I'd like to hear some impressions how they cars drive with the bigger 3.5 engine.

And of course still waiting on the 6spd to make it here down south. Every time I go in they say it will be here later and later. Of course this week they told me they will be here in Novemeber w/ the helical limited slip STANDARD.

Do any car salesman now anything or do they just try to make the consumer feel better?

Patience is virtue, my friend. I remember when the early batch of 2k's came out they didn't have the 17's on the SE's. so I gues the wait will be worht it. I'm thinking the old 96 has to go and a 2k2 6-sp will be my next one.

The 3.5L Alty is hella fast!
At least it felt like it...

FREE WATCH ON IT'S WAY!!!


ADMAN

I have the 2k2 Max but never having owned a maxima before I couldnt tell you the difference from an older one. But it does drive very very nice. Seems quite quick to. Hopefully here shortly I can get to a track and see what kinda times I can run with it.
Only other automatic that I have driven and could consitently squeal tires in was my dad's old 66 mustang and that was rear wheel drive.

May test drive a Maxima too, but want to wait for the stick. Can't wait to get the free watch too. That alone is worth my time to test-drive (that and ruining a new set of front tires on an Altima).

I bought a 2002 GLE after having rented a 2000 Maxima for my summer vacation last year. Not entirely sure what the rental Maxima was - no GXE/GLE/SE on the trunk - in most ways it was a GXE but it had some options that weren't, as far as I know, available on a GXE.

Anyways, that's really beside the point. Given what I was driving at the time (a 1996 Stratus) I was completely blown away by the 2000 - so much passing power, decent brakes, etc. I *had* to have one. So when the 2002 came along promising even more power, I decided to wait a little and get that.

It might be largely due to a year having elapsed since I drove the 2000, but my new 2002 (which I just took on the same trip as the 2000 went on last year) doesn't seem *that* much snappier than the 2000 was. Perhaps it's just that I've never really had a chance to push it, either. It seems like it's got more to spare when doing interstate speeds (in those nice plains states where interstate speeds are *real* interstate speeds) but if anything it seems a little *less* nippy when pulling away from lights, etc. I'm sure it's psychological, though, since I'm treating the 2002 with kid gloves right now. Generally I love the car, but a lot of that's more to do with Nissan having refined things since the 2000 than the extra power.

I wonder which car will be faster teh Altima 3.5se/ 5sp or the Max SE /6spd?

Rental companies usually carry only GXEs.
GXEs do not have an emblem in the trunk (only SE/GLE).
If you saw additional options was because GXE come with the C&C
package.

Hey Guys,

Git my 2k2 Max last week. I've owned a '97, '00, '01, '02 so I've got some authority here. (I only had the '00 a month, it had a mysterious brake problem that the service dept. could not reproduce, and I finally got it resolved when I told the owner of the dealership to take the car home over the weekend and let his wife and kids drive it all they wanted. He finally understood why I wanted to get rid of that car.)

Anyways......

The 2k2 is great!! It has the xtra horses and the extra refinement, especially in the trans, to make it better than the '01. So, if you like the '00, or the '01, you will absolutely love the '02.

If you have the means......I would highly recommend it !!! LOL

P.S. I avg'd 30.5 mpg on a long highway road trip this week.

Tjz

Talked to a guy buying a new Altima a couple weeks ago and he said the he drove the 2002 Max and 3.5 Altima and said the Altima feels faster. Im waiting for my brochure w/ the free watch deal to see for myself.

I test drove the new Altima and the Maxima SE. I purchased the Maxima. Even though the weight of the cars is almost identical, the Maxima felt more stable, and the exhaust note was a little louder (not obnoxiously so though) on the SE. I now have about 800 miles on the Maxima and haven't really seen what all it will do on a curvy mountain road. I will say it got to 110mph on a straight no problem.

My father-in-law has a 2K1 Maxima GXE and he was in town last week. We had the chance to do some stoplight racing one evening. I was pretty ginger off the line and still took him by half a car length at 45mph. FYI both cars are totally stock.

Raced a punk in a 300M the other day. Smoked him too.

I just picked up my 02 SE last Sat. At the time I owned a 01 Sentra SE(a nice little car)but it just got to small for me. I had thought I would get a marked down 01 but just couldn't live with the performance off the line with the auto - and I wanted an auto. When I first test drove a GXE I was like this is a engine/trans I can live with. I shopped really hard (travelled 120 miles to buy) and got my Majestic Blue Max SE at basically invoice - they were near MSRP on the Altima (so the salesman said). Nice improvements over 01 -engine/trans of course, seats, power window operation and the clear tails look good with the Blue, and the HID's are great. The gated trans is really usable to operate in 'manual' mode. Motor Trend just tested a 3.5 I35 at a 7.0 sec. 0-60. I always wanted a Max and I'm glad I waited for the 02. The G35 will be sweet though.

GoodLuck

A friend of mine just purchased a 2K2 Altima in Kansas City. The dealer didn't want to budge from invoice, however after 4 hours of haggling my friend got the car for $500 over invoice. Decent deals can be made if you persist (at least in the midwest).

Early reports are the Altima due to weight differences.