speedracer3

Why is it that when you drive a Maxima everybody wants to race you?. Something about a Max SE that says "Race Me!". I know racing is in our blood, it's a guy thing...maybe an over abundance of testosterone who knows. A woman? racing?..that's a first. Anyhow, I was calmly driving down the street when a blond babe in a BMW 323 CI zooms by me like daring me to follow. So I gave chase.... we would stop at lights and then peel off again. I could not believe a woman was racing me!...for the record, I could have easily kicked her behind, but there was a lot of traffic and I didn't want to cause an accident, so I did the gentleman thing and let her go.


Speed <---- still in shock!

kratz74

Don't let those ladies fool ya. Many of them are not gear heads and don;t know their cars limits so they will just put their foot down until they eventually pass you...they're possessed!

Deven2kStickMax

Hondas including the 2 dr coupe, i would usually leave them far behind in a race. Altima, Camry , the M Galant is a joke and i have raced M3's...none of these cars picks up faster in a quarter mile.. Mustang 2000- i raced but for some reason the horse power on that 8 cyclinder sucker ran away after we both clocked 125 mph...yeah everybody wants to race a MAXIMA .......WHY?????? becuase 0-60 MPH in 6.7 secs.......THAT'S WHY

tomz17

Know exactly what you mean... The SE may look good, but it's still a Sedan (which is what throws most people).

Was driving home one day on an empty highway, when I saw an Accord ('99 i think), speeding by [with a young girl driver]. (since I was going like 85 at the time, I figured that she had to be going at least 100 maybe 105 mph).. I gave chase for a short while, but eventually gave up.. Both cars were maxed out (mine didn't want to go much faster than 140-145 mph [speed governor?]), and I was slowly gaining but she had a huge lead... After maybe 40 secs, I slowed down and gave up, cuz I knew that lanes narrowed up ahead due to construction.

And once, an older lady in a new shiny Lex decided to race me uphill (from a stop), on a winding uphill 2-lane road... She literally pulled up to the light, and gave me THAT look.. No contest.. It goes without saying that the Maxima handles really well..

QUANSUNG

i passed a white lexus is300 on the parkway ,i was kinda in a hurry so i'm changing lanes and i notice the is300 is trying to catch up also going in and out of traffice,i slow down for traffic and the is300 which was about 4-5 cars back pulls up real close, there's a woman driving the car and she continues to ride my bumper so i down shift and dip through traffic and she still tries to follow but gets stuck,i slow since my exit's coming up she flys by a few seconds later,seems older women can be speed junkies too.

CoolMax

iTrader: (7)

maybe she was just in a rush.
It's all in good fun.

maxine

Guys!! Despite being female, some of us know what's under our hoods and the hoods of others. The Beemer has 184 horsies. We can beat them easily. Forget the Accord and Camry. No match at all. Now the M5 has almost 400 so I think you'll lose. Just be careful and don't wrap your beauty around any trees, etc....

MrBurner

my friends dad has an m5, my friend drives the 4.4L x5 and his mom has a 5spd passat that he sometimes drives...anyone know the time on the x5 and passat? i'd be interested...i've beat him in his passat before but i haven't raced him in the x5 or m5 yet...i know i will get killed by the m5 but i want to race it anyways just to see how much i will get killed by...i'm pretty confident i can beat the x5 (he has the dinan performance package which adds an upgraded ECU...don't know how much hp the ecu adds though...anyone know?)...and yes, his dad owns a bimmer dealership...anyone know the times on the passat or x5 (w/ chip?)

bullseye

Uh, that would be "184 ponies", OK? Have a good one.

maxine

Uh, I realize that "ponies" may be the "proper" term, but have you seen the size difference in a horse and a pony? I definitely have ponies in the Saturn, but there are wild horses under the hoods of the Maximas.

tomz17

Ya.. the "ponies" in a saturn feel like they should be sent to the glue factory :-)

Maxx-s-ter

Nice comeback

Orca319

Go get 'em tiger!!!

Eric L.

I can't believe the bias towards Maximas! Oh well maybe I can...we all drive Maximas here.

But think about this...if that chick was driving a 5-spd manual 323ci, she would have spanked an automatic 5th gen. Automatic 5th gen is around 8.0s 0-60, 323ci manual is 0-60 in 7.1s, and that was with the old 170hp version. Now if the 323 were an automatic, it would be slower (0-60 in 8.5s). I wonder how fast the 184hp 325 (i.e. "new 323") is now. Actually I think it always made 184 hp, since even the older 323's dynoed consistently in the 155-160hp rwhp range, which meant BMW was underreporting horsepower (probably so people will buy the not much more powerful but much more expensive 328i). With the 330i, bmw can report the "true" hp of the 2.5L engine now.

So before all you folks go off about how you could "beat this car, beat that car" if you wanted to, check the specs first and see how fast other cars really are. Remember, horsepower doesn't determine all of acceleration. Weight and gearing are also huge factors. For example, a MR2-Spyder has only 138hp, but is just as fast in the 0-60 as a 222hp 5-spd Maxima.

Enjoy the ride...

tomz17

Well, most of those "specs" (for manual) are obtained using seasoned drivers. There is no way that just a casual woman driver, that uses her car to get to and from work, can shift a 7.1s... If she picks fights every day, (as a hobby of sorts), then it's a totally different story...

(Now that I think about it, I know of no women that drive a manual... maybe it's a testosterone thing.. and maybe I shouldn't be talking, cuz I bought an auto too.!!) I have to drive in traffic a lot :-(

Dany

iTrader: (1)

I raced a 323i 5 speed manual, on my 2000 SE 5-speed and barely beat him. Partly to my own fault of dropping clutch in first .

Yeah, but those bimmers are pretty fast. When I was racing that guy in 323i, I had my friend driving behind me, I was sure I was racing 328i, because I was having such a hard time beating that guy.
He told me afterwards that is was 323i, BMW definetly underrated 323i, it feels faster than 170hp...




[Edited by Dany on 12-07-2000 at 05:55 PM]

tomz17

Well, most of those "specs" (for manual) are obtained using seasoned drivers. There is no way that just a casual woman driver, that uses her car to get to and from work, can shift a 7.1s... If she picks fights every day, (as a hobby of sorts), then it's a totally different story...

(Now that I think about it, I know of no women that drive a manual... maybe it's a testosterone thing.. and maybe I shouldn't be talking, cuz I bought an auto too.!!) I have to drive in traffic a lot :-(

angelay2k

Are you guys insinuating that us women can not handle was under our hoods? Guys always pull at the light and wanting to race. After shocking the hell out of them they pull up at the next light and nod their head with embarrassment and shock.

Loving my Max.
Angela

MrBurner

Eric L...you are getting your facts from wrong sources...one magazine wrote the times of 0-60 for the maxima stick at 6.7 and the auto at 8.1...that is the slowest time i have seen for the auto...i have seen as low as 7.1 stock in magazines...it depends on the driver (a certain magazine reviewed an f150 lightning 0-60 at 6.2 while another reviewed an identical lightning 0-60 time at 5.4...just because someone works for a magazine doesn't know they can race well)...the fastest 1/4 mile i've seen in magazines on a maxima stick is 15.1 and on an auto i've seen 15.4...but i've also seen 16s for both in different magazines...there is someone on this site who ran 14.9 stock which is better than any of the magazines and i'm guessing he runs low 6's 0-60...i have killed 323 manuals when my car was fully stock and i know racing against a 328 (now 330) bimmer is a much close matchup...here is the bmw lineup for maxima owners

323-auto and stick can kill it
328-modded auto can win stock stick can tie
330-same as above
m3-new ones will kill all of us...older ones can be close w/ modded 5th gens
528-we can win stick or auto
540-we get our asses kicked unless we have NOS or a supercharger (in which case we can tie depending on the shot of NOS)
M5-get our asses kicked
740iL-stick wins modded auto wins stock auto loses upto 80 by about 1 car lenght (trust me on that)

it all depends on the drivers...remember, some car mags only get the cars for a few days before they do test runs...they don't get fully accustomed to the car...for those of us that have had the car for awhile and have raced other cars...you get to know the cars limits, proper launches...downshifting (even in auto) etc....just depends on the driver (yes, even in automatic...but not as much as stick)

speedracer3

I didn't mean to get sexist here...not implying that women cannot race, I was just surprised that's all. This gal sure knew how to drive. As far as 0-60 times it was not really an issue, we were neck and neck...I don't know if she was driving a stick, but judging by her takeoffs I think her beamer was an auto just like my Max (if she had a stick she would have left me far behind). Maybe if there was less traffic I would have showed her what my VQ could do... for now it was a forfit

Blond in Beamer 1
Speedracer in Max 0

bullseye

Sorry about the "Uh" Maxine. It smacked of condescension. I tried to steer you away from "horsies" to ponies, but I guess that wasn't really necessary. Now I understand you didn't need any help at all with terminology. I am humbled.

I admit, I have indeed seen the size difference in a horse and pony, and I swear to God, it was just a chance sighting in both cases! :-) Take care, and happy holidays.

kryptonite

Yeah i love racing those beamers but i also like tearing up those Civic Si's not bad for a 4 banger but they always end up looking at my Superman emblem in rear window!!!!

CLIMAX

I have a 2K1 SE auto and pull constant 7.0 for a zero to sixty. As far as the BMW 325 goes its time in the 0-60 is the same as a stick SE. The whole point is that these time are based on ZERO driver error. I ran my friends 325 a beat him due to the fact he had a small burn-out at the start, so don't let numbers fool you its all about the driver if the cars are anywhere close to the same ability

Maxima95GLE

The 0-60 times are from automotive magazines, and and I’m sure that there are seasoned drivers from the automotive magazines behind them (heck, they probably test drive 500 cars/year, and then some, you’d hope that they know how to get some great runs w/ all of the cars that they test). IF bone stock, CLIMAX’s 2001 SE auto that pulls constant 7.0s in 0-60, personally makes somewhat skeptical unless I see some documentation myself (sorry to put you on the defensive, but I’d like see some sort of published track record, and then I’ll be a believer). But then again, on the flip side, I could almost believe it, considering 222 HP (or 227 HP for the 2001 Anniversary Edition), it should be pulling those low 7's for the autos.

Nonetheless, MT (12/99 issue) has the auto 2000 GXE (read, not SE) running 0-60 and 1/4 mi at 8.1s, 16.2s @ 85.9 mph. You’d think that it’d be a little faster wouldn’t you? Me, too, maybe it was some sort of slower vehicle due manufacturing variances. I don’t have any specs on an auto SE from MT, but an almost identical model is the auto 2000 Infiniti I30 Touring (comparable to an auto 2000 SE w/ it’s stiffer shocks and suspension tuning; 6/00 issue), and those 0-60 and 1/4 mi are 7.9s, 16.0s @ 88.5 mph. Those best numbers, given some variances, seem pretty similar don’t they? Granted, they both could have been the slower bunch due to manufacturing variances again, and the auto 5th gens cars could in general be faster than that. For comparison from the auto, MT (7/99 issue) has the 2000 manual SE running 6.7s, 15.1 @ 94.4 mph for 0-60 and 1/4 mi, respectively. And from older magazines, previous 1995-1999 Maxima autos had been running from 7.3-7.9s in 0-60, and 15.7-15.9s at 87-90 mph in the 1/4 mi (granted the 190 HP 4th gens were lighter than the 222 HP 5th gens).

Again, with racing, it’s going to depend on the weight of the car, gearing, outside temperature, altitude, gas (hopefully you’re running premium!), your tires, and track or road conditions as well, as some of you have mentioned. However, don’t just rely on published numbers, some days you’ll be running great times and sometimes you won’t. Among different cars, having approximately similar HP ratings, weight, 0-60 and 1/4 mi times (give or take about 0.5 s), and you’ll find that it can be a toss-up. Sometimes you rev slightly too high, sometimes slightly too low, or dump the clutch too fast or you just happened to have some dirt/oil under where your car is located at that time on the street and the tires just didn’t happen to grip properly, so you’re times aren’t as good as they should be. As you can see there are a LOT of variances, but sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t.

However, comes back the question of the 7.0s 2001 auto SE. Maybe Nissan did get some complaints about the 2000 SE autos being slow, and maybe they did tweak it for 2001—-who knows? Or maybe it just had to have been one of the faster ones that came out of the factory. I know that Nissan micro-finishes their engines out of the factory to eliminate the variances somewhat, but I guess big variances could happen on a statistical basis.

I’d be interested in what the other magazines post for the 5th gen SE/GLE/GXE, if you guys have them. I was thinking of C&D, R&T, and the like. MrBurner, where did you see the stock 7.1s info (and this might help out with CLIMAX’s claim)? I’m just looking for the facts and be humbled. Also give the published source so that I can read the article-—I love reading on cars.

Have fun out there on the roads, but keep it safe everyone--I don't want to see people in the ER on my rotations.

CLIMAX

I myself hold the brakes and start at about 1500 r.p.m. also when the test the time are they doing a manual shift or letting the tranny shift on its own? The auto shifts well before the redline. Even left in auto the MAX runs well under the 8 seconds that most people claim for 0-60

tomz17

That is called torque braking... can can result in warped rotors... it's obviously not recommended...

Maxima95GLE

Per your first question on acceleration times, I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure they do employ some torque braking, as they do talk about it in their articles. But that still doesn't fully answer the question, I'll write an email to MT and let you know.

And for the 2nd question of the testers manually shift the autos or letting the car's automatic transmission computer do it's thing, they probably do both, and report the best time. For comparison, I remember reading an article (probably MT, but I can't remeber which of the numerous car magazines, however) where they were testing the 2000 Acura 3.2TL w/ the 5 spd sequential shifting manumatic, and they did it both ways. When let the car shift itself, it ran a 0-60/.25 mile in 6.7s/15.2@93.1 mph. Now when they manually shifted the auto, then commented that the car FELT faster, but ended up getting worse times each time they tried it, than letting the car shift itself. In this case, the Acura (or Honda, if you prefer) engineers did a pretty good job in programming the car's transmission to optimize the engine's power band and shifting just at the optimal points. But remember, it's different on other brands of cars and autos, and their auto programming might not be as optimal and/or aggressive, hence the need for "manually" shifting the "auto."

So those are my 2 cents. I'll get back to you guys about how they test when I find out from the email.

And again, if people have some reputable car magazines w/ some acceleration times for the 5th gen Maximas (and list the model and transmission), I'd be happy to see them.

CLIMAX

Thanks I would app. the info. As far as my 0-60 times, it comes from a friends plug in mod. I myself was surprised by the numbers but even allowing for some error I am no where close to 8. I do agree with your thoughts of differences right from the factory. I drove my friends 2K1 thats also an auto and felt a difference. He always ends up looking at my tail lights when we line em up and I doubt it is much to do with the driver

maxine

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tomz17
[I]Well, most of those "specs" (for manual) are obtained using seasoned drivers. There is no way that just a casual woman driver, that uses her car to get to and from work, can shift a 7.1s... If she picks fights every day, (as a hobby of sorts), then it's a totally different story...

(Now that I think about it, I know of no women that drive a manual... maybe it's a testosterone thing.. and maybe I shouldn't be talking, cuz I bought an auto too.!!) I have to drive in traffic a lot :-(




Sorry to inform you that I was the one in the family who demanded a manual tranny. Both of my sisters have manual transmissions--one is an F150. So there are plenty of women out there with manuals.

LoeP 2k GLE

This is true. I have raced Intrepids, Older Grand Prix's and Grand Am's, Monte Carlos, Camry's, Eclipes. I spanked all except the Eclipes. It was my cousin's car. We were comming home from a party at 12:00 and no one was out on the road, we both punched it, we both were running at the same pace ( which sorta suprised me since his car is TurboCharged and a manual! ) but he pulled away at 120mph. I read some where that automatic 5th generation Maxima's are limited to 131mph, but my car would not budge 123mph.