Something interesting I discovered(for myself):

Many folks(including myself) have complained about the Maxima's below average handling, excessive body roll in corners, and instability over small bumps.

But I was shocked(pardon the pun) when I overtook a car pretty aggressively and fast. I was going about 40-45 on a 2 lane road when I went to overtake a car. I pulled the wheel hard and accelerated. I was amazed at how well my Max maintained control! Body roll was minimal. I thought to myself, damn, I didn't know I could do that.

I think I realized something fundamental about shocks. When a gradual and increased force is exerted on shocks(like taking an exit that has a long and increased curve) the shocks will naturally compress. Body roll will be excessive.

But, when the a sudden, excessive force is excerted on a shock(such as hard overtaking) the shock will resist that force which will prevent it from compressing(as fast).

As a result, I think my Max handles a little better than I expected.
Of course I haven't ruled out upgrades.

 

Um, all shocks are like that. The faster the piston moves, the more resistive force it encounters.

 

Woreyah,

I agree with your findings regarding shock action.
I must admit though that I'm highly disappointed with much of my Maxima, specifically everything that has to do with driving dynamics, ride and controls. The only things I really like are the engine, seats and space. I hate the wheelhop, shake and judder, the abrupt clutch action with no feel, the directional wander at speed, the cheap trim with no proper inside door handles, the cheap sharp plastic edge at the top of the steering wheel boss, etc. I hate the poor road noise over anything other than glass smooth surface, and the "metal-to-metal" crashing over sharp pothholes or impacts.
Rear float and wheelhop were so poor that I replaced the rear shocks with stiffer Tokico aftermarket shocks, which brought an improvement.
When I complained to the dealer they were acting completely useless.
I hate the stupid driving position with the steering wheel in your stomach like an old GM pickup truck. I hate the tiny thin gerashift **** and the wobbly handbrake. I really hate the way the hood vibrates at speed. I'm not impressed with warped rotors twice in 50k miles. When my tires wore out I have isntalled a set of Dunlop SP5000 235R50-16's which helped grip, but only when they are on the ground.
Overall it is a great engine wrapped with cheap, cheap everything, and incompetently tuned.
It's a company car that fits the size and budget and beats a Taurus, but not by much. Actually, Nissan has much to learn from Ford on body structure and suspension tuning. Would have never bought one with my own money.

YG.

 

Could it be because you're expecting too much from this car?

 

I realized I hated the way my 2K2 handled, when I raced a TL-S on the street, hit 90+ and got the BOUNCY effect, in a turn. Maxspeeds, FSTB, and Addco RSB later, and its toottaly different. I will have new wheels and tires soon, and I know by then , it will be where I really want it to be. Just remember, you cant keep a comfortable, luxurious ride, and be able to corner with an M3... Ride in a Porsche on day, and make sure you dont have a HOT LATTE with you !

 

Would you like some cheese with your whine ? Damn, you complain like a girl, how can you even compare a freaking Taurus with a Maxima ??
I think the handling of the Maxima is much superior to the Accord, Taurus, Camry, and TL .... but it's no BMW, it still comes down to driver skill, I easily take 45mph on ramps at 90 mph, the suspension is not great, but the steering feedback is very good for a car its size. Why don't you go trade your Maxima for a Taurus since you're impressed with Ford crappy quality.

 

 

I have to admit I was alittle dissappointed with what Nissan terms "sport tuned suspension". There's not a sporting bone in the Maxima's body in regard to handling. I can only imagine what a GLE feels like. But what you have to remember is, its still a four door passenger car made for the masses.

Jesse

 

Yeah, the Max is a compromise - V6, 200+ hp, manual trans, 4 doors, under $30k. There really arent many competitors. Nissan's choice of compromises leaves the suspension last, but not hopeless. At least the car has decent steering response and cornering grip. Too much understeer? No more than other FWDs and mybe less than many. Floaty? Yes, but again, less than many. Roll? Not necessarily a bad thing though a bit uncomfortable. (I road raced a Renault LeCar years ago, so much lean I thought it would fall over, but - it stuck like glue once I got used to it.) Considering the amount of difference the FSTB makes, it looks like chassis flex is severe, maybe because the engine bay hole has to be so big to fit a huge drivetrain.
The rear suspension is a travesty - a watts link at least would have been a lot better, even with a solid axle. On the other hand, I have driven very few better (stock) solid axles.
Considering the intended market, the car is really just a hot-rod - big engine, medium chassis - much like the original American muscle cars - they didn't handle too well either. But most customers will never exceed .3g cornering, or hustle down a curvy, bumpy road so they'll never find the shortcomings there, but they all will have to merge, or accelerate from a stoplight.
No, it's not a BMW, but a much less expensive compromise. The steering is too slow, the steering wheel too big, the suspension, designed for 15" wheels, gets confused easily, especially as wheel diameter goes up, the SE shocks are merely adequate (the rears less so), but that motor - so sweet.

 

Low speed steering is pretty heavy and the steering wheel seems huge to me...and brake judder/auto tranny hesitation annoys but that wouldn't make me think a Taurus was near as good.

 

Encountered a car dead in the middle of 95 just of a crest in the middle of the night. A newer SHO was alongside me and we both had to "split" around the dead car to avoid it (did the same emergency manuever). The Max executed the manuever well, while the SHO lost it when trying to roll back in.

My confidence in Max's suspension has yet to give me one instance to give me doubt.

 

I don't think the Max's suspension is that bad. It definately feels "floaty" to me, but it seems to come through when you need it. My last car, a v6 accord coupe, had a MUCH better suspension, however. There is one corner that I would be able to take at 70 in the accord w/o any body roll, and it felt VERY stable. The maxima on the same corner I am scared to take over 50-55. That's a pretty big difference. I did have a set of sways on the accord, which I think helped out quite a bit, I'd like to see the way the max would handle w/ sways, but i'm trying to keep from dropping too much in mods, I had way too much invested in that accord and learned my lesson

 

Perhaps that because the Max's isn't a solid rear axle? It actually a twist beam; designed to flex in use, acting like a sway bar. Sounds more like a semi-independent design to me becausee one wheel can actually lift with less than a direct impact on the other wheel, although it obviously influences it.

There's a pretty good article discussing the the twist beam rear axle which also uses a modified Scott-Russell locating link instead of the heavier/bulkier Watts link at

http://www.se-r.net/about/g20/scc/oct98/tb.html

It is actually about the G-20 but it obviously applies to the Max design too.

BuddyWh

 

My Max seems to handle pretty well....but this is the first car I've ever owned and I haven't driven all that many high performance cars.

I've always owned trucks until I got my first Maxima in 2000.
I can promise that the Max handles better than a 95 Dodge Ram 4X4 with mud tires!

 

ear here? We may have a lovely body but....all but the engine is wrapped around 1994 (Gen4) technology -which was then a degradation (suspension-wise) from the Gen 3.

Major faults:
- Intrusive road noise, vibration.
- Lousy compliance over small, sharp (high frequency) bumps, float over large (low-frequency) bumps/suspension deflections
- Front-end geometry archaic....lots of torque steer
- Overall chassis rigidity
- Brakes (although mine are still okay at 8k miles)

Good things:
- Best six cylinder engine in the world -bar none
- Commodious to an extreme...
- Great value!
- Bulletproof manual tranny, linkage (5-speed, as is mine)
- Performance per dollar...none better.

Of all the above, it's the road noise and 'harshness' over small, sharp bumps that most irk me -which makes me wonder how so many folks here have installed 18" and 19" wheels with 40 and 35 profile tires...amazing.

Change the shocks, lower mildly, add (not reduce) tire compliance, improve chassis rigidity a bit (FTSB) and improve insulation & isolation and the Max is a competent vehicle. Not a BMW but as a comparison, the E39 (yes, the 5-series, not the 3-series) is a $47k car comparably equipped and that's what...almost TWO Maximas?

PS: my other (wife's) car is a Taurus (200 hp DOHC version) and yes, its a nice car indeed.

 

It's a solid axle - it doesn't bend, only twists in rotation. If you look at a Watts link you'll see it's not necessarily heavier or bulkier than the "Modified Scott Russel locating link" which has the serious (from a handling point of view) problem of different radius intersecting arcs which require a huge amount of rubber bushing compliance. Nissan does a good job of marketing their rear suspension and the press has gladly quoted them, but it really is just the cheapest way they could find to hang the rear wheels on the car without the rear bumper dragging. As I said - I have driven worse non-irs cars, and better.

 

It's the twisting action that partially isolates one tire from the opposite tire's inputs. Solid? yeah... semantics, it seems to me.

A Watts linkage implemented with unequal arms... commonly done in the interest of some trade-off or other.... will also move the axle through an arc. I also think it would require a true solid axle, no semantics, with maximum transfer of one tires' inputs to the other tire.

I have also driven worse fully independent RS cars... and better. The compromises and affects were different, of course, but present. One thing we will definitely agree on is it's a compromise. Any suspension implementation in this price range will have some compromise or other. You'll have to step up to a BMW to get into a no-compromise suspension in a mid-size passenger sedan. And a $40-60,000 price class.

BuddyWh