April 30: So nice, I did it twice!

This just won't do. Barry leaning against his beautiful burgundy 2016 Maxima SR. No, this is old news, as I just got a new Maxima.

Over the past three years, this has been a great car and probably one of the reasons that I recommend and deliver quite a few Nissan products in my business. How does one define "great"? In my books, it means that it has never gone back to the dealer for a problem, however minor. Oh sure, there were two recalls, but those don't count, since every car, including Rolls-Royce, has them. No, this was a drive and forget it car. And isn't that what they all should be these days?

But this was a great car in all respects. Lots of room for this six foot five blogger. Lots of power from that famous Nissan V6. Great handling. And in my mind, great looks. Those four things have been my main criteria, since I started buying my own cars right out of university in 1971. And in all that time, I've only repeated a car a couple of times.

In 1984, I got my first Camaro and repeated it again three years later........

In this case, I went from the V6 base model to the top of the line IROC-Z. Big difference, but still the same body style, although the Z had several model differentiation add-ons. Great car? I loved everything about it, but no, quality wise it wasn't at the top of the heap.

The next time I repeated, was with a Pontiac Grand Prix (remember that brand?). I had a 1998 GTP, the supercharged sedan, and then again in 2001, I got another one........

Different colour and wheels, but otherwise exactly the same model. Again, I loved this car. Great looks and for its time, lots of supercharged power. Boy, have things changed, as what constituted lots of power back in 2001, would not be in anyone's top ten, twenty or even thirty these days. Lucky us.

So back to my new Max.........

In 2016, I went with the SR sport model, since it had the biggest rims at 19". Funny though, since it was the sport model, Nissan didn't offer it with a sunroof, which in my world is mandatory. I paid the $1400 plus hst to have one installed locally. Now in 2019, I moved up a notch to the top of the line.......

Important to me, is that for 2019 the Platinum now has the SR's 19 inchers. Style wise, the Maxima has had a mid-cycle refresh, which means that only the Nissan designers can spot the differences. Actually there are two.........

Better looking simplified front end

Rectangular exhaust tips, not round as before

A few small bonuses for getting this model are the panorama glass sunroof, the power rear window shade, the extra techie bits, the power tilt steering wheel and the very convenient memory seats. The latter great for those rare days when my wife drives my car, like today. Before, I used to have to fuss around with all the settings when I got back in it. Life was tough.

Call me a relic, call me a hold out, but I still like sedans. Better handling and typically better looking (there are exceptions). I know my suv time will come, but for now, I'll enjoy my "so nice, I did it twice" new Maxima.

Until next time.....