(I posted this elsewhere too, but figured you'd all like to see it.)

Was at the Pittsburgh auto show over the weekend and went over to the Nissan section where they had a gorgeous 2001 anniversary edition Max sitting there, I love the side skirts and aero kit on it, was drooling. Anyway, talked with a few of the factory reps and they said the new Max with the big engine (260hp I think, one guy said 265 even) is slated for this fall. And it should be available with the aero kit stuff the AE edition has. The one guy even mentioned 18inch rims on it, hell yeah. However, let me state I'm not sure if they even knew what they were talking about. They were all on a big Sentra kick, which I pointed at the max and said "I want that with a big engine. And I want a Skyline". They laughed at the Skyline, its not coming over here ever says them.

Now the bad news, apparently they're trying to move the Altima into the Maxima slot, I guess they're redesigning it sometime soon and giving it a huge engine as well. Probably making it the same size as the maxima is my guess. The Maxima will be getting bigger.. if I were to guess I'd say it'll be a Q45 platform. I saw the new Q this weekend, which was really nice. But huge, way too damb big.

Anyway, this is what I heard from them. No telling if they knew what they were talking about. I heard conflicting info between 2 of them, however that AE edition is the bomb, and if i can get it with 260hp I'm selling the 97 i30 and buying a silver one with stick and 18" rims, strut supports and big *** Kickers.

 

- Just a friendly reminder, dealers never know anything. They either lie about future cars, hear false rumors, or make up stats to spark interest. They rarely know anything concrete until Nissan sends a memo with new brochures. The dealerships I have used run exactly like that - they only know what they have to, when they have to.
- The only place to get reliable information is from auto-magazines. They piece together press releases with what has been going on in the automotive marketplace. CNN may report that the new Z car will be, of course, RWD, but it is typically the auto journalist who piece things together and say that the Z will share it platform with other future Nissan/Infiniti products.
- The only salesman who ever knows anything is one who reads car magazines.

 

Well, they're sorta right. We won't be getting a Skyline, per se. It's supposed to be a Skyline, rebadged as an Infiniti. Car and Driver said it would either have a turbo'd 3L V6(prolly the JDM VQ30DET), or a hotter version of the new Q's V8. I'm hoping for the V8.

 

Well, they're sorta right. We won't be getting a Skyline, per se. It's supposed to be a Skyline, rebadged as an Infiniti. Car and Driver said it would either have a turbo'd 3L V6(prolly the JDM VQ30DET), or a hotter version of the new Q's V8. I'm hoping for the V8. [/I][/QUOTE]


- Badging a US version of the Skyline as an Inifiniti would make tons of sense to me. It would compete head on with the Acura/Honda NSX and most moronic, yet wealthy, people who impulse buy the Skyline wouldn't have any clue to its Nissan heritage.
- "Inifiniti's are really upscale Nissan's? No, you don't say! Well, maybe I better go get me a REAL luxury car, like an Acura."
- Fools.
- Anyhow, rebadging the car would lose out on its Nissan flair. I don't see how a big GTR badge would integrate nicely onto an Infiniti. Frankly, Nissan knows that the Skyline is an enthusiast's car. I think that they'll rightly badge it as a Nissan. To make things more profitable, they'll probably use the same chassis on some other luxo-Infiniti car (if they need to). Maybe the Q45 or something big and RWD.

 

I guess Nissan could sell this 'Skyline' as a Nissan or Infiniti. As a Nissan, it would be upmarket from the new Z, obviously. It would be similar to how the Corvette is upmarket from the Camaro.
Or...it could be the performance flagship for Infiniti, like how the NSX is for Acura. It doesn't have to be called a Skyline GT-R, y'know. Maybe an S45, or S30, something like that, since Infiniti uses alphanumeric designations. And if it had the Q's V8, it'd be great competition for the next NSX, which will have a V8(4L, I think) as well.

 

I like "GTRxx" (with XX as the displacement) for the name of the Skyline GT-R if it comes over as an Infiniti.

 

The Max will be getting bigger but it won't be on the Q's platform it'll be on a stretched version of the new Altima's. The Altima is supposed to be moving to the size of a 4th-5th gen max and the Max is getting bigger. No one knows for sure what size engine the Altima will get (besides the 2.5L four as base). Russ will swear it's a detuned 3.5L VQ in the top Alty...but we don't know for sure yet. As for the Skyline...only time will tell, although I think if they did bring it over it may just be the Infiniti GT-R

 

I read in a magazine a few months ago that the new altima will move to the 4th gen max's size and the new max will be bigger than the current. The altima is supposed to have a 4 cyl or 6 cyl option and the max will have a 3.5L 260 hp v6 engine

 

now the main performance questions
will it have better suspension?
will it have better weight to HP/Torque ration?
hummmmm.......
will it look better ^_^

 

The new Altima/Maxima platform is supposed to have a fully independent double-wishbone suspension like the Hondas and Acuras. The Altima will continue to have the 2.4L KA24DE engine standard, with the VQ30DE as an option. It should be about the size of a current Maxima. This will move it's target range up from the high-end Civics and Corollas and the low-end(4 cyl) Camrys, Accords, and Galants to just the latter cars.
The Max will prolly just be a stretched version of the Altima platform, with the VQ30DE standard, and the VQ35DE as an option. It looks like it will be competing with the likes of the Avalon for sure, and perhaps the Mitsubishi Diamante as well.