Seems like much of the auto press still looks upon the Max as a Camry/Taurus competitor, and not in the same league as the BMW 5 series or Audi A6.

Does anyone know of an unbiased comparison between the 530, A6 and '02 Max? I say unbiased because the MT/C&D/R&T folks seem to hold the German cars as benchmarks, and/or may be afraid to challenge them as they are major advertisers.

Don't get me wrong, the BMW and A6 are good vehicles, but I have personally blown away a 528 with my old '96 Max (still runs like a dream at 159K, my son bought it from me when I bought my '02).

There are few things more rewarding than the look on the face of the BMW/Audi driver when you thump him good in you little old Maxima.

Please advise on any test results you are aware of.

Thanks,
Tony

PS, I am new to Maxima.org, so pleas direct me to an older thread that may have this information.

 

"may be afraid to challenge them as they are major advertisers."

I see about 1000% more Nissan ads in the above mentioned magazines than I do BMW and Audi ads combined, so I doubt they are afraid of ****ing off advertisers.

To answer your question, no I don't know of any direct comarison tests...I'd venture to guess the reason is because the Maxima has never been suggested by Nissan to be in the same league as those others...for one thing its about 2/3 the price, its front wheel drive and while its performance envelope may exceed the 5 series I kind of doubt many people on the market for a new 530i would even spare a new Maxima a second glance unless there was a 540i behind it in the lot.

Not puttin' the Max down...I just don't think they're in the same class.

 

i agree with you completely. straightline accerelation is one of many MANY factors involved when comparing cars. to say otherwise mean that new neon SRT (or whatever it is) should be in the same class as the max.

sit in a 530i, and you'll know. fit and finish are nowhere even close. knock you knucles on the dash of a 5, sounds really solid. max? sounds hollow. at 90mph, the 530i is completely devoid of windnoise and road noise is barely perceptible. we know what the max is like in that category.

if i were given either of two cars, i'd pick the 530 easily.

 

Maxima is not in the same league as the BMW 5 series, and has a different target market than the 3 series (just from the price point). I agree with a previous poster that someone with $45K to spend on a BMW surely won't be looking at a $27K Maxima (not to say they shouldn't!)

For the financially-challenged, however, if you can only afford a base 325i then you definitely should be looking at the Maxima. Price point is closer and you get more car for your money. You lose a bit of snob appeal, but just press that accelerator down and I dare you to wipe the smile off of your face .

 

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Let's take a look from another perspective - if the 530 costs 65% more than the Max, do you get 65% more car?

Perhaps this is subjective. I have driven BMW 525 convertable and the 5-series station wagon. Great cars, but other than the prestige, how much more car do you really get, especially considering we do not have autobahns in the USA?

Has anyone seen a test of the Max versus the Volvo S80? The Audi A6? Saab 9.5? All very nice cars, costing lots more to own (including purchase/loan, repairs, maintenance, etc.), and delivering equivalent or slightly lower performance. I;m NOT talking just straight line accelleration, but overall performance including handling, stopping, maneuverability, etc. on American roads, in American traffic?

Incidentally, I rapped on the dash of my'02, and it's solid.

Thanks guys, look forward to more discussion.

Tony

 

solidness of the cabin is nowhere even close. i have a 2.7T A6 in my household, and my 02 max is nowhere even close. the max's dash feels solid by itself, but you must not have rapped on a dash of a bimmer, benz or audi. side by side, it's a completely different story. if you don't believe me on that, then try closing the doors, and especially the trunk on all those cars.

as for the economics, you're right. to us, it may not be justifiable to spend all that extra money. but to some more fortunate people, that 20K extra just doesn't matter as much as it may to us. if i were lucky enough to be in that position, no doubt i would take the german car.

bottom line though, it's all a subjective analysis that hinges on what matters to you most. if things like fit and finish and overall quality matters less, then no reason why you should spend the extra money. on the other hand, there are those who would pick a 325 over a max (without consideration of snob appeal) because they value fit and finish that much, and they never break 3 grand on the tach. to each his own

never even sat in an S80, so i can't speak for that car, however.

 

It might not be so much as getting 65% more car, but getting a more refined car.

Not too many people here will argue that the Maxima has great bang-for-the-buck appeal. It's fast, sporty, looks great, and is very affordable for what it is. But for something like a BMW, Audi, Volvo, etc., a lot of times you're paying for more refined engineering, better quality materials used, and things like that.

You build car models to target certain groups. If you know you are going to design a car for the $45K and up market, you know it has to be a very high-quality sporty sedan, coupe, or whatever. You know it should offer a great manual transmission or a "tiptronic" type 5-speed auto. You know it should offer good suspension components and good tires. It's one of those no-expense-spared situations because you know the target market will pay for it.

For a car meant for the $20K to lower-$30K market, you really don't have the luxury of the no-expense-spared thinking. You go for value instead, and try to find that fine line between value and performance to engineer and build around.

That's my two cents. Peace.

 

Assuming you could buy either one...

Drive a Maxima and any late model BMW back to back on a twisty road. If you can't tell any difference, buy a Maxima.

There's way more to performance than straightline acceleration. You can make a Maxima handle really good, good enough to still scare the BMW guys, but out of the box, there is no comparison. Different cars for different markets.

 

try driving a max, a 320/325, a a4 1.8 and a s40......
they are about in the same price range where max has the lowest price when fully loaded

after u drove all those, u will notice that max has the best overall performance
if i have the extra money, i for sure wont go for those low end european sport sedans
i rather spend them on mods

also, talk about qualities!
the interior of a 320 is only as good as a saturn
seriously, i aint lying, look at it urself
and whats with all those rubber bumpers that u find on all lower end euro luxury cars..... they cant even spend a few more bucks paintin those?

 

I'm tired of people stating that BMW's are expensive for what you get. It's the suttle things that you get with the car that don't appear outright. BMW's have 15 coats of paint. Can you remember the last time you saw a BMW with bad paint? The car is put together much more solid than Maxima, Camry, Accord even the TLS. It's up to us as individuals to make the choice on if it's worth it. For me, the Max was just the best value for my dollar. I've always liked the Maxima's and it was a great value/performance vehicle and I've never been happier.

 

Well, guys, I respect everyone's opinion. And I've already stated that I also think these other cars are very good cars.

I'll close with this - most Maximas seem to hit very high mileage (my goal is the 200K mark) without any major component malfunctions. I have 2 friends with Audis, an A4 and an A6 - both needed water pumps at about 80-90K. One close friend bought a Volvo, and 2 years later spent $700 in repairs (out of warranty). My 96 GXE (which my son bought and drives daily) has 159K and all I've put into repair is a $60 oxy sensor.
I look forward to more topics and discussions. And I'm still looking for performance comparisons between the '02 Max and the A6, Volvo, Saab 9.5, etc.

Tony

 

Do you have a reference for statement?

 

If need be I'll dig the info up. I have a friend that has a 325i and he showed me the information around 6 months ago. Otherwise, I just ask you to trust me as I've never posted anything other than the truth.

 

Oh I'm sure you're correct, just wanted to know if it was something they used in their marketing and was written in their brochure. Thanks.

 

If I didn't have to place as much of my emphasis on interior size, I would have bought the A4 1.8t Quattro. Driving it was a dream. I could throw it into a corner after late-braking, get the car to start turning, and stand on the gas to slingshot to the next corner. The cars I was looking at before I picked up my 2k2 Maxima were the above-mentioned car, G35, and 325. All three had much better performance attributes than the Max. They communicated perfectly with my senses in spirited driving. Driving those cars was the closest I've been to having a sportbike-like experience while on 4 wheels (instead of 2). For seemingly ridiculous personal reasons (not wanting to have a "luxury" car yet), I opted not to get the "luxury" cars this time around. The next time I'm in the market, I won't have the same hang-ups about owning a car with a "luxury" image. 5-series, M45, and A6 will be the cars on my list.

 

I'll ask him the next time I talk to him. It may have been a BMW brochure, but I've never seen or heard them boasting about it in any advertisement media. Dangit, now you've got me wondering where and what it was in

 

i aint sayin BMW is a ripoff
im just sayin that lowend bmw is a ripoff
if i have to choose between a Q45 and a 540
obviously, im gonna get the 540
if i have to choose between a MDX and a x5
obviously, im gonna get the x5...............
but then if i choose between a 320 and a maxima or an altima
i definitely choose a max or alt

like many ppl i know, i hate those who purchase a 320 or a 1.8t fwd, etc
cuz these *******s dont have enough money to go for a true euro lux
yet they want the "brand", so they simply settle down for the worst of the brand
i mean.... does brand really that important to u ppl?!?
if BMW slaps its logo on a civic and sells it for 20k
im sure a lot of idiots would buy it

 

Thing is, the 02/3 max can whoop a 530i in a draqg race and can keep up decently with a 540i if driven well. But, throw in the curves and watch the BMW disappear. I have an 03 maxima and a mercedes e430sport. They are fairly matched in straigh line, but throw in corners and the germans take the cake. Simply because they were designed to do so. Also, the have WAY more feedback from the controls, which makes it alot easier to drive at the limits. The other thing is that they are RWD, and inherently handle better due to their better balance. The last thing to examine is their build quality. Now I AM NOT KNOCKING NISSAN, but go look inside a BMW/Audi/Benz. They are built to a much higher level of quality than a maxima ( they better be for double the price). This is why they dont compare them.

 

It's always interesting how some ppl can compare Nissans to Audi/Bimmers/Mercedes. In the past I've had an Audi A4 and currently a 330i in my garage. I've also owned a 3rd generation Max and currently an Altima SE. No doubt bang for the buck Nissans take the cake, but really the only bang you get is the VQ. Other than that, the car handles like crap (relatively speaking compared to German engineered RWD cars), has crappy interior (again, relatively speaking, and I'm referring not just to the Altima, the Max interior is no where close to German cars), the doors on any German car sounds like a vault door when you close it, the list could really go on and on forever to such small little details such as the glove box in the 330i feeling itself like a little bank vault. The VQ makes up for a lot, but can't do everything.

 

In defense of Nissan, I'd like to say that one of the biggest factors in purchasing the Max over the other V6 Japanese mid-size sedans was the low-maintenance nature of Nissan's engines. I previously drove a 2k Civic sedan which recommended a timing belt inspection and possible $500 change every 30k miles. In my opinion, that is too much to live with in a vehicle whose biggest claim to fame is reliability. I also had experience with Nissan through my wife's '94 Altima GLE that went over 150k miles before the ABS system went out. It made a few 2500+ mile trips to our time-share in Florida, moved with us out to Arizona and back (1700 miles each way), and survived her hard-charging ways. Knowing that I wouldn't have to concern myself very much with overall reliability for the next 5 years made the decision to not buy one of the luxury cars easier to live with.

I'm sure that if/when I get a few of the suspension mods on my Max (FSTB, RSTB, Michelin tires), I'll appreciate the handling a bit more. BTW, is there a way to add an IRS to the Max? Anyway, the interior and structural integrity of the Max is not even in the class of Germans but, is still quite serviceable when loaded out. For example; the purchase price on my Max of just over $28k was almost $4k less than my F-150 SuperCrew XLT 4x4 (paid $31,800; stickered just under $37,000). For that $4k less, I was able to get a number of creature comforts that aren't on my truck and that would have pushed the price of the luxury cars about $8k more. Some of the options I have on the Max that aren't on the other vehicles at $30k are leather interior, traction control, heated seats, heated mirrors, heated steering wheel, moonroof, HIDs, 2 position memory seat, power passenger seat, Navigation system, auto climate control, electrochomatic mirror (a god-send at night), and a Bose stereo (yeah, I know a full aftermarket system would be much better).

 

i am a previous audi a4 owner and a new owner of an 03 max se. i can tell you that quality of finish and materials used on the audi CLEARLY are better than the maxima ... and that handling of the audi is clearly superior to the maxima. so why did i by the max and trade in my audi?

1) total cost of ownership - over a 3 years period i spend $6K on maintenance alone on the audi. this does not include breaks, tires, and regular maintenance.
2) bang for the buck - no car in the world has the maxima beat in this category, none. in fact, no car even attempts to go there. honda and toyota have had the platform, have had the engineering but approached it a completely different way. where else can you get that kind of quality, reliability, and power for $27K?
3) piece of mind - i never knew how much or what that new noise meant in the audi ... i just knew that it would be expensive.
4) life expectancy - audis are KNOWN to be more trouble than they are worth after year 5 ... its just a an unwritten law. i felt good knowing that the avg maxima stays on the road about 3 years longer than the audi.

now, mind you that this is an A4 i am comparing it to (and a 97 1/2). the a6, though similar in quality, is still a bigger, more solid car. both, however, pale in comparison to the quality of finish in the the 5 series (specifically the 528/530, which is still the defacto standard for any medium size sedan).

when i first bought the max, i had a few issues with it ... ive gotten to know how to drive her now ... and she is a lot of fun. the max will NEVER be confused w/ a bimmer or an audi. but everyone who knows something about cars knows that the max is the sleeper of all sedans ... and that puts a grin on my face.

 

I hate when people say that, "refined" this "refined" that.....yeah Mercedes are real refined that's why ever Rapper gangbanger drives one.....
What does refined really mean I've been test driving used cars all weekend and the 1997 $9,000 Volvo 850 T5-R wasn't any more refined than the $8,000 1997 Maxima SE. How can a car be "refined", because it cost more?
Sorry I just hate stupid cliches....Oh And 2002 BMW 540i s w/ the 6 speed are AWESOME!

 

this is good one thing about bmw's is weight. a sport sedan nightmare. i work at a bmw dealership and i must say if ur not around them u don't know them. i will keep my '02 maxima se. i've had a '95 max se and i tell u from facts on the highway. i blew away a '01 525i in the long run cause they r limited to 128 mph. the max kept going. i raced an '02 540i auto and beat it yes, beat it in the long run they only run to 128 mph. the 540i sport is the only one that goes 155 mph the 6 speed. the best value 4 ur dollar will always be a maxima under $60,000. it's nice to blow away a $60,000 car makes that richer person think about where there money went. if i spent $60,000 on any car i better not ever see a $30,000 give me any run cause i will trade that car in so fast. the max is pretty solid to me. one thing when that solidness wears off u r stuck with a car that has a lot of clunkiness to it. all that weight and solid wears off those cars r awful to drive trust me. the close rival to maxima se is the tl type s which is heavy than the max and a tenth slower.
0 - 60 mph (auto)
BMW 540i - 6.6 sec
BMW 525i - 7.8 sec
BMW 330i - 7.2 sec
TL TYPE S - 6.6 sec
A4 3.0 - 7.3 sec
A6 2.7T - 6.6 sec
MAX SE - 6.5 sec
all times r from various car mags.
NOTE: MAXIMA SE 6 spd clocked at 5.9 sec/ MAXPOWER magazine
don't get me wrong i wish nissan would had a lsd as option on the auto 4 even power to the ground but, hey.......