Anyone here besides me wonder why Altima has the Maxima's 3.5L V6? I feel that Nissan should have put a detuned 3.0L V6 in the top end Altima with around 210 horsepower, which would be all Altima needs to compete with Camry and Accord. The 3.5L V6 should have been reserved for the Max and the I35. Can you imagine an I35 owner with the same engine as an Altima owner? What's really up with Nissan.

I hope for good things to come
 

I have a 99 SE and would like to remain a NISSAN guy. So far the car has been very good, and I have received lot of compliments. I have considered the 2002 Max/Altima, as well as Acura products. Ruled out European models due to price and possible 'snob' factor.

Before the Nissan I had many Toyotas. Back in the 80's they were leaders. But IMO they are too much into reliability and making the general public happy and not catering to enthusiast. Excuse my spelling BTW. Every the IS300 is nice but not good enough. I hope Toyota will rise in the next little while.

Honda/Acura for some reason I tend to dislike. Great cars but overly abundant and in my region a lot of BRATS drive them.

Back to Nissan, hope that the 2003 Maxima will not be a flop. I like the 5th gen, and the 2002 looks good. Will still have to go for a drive. Altima sound interesting also.

totally agree
 

Altima will have 240 hp, maxima 255. My 2001 has 225 and Im now gonna get smoked by measly altima's. That really blows. I guess once they figured out they could get the VQ engeine shoehorned into the Altima they couldnt resist having a 40 hp advantage over the competition. They should have had a little consideration for all the current Maxima owners out there I think. One constellation: the new Max has a crappy 6 speed shifter (cable linkage) and floaty less responsive suspension.

Re: totally agree
 

I drove a 2002 SE yesterday. The suspension didn't feel floaty to me.

Too late for that now. :) At least mags are giving positive reviews for the Altima and the new Max is better than ever. Later on when the Max gets bigger, then Nissan will have a more well-rounded lineup...more sporty too. :naughty:

anybody know now many v6 altimas are gonna be made? i'm willing to bet only a small percentage.
the altima market is supposed to go against i4 camry and accords. if you start talking v6 camry and accords, then people will consider v6 altima and maxima. but if you're looking for v6 camry/accord, you're probably not looking for an SE version, hence, i don't think the SE v6 altimas will sell very well...cuz nobody's gonna buy it but us enthusiasts, and there just isn't enuf of us around.
anyways, that's my incomplete analysis of a market i don't know very well.
Jay

It seems like Nissan is trying to upscale their entire operation, the new Maximas are quite a bit more expensive and powerful, as are the new altimas. There's nothing wrong with that, the Maxima drives like a Bimmer so why not upscale it to compete with BMW? Nothing wrong with making their cars better, is there?

Stop crying. What you seem to forget is that the new maxima comes with a 6spd tranny with 265 ponies running thru the flywheel. That also smokes many cars in its class, so there is no diffrence.

Nissan is trying to make a come back, because for many years now, especially after the last 300zxtt was sold the maxima was nissans leading car in the U.S. So things are lokin up know. I spoke to a salesman and they are contemplating of bringing in the skyline he gave me a brochure with the new crs nissan will be bringing to the U.S. market, so just be happy that nissan has a really good chance to be a major figure in the import sport compact seen, who knows with the new 300zx out and sentra SE-R V- SPEC out its looking good.

it's called cost cutting. Nissan isn't exactly in the best of health as a company. the more their line-up shares, the less it'll cost Nissan to produce.