I am a new Maxima owner, and after test driving about 14 different 95-99 Maximas and searching for 6 weeks up and down the middle Atlantic states, I finally settled on a good deal for my current Maxima SE. Although I am a very sport oriented driver (hard driver) in love with a manual transmission, I could not find a good 5 speed with Anti-lock brakes. The 5 speeds are a perfect combination with the engine. But I am now a family man, and safety took top priority. Now I am being challenged by a friend to back up my first Nissan purchase with a "friendly" SHO challenge. I do not mind losing, but this site is making me nervous about my stock SE. Here are some questions which may have already been answered, but I would appreciate some input.

0-60 time of a 97 stock SE should be about 7.5 seconds? Is that right?

Are the SE's electronic transmissions more sport oriented over the GLE and GXE; or are they the same? I stumbled upon some 0-60 times of about 8 seconds for the GLE,GXE.

What is the best way to start off the line in my Auto? Every single time I have tried to test the Maxima off the line I have only succeeded in smoking my tires. Then, I let a little off the gas to regain traction. I have Goodyear RS-A's and it has been fairly cold around 40-50deg.
As tempting as it sounds, manual shifting is definitely not an option for me.

Anybody have any times for this year SHO? This is going to be a close race, isn't it?

I have a friend with an 96 SHO, which has the same engine as the 99. Its a 3.4L V8 with 240hp and 225lb/ft of torque and its slow, because the car is heavy (about 300lb more than the Max). When I raced him with my 97 5spd, I won by over 3 car lengths, he also had nitrous on it so we raced again with his 50shot nitrous, I stayed with him, but he was very slowly pulling away.

So with all that in mind, it would probably be a good race, but you would win. Have faith in your Maxima

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I do need to build some faith in my car. I do regret that I couldnt find a 5sp ABS. If nothing else, I guess I will start my mods If I lose this one. 240HP, 3 car lengths vs a 5 speed...I hope I can get a good start.

I know what you mean...see sig.

Also, the SHO had 235hp @ 6100rpm and 230lb-ft @ 4800rpm.
Just a minor correction. It weighed 3,329lbs according to cars.com...

Whoops! you are correct, I pulled stats for my friends 96 from cars.com, it had some slightly different numbers than the 99.

Not that I have that much faith in Car Magazines, but I just read a Car and Driver Article from June 1998. The Honda Accord blew the poor Maxima out of the water in straight line acceleration posting a 0-60 time of 7.6 compared to the Maxima's 8.2. Even a Taurus SE had a time of 8.1. Ouch! Did the fourth generation Maxima get slower every year? What about the 16 inch wheels? Did that have any effect? I have read about how the 97-99 Maximas were slower, but I am hoping that this was an exaggerated test. Did the emissions make that much of a difference? How come the Honda did so well?

The theory I'm gonna throw out there is that the maxima spun its tires a lot. The stock tires suck really bad. I've never had an accord take me off the line.. never!

ZuM

Not sure what those mags are talking about, the friend with the 96 SHO had a CAI and a SHO Shop exhaust and I still won. I did a straight line race, from a dead stop. We stopped once once one of us hit 110mph, so either that CAI and exhaust killed his car, or he doesnt know how to mash the pedal! When we raced I just barely had my Maxima for about 2 weeks so I wasnt entirely used to the car.

Now the SHO's you want to watch out for are the 89-95 5spd, they come with the 3.0L Yamaha engine with 220hp @6200rpm and 200 lb/ft tq @4800rpm. The maxima may be a little less on the HP but more torque at lower RPM's(190hp @5600rpm and 205 lb/ft tq @4000rpm) The 90 SHO wieghs slightly less than the max (2,956 lbs 90 SHO, 97 max SE 3,010 lbs). I have a friend with a 90 SHO and it was a pretty close race, it was neck to neck until I hit 3rd, then I was slowly pulling away. Once we reached 110, I was about half a car length ahead. The SHO is a great car, that would have been my second choice if I wasnt able to find a 4th gen white SE 5spd.

Hmmm I have a 97SE 5spd w/ antilock brakes. But i do think you are right about 97 through 99 maxima's getting alittle bit slower.. Before I purchased my 97 I test drove the 99 in a 5spd, The 97 felt like it had alittle more tq.But maybe that's just me..
I'm pretty sure you can beat a SHO they basically all show next to a Maxima anyways.. Good luck and let us know how it turns out... Oh and like DSimple1 had put it "have faith in your maxima"

You could also press the brake down all the way, rev it to 2400 (put it in 1st) and then let it go, everytime i did it that way the tires would squeal just a little but the car would take off. If your worried about shifting in red then just push the auto up when you hit 57-5900 rpm that way it will surly shift before red.

If you dont wanta do either at least make sure to keep overdrive off, the car will be more responsive and it won't shift into 4th. I do suggest you do the way listed above at least once though. Even though it's not the best thing for your car, it really will show you how much power the car really has, I was quite surprised. If you do follow the instructions above, just make sure you have your radio off and window down, it's much better that way.

-Nate

It may be a little fast but you have to remember one thing-IT IS A FORD!!!!!My maxima smoked one up to 80 then we slowed down for traffic-(highway)????/

Yea, PRPmax and I forgot who? you have pretty rare cars. Of course, Living in a warm area also hurt my odds of finding one.

Every day I drive my Max, I like it even more, and I am getting used to the automatic. I do find myself playing a lot with that OD off/on switch. The engine is just so smooth...and that 50-80 acceleration...Ahhh.

Thanks to all you Veteran max owners for the input. IF and when the roads dry out, I am going to mount my GTechPro, and try some practice street 0-60 passes. Then, SHO-down.

Hey, I've never raced a SHO but i have driven one for a week. They are pretty quick. It would have been my guess that a Max couldn't take one. Concerning the Accord, I've never lost to one, even with my 18 inch chrome rims. But from what everyone is saying, go for the SHO tear him apart and let us know what happen.

Since I am using my GTechpro on a specific level public street, it was kind of a pain waiting for traffic to clear. Once I got everything set, I just stomped on the gas. It felt like I was moving forward pretty slowly while the front tires were trying to get grip, but once I got full traction, the Maxima took off faster than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised to see the results,
0-60 in 7.27 sec.
especially since I had just filled up with gas.

So, you all were definitely right about wanting a little tire slippage off the line. I did not get the opportunity to use the brake-torquing technique. But it was so easy to get the 0-60 run by just hitting the gas.

With all of this confidence, I was itching for that SHO. Unfortunately, my SHO adversary gave me the 0-60 win without ever racing--kind of. He acknowledged that Maximas are pretty quick to 60 mph, but he guaranteed his SHO would whip me in an all out half mile race. So, he upped the ante, and I decided to forfeit. However, I think he must have been researching the Maxima, and decided that the Maximas are a little quicker than he thought.

Oh well, back to my family.

Hey That's a pretty good time for a stock Maxima. I have pretty much every bolt-ons including a VB Mod for my auto transmission. My best G-tech time is 6.6 sec for 0-60, I usually get 7.0 - 7.1. It was 40 degree weather(cool temps= more power), little wheelspin. You don't want to spin too much in auto because you can't control it like a manual tranny can. I usually give it a fast 1/2 throttle off the line(little chirp), then when I get grip I just stomp on it.

A stock 99SHO will, no doubt take a 97MAX. The SHO has a better power band and high end. Although it won't be a embarrasment for your MAX.

You guys pretty much summed up my thoughts. When you test your car on a 40 degree day, it is probably similar to the gains you might get from a CAI on a warm day. It will be interesting to see how the times differ in the warmer weather. I love this car.

OK, Honeymooner, don't even worry about that FORD. OK, first of all the real reason that he won't race you is because it will break down (lets see, transmission or water pump.....) on the side of the road while you are in the process of SMOKING him(If your car is 7.2). He shouldn't even mention his car in your presense unless he likes being embarrased. Lets see, FORD assembly or NISSAN quality? And while your Maxima isn't a 5 speed(then you'd really show him what's up), he'll go through four more FORDs while your Maxima ages gracefully. And I don't care what anyone says about a SHO, I used to own one and let me just say in 20,000 miles over $4,000 (read=$4,000)was spent to maintain the piece(It was a '93 Auto). It fell apart at 80,000 miles, don't even get me started on it. The difference in quality, performance, heck...everything is far, far superior to the good ole' FoMoCo.......... Keep drivin' your car!!!!!!!
SHO= SH*T HAPPENS OFTEN




97 Black SE 5 Spd
Black leather, 5% tint
Stillen Exaust

[Edited by MaxedOut97SE on 01-25-2001 at 02:40 AM]

No bs.......I beat a 99SHOV8.......they're not that fast....you'll beat em. Never g-teched my car but it's plenty quik.

Hi guys,

Let me clear up something: There is no 99 SHO. Ford stopped making them in 1996, and they were the one and only year with a V8.

I owned a 1994 SHO with the Yamaha 3.2l V6 (automatic), and it was faster in every respect than my 1997 Max SE Automatic. Faster off-the-line, faster from 0-60, and would blow off Mustang GTs at the high end. It was damn fast. I'd think twice about racing any SHO from 1989-1995 unless you have some mods, especially a 1989-1991 with the 5-speed. They run low 6 sec. 0-60. You can probably take a 1996 SHO off-the-line, but they have a pretty good pull after about 30mph. How you'll do against a 99 is anybodys guess, since they don't exist

I bailed on the SHO after it cost me obscene amounts of money just to keep it running. The engine was rock-solid but the rest of the car disintegrated around it. the Maxima is relatively fast, handles better than the SHO and is much more reliable.

Good luck!

no 99 SHO? Hmm.. cars.com seems to disagree. '99 was the last year the SHO was made, I have some friends that are SHO fanatics and they said '99 was the last year also.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Terminator X
[I]Hi guys,

Let me clear up something: There is no 99 SHO. Ford stopped making them in 1996, and they were the one and only year with a V8.

I owned a 1994 SHO with the Yamaha 3.2l V6 (automatic), and it was faster in every respect than my 1997 Max SE Automatic. Faster off-the-line, faster from 0-60, and would blow off Mustang GTs at the high end. It was damn fast. I'd think twice about racing any SHO from 1989-1995 unless you have some mods, especially a 1989-1991 with the 5-speed. They run low 6 sec. 0-60. You can probably take a 1996 SHO off-the-line, but they have a pretty good pull after about 30mph. How you'll do against a 99 is anybodys guess, since they don't exist

I appreciate the response, but please check your facts before commenting on the "Non-existent" '99 SHO. Now, maybe you were just joking--- because would all of us Maxima owners really be discussing a car that DOES NOT EVEN EXIST??

Ignorance is not bliss, it just makes you sound stupid.

Ok - I feel like an idiot:

http://www.shotimes.com/SHO2production.html

Sorry for that brain-fart. I'm not sure what I was thinking. I remember I was looking to replace the 1994 SHO with a later model V8 SHO, and all I came across were 96's in my area, so maybe I assumed they stopped production.

My bad.

Hey, that's cool; We're all just sharing our knowledge here.
This is definitely the best website for that.
Later.