About time as far as I'm concerned. Just pulled my AUTOWEEK from my mailbox andI couldnt believe my eyes......on the cover.....Nissan Maxima Road Test. Article LIKES: great engine, roomy interior, price. DISLIKES: average brakes, cheap interior materials, balky shifter. The article said due to the Altima " the Maxima clearly isnt the favorite son" whatever....like we all have said before.....if they want to see cheap interior materials we all know where to look.....overall good article. 0-60 time was6.21 and quarter mile was 14.77 at 95.5 mph with the 6spd. kinda slow i thought on the quarter. Also said Maxima in a class by itself for a 5 passenger sedan with a 6 spd for 25K. Article also said rev the engine to 2500 rpm and lay 40 feet of black marks, grab second under full throttle and spin the tires again, and chirp third gear under full throttle. All in all a good article. Found in August 19 issue of AUTOWEEK.

 

don't believe the articls man, its BS....go to the track and see what real drivers can do with the max

 

WTF?! What so cheap about the materials... I have a 2001 and everybody that gets in my car think it looks like a million bucks!

I swear... Those journalists are always looking for the stupidest little thinks they can find!

 

Good catch,
Thanks

 

The times they gave are not bad for someone who is not used to driving a maxima. Who even knows what the weather was like when they ran? If they did the test in the winter the times would probably be a tenth or two quicker. Anyhow it's a nice article IMO minus the complaint about the interior(thats all they could think of I guess..)

 

490-foot slalom: 42.6 mph
WTF?
****ty drivers.
Yeah, "Cheap Materials" my butt!
You want cheap materials go get a Dodge Neon!
It's like they are soo picky and like the maxima is sooo good they need to look for stupid, little moronic things to criticize.
But that's ok they can all just go and have fun driving their ford tauruses and dodge stratuses around town.

 

The interior is awesome compared to the Altima, but it still lags behind the competition.

For instance, put your hand on the armrest and gently push. It feels really flimsy.

Same thing goes for the sun glasses compartment above the rear view mirror.

The dash materials feel cheap.

The plastic moldings for the driver and passenger door compartments are poorly cut.

The aluminum used inside the car feels cheap and flimsy as well.

I could go on, but you get the gist. Everyone has different standards of quality, but if you look closely, the interior quality of the Maxima is really not that high compared to the Camry/Accord/Passat.

 

Did anyone read the comments after the article by Larry Manning?

He says that the drive-by-wire throttle control caused the power to suddenly drop to 1500 rpms while under full throttle one night. He turned the engine off/on and the problem was corrected except for a thrown code. The dealer said he pushed the accelerator too far. WTF?!?

That's crazy. Anyone have this happen to them?

 

Compared to any< $30K sedan??

 

JK,

There is a TSB out for this and it has happened to other members of the board (do a search for "Limp mode").

 

Thanks. At least Nissan has fessed-up to the problem then.

 

15 hp more than last year? Did I miss the 240 hp edition 2k1?

 

I agree Tomcat, interior is one of the nice things i have always enjoyed about my MAX, guess they have to nick pick on something,,,,,,,

 

look at the fuel requirement under the specs.... 87octane

I have a feeling autoweek used 87octane....

 

Former limp mode-ee. Nissan couldn't fix it, so I fixed it myself, and it has been fine ever since

 

I've had that happen to me 3 times. Twice when the car had under 1K miles on it and once right after my pedal stoper recall. On all 3 occasions I was racing and redlined the car.

 

The problem is, that the thin piece of metal that the pedal stop mounts to is very weak. When you mash the pedal, it will actually bend. I took the pedal stop off the car, and reinforced the mounting bracket from underneath, making it unbendable. Ever since then I have had zero problems, and that includes 2-3 trips to the track.

 

i noticed that to but I though it wa the drive by wire delay. What did you use to reinforce the pedal?

 

I measured the height of the prdal stop mounting bracket, and cut a piece of wood to fit snugly, then ran a long screw through the bracket and wood. Then I bolted back on the stopper, and you can definately feel the pedal stop now, push all you want, and it won't go ant further. Try this with a stock 2k2 and you can feel the pedal stop squish down.

 

oh I'l try that then.

 

my thoughts exactly......

 

i think the interior looks like a lexus gs- the wood. people love it, and yes, 240hp 2k1 max was their error. i think the brakes are fine. but i do find torque steer a problem. but i dont have traction control.

 

They had to ***** about something. I have gotten compliments on my Max's interior from every passenger that has ever rode in it. The only part I would change would be the hard plastic near the bottom of the doors. Otherwise, everything else is cool.

 

Traction control sucks, it just cuts power when it senses slipping.
I was coming back from the cinema; I had just stopped in the centre between the two roads on the highway to merge into traffic, I almost had it timed perfectly.
Wonderful example of traction control at work or lack there of?
The light had just turned green about a 1/4mile away from me, the cars were speeding up trying to get home for din din; the road was a little slick because of the previous rainstorm, I gun it and send the car in to a diagonal drift in to the right lane, tires screaming for mercy; then the car jolts and the revs drop to 2,500 from 5,600rpm and it stayed that way for a minute then went back to normal.
It kinda reminded me of when, you're driving the Mazda 787B in Gran Tursimo 3 and you slam into the wall at 220mph and the car kinda stutters through the gears because it was in 4th going like a bat out of hell, then it's still in forth, but going 25mph.....kinda like that..."slow".
Well to make a short story long, I didn't crash or get crashed into but I learned to turn off the "traction control" when driving.
Jeff Catt

 

Wow, I love this. "Requires 87 octane"

 

I totally agree. The dash materials don't even compare to my 99 Accord. And the brakes do suck!! As soon as possible, I'm going to dump the stock rotors/pads a get a set of brembo crossdrilled/slotted rotors w/ Green Stuff pads. I have this setup on my Accord and it stops on a dime.

 

Could this be our good friend "Only racer's reply" Larry? hmmmmm

 

the clutch at 2500 and laying 40 fet of rubber to do their performance testing that explains the lousy 0-60 time...with that much wheelspin, 0-60 would have to be slow cause wheelspin = bad

 

Look at the first post on page 2, do you agree with me?

 

These 0-60 times are killing first Edmunds now Autoweek, these times they are putting down arent much of the times of Motor Trend with the 00 5psd test in July of 1999. The 1/4 trap speed is 94 for MT in the 2000 and just 95 for the 2002.

 

yeah, whoever puts in 87 is dumb. but obviously 87 is required to run. but its autoweek.. who cares about them. and im glad i didnt get traction control, i can deal with the torque steer.. let off the gas.