I didn't think that the 2002 comes out till later this fall. Anyway, I live in San Diego, It was around 7 tonight. I was on my way home from the laundry-mat, and I looked in my rear-view mirror, and saw a 2002 Maxima. I knew instantly that it was a 2002 because of the HUGE Nissan badge on the front grille and the HID lighting. To my luck, the light just ahead of me turned red, and the Maxima pulled up right next to me. We both rolled down our windows, and I asked him if it was a 2002, He said yes, and that He just got it last night. There were two guys inside, and the weird thing is that it had the window stickers on the side window like a new car has, so maybe the car was a "dealer" car or something. The very next thing that he said was, "Do you want to run?" Hell ya I wanted to run him. I really wanted to know what my car could do against his 260hp engine. I asked him if it was a manuel, and he said no, that the manuels aren't out yet,anyway, the light was going to change green, so I started to rev my engine, I had my car at about 2500rpm, and dropped the clutch, His car did a mad burn out along with mine, and we were off. To my suprise, I blew him away, I had him by at least a car and a half, We got up to third, than I had to turn, so I gave him a quick flash of my emergencies and waved, and I was off to home. The car looks exactly the same from the side, and the front looks the same as far as I can tell, except for the LARGE Nissan badge. Never got to see the tail I feel sooooooooo much better now that I know that I can take a 2002 Maxima SE(fully loaded w/ leather) with only the intake mod on my engine. It felt good. Still was an awsome looking car though...

 

I dunno I'm a little skeptical of this story! Sorry I'm just being honest!

 

i dunno i am too.. 255hp and cant beat 222.. mann if that true, nissan

 

1.)It could happen.
2.)The car is at most a day old. It isn't broken in.
3.)It's an automatic vs. a 5 speed.
4.)The peak power is probably made up top, where the automatic can't make use of it, especially from a stop.
5.)Why does everyone always question everything? If he said it happened, then maybe, just maybe it did.

 

Cool story! I wish I could see an 02...someone said earlier that he went to Glendale Nissan and test drove an 02 Max. Our dealer is Glendale Nissan...hopefully I can stop by and see it.

 

I agree this is a "maybe" for sure! I'm weighted for a number of factors as to maybe it didn't happen than maybe it did happen. It's all good though only way to find out how quick they are soon enough..

 

$20

 

not anymore, peak hp is at 5900rpm. so you get to use it and pass it and fall back into the power band better.

 

Hey guys, I'm not known to over-exagerate or lie, I have nothing to proove, As for me, I was going to trade in my car for a 2002, but now I have second thoughts. The guy asked me to race, and I blew him away hands down. I know that he couldn't of messed up, all he had to do was floor it. I was suprised, I wasn't expecting a kill...Regardless if the car has 255hp or not, we raced from a dead stop on his behalf. I am on this site almost everynight, and rarely post anything, but I felt pretty d*mn good after that, and I felt the need to tell somebody...

 

wow, thatz sweet, I didn't know they were already out!

 

The current auto is about a 7.8 0-60. Even with 255hp, I bet the 02 auto only manages 7.0-7.2 at best. An 01 5-speed really shouldn't have a problem.

 

With 246 torque. I would think it would pull harder than that! Well I have a 5spd with Y pipe and intake and look forward to seeing how fast the new auto is for real. The 6spd had better be a demon!

 

wow, thatz sweet, I didn't know they were already out!

 

I believe my01se - here's why:

The CL-S/TL-S have 260HP, extra weight, but 5 gears. The 2k2 Maxima has 255HP, less weight, but the auto only has 4 wider gears.

I'm just speculating, but we know that 1-3 in the Acura's are pretty close ratios optimized for 0-60 and 1/4 mile runs and 4-5 are both overdrive. The close ratio 1-3 would compensate for the extra weight in the Acura's.

On the 2k2 Max the 4-spd won't have the closer ratios that the 5-spd Acura does, but it also has less weight to tug around - a good bit less.

So from all of this I think you could make a reasonable assumption that a 2k2 Max/automagic and a TL-S/CL-S will damn near be almost identical in performance...

And we all know what a 5-spd Max can do to an Acura Type-S!!!!

Going by the 20% loss through an auto tranny, I think the VQ35DE will dyno at just short of 200 fwhp. With a VQ30DE modded with an intake and hooked up to a 5-spd it will put down 190 fwhp or more while also having closer gears, more gears, and less weight...

So I believe my01se

Just like a VQ30DE 5-spd can beat an Acura TL-S/CL-S, I'm not surprised that one will beat a VQ35DE/auto either...

**BUT** ....

No, the 2k2 Max was NOT broken in yet because weren't they just released like yesterday or something?

And both drivers and crappy burn-out launches. Maybe my01se just hooked up an instant sooner and that was all he needed to pull away like that.

===========

One thing on this new 5900rpm power peak on the VQ35DE. Just because power peaks at 5900rpm does NOT mean you'd want to shift there. You'd still want to shift at redline. The engine may not be making peak power at redline anymore, but it's still making a good bit more than it would if you just shifted up to the next gear as soon as you hit 5900rpm.

What I'm saying is that the new engine will still make more horsepower at redline than it would at whatever RPM the next gear lands you at.

So if the new automagic is still shifting at 5900rpm then you guys are STILL gonna have to powershift that at redline to extract maximum performance.

 

Very good points! After reading this I tend to believe the story now as well. The 02 being auto, with passenger, brand new... Ya I believe it now! The guy probably wasn't power shifting. Also this mad burn out didn't help him. And the fact that the race was to the bottom of third (65mph) doesn't mean much. If it went on at WOT all the way through third gear then I would be a real race to judge by IMO.

"We want 6spd!" "We want 6spd!" "We want 6spd!"

 

Thursday was supposed to be the first day the 2002s were on sale...I thought it was later, but they're on sale now.

 

am i the happiest camper after reading this story or what????



i'd just think this way..

even tho 5th gens have 32 horsepower edge over the 4th gens(yeah, i know we weigh more than the 4th gen too..but still)
but a 4th gen manual can kick 5th gen auto's shinny wide butt. the 2002s have 38 horsepower edge over the 2000-01s, but it's possible that a 00-01 manuals can still beat the 2002 autos...

and plus, nissan has some explainning to do with their specs anywayz....

 

wow, thatz sweet, I didn't know they were already out!

 

 

Auto with 3 people in the car and not broken in yet. We will see.

 

He did have 2 passenger and probably wasn't power shifting... Gotta take up for my fellow automagics 5spd bullies, where not ascared of ya Try racing the 6spd when it comes out...

 

Hey guys, I think everybody kinda overlooked an important fact to why the auto lost. When I first got my auto max, it would only shift to 4000 rpms when I floored through the break in period. Since our powerband was 5-7k, It was not at its optimum yet.

 

So I called Nissan America and I asked when I could see the 02 Maxima. So he told me that some dealers nationwide had them and there is an estimated 8. The closest to me was in Maryland the one from the Maxus (i'm in conn). I told the guy that my friend saw a Maxima in San Diego. He's like impossable ETA is mid-Sept. NO ONE has the right to buy a new maxima since it's not out except promo people. I'm like dude I saw and he like transfers me to some internal loss dept and they start asking me questions like I stole one lol I'm like jeeez. So I dunno, I mean he is a NEWBiE. However I could believe the race 5 speeds ARE better than automagics...

 

What about the 4th gen 190hp beating the 222-227hp 5th gen? It's been done. I've already walked every single 5th gen I've come across. Either the extra weight of the 5th gen is killing performance or those new found horses aren't as strong as they're suppose to be.

I believe the story because I saw a trailer load of 2002 Maximas yesterday (Kansas City). I also saw the new Altima...very cool.

I read the MT article about the new Altima and I noticed it weighed 3150lbs. Techincally it weighs 100lbs less than the new SE 6 speed. If this is the case, I have a strong feeling the new SE Maxima is only going to be marginally quicker than the SE Altima because of the added weight and only an extra "paper" 15 hp (255hp). MT got a 14.78 at a strong 97mph out of the new Altima, BUT it was a preproduction model. I'm pretty sure the factory version will be slightly slower.


Dave

 

I don't get. Why are you even comparing the automatic 2002 Max to your 5-spd Max? Do you think that 30 extra hp will knock more than a second off 0-60 time for an automatic? Not likely, especially since the same 4-spd autotragic is being used. If you compare 5-spd vs 5-spd I'm sure the 2002 will be faster than the 2001.

 

I think Steve nailed it down pretty good. Some cars do worse shifting too late in the power band though. I doubt the 3.5 VQ fits into that category though. The Nissan reps at Maxus told us that dealers would be receiving shipments this week. I believe the story.

 

SO WHY THE HECK WAS 800-Nissan-1 so surprised?!?!?!?!

 

I'm waiting to run with one when it comes out....just wanna see I can beat it or not....even though they're not properly broken in, if he/she wants to run, good enough for me....

 

You have not You are actually the only 4th gen that got me on the highway, but off the line, I have yet to loose to any, and highway especially now even if there modded.

 

Adam you know better than to ask why customer service didn't know sh#t! i swear any one of us know more about the max than the entire NissanNA customer service dept.

 

No kidding! They are along the lines of 1st level computer customer support!

 

I checked out the Nissan website and there is nothing on the 2k2 Max. Whats up with that?

Nissan Website

Check it out they have all the other 2k2's but no Maxima. That doesn't make any sense.

 

Good Kill! Its always funny when you can take someone by surprise like that!

 

I doubt that too.

But if you're driving a diesel, or an 96-98 Mustang V6 with 150HP at 4000rpm (peak) (which ironically is very similar to the power curve of a diesel ) then you'd probably be better off shifting those well before redline

Not the VQ35DE or the J30A1 in my Accord V6, though

 

This is a "nobrainer" since the guy had two passengers. Let's say they each weighed 175lbs, for a total of 350lbs. Add 50lbs for the auto. I have no info on the 2002 weight, but let's just assume it's heavier by a mere 50lbs. That adds up to a total of 450lbs over the 2001 SE 5-speed. Let's also remember that each car had a 175lbs driver.

So in order for a 2001 SE 5-speed to produce the same acceleration when handicapped by an extra 450lbs, Hp would have to increased to 222HP*(3200+175+450)/(3200+175) = 252HP. This is an approximate number, but it is very close to the 255Hp rating of the 2002. Now throw in the power loss through the auto transmission, and you see why the 2002 driver could be beaten. This doesn't even account for the fact that the engine was not broken in and that driver error could have further leveled out the odds.

So this could have happened, and if it did, it doesn't mean at all that a 2002 SE 6-spd won't smoke your a** if you are competing with a 2001 SE 5-spd, PERIOD.

I can't believe some of the posts I read on various sites. Some people with 4-5 of their friends stuffed in their car get beaten by much lesser cars, but they whine and ***** about why it happened. Uuuh, just look at F=ma to get an idea of how acceleration will scale with the extra weight. God bless our education system.

 

tho i don't share your enthusiasm, i agree

 

Anybody stop to think that the guy didn't want to work over a new engine by redlining it? There is no reason why that car should have lost except for that he was going easy on it. OR nissan may have built an engine with one hell of a crappy torque curve...just because it hits 246 at one RPM doesn't make it have to have power all the way from 500 RPM up to that point.