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New Maxima - CVT

Hey,

I'm buying a new/used car here in the next month or so, and have narrowed my search down to a few models.

'02-'03 Maxima (Don't like the '04+ body style) '04-'06 Murano '04-'05 Infiniti G35x (if I can find one with the right price/mileage)

I also noticed the new Maximas have a Continuously Variable Transmission. Is this similar to the Murano's?

Any ideas about the long term reliability of a CVT? How well does the Nissan Murano's transmission hold up after the 3+ years it's been on the market? What kind of repair costs are involved if it does need a major repair/rebuild?

NissTech? Any experiences you can relate?

Also, any Murano owners out there? How do you like your vehicle? (It's the front-runner right now because I can then get rid of my old Ford Exploder).

Thanks,

Bill G '91 Maxima SE Auto

181,000 miles (I still got it, but not for long)

'94 Ford Exploder '96 Ford Contour POS (you know, the model with the permanent CEL) (Gifts from a relative, they will both be sold or driven off a cliff shortly)

Reply to
Bill G
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The CVT has only just become available in the 2007 Maxima. 2006 and below Maximas have either a 5 speed auto, 4 spedd auto, or 6 speed manual.

I'd say you have no worries. The fact that they debutted the CVT onto a high profile new SUV model, and mated it to the torquey VQ V6, suggests that Nissan was highly confident that the new CVT could handle most anything with no reliability issues.

Apparently it has done just that. Muranos do not have a bad reputation at all.

CD

Reply to
Codifus

I would agree. CVT was used for years only on small engines, because they couldn't take much torque without breaking. Nissan engineered the heck out of CVT to use in high-torque applications, and if there was a problem, we'd have heard about it by now.

Also, I can't believe that they'd screw up their bread-and-butter Maxima with a lousy transmission just to generate short-term sales. That's General Motor's territory, not Nissan.

Reply to
jmattis

Since Murano's debut in 03, I'd say they have been one of the least porblematic vehicles, In my dealership we have only seen 2 CVT transmission failures and one of them was due to water/coolant intrusion from the external transmission oil cooler and the other failure was due to customer stupidity.

The customer took his Murano to his local shop and they cross contaminated the transmission with regular Dextron transmission fluid, needless to say the CVT was trashed not long after that service.

I'm not saying the Murano is without fault but it has been an overall excellent vehicle, would I own on... I'd say yes.

Reply to
NissTech

What kind of fluid is used in the CVT?

Reply to
Jim

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