Best car I've ever owned

After trying to get by with 'decent' used cars, I decided to dust off the wallet and buy a better car. It came down to the Cadillac CTS and the Nissan Maxima. Based on this review, you can tell which won out.

This is a fantastic automobile, in every sense imaginable. I bought the SL version for the softer ride, and it's fully loaded. Power everything, heated leather seats, six-CD Bose stereo, moonroof, even a heated leather wrapped steering wheel (I'm from Canada, and this is a great feature). Aside from a nice ride, what sold me on this was the roominess. For a mid-sized car, there's tons of room in the backseat, even for me (6'4" tall). Even with that, the trunk is enormous and holds four suitcases, plus golf clubs and other luggage.

The 3.5 litre V6 churns out 265 horsepower, so it goes without saying that there's plenty of pop in the Maxima. Not so quick off the line, but the shift from 2nd to 3rd gear, and then again from 3rd to 4th, really rockets. The only trouble with this is it's a front wheel drive, so if you floor it, you really need to have two hands on the steering wheel, because the front end wants to take off. I found the SE (sport) model to be a little rough for a $40K car, so I went with the softer suspension. But what I gave up was handling: the SL doesn't corner nearly as well, and it's turning radius isn't great.

In the grand scheme of things, these are minor gripes. The Maxima is one of the best cars on the market. It's pricey, but what you get surpasses many of the costlier European models. But with the Maxima you get a reliability record that is unsurpassed: I've read so many reviews from owners who have had there's for 400,000 kilometres or more, with nary a problem.

In the end, that's the biggest reason I bought the Maxima. I was tired of buying vehicles that were always in the shop, or were a drain on the bank account as soon as the warranty expired. I'm confident I've found it in the Maxima.