Road & Track has a comparison review in their road test annual, I just picked up today. Here's how they ranked:

1. Nissan Maxima SE
2. Honda Accord EX V-6
3. Pontiac Grand Prix GT
4. Ford Taurus SE
5. Toyota Camry XLE V-6

 

No suprise to me!

 

How the hell did Ford and Pontiac beat Toyota???

Could you scan the article and post it? I would be interested to see how they reviewed each car.

Thanks.

 

I guess we will have to read the article to see what points they won over the Camry..

 

They did not like the Camry because it was to much on the "soft" side for their taste.

 

Their evaluation had three parts performance (objective), and subjective ratings, and price.

The Toyota beats the Pontiac and the Ford in the first two, but gets clobbered on price. It looks like the Camry's the most expensive of the lot. The Max didn't do so great on price, but blew it out in the first two categories.

 

This is an old test back in May or June 2000. You can pick this article up at the Nissan Dealer. I did and mine had a couple of typo's Mine says the Maxima did the 1/4mile in 19.8 when it should have been 15.8 and the lateral acceleration was .71g when it should have been .81g. The Grand Prix GT was the quickest of the lot but the Maxima rated the best at a "9" out of ten for the engine Catigory.

 

That was with the old slipping auto tranny, with the new TCM and solenoid, auto max should run around 15.5sec..no problems.....heheheh

Tim

 

They used the top-of-the-line model Camry, the XLE, when they should have used the LE V6. Unless they had all cars with similar options and the XLE was closer than the LE, then I guess they used the right one.

Go Maxima!

 

hmm I never thought of that. So that means our automatics are faster than the 4th generations?

 

Also remember this people... our autos shift at around 6100 instead of 6600, so we're losing about 500 rpms.

 

I wish we got the same TCM as I30's since they shift at redline. Maybe thats the reason why I30's are about .2seconds slower even though they weight 200 or so pounds more?