Maxima Plant Tour Questions
08-01-2009, 07:05 AM
#1
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Shenadoah Valley, Virginia
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Maxima Plant Tour Questions
My wife and I were thinking about taken a long weekend off of work and going down and checking out the factory where the 7th Gen Maxima is built. Can anybody provide any insights on this trip. Do I need to call ahead to get a tour "reservation" on a Friday or Saturday. Any info is welcome.
08-01-2009, 10:09 AM
#4
My wife and I were thinking about taken a long weekend off of work and going down and checking out the factory where the 7th Gen Maxima is built. Can anybody provide any insights on this trip. Do I need to call ahead to get a tour "reservation" on a Friday or Saturday. Any info is welcome.
What to See
Nissan North America, Inc. Tours
Watch the parts become a whole...a whole lot of cars and trucks!
Tour the Nissan North America manufacturing plant in Smyrna where five Nissan brand cars and trucks roll off the lines.
- Maxima
- Altima
- Xterra compact SUV
- Frontier truck
- Pathfinder SUV
Hours:
Tours are offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Visitors view a video about the company and then ride the tram on a guided tour of the plant. No children under the age of ten are allowed on the tour. Cameras, including camera phones, are not allowed in the plant. Advance reservations are required.
Admission:
No admission charged.
Location:
983 Nissan Dr, Smyrna, TN 37167
Directions:
From Murfreesboro and East: Take I-24 West toward Nashville. Exit at #70, Almaville Rd. and turn right toward Smyrna, Drive three miles, Nissan is on the right.
From Nashville and West: Take I-24 West toward Chattanooga, Exit at #70, Almaville Rd. and turn left toward Smyrna. Drive three miles. Nissan is on the right.
For more information and to make reservations, please call (615) 459-1444
08-01-2009, 11:01 PM
#5
It is a great tour and well worth the trip.
Last edited by boone; 08-01-2009 at 11:04 PM.
08-01-2009, 11:56 PM
#6
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: a meadow south of Atlanta
Posts: 8,143
Once you have seen the film, and have been loaded into the tram, you will not be allowed out of the tram again until the tour is over, so be prepared to swivel your neck 180 degrees in order to not miss anything.
If you drive to the plant in a Nissan, you get to park close in. Non-Nissan vehicles are required to park way out in the far reaches of the lot.
I have toured asembly lines for lots of different brand vehicles over the last fifty plus years, and there is a lot of similarity. But the Nissan tour was especially meaningful for me, as I have owned nothing but Maximas for the last 25 years (as of this coming October). The 1960 Datsun pickup in the front lobby brought back many memories.
My wife and I spent a week in Smyrna in late March of 2008 (to see the first '09 Maximas coming off the line), and, as expected, Smyrna is a good place to see lots of Nissans on the road everywhere you go.
Smyrna is totally different than it was when I used to visit relatives there back in the 1950s. But it is a great place to stay for a week, taking in a different attraction in Smyrna and nearby Nashville each day. The Nissan plant, the Hermitage, Rymond Auditorium, The Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame; there are dozens of places worth visiting in that area.
When the 8th generation Maxima begins coming off the assembly line in spring of 2013, I have a feeling I will be talking my wife into another week in Smyrna.
If you drive to the plant in a Nissan, you get to park close in. Non-Nissan vehicles are required to park way out in the far reaches of the lot.
I have toured asembly lines for lots of different brand vehicles over the last fifty plus years, and there is a lot of similarity. But the Nissan tour was especially meaningful for me, as I have owned nothing but Maximas for the last 25 years (as of this coming October). The 1960 Datsun pickup in the front lobby brought back many memories.
My wife and I spent a week in Smyrna in late March of 2008 (to see the first '09 Maximas coming off the line), and, as expected, Smyrna is a good place to see lots of Nissans on the road everywhere you go.
Smyrna is totally different than it was when I used to visit relatives there back in the 1950s. But it is a great place to stay for a week, taking in a different attraction in Smyrna and nearby Nashville each day. The Nissan plant, the Hermitage, Rymond Auditorium, The Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame; there are dozens of places worth visiting in that area.
When the 8th generation Maxima begins coming off the assembly line in spring of 2013, I have a feeling I will be talking my wife into another week in Smyrna.
08-02-2009, 04:59 AM
#7
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Shenadoah Valley, Virginia
Posts: 582
.....But it is a great place to stay for a week, taking in a different attraction in Smyrna and nearby Nashville each day. The Nissan plant, the Hermitage, Rymond Auditorium, The Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame; there are dozens of places worth visiting in that area.
08-02-2009, 02:01 PM
#9
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: a meadow south of Atlanta
Posts: 8,143
Yep. Except when a new generation is being released, the assembly line converts in July, and the new year's models begin arriving at dealers in August.
We know from long experience that Nissan makes very few changes the second model year of a generation, but usually makes some notable changes at the 'half-generation.' The '10 Maxima is little-changed from the '09 (just 'silverier wheels', etc), but the '11 will have tweaks in the front and rear sculpting, as well as mechanical adjustments of some sort. Maybe power folding mirrors, and/or a TPMS system that allows the display of psi for each tire, as well as the spare. And hopefully something really big, such as a diesel?
Well, I can dream, can't I?
09-26-2009, 11:58 PM
#13
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Location: a meadow south of Atlanta
Posts: 8,143
Or Smyrna. There are several nice motels right on I-26 in Smyrna (the exit on the Nashville side of Smyrna). That gets you out of Nashville congestion, yet is within five minutes of the Nashville city limits, and within twenty minutes of downtown Nashville.
09-28-2009, 08:07 AM
#15
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Shenadoah Valley, Virginia
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I just called and left my contact info on their reservation line. The wife is wanting to stay at the Opryland Hotel. And the tour will be the last event before we head back home that long extended weekend for us in May.
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