Hi All,

I am a new owner of a midnight blue 2003 Maxima SE. I had someone buy the car for me, so I haven't driven it yet, but from what I read, I am worried that I'll be dissappointed with the car. After loooots of research, everyone seems to rant and rave about how good the acceleration is on the car. I've heard things lots of people say the Maxima offers great "bang for the buck". However, according to the numbers i've found, the 03 Maxima accelerates 0-60 in 7 seconds!!! that's amazing??? my 91 Tbird does 0-60 in that time, and it's an old clunker!! *sigh* I should be happy that I got the Maxima, cuz i know it's a solid and dependable car, but with a 0-60 of 7 seconds, how can i "really" be happy?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys!

 

Just wait until you actually drive it. You will love your Maxima.

 

you got the auto? even then it does 0-60 less then in 7 sec

 

is the car a gift else this post make no sense.

buying a car without even driving it?

 

That 7 sec time is a pharce! Give it a whirl, Its more like low 6's. You WILL love the car, guaranteed!

 

I was wondering the same thing. That and wouldn't it be nice to have somebody buy a 2003 SE for you.

 

I love my max. but see i think your worrying over nothin man, The maxima at the end of the day is a 4 door V6 quasi family sport sedan. so its kinda unfair to compare it to a Tbird, if you got the super 6 thats a large 3.8liter SC'd 2door coupe weighing in at 3,800 odd lbs. Reliability issues aside, You put the same Turbo or SC on a 2003 max, (i think theres a kit in the works for the 02's 03's right?) youll get better performance, and better reliability, a backseat (i owned a mark8, fun, but no rear room ), and all the other perks that make us love our max'es. If your not happy with its speed, theres enough stuff floating around to make you happy.

 

When I was in the Marine Corps, this guy in my squadron was like 6'5"...

He went to a dealer, and they sold him an Eclipse before he ever even sat in the thing.

Needless to say he was disappointed with the minimal leg room. (what a jacka$$)

any 18, 19 year olds making a decent paycheck is scarey...can you imagine what Lebron James is doing with all that cash??!?! He has so much $$ he'd have to be REAL stupid to make to big a mistake. I'm sure his mom/agent convinced him to get a financial advisor (or three)

-vq

 

Actually, I had a friend buy it from me from an auction in Cali, it was an rental car. So he bought it for me, but I'm obviously paying for it. Considering the amount of money i have, the fact that i need a reliable car, and a car that'll have some spirit in it, and an automatic, the maxima was my choice.

I am currently driving a 91 5.0L V8 Tbird which has 200 HP and 200 ft/lb of torque, and while the maxima has more HP/torque, why is it still giving me the same 0-60 as my fat tbird? it just doesn't make sense to me. My new Maxima is an automatic BTW. I will not get to drive my maxima until i go home in about 6 weeks, so i'm kinda worried that i'll get in it and i'll be dissappointed. Tomorrow i will call rental companies and see if anyone still rents 2003 maximas and i'll rent one and see how it drives. but from what i understand, the companies that use Maximas are using 2004's already, so i doubt i'll find one.

blah. sucks. i should be excited, cuz the max is a good car, but i'm not. yucka.

 

You have nothing to be worried about. A stock 2003 AT Maxima runs quite a bit better times than your old TBird. You will believe it when you drive it; until then, stop worrying and start saving for mods.

 

100% agree. kawidood, if you are a performance minded person, judging by the T-Bird, you'll be pleasantly suprised when you drive your Maxima for the first time. Just hold tight to the steering wheel

 

stop mag racing

 

ok, so the maxima quote is for a "manual tranny" car...but the automatics really aren't that much slower...

http://car-stats.com/stats/showstats...tsgivenid.aspx

and here is an LX Thunderbird: (did this have the 5.0?)
http://car-stats.com/stats/showstats...tsgivenid.aspx

and here is a s/c 3.8L V6 Thunderbird:
http://car-stats.com/stats/showstats...tsgivenid.aspx


all signs are pointing towards your statement of Thunderbird 0-60 times being done in 7 seconds are a little optomistic...

And when you add 13 years of wear and tear, you probably do 0-60 in 9.5 to 10 seconds..

Just wait until you drive it...not only will it have plenty of juice, the engine is so smooth and rough (just roll down the window) that you will always want to rev the engine to about 6500rpm.. It sounds SO DAMN GOOD at WOT....

Even if the Thunderbird is nearly as fast, it's nowhere NEAR as refined as your new baby,

so relax
sit back
and be glad you didn't buy an '83 Cadillac

snoop-q

 

thanx a lot to all of you out there for your support I really appreciate your words of encouragement, rather than blasting me for "putting down" the maxima.

VQman, i don't know the actual 0-60 times of my Tbird,and i haven't really done mods to it, but i guess it FEELS like it's got some decent umph. From a standstill the Tbird is a slouch, but when i'm going 35 and i floor it, it skips down a few gears and it really hauls. I attribute that sensation to the torque of a v8, and i hope that my max will give me the same sensation. i want to FEEL like i'm hauling ***, even if i'm not really

 

i'm guess 0-60 of your t-bird s near 8.5 to 10.0 seconds...

other than a little wheel spin, the Max is no slouch off the line...

I also posted a reply to your post on www.kcmaximas.org

BTW, I didn't realize those links didn't work,

0-60 for the S/C 3.8L T-Bird is 7.4 (back in the day) and the LX was said to do it in 8.5 or 9.0...I forgot..

don't worry, you won't be disappointed.

-vq

 

The Maxima is faster than your T bird. The only T bird that will compare is the supercharged one. Pkus, you will have 4 doors, a smoother ride, HID, nice 6 speaker stereo, 17" wheels, auto headlights, etc... You'll also look like a guy who can afford to drive a car built in this century and not an aging t- Bird (no offense but the T bird looks very dated).

So yes you should be happy, b/c you can a classy fun, reliable and dare I say classy car to replace your aging ride.

Plus, you can have faster acceleration with much better gas mileage.

 

My 02's 0-60 ranges from 6.1-6.3 according to my g-tech. You'll love your car's silky smooth engine and it's ability tol rev past your pushrod V8. These engine make great torque for an DOHC motor. Ever driven a 96 Cobra with a DOHC 4.6? They have a weak bottom end torque band and don't come alive until 3 rpm's. When they come alive it comes alive though.

Dave
02 Maxima SE
85 El Camino w/Turbo V6 swap

 

This whole thread has 'lack of judgment' & 'lack of common sense' written all over it.

 

don't knock the max without driving it first. you will be pleasantly surprised when you punch it the first time. i still get excited and i have the 3.0 with "only" 222 hp.

 

I had a friend with a 5.0 Thunderbird and it is nothing like my Maxima. Believe me, you're comparing apples to oranges here. That Thunderbird is a rattletrap, this car is much nicer. Believe me, you're going away from a 13 year old Ford, you will be very happy.

 

lol @ clunker 13 year old Tbird doing 7 sec 0-60.

 

A car is more than just a 0 to 60 time. The Max offers so much more than that but, it also offers great acceleration for a 4 door sedan around 30k.

 

you'll love your maxima! btw, your car's color is majestic blue, not midnight blue.

 

The only bad part is that the car was a RENTAL. And you will never know what kinds of people drove that car.

Someone should post the video of the rental Maxima that they took off road.

 

If you're going to be unhappy because of the 0-60 time, you should of bought a
high performance sports car. Never buy a vehicle without doing extensive research.

Mike

 

Bingo. To this day I find scary how powerful the engine on the 5th gen. I can only imagine how much sweeter the 5.5 gen is. The 00/01's are mid 6s when going 0-60. The 02/03s are low 6s.

7 seconds? Never. Once you get in the car, get your *** on a highway and floor that fugin engine. Feel the adrenaline rush.

Enjoy!

 

Not that you need someone else telling you the max is niice for the $, but I used to have a tbird 5.0 and the max is by far the better car. And I have the 3.0 not the 3.5 like in yours. One recomendation, buy an extended warranty I worked renal for 4 years and still rent cars regularly and you could NOT pay me to buy a rental I don't care how clean or how good the deal was. Out.

 

OK guys, I have a few things to say.

First of all, out of curiosity I times my Tbird today with just my stop watch. From a dead stop to 60 (according to my speedometer) was 9 seconds I didn't realize it took that long to be honest! So I can imagine the max will be better than that.

To reply to Mikelly, believe me, i did VERY extensive research before i decided on the max. my bird is dying and i need a reliable car when i move to NY. reliable = not american. i needed a car that would make me happy with accelaration, yet still offer me a dependable ride, so I boiled it down to the maxima and the WRX. I discounted the Mustang, Bonneville SSEi and a few others because of quality and price. I only had $15K with which to buy the car. Anyway, i looked up on the web, in car magazines, in forums, even test drove a friends 02 SE (she was in the car with me though, so i couldn't "really" test it out). The problem is that Road and Track, Motortrend and all those magz don't use maximas in their comparisons for 2003. they used the altima. so i couldn't get a good feel for the car. all i could ascertain was that it's a quality car with good acceleration. anyway, to make a long story short i was left with 2 choices.

1) WRX
2) Maxima

I decided on the Maxima because i test drove the WRX (manual) and i couldn't see myself driving it in stop and go traffic in NY or LA, and the auto saps a lot of the 0-60 time. Anyway, so I DID do my homework, and the maxima came out as my best choice.

Like I said, I'm not knocking the Max cuz i haven't even driven my own, I just wanted to hear some enthusiasm from you guys, who've driven Maximas', with regard to it's acceleration. Every time someone posts an enthusiastic reply telling me they love their max or that i'll love mine, it allays some of my worries. So once again guys, thanx for the words of encouragement!

 

One more thing With regard to the rental thing. Both my sister and brother bought rentals and didn't have problems. Beleive me, i've rented cars and killed the **** out of them, so I know what people do to rentals. Nevetheless, I also know that if i buy ANY used car there's a very strong possibility that its previous owner killed it just as bad as the rental cars. Most car officianados agree that buying from a rental company is a good idea, since they take good care of their cars. the last thing they need is for one of their cars to cause an accident because of lack of maintenance.

Also, I think people who rent Maximas are a bit more mature (i.e. older) than those who rent the smaller classes, so i HOPE they drove the car a little more responsably.

I could be wrong, but why burst my bubble? All I can do is take care of my car from now on. What happened in the past is water under the bridge as far as i'm concerned. if a maxima can't handle the rigors of rental, than what can?

 

Sir you have a great car on your hands, dont worry about it not impressing you. Unless you are comming down from a super sports sedan, the maxima will deliver. You aren't doing your car any justice by only thinking about acceleration times-especially when using a $5 stopwatch compared to $1k's magazine's spend on their equipment.

 

mine just stays there and creeps upwards... seriously the power is 'gone' unless you go with forced induction. it accelerates, but there is no rush.

kawidood, when are you taking delivery of the vehicle?

 

he's getting a 3.5L Maxima..

-vq

 

i am aware. i've driven both.

 

My acceleration doesnt start to "creep" until I'm between 115-120mph. That said, my Maxima's passing power is SICK!!!

kawidood, I've driven the 5.0L T-Bird when I worked @ Hertz (vehicle transporter). They were pretty quick cars (TCS off) and had good topend before Ford put the 109mph governors in; good for 145mph. Not too mention, 5.0L Mustang mods were readily avail for them on the aftermarket.

That said, the 2k2/3 Maxima will spank it at ANY trim level (GXE, SE, GLE--auto OR 6MT). That old "clunker" would need some mods to run any 3.5L Maxima. (I've stomped on several stock 5.0L Mustangs; Integra Type Rs are harder to beat, by comparison)

However, I would recommend that you check your tires out first. If you're rolling in Potenza RE92s dump them IMMEDIATELY for a set of Falken Ziex 512s; I did and its a night and day diff.

That said you WILL NOT be disappointed by the performance. You'll have an ear-to-ear grin.

Peace.

 

@Evil: "mine just stays there and creeps upwards... seriously the power is 'gone' unless you go with forced induction. it accelerates, but there is no rush.

kawidood, when are you taking delivery of the vehicle?"


Evil, what vehicle just creeps forward? YOur max or your old Tbird (If i'm reading it correctly)

I will be picking up my Maxima the first week of June when i go home. Than I'm going to drive it from LA to Memphis, and from Memphis up to NY.

@F23: You're right that technically there are a lot of go-fast parts for the Tbird, but even though it has the 5.0HO V8 that the Mustang has, it's a much detuned engine. Not to mention it's a fat bastard When i first got the car i looked into souping it up, and most of the mechanics told me not to bother, get a mustang if i want a fast car.

About the tires, you're right. right now they have Potenzas, and as soon as they're worn out i'm gonna change em, maybe to some Yokahamas. the good thing is that the 17 inch wheel leaves me with tons of options for tires.

Anyway, I looked into renting a Maxima to see how i like it, but no one still rents em. I will borrow the car from my friend and this time ask her to let me drive it on my own ;-) I think i'll be happy with the car. It's a nice looking car, it's dependable, and it's got a good engine. I don't ONLY look at 0-60 times y'know ;-) For my speed rush i'll buy myself another motorcycle ;-)

 

Actually, the tire options for the 5G Max SE is limited to 225/50/17 (if you respect the stock load rating). Irrespective of load rating though, there are plenty of options in the 225/45/17 size.

And then there's plus sizing.......

 

Not only will your Maxima wipe its own **** with your Tbird in acceleration.....it has heart in the top end whereas your Ford had none

You are a lucky person to drive the first gen Maxima w/ an award winning VQ35

 

im glad you actually timed it because there is no way in hell any tbird stock will run under even 7.5seconds 0-60. tq makes it "feel" fast. wait till you drive the 5th gen maxima!

 

Well, that's good that you did an extensive research on the car. I don't think
you'll be disappointed with your choice. I've owned an 87 Max and after 15 years
of owning the car I replaced it with an 02 Max. Hopefully this'll last for 15 years
also. Enjoy and good luck with it?

Mike

 

Hehe, I'm actually getting pretty excited about the car now I have a picture of it on my desktop (not the greatest) and everytime i look at it i get a bit more excited. When I see my Bird parked outside I find myself wishing it was my Max out there instead

Anyway, thanks to all for your enthusiastic replies, it really allayed my fears a LOT. I will drive my friends Max tomorrow hopefully and that shuld be the final nail in the coffin

Now I need to worry about insurance!!! Anyone here from NY? Can you tell me what you pay and who your insured with?