Consumer's Reports test
 

Consumer's Reports comments in a nutshell

Lincoln LS: one of the highest ranking cars in its class, most comfortable ride and quietest of group, poor reliability.

Cadillac CTS: Tremendous chassis tuning and superior stability control to Infiniti, exceptionally comfy seats for people of all sizes, not a great rear seat, ergronomics are not great

Maxima: Quiet with pleasant exhaust note, one of the smoothest and most powerful engines in its segment, hard jiggly ride, pefect front seat comfort ranking, rare perfect rating for rear seat comfort/room, torque steer is excessive, gauge finish is not agreeable, huge SUV-like turning circle

G35: Comfy ride, strong smooth engine and transmission, sometimes dangerous handling at limit(tail comes out too easily, which enthusiasts love by the way), ergronomics could be better

Saab 9-3: Worst ride of group, noisy, nicely finished interior, tight rear seat, best handling in the group, car stops in wet better than most cars stop in the dry

"huge SUV-like turning circle"

This is my only real complaint about driving the Maxima, it doesn't have a good turning radius at all.

"G35: Comfy ride, strong smooth engine and transmission, sometimes dangerous handling at limit(tail comes out too easily, which enthusiasts love by the way), ergronomics could be better"

This is exactly what I have been saying about the G35, I love the ride but hate the ergonomics.

How did your car do at the dealers?

You lost me, I have no clue what you are referring to.

The turning radius was the same (40ft) in the 5th gen.:(

I swear it takes the same room to turn an excursion :(

From your post on 6/4/03:

"Interesting, I like the sunroof one the best. lol

my car is at the dealer right now, I will see if they do that."

The turning radius of an Excursion is 50.4 ft.
The turning radius of an Expedition is 38.7 ft.

My wifes Trailblazer has a turning radius of is 36.4 ft.

The Acura TL S-Type has a turning radius of 39.7 ft.

My 2001 BMW 330i that I am getting out of has a turning radius of 34.4 ft. The 6th gen turns like a battle ship!

Consumer's Reports evaluation said the 6th gen. Maxima has a 44 foot turning circle. A friend of mine with an '00 GXE 5th gen. said his car manuevers in tight spaces really well and I doubt they are the same.

Other than turning circle and torque steer, one must admit the 6th gen. Maxima is otherwise a home run.

Look it up...I did! (edmunds.com)

I looked in edmunds.com and they listed turning circle of:

35.4 feet for the 5th generation Maxima
40 feet for the 6th generation Maxima

Just to cross reference, I went to Consumers Reports:
39 feet for 5th gen. Maxima (April 2003, Full Auto Issue)
44 feet for 6th gen. Maxima (July 2003, featuring Sports Sedan Comparo)

WRONG! Read it again...

2003 Nissan Maxima SE Auto (edmonds.com) specs

What?

What was that?

I can't hear you...why don't you pull your head out of your a$$!

Put2!

Where did you go?

Is it hard to type without a glass stomach?

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2003/niss...nav..8.Nissan*

35.4 feet

See Edmunds has a discrepency of 40 feet and 35.4 feet.

That's why I cross referenced with a different publication (Consumer's Reports) to pin it down to 35.4 feet for Edmunds report.

Next time you should cross reference when you see a discrepency and not act like a total idiot.

GXE has a smaller turning radius folks :)

sounds like a 3 point turn either way :D
I noticed the turning radius isn't the tightest, but after my SUV, it seems pretty tight.

You are just bitter because you can't afford a glass stomach!

Cross reference yourself! PUT2!!

You can't compare a GXE to an SE...idiot!!!

Dude you compared the SE to my statements about my friend's GXE first.

Regardless, the turning circle on both cars are the same. It's an error. If you follow my claim, the two publications, despite having different values, show the 6th gen. turning radius is about 5 feet more than the 5th gen. turning radius. The '03 GXE has tires rated only 10 mm less of the SE wheels and the overall rolling diameter of the GXE tires is 25.3" and 25.9" for the SE. Go ahead and check other cars whose lineup includes tires than span much greater sizes than the Maxima and you'll find the turning radius to be the same in all or nearly all cases imaginable.

In fact look at the 6th gen. SL vs. SE with 2 different tire sizes:
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2004/niss...nav..8.Nissan*

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2004/niss...nav..8.Nissan*

If you think a mass-production oriented company like Nissan goes through the cost-ineffective trouble of putting different hardware between the SE and GXE 5th gen. just to have a different turning circle (and if you're standing on 40' on the SE and 35.4' on GXE, huge differences on the same basic car) respectively, then you are the mother of all morons.

See, this is why people shouldn't be allowed to own guns.:D

:D

Sorry for all the foul language. It's all in good fun:laugh:

A little sh*t talk doesn't hurt anybody:D Man you should hear the basketball courts around my town. Now that's some tongue-in-cheek yet foul sounding smack talk.

Peace!

Wrong again. I was refering to gmc74's post not 'your friend's gxe'. 'Your friend' gmc74 owns a 2004 SE (not a gxe).

Where the FUK did you get that dumba$$ bull$hit from?!?!?!

Go ahead and respond to this if you want, but what can you say IDIOT!!!

The way you quoted MY posts REGARDING TURNING CIRCLES sure didn't look like you were not referring to gmc74.

And here we go again. 1 car platform (5th gen. Maxima)...with slightly different tire sizes but otherwise the same BASIC car...have no reason to have a 40 - 35.4 = 4.6 ft. difference in turning circle between two trim lines. Physically I can't see how and economically speaking in this day of components and parts sharing, there's no way to have a notable difference in turning circle between 2+ different trim levels of the same basic car.

So where did I get this "dumba$$ bull$hit from?!?!?!" It's called common sense. I can't believe I'm trying to explain a kindergarten concept over and over to you.

ahh, I forgot to look :)

I will check it out when I go home. I did notice that now my Fuel Economy screen will stay up on my display, it used to go back to the main one after 10 seconds or so.

Yup

I've noticed mine stays up if the radio is turned off. When the radio is on it switches back after a few seconds. Normal I guess?

I don't know if they did something to mine or if maybe I had the radio off when I did it. I will try again when I go home.

As for you guys arguing about the turning radius, leave me out of it... I cause enough arguments, don't drag me into this one :) The 04 Maxima turning radius sucks a$$, that is all I really have to say on the subject.

You are correct sir. For my part, I drove mine before I bought it. I knew what I was getting and it is a compromise I was willing to make. In my own humble opinion, my AE wasn't anything to brag about in the turning radius department either. It was better than my GMC van but not by a hell of alot. I guess I could stick some 13" wheels and 135x75/13s on it and it would turn around in its own wake...
I suppose if everyone liked the same thing they would only make one kind.

Gee, I wonder if the 13s would clear the calipers? Maybe some spacers... I wonder if they make gold spoke 13s?

:laugh: 5th gen turning radius sucks. Sounds like Nissan did nothing to improve the 6th gen. :o

Nope, in fact, I think it's gotten worse. From what I've read anyway.

I don't really notice it much in my '03 SE though unless I go from driving my wife's BMW to my Max. I came from 2.5 years in a Toyota Tundra SR5 (I'll never buy another 1st year vehicle as long as I live-I owned Fords that were more reliable) so this thing turns much better than a nearly 19' long truck-duh.

Thanks Jules Maximus for defending my point!:cool:

And now, I'm exhuming moronic marmadogg's ultra-stupid comments about not being able to compare a GXE and SE 5th. gen. Maxima in turning radius. I quote 1989 Road Report by Daniel Heraud on a 1989 Honda Prelude 4-wheel steering vs. Prelude 2-wheel steering: "The 4-wheel steering option...improves manuverability by reducing the turning circle by 3 ft..."

This makes Edmund's discrepency of 4.6 feet between the 5th generation SE Maxima and GXE Maxima obvious. Simply all 5th generation Maximas are front-wheel steer and therefore how in the world can there be a turning circle difference of 4.6 feet between 5th gen. SE and GXE when a 4-wheel steering 1989 Prelude improves turning circle by 3 feet over the 2-wheel steering 1989 Prelude.

If one likes to reach conclusions by deductive logic then look at the following:

Consumers Reports (CR does their own measurements to avoid transmitting press kit errors that other journalists are prone to):
6th gen. Maxima: 44 feet (July 2003, featuring Sports Sedan Comparo)
5th gen. Maxima: 39 feet (April 2003, Full Auto Issue)

Edmunds:
6th generation Maxima: 40 ft.
5th generation Maxima: so which is it? 40 ft. as they said for the SE or 35.4 ft. as they said for the GXE?

Well as I said before it's got to be 35.4 ft. which rounds out to a 5 ft. difference between 5th and 6th generation Maxima which is in aggreement with Consumer's Reports difference between 6th and 5th generation, which is in aggreement with owner feedback who've owned the 6th and 5th generation Maximas.

Anyways I proved my point and let this topic rest in peace.:laugh:

Can't we all just get along?

If you are looking for some autoX action, don't buy a g6 Maxima. If you want to take on the mean streets of a major metro area, you could do alot worse than a g6 Maxima.

If it is 40' or 45' it will still be a 3 point turn around if your street is less than 50'.

If you have trouble parking try backing into your space.

Now go out and enjoy the ride.

Just an observation here about Consumer Reports' definition of a turning circle: "Turning circle is the clearance required by the front bumper for a U-turn; a 35- to 40-foot circle lets you turn around in a two-lane road." [Consumer Reports, April 2003, p81]

I always thought that the turning circle was the outside diameter of the circle made by the front tires. If that's true, maybe you can't compare Consumer Reports' data with, say, manufacturers' data.

Good point. Definitions do vary. However, RELATIVE differences between two different cars or generations of cars should be the same regardless of definition. So for example if Consumer's Reports says an Accord has a turning circle of "X" and a Neon has a turning circle of "Y" while Edmunds (assuming correct) gives "A" and "B" respectively, then:

|X-Y| = |A-B|

I actually haven't checked this but it does illustrate the invariance of definitions from a comparative standpoint but one should NEVER compare turning circle numbers of a say a Camry from Edmunds vs. turning circle numbers for an Accord in Consumers Reports if their def'ns are different.

And then there is another definition!
 

I have the 2001 & 2002 Consumer Report definitions and they appear different yet!

I quote "Turning circle is our measurement of the clearance required by the front bumper for a U-turn; a 35- to 40-foot diameter lets you turn around in a two-lane road."

So...which is it? 35-40 foot circle or diameter? Or are they the same?


max_dave
:cool:

:cool::cool: :cool:

Don't you guys realize that only Jake and I are allowed to bicker like this? go find your own board to fight on :D

more the merrier! :D

:bawling:

Feel better now?:confused:

According to Nissan specs, the turning radius for the '04 is 40ft for both the 17 and 18 inch wheels. The turning radius for the '03 is 34.5ft for the 16 inch wheels and 40ft for the 17s.