In the January 2002 issue of Motor Trend, the 2K2 Max is overlooked and not even tested in the their new Car of the Year testing. They do test an Altima 3.5SE 5-speed and a Sentra SE-R 6-speed but no Max.

Here we are nearly half-way thru the 2K2 model year and there has been no comparison testing of the new 2K2.

By the way, the Altima they test does 0-60 mph in 6.28 seconds.

 

They tested for COTY in like September, the Maxima wasn't released in time.

 

my wife informs me that she was watching some news program, where it was announced that the Altima was picked as best new family sedan.
dont know where or by whom though.

 

I think the 2k2 Max was not in the competition because car of the year is for all new models. Technically, the 2k2 is still a 5th generation Maxima and will not be considered all-new until the 6th gen is released. I could be wrong, but I think this is the way it works........

 

I think you are right

 

i dont think thats fair for the 2k2 maxima. The civic si is just a faster civic ex, and magazines were all over that car.

 

I guess the Maxima can be our little secret

 

he is right. that's how it works.

 

Yes, the car needs to be a new car never before released, or majorly changed, such as the Altima. The "6th" generation Max will be included, as I'm sure the 2000 Max was as well.

As for the true Motor Trend Car of the Year, the 2002 Ford Thunderbird was choosen - Congrats to Ford, the TBird has been selected for the 4th time as car of the year (1958, 1987, 1989 and 2002!) [Sorry, weekend fun car is a '94 Thunderbird SC, gotta be proud for Ford!]

 

mmmmmm...super coupe....

 

Hehehe, the one and only! Only car I enjoy more than the Max - sorry gang!

 

the Maxima won best car in class for 23-30k

Altima won best car in class and best new car 16-23k

Read it here..

http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/ar...ding/cars.html

 

Notice how the 2000 COTY was the Lincoln LS, the 2001 was the PT Cruiser and now the 2002 is the Ford Tbird?

Hmmm...

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd be considering various theories

All I know is that I drove the PT Cruiser for a week and I must have a complete different view as to what a car of the year should be.

I haven't driven the two others so I'll leave it at that...

 

Then how come they tested the sentra se-r. Thats the same generation sentra. yet they tested it out. maybe it has to do with it having a new motor or something or the most anticipated cars.

 

i still havent seen any solid numbers on the SE-R SpecV. Magazines are ******* on it saying its over anticipated and i really think its more capable than the mag times. the only real world experience of the SE-R ive seen is, a friend of mine was driving in his RSX Type S and the SpecV flew by, my friend was driving 135+ mph at the time and the VSpec flew by him. Other than that i havent seen any solid numbers on the SpecV, if anyone knows anything about its real times it would be nice

 

If they tested the SE-R then I might be wrong since it is still on the B15 chassis. If they tested the Spec V maybe Nissan considers it an all new model of sentra

 

Naw, can't be just for new cars. They tested the Mazda MP3 and that's just a carry over from 2001 (I think).

And the Max came out before the SE-R, so it was released in time.

 

In Canada the 2002 Altima won Best Family car and the sub categories for under $25000 and over $25000 (Canadian pesos)in the AJAC The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada competition. Details will be posted on their web site Dec 14 www.ajac.org