200 miles total and averaged around 34 miles per gallon. I'll admit I did exceed the speed limit a few times but I also had a tail wind on part of the trip, but on average still gets great gas mileage. The air conditioned seats were a pleasure to have as this was when they were having over 100 degrees temperatures there at that time. I'll give them an A+. The Navigation System worked very well with the exception of mapping in some of the smaller towns in Kansas. Some were not stored in the data card. We just received a notice of an upgrade/update for the Nav system from Nissan but I believe it costs around $100. Will ask around and see if it's worth it since we don't travel a lot. Would I recommend a Maxima, You Bet. But personally I'm not a fan of the new front end treatment of the 2019 Maxima. It seems they've softened it. I think the 16-18 Maxima has a better more aggressive looking front end. Updated 1/2020 Haven’t put a lot of miles on since last summer. Car continues to impress. The newer CVT transmissions are a huge improvement over earlier versions. When driving in normal mode the tranny just smoothly transitions throughout acceleration. When placed in Sport Mode, without using manual shift/paddle shifters, the car accelerates hard and actually “feels” as if it’s shifting and the tachometer actually drops about 500 RPM between shifts. Not sure why people complain about this transmission. Only thing I have noticed with is when shifting from reverse to drive there’s about a 1 second hesitation as it transfers. If you are like some people I know and slam it into gear and press the accelerator pedal fairly hard I’m sure this abrupt change is not very good on the transmission! Here in Arizona I’ve been using the Mid-grade of gasoline with good results. Every now and then I will fill with Premium but haven’t noticed a big improvement. Nothing really new to update. With the COVID and basically everything closed haven’t driven much. Coming up on 3 years of ownership and the car still drives and performs very well. No squeaks or rattles of any kind, even from driving on Tucson’s fabulous roads. Just oil and filters changes is all it’s needed.

Safety
5 out of 5 stars
Technology
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
4 out of 5 stars
Reliability
5 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
Report Abuse
2 out of 5 stars

5th Maxima

Mary, 12/10/2018
2017 Nissan Maxima Platinum 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
15 of 16 people found this review helpful

My husband loves Maximas. This is our 5th one and it’s horrible. Never before did we have such problems. There is a ratteling sound in the passanger doors. So annoying. Whenever we took it to the service, they didn’t hear anything. But we took the car cross country and we were listening to it from NJ to Arizona. But that is not the worst problem. Transmition is. We bought the car in November ‘17. In February - March car was making weird sounds and it was stopping. They fixed the transmition. In April the same problem. They told us that everything is ok. It was. Until today. December 9th ‘18. The car didn’t want to move. My husband is pushing gas and we are going 2 mph. Cars behind us honking and we can’t move... Awfull! After while it started to move and we made it to the grocery store. When we left, the same scenario. Coudn’t leave the parking lot. 5 minutes of stuggle and then we got home. So not looking forward to taking it to service... It’s a beautiful car and 4 that we had before were great. This one is not. It’s dissapointing. And the sensor from radar is beaping out of nowhere saying something about obstruction of radar. But there is no obstruction. No snow. No nothing. It’s just annoying...

Safety
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
5 out of 5 stars
Reliability
1 out of 5 stars
Report Abuse
5 out of 5 stars

Upgraded from Maxima to ..... Maxima

Yuriy, 01/29/2018
2017 Nissan Maxima Platinum 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl CVT)
13 of 14 people found this review helpful

Was planning to upgrade my 2008 Maxima to Lexus IS, Acura TLX or Infinity Q50s. Drove all these cars and upgraded to Maxima 17 Platinum. Decision factors are unparallel seat comfort and the features for a price. Lexus was lacking seat comfort for a taller person with longer legs. Accura was just OK and exterior/interior were not appealing to me ( other people may like it). Infinity I really liked, but for $15K less I have got a very competitive car. What I sucrafised is AWD and a bit sportier feel of the ride.

Safety
5 out of 5 stars
Technology
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Interior
5 out of 5 stars
Comfort
5 out of 5 stars
Value
5 out of 5 stars
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