I own a 2001 Maxima that I bought brand new and have taken very good care of. Ever since I hit 60k miles, I've had nothing but problems with it. The latest episode involves the front oxygen sensor and exhaust tube that is causing the Service Engine Soon light to come on. The dealer wants very close to $1000.00 to do this particular repair.

The service manager asked me to call Nissan's Consumer Affairs line to request that they help me out with the expense and I decided to give it a shot. After all, I have owned several Nissans in the past and always get them serviced at the dealer. Besides, a thousand bucks to replace a part that's gone bad through no fault of my own just seems too ridiculous be true.

After two weeks of playing phone tag with Ashley at Nissan, here's what she told me. That Nissan is surprised that those $1000.00 worth of parts lasted 65k miles and that it was Nissan's policy to not provide customers with any assistance on those particular parts.

Excuse me, Nissan builds their cars knowing that they will need a one thousand dollar repair before they hit 65k miles!!!

Ashley, who is either very well coached or an aspiring politician, dazzled me with BS for a few minutes, but that is simply the bottom line. This is a problem that Nissan is well aware of, but builds into their cars and happily grabs a thousand bucks from their owners when the inevitable failure occurs.

This defect obviously plagues 2001 Maximas and, to the best of my knowledge, has not been corrected in future model years of that make. Beware if you're planning on buying a used one and make sure you ask before you buy one new.

As for me, I'm taking my thousand bucks and using it as a down-payment on another car. I'll never buy another Nissan.

Amount Paid (US$): 30,000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2001
Model and Options: GLE