The 3rd gen went from 1989 - 1994 (5-years)
The 4th gen went from 1995 - 1999 (5-years)

The 5th gen however went from 2000 - 2003 which is only 4 years and then they have the 6th gen out in 2004? Any idea why Nissan went back to the 4-year cycle?

I'm just curious.

Just a hunch. The same "platform" was use from '89 to '2003 for the Maxima and even though we refer to them as 3rd, 4th and 5th gens, Nissan doesn't. Since the current Altima is a new "platform", Nissan intends to use it for several vehicles in the future including the new Maxima and Quest mini-van replacements. That's my take anyway.

That sounds accurate plus the need for a new Maxima in less than 5 years. The 2002-2003 had a short production cycle (less than a year each) Nissan also had a 4 year cycle for the 2nd gen. Altima (98-2002)The Market dictates short production cycles nowadays if companies want to stay profitable. Look at Mercedes they shorted there cycles from 10-20years to 5-7 years.

Other like Acura's RL, Mazda's Millenias are examples of what can happen when you have a model on the market for a long period. They get overlooked and outclassed

Actually the 89-94 was a 6 model year run not 5.

Why can't they learn from the 3rd gens?!

I think the shortened product lifecycles are thanks to Carlos Goshn (sp?) bringing Nissan back to life. Most mainstream cars are going on 5 year redesign cycles. After all of these new Nissan cars are out, I think you'll see them re-settle back into 5 year cycles.

Nissan needed to be saved NOW. They couldn't afford to wait for a model's lifecycle to run out, and I think this is why some models are being cut a bit short timewise. The Gen5 Maxima's will only have been out for 3.5 model years. 00, 01, 02, and half of an 03 cycle.

Also, Nissan DOES refer to the different Maxima models as Gen4, Gen5, etc. Go to www.nissannews.com - Product Guide - Archives and you'll see. They refer to the 04 as the sixth generation Maxima also.

someone has been skipping math class

And wouldn't you know it... I'm a math/computer major now.

maybe i should tell your teacher

Oh man, I gotta save that one