On the fence for a 08 NAH - GreenHybrid

twister99 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-30-2008, 06:53 AM

I am on the fence on getting a 08 NAH with Tech and Power roof. Just want to do a quick survey here and see what's everyone else paying for their NAH. In addition, do you guys find it difficult to find NAH in Jersey? May be I should take a trip to NYC 5 boros for this car. Dealers in NYC seems to be well stocked on NAH for some reason. Any dealer recommendation?

SLP24 · #2 (**permalink**) 05-30-2008, 06:03 PM

Twister,

I love my NAH. Before buying it I spent a month going to different dealers to try every hybrid out there. Unfortunately I was only able to test drive the NAH and the Prius. Everyone else was special order only. That includes Chevy, Ford, GMC, Saturn, Honda and the Lexus was just too expensiveAt 6'4" I barely fit in the Prius, however, there was more leg room for the back seat passenger in the Prius than the Altima, but ultimately I was buying the car for me and not the passengers so the NAH won out. The Honda dealer had a storage lot full of Civic hybrids, not one of them prepped and ready for a test drive. I requested they contact me when they had one through the shop and ready to drive. I got a call from them a week after I bought the NAH.

If dealers want to know why they can;t sell a Hybrid...It's because they don't push Hybrids. As far as the Nissan goes. I shopped price everywhere including the internet and my local guy beat them all and I was totally surprised by their service.

I am happy to share his info with you.
Poughkeepsie Nissan, ask for Michael Wirth 845-296-3420. Tell him Larry sent you.

The guy knows his NAH and his pencil is sharp.

cwerdna · #3 (**permalink**) 06-01-2008, 11:46 AM

To the OP, since you seem to live in the NY/NJ area, if you don't get the NAH (which doesn't seem to be available with HID aka Xenon headlights) I'd be wary of buying any alternative vehicle w/HID lights over there.

I used to own an 02 Maxima which came w/HID lights across all trim levels and it seemed like on maxima.org, I'd see at least 1-3 cases a week of some guy in the NY/NJ area posting they got their HID lights stolen. Sometimes, people had them stolen multiple times. They lights alone cost ~$1300/pair not including the damage the thieves might do to prying out.

There were lots of articles and TV stories about this such as:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...adlights_x.htm
http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...t_in_the_dark/
http://autos.aol.com/cars-Nissan-Alt.../expert-review
www.iihs.org/news/2004/iihs_news_101904.pdf

At the time, I also frequently saw stolen HID Maxima headlights on Ebay. They were clearly stolen because the flimsy plastic brackets were broken. No legitimate seller would just break them off a car instead of unscrewing a single 10 mm bolt.

realmac · #4 (**permalink**) 06-01-2008, 09:51 PM

As a former Maxima owner in the Long Island area I can definitely vouch that many owners around here were concerned about their lights being stolen. One of my former coworkers had hers taken from her car right out of the driveway. I was one of the lucky ones, but yeah the lights are crazy expensive.

I put an HID kit in my gas only NA, but it was a cheap ebay kit ($80) and my radio doesn't work properly. Ordered a slim digital kit in place of analog that will hopefully work better with my radio. One benefit to the Altima's design is that you need to take the front bumper off to really gain access to the lights. Even then, I'm not sure how easy they are to pry out. Most Altimas don't even have HIDs which makes thieves skip them over.