I broke down the week before x-mas and traded in my 97 Taurus SHO on a new 2002 SE max (both automatic). Here's how I would compare the cars:

Engine: 255 hp, 246 lbs torque on Max vs 235 hp, 230 lbs torque on SHO Advantage goes to Maxima, although I feel they are pretty close. I miss the "growl" of the v8 but I definitely like the "sleeper car mentallity" of the Max. I pulled up behind a 95ish Corvette and from a 10mph roll, he didn't pull away from me at all until I hit the brakes at 65+mph.

Suspension: The first thing I noticed was how "stiff" the Max was. I feel every bump in the road. The german ZF suspension on the SHO had a better "every day" ride. The 17" inch rims and tires on the Max (vs. 16" on SHO) could contribute to the ride. Advantage to SHO. The tires on the Max don't seem to cut the mustard. My first test drive was in the rain and I had a hard time keeping the rubber to the road even driving like a grandpa. I already plan to replace them next year. Tire road noise is also excessive at 65mph+ when compared to the SHO.


All in all, they are both nice cars. I just can't figure out why I wake up in the middle of the night, go to the garage, peek in on my 2002 Maxima, and just smile. I guess that would make me a "Maxima Junkie". Anyway, I thought you guys might want to hear my opinion first hand.

 

 

GC

 

welcome

 

You wrote in part:

"I just can't figure out why I wake up in the middle of the night, go to the garage, peek in on my 2002 Maxima, and just smile."



Hehe...and I thought I was the only one who did that.

 

welcome to the .org, i still do it after 5500 miles and i usually can't resist taking it for a ride around the block
BTW, what color did you get??

 

Welcome!

 

Sterling Mist with Black Cloth.

Already 2000 miles and been waxed with Zymol twice.

Just cancelled my membership to v8sho.com

 

Careful my friend, You should only wax your car 3-4 times a year to conserve the finish

 

haha. My friend has a 92 sho 5 speed and it is a quick car. Love the engine sound. But it's a ford. Need i say more? Good move on the Maxima.

 

Nothing like the feeling of having a brand new car!

 

...with a sledgehammer, cause you know you can't beat them in a race




To the new Max owner: Sorry to hear we are losing another SHO owner, but you definitely picked a wonderful car to replace it with. Probably be my choice if I had to make it. If only the Max had the sound of the 8!

 

I'll go next. This time I will bring the camera. Don't want to regret missing yet another Max kill.

 

Aren't you missing one important detail? Like a DRIVERS LISCENSE?

Stereodude

 

The SHO sucks, Ford sucks. Get a real car, get a max.

 

Settle down They guy who started this thread just went from a SHO to a Max.

 

How eloquent. Yes, I am sure the Yamaha DOHC 73 hp/L engine sucks. That is why the it took Nissan 13 years to put an engine in the Max that can outperform the SHO. Hey, I love the new Max, got nothing but praise for it. Give some respect where it's due. And in the case of the SHO, it is definitely due.

 

Yup I agree. The Yamaha designed 3.0 sho V6 was a gem of an engine. Very very nicely designed. I see dudes getting crazy power out of them. Full credit to that engine.

It's funny that the magazines got slower times from Ford's newer V8 sho engine. I'm not too impressed with that engine IMHO.

 

Two Things

1. Maybe Nissan should have of just begged Yamaha to make them an engine too


2. You must mean 13 years in a max; cause Nissan has been making engines that cream the sho's for a while now (300ZX,Skyline)

 

I see where your coming from, but think about it, the original SHO has a V8 not a V6. Your not comparing Apples to Apples, your comparing Apples to Oranges, of course a V8 is going to beat a V6, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. If the SHO was such a great vehicle, then why was it cancelled by Ford. The SHO is a nice vehicle, (except for the jellybean body) i'll give you that, if I had to buy american it would be a Taurus. I'm just trying to shake your tree, not trying to argue. Just one last note, for the last 11 years the maxima has had one of the best engines in the world, where exactly is Ford? I thought so.

 

Damn man! You gonna get hell for this one.

Original SHOs came with a V6! And a damn nice one! It also had over 200hp! More like 210-220hp! And no a V8 doesn't automatically beat a V6 becuase the later V8 SHOs were slower than the orignal V6 Yamaha V6 SHOs. Duh! This V6 engine was cancelled by Ford becuase rumor has it, it was too expensive to produce vs the amount of sales of these shos(ie.. vs non shos)

Man you should really research before you flame someone who has OWNED both! LOL

 

Which is exactly what I said; "it took Nissan 13 years to put an engine in the Max that can outperform the SHO"

 

Well I don't know how technical you want to be about this. I remember a magazine test in R&T or C&D where the 1st SHO 5-sp was put up against a 1992 maxima SE 5-sp. The numbers were REAL close. I mean really close. I think the maxima nudged it out in the overall but I can't recall the specific 0-60 / 1/4 times off hand. The orginal SHO might have put out more hp, but once on the track both cars were virtually the same performance wise. Fast family sedan shoot-out or something.

 

Well, allow me to apologize. I was wrong, the SHO is a nice car. New subject, I see the vane in the moderators head about to explode. Nice to know he can take a joke. Just remember this is maxima.org not SHO.org. Damn man chill out.

 

Just for the record, before this thing gets out of hand, I LOVE THE MAX. It is a wonderful peice of work. I have Max freinds (well, one anyway). At the present time, FORD has nothing that compares to the Max. First, they axed the SHO. Then they axed the SVT Tour. Now they have no manual 4 door with some serious pep, and that is what I like to own and drive. If I could afford an M5 I would probably have one (but if I could afford one my SHO's would be modded out the wazoo and would be quicker than the M5). My point is, the only thing right now that in my mind compares to the SHO of old is what is coming from Nissan ie; the Maxima and the Altima. Both have potent v-6's, both have the option of manual shifting. But since my SHO's are running strong and will be for quite some time, I will be not be getting a Max.

That said, I would love to race some more Max's, since they SHO and the Max are like distant cousins and about as close as competitors as you can get. Anyone in the Oklahoma area up for a little duel?

 

That's right Jeff... don't you know that the Maxima is the best car on the planet?

Sheesh ... how could you forget?

 

You mean vein? No I'm perfectly okay. Yes this is maxima.org. But it ain't weareignorantaboutothercars.org either. I mean, your the one that tried to tell the guy off and ended up looking bad. If you want to debate, fine. But get the info right.

 

PLANET MAXIMA!

 

This is the reason that I apologized. Yes, I looked like an ***, but I also said that the SHO is a nice car. You don't need to dwell on it. Thanks for the spelling test, my fault.

 

I haven't dwelled on anything since I had to adjust the ignition system on my dual point distributor in my 1970 Datsun 1800cc 510

 

The SHO has/had one of the worst reliability ratings of any Ford product made in the last 20 years.

Just say no to typical American-made junk!

 

And you get this information where? Yes, the original clutches were junk mostly. Other than that there have been no major issues with this car. The Taurus part was on par with the regular Taurus (which was quite good, best selling car for many years), and the Yamaha side of things was nearly bulletproof. How many miles do you have on your Max? The SHO's at my house have a combined 540,000 miles. Been pretty reliable for me, consider they are 'typical American-made junk' (BTW, aren't there any Nissan plants in the USA?)

 

I may be wrong but there was once a story about a 3rd gen max with 600,000 mile's somewhere in TX or Oklahoma.I don't know whether this is true because i came across it in www.gen3.4mg.com aka the "other" maxima board for 3rd gen owner's.

 

mmmm....sho....mmmm....2k2 max.....mmmmm......wish I had both

 

I remember when the 1st SHO came out and had the Yamaha engine. I just couldn't understand why they wasted such a great motor in a POS Taurus --- the epitome of a FORD --bland bland bland and the inside to me looked like crap. The only reason I would have considered it was the engine... sans that --- no way!

Maxima's on the other hand, have always looked good to me ( IMHO ) and held up well. Mile for mile I'd depend on a Nissan before a Ford. Plus, the styling has always been a couple notches above the Taurus.

If you want and/or like a SHO, but don't own a Max, good for you... what the heck are you doing here? Go home!!!

Just my .02 1/2

 

The day they went V8, the SHO sucked. What a disappointment. The V6 SHOs edged out the Max in the 1/4 but it all came down to driver. But of course the 2k2 will give it a whoopin

 

Wow, I didn't know my origin post would create such interesting coversation.

To set the record straight, if you guys look up the evolution of the Taurus, you can find out a lot of interesting info. For example, when Ford tested the v8 Yamaha, it easily surpassed the 300hp mark and outperformed the Mustang SVT Cobra. Because of this fact, they downtuned the motor and made it in a Automatic tranny only. Ford couldn't have the family sedan beating ponies on the street, right? With a few mods, the v8 in the SHO can be pretty darn fast.

The SHO was (notice the "past tense") a nice car. I had over 126K on mine at trade-in and never had a problem.

But some of you are missing the point. I NOW OWN A MAXIMA! Thanks to those of you who welcomed me to the club. I didn't mean for my opinion as an owner of both cars to turn into an "us vs. them" debate.

 

It's always us vs them. Welcome. I know you will love the Maxima and hope you get the modding bug. One question, wasn't the v8 a duratec? I thought Yamaha had nothing to do with the v8

 

I guess I really shouldn't be embarrassed by the fact that I didn't know something about a Ford, BUT when did the SHO become a V8? I knew about the Yamaha twin cam four valve V6 and thought it was probably a pretty good motor, BUT had no idea the SHO ever got a V8 much less that it was a Yamaha!

 

Toolman-
How about you and me at Mo/Kan Drag way just north of Joplin, MO? They open in Feb. We've been talking about a race for some time now. Your SHO has run a best of a 14.7@95mph, right? My Maxima has run 14.7@95mph. I'd say we're pretty even, ehh?

I've got respect for the V6 SHOs manuals. I also think the V8 SHOs sound incredible with an exhaust, but too bad they are so slow, for a SHO that is. I've run 3 modified earlier model SHO 5 speeds. Two at KCIR and one on the street. They had the typical mods of an intake, exhaust, pullies, and MAF. The quickest one I've come up against was running 15.0s@93-95mph on smallish drag radials. I was running 14.7-14.8@95mph on street tires that night. The other SHO was running 15.3-15.5@92mph. On the street, I raced SHO on the highway and from a stop. On the highway, we were neck and neck from 60-120mph. On the street (both with horrible launches), I ended up walking him at 30mph. By 70mph I had put 2 cars on him (I don't know where he let off). Currently I'm 3-0 against SHOs, but I'm certain my day is coming


Dave