Have any of you heard about the new Maxima SE-R. The only things I can find out about the car are that it will have a 3.5L engine producing 260+ hp. I am not even sure when it will be released. I am looking for a fast sedan under 30k, and after having the 2k maxima as a rental car in Arizona I was really impressed. Any info on the SE-R would be appreciated.

 

Rumour has it the 2002 SE-R will have the VQ35, in addition to a six-speed manual tranny, LSD (whether it'll be viscous or helical, I don't know) and 18" wheels.

 

I highly doubt the VQ35 will wind up hooked up to a front drive transaxle on the current Maxima architecture, especially with a new 6-speed gear box. I could see it happening with the present 5-speed, provided the transaxle interface of the VQ35 is the same as the VQ30 (is the 35 just a bored and stroked version of the 30?); AND the 5 speed can handle the additional power reliably.

With Nissan still working (very well, I might add) to get out of financial turmoil, it makes no sense to develop a 6sp transaxle to handle increased power of the 35 for production of only a couple of years at most in a front drive car (unless they have BIG power increase plans for Altima and Sentra).

More likely, the rear drive 260 horse VQ35 and 6 speed transmission combo will be lifted right out of the new Z car and put into the new 6th gen rwd Maxima. The big question will be will the new Max be a stetched and widened Z car platform, or will it share large vehicle architecture with the new Q45, or will it be a clean sheet platform it will share with a new I30? From a bean counter standpoint, I'd guess it would be one of the first two.

I, myself, have been thinking about next year's Max as well; and I've finally decided to get this year's AE 5 speed. With the current proven drivetrain in unmodified form, I know I can tromp the gas to my delight and still get 100K plus reliable miles out of it. If they have a transverse 260 hp VQ35 drivetrain application planned for only a year or two, I would worry about longevity every time I stomped the pedal. If I new they were planning on selling a 260 plus hp front drive transverse ap for several years, I might be more confident there was lots of reliability testing performed to stand behind the decision...

 

I disagree. I've heard they are using the same 6 speed transmission from the SE-R V-Spec Sentra. Sounds plausible to me. This is a new 6 speed transmission which is designed for higher power ratings. Also, Nissan is climbing out of debt. Last quarter they had a large profit.

 

what i gathered from talking to the dealer was that the new max will be rear-wheel drive with a 6 spd. then as i'm sure everybody already knows will be bumped up a class with the altima taking its place.

 

I seriously doubt longetivity will be a problem. If the transmission can handle the extra power it'll be fine.

If you're worrying about the traction problems a 3.5 liter engine would have hooked up to FWD, then keep in mind a limited-slip diff will solve them. And if the Anniversary Edition Maxima had a limited slip diff, then the hotrod that will be the Maxima SE-R will most certainly have one as well

I don't get why a 3.5 liter 260hp/250lb-ft engine in a FWD platform seems so unfeasible. Every single V8 Cadillac sends damn near if not more then 300lb-ft of torque, and between 275-300hp to the front wheels. The Acura CL and TL Type-S models both produce 260hp, and they are both FWD (and don't even have a limited slip differential!)

I'm sticking with my belief that the 2002 Maxima will be the baddest max of them all...and I'm saving my pennies

 

The new Passat will have a W8 with 275 HP going throught the front wheels.

The Pontiac GTP has 240 and 280 TQ going through the front wheels.

The Acura TL-S and CL-S have 260 going throught the front wheels.

So... I can see the 260 HP Maxima being front wheel driven.

 

Actually the 2002 Passat W8 will come with 4Motion standard..but that's besides the point

 

I sure hope they announce something soon if they are going to make a major change. Or else i'm trading my max in for a subaru. I would like to stick with nissan but they dont' have anything fast enough to suit my taste.

 

I too believe that the 2002 Maxima will get the new 3.5L engine, but I don't think Nissan will be releasing any information on the new engine. If they tell us now that they will be comimg out with a new engine this summer/fall, then many people will hold off buying a Maxima now which will decrease sales.

If on the other hand they don't say anything about a new engine release then sales should remain strong for the 2001 Maxima.

After Nissan releases the new engine in 2002 many of us will consider trading in our 2000-2001 Maximas for the new 2002 Maxima which will again increase sales. So Nissan does the best in sales by not telling us when the new release will come out. Just my 2 cents!

 

<b>VQ35 engine, 260 hp, 6-speed, front-wheel drive, LSD, 5th Gen body.</b> My source is none other than Stephen Thomas, Engineering Manager at Nissan USA for the new Infiniti Q45 and author of the fuel-cut appeal currently under review at Nissan Japan. Without a doubt, it will be the fastest Maxima ever produced.

Damn. I'll still have a year left on my lease when the 2002 Maxima is released. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get out of my lease in late 2002 just in time to get into the new Maxima before they increase the body size for 2003.

[Edited by y2kse on 03-03-2001 at 06:56 PM]

 

One thing all those other high powered front drive sedans mentioned earlier have in common: NO MANUAL AVAILABLE.

Traction control and electronically controlled slush boxes and torque converters make it a lot easier to design out the torque steer and loss of traction on full power upshifts. I suppose one could design a manual tranny clutch to slip above a certain torque limit so an not to allow unsightly front drive torque steer laden, side-stepping burn outs and up-shifts.

LSD will help put power to both wheels, but they'd still break loose with that kind of power. Nissan's traction control currently is only available on automatics and it doesn't use the brakes. Bigger tires might help - but the 17inchers w/225 width already have that turning radius on the border line. 18 inchers with 245 or wider would have that sucker turning like a Mac truck!

One might want to mention the Volvos and SAABs with gobs of power and front drive with manuals. Those are turbos where the power peak is further up the rev band and I'm not sure if the torque peak is all that high, especially in the low ranges. Despite that, the car mag afficionados always ***** about the unrefined drivetrain and nasty torque steer in those cars.

I'd be interested in seeing the hp and torque curves of the VQ35 as it's planned. By nature of it's larger displacement, I'm sure torque at the low end will be a bit higher than the VQ30; but maybe the power and torque peaks will be so high on the rev band that there will be no noticeable negative effect during upshifts and launches with manual transmissons.

I'm not arguing it's implausible; but if the rear drive 6th gen is coming out in '03 or '04, it seems to make no sense from a marketing/accounting standpoint. If they do it, it puts a smile on my face, because that means Nissan is not being run completely by bean counters, despite the earlier financial woes. However, does Nissan really want to alienate all those 20th AE buyers coughing up the extra dough for 5 measely hp, an LSD, and a few trim bits only to see an SE-R roll out the following year with probably better aero effects (more aggressive like the Sentra SE-R), better sport seats, better wheels and tires, maybe more gauges, and almost 40 extra hp? They won't be alienated if the new SE-R is a mega limited production halo car that costs 35+ K; but if they want to sell it in volume to compete with Acura TL type S, they'd have to keep it around 32K. Talk about depreciation of the AE and depression of the AE buyers (especially the ones suckered into paying close or over sticker by the dealers saying how "rare" and "special" the AE is)!!! If Nissan does their own lease financing, they're shooting themselves in the foot on the AE leases... No wonder Nissans don't hold their value like Hondas and Toyotas and VW's and BMW's.

As someone who's buying an AE that's supposed to arrive by April, I know I won't happily run out and take a huge financial hit to trade up to an SE-R. Likely, I'll have to drive it until the wheels fall off. With my luck, next year they're probably finally ditching the 80's GM X-car front strut / rear beam suspension in favor of double wishbones too. And let's finally throw in some Xenon headlights while we're at it.

I guess that's a catch 22 for poor Nissan. If your products improve that fast, you always run the risk of alienating earlier customers and causing steep depreciation. I'll have to really savor those 3 months of driving Nissan's "special" Anniversary car; because when the SE-R comes out, that feeling of privilege will be quickly replaced by something else...

 

Those cars aren't AVAILABLE with a MANUAL because its ACURA and CADILLAC. They don't offer manual transmissions because they don't think that their average customer wants it. Nissan, unlike either of those two comapanies, supports the enthusiasts by offering, *gasp*, manual transmissions!

Hmm...who is it that has an S/C and VLSD? Alex Rosten? I hear he doesn't have any traction problems...

both have gobs of torque (243 and 258 lb-ft, respecively) and use turbos with variable geometry, so maximum torque arrives rather quickly.

Then go look at the power curves of a Pathfinder/I30. It's the same friggin engine. That'll help your speculations in the rest of that paragraph.

It may not, but so what? According to the bean counters, NO car company (except BMW) should be offering manual trannies, much less making special, limited edition models. But you know what? Those are the image builders. When people see those cars, they may not necessarily buy them, but they'd buy cars from that same manufacturer, or a lower trim model of that same car, because they're impressed by it or in awe of it.

 

I doubt it will be completely the same. Truck applications of engines usually apply a cam that gives better low end grunt for pulling power in sacrifice of some smoothness and high end. The I30 I don't think is using the VQ35 - its sharing with the Max, isn't it?

That's probably why the car application will be rated 20hp higher. I suspect the car application will rev more freely to a higher redline to a higher hp peak in sacrifice of a trucklike stump pulling bottom end. That also means it will probably be butter smooth like the 3.0 for all you folks worrying about that...

La Jolla, I don't disagree with you one bit that there will be no "traction problems" with a VQ35 front drive application and manual transmission. It'll be drivable (just like all those Nitroused up Hondas pulling 10's on the drag strip), just not very refined by car enthusiast establishment standards. Of course, maybe that's not Nissan's market anyway - BMW and Mercedes don't show their cars sliding around in water puddles with the handbrake pulled...

I also doubt Nissan will stop at the Max SE-R. It might be exciting to speculate about that '02 model; but then I'd also speculate about the Altima SE-R that will inevitably show up with the same engine/fwd transaxle combo after the Max gets bigger and rwd(the only way the bean counters would approve it I bet). And it's only a matter of time before Nissan gets on the variable valve timing bandwagon that'll give us a nice flat torque band across the rev range and probably even higher peak power.

One last speculation: In order to keep gas mileage marginally the same or better, that 6th gear will probably slow the engine down a bit more at highway cruising speeds. So as far as top gear acceleration goes against the VQ30 five speed, the 35 will probably only be marginally better; but watch out when the VQ35 driver drops a gear or two.

 

It was late, I meant QX4....doh


It sure it may have slightly different cam timing, but the power curve won't be THAT different. They're not going to put in a radical high-lift, high-duration racing cam or anything. You can still get a good idea of the engines power characteristics.

 

Of Course I would want this new 2002 Maxima!! Would'nt we all?!?!? Its just that I just got this damn car! A 2k1 Gray Lustre SE. Went all the way to Connecticut to get it since they didnt have my color in NY or NJ. Dropped all this money on an audio system, CAI, Y-Pipe, (to get to a "measly" 240hp) spoiler-kit, fancy, shmancy lights here and there...all these other bells and whistles, all this work and money and now they go and change the whole thing up on us! I feel really cheated guys.... Sure we can go and trade our cars in but is it worth it after all the work we've done and money we've dropped? Is it REEAAALLLY worth it?
What about just trading the engine/or buying the new engine?? Its the same body style right? I know its supposed to be a 6-spd now but didnt someone say earlier that a 5-spd can handle it also? Could there be any other way out besides trading the car in? What about my carbon fiber kit, my aero-kit? Too much hassle fellas!!! What do you all think to this?
Can you even trade in the engine or would we have to sell it and get another one. I've only got 6000 miles on mine. We'll see I guess.


Deac


Errr......still dont know how to make a sig...but I got stuff! Lots o'stuff!

 

I agree...I'll believe it when I see it

I cant count how many times Ive read up on a cars specs and then when it finally reaches production it isnt what was quoted on paper a few months earlier