On my business trip in LA I rented a Maxima from Enterprise and guess what it was a brand new 04 with 200 miles Majestic Blue with frost cloth no sunroof and yes I hammered a bit. They had a few of them and as I drove by Hertz they had a truck load of them about to unload, so I guess Nissan changed their mind about not dumping the 04 in rental fleets. Dont be suprised when one drives by withe big E sticker on the back or with the Hertz bar code on the window, I guess Corporate decided its about the Mulla.

 

That is surprising considering all the hoopla that has been heard about Nissan not doing this. I guess your right profits are profits......it is a shame though because it doesnt jive with what Nissan has been pushing.... I guess the 6th gen crowd is right with us 5th genners......when it comes to true "intro" luxury...best stick with the luxury brands......if that is what you want. My point is.......you never see Infiniti, Lexus, Acura's unloaded into rental fleets.

 

So......Monte how does the 6th gen power compare to your 5th gen and your Z?

 

I checked sales on www.autosite.com

04 Max's are selling at about the same rate as 03's, but they are down a bit.

I'm starting to see more on the road, but maybe consumer sales are lagging so they are dumping them in rental fleets to meet sales targets.

 

Hmmm, perhaps that's where most of those hail damaged numbers ended up then. Repair, rent, sell a year later. Perhaps warranty on paint won't apply then. Was it a SE that you got for the rental? I can't imagine the SL being offered up to the abuse pool, but then again if they are the hail damaged lot then anything goes.

 

Yes it was an SE.

 

It had some get up and go but just didnt have the oomph of my 03 even when I had comparable mileage, it felt larger than my 03. You can definately tell that it is a slightly heavier car with about the same power, ride was about the same except it was a little better over the rough LA streets, the Information center was nice. My 350 feels about the same as my 03 until it about 50 mph or so where the better gearing and better power band comes into play, the 04 although it had ooomph just didnt have it like the 02/03 or 350, I can only imagine what the SL like since this was the SE. This is coming form a guy that has had 4 previous Maximas 87,89(still own bad weather car),97,01 (totalled) and 3 Z previous Z's my wife 83 280zx turbo,87 300ZX turbo, 95 300 TT stolen.

 

I really have a hard time believing that you can feel the difference between the 02/03 and the 04, as far as power (oomph) goes. They are so close to the same in power, 0-60 and 1/4 mile. The fact that you have always believed it was slower, is probably why it felt slower... IMHO.

 

I can see why they would sell them as rentals. I know that I always try to rent a car that I may want to buy, and this may net them some more sales.

As for why do you not see Infiniti, Acura, etc when you rent, probably because rental car companies aren't going to pay the premium for those brands, when they all have cars that are relatively the same in their sister brands. It is the same reason you don't see leather and all the other unnecessary options, it costs the rental cars too much money.

They usually have a handful of luxury cars, but they are usually Lincoln's or Cadilacs.

 

Bingo!

 

I know Ford owns Hertz (and they bought a competitor out) and you can rent Jaguars. THough with the X-type, they have turned into a 2nd tier luxury brand.

Cars in rentals=sales targets. The rental companies get the cars for cheap, cheap.

 

Well personally I think it's great news. Maybe this will get Nissan to offer some incentive to buyer's now. I love the car but have been hesitant to purchase because every time I picked up the local paper...I see that Hertz is selling the 03's for 16 grand. 10 to 12 grand less than an O4. I suspected that if Hertz was able to purchase the 04's for the rental fleet that the drop in price on them would be much in the same as the 03's. They sell them once they've got 23 to 26 grand on them and then offer exctended warranties on the cars for around a grand. Of course, if I were a current owner of a Maxima and I paid 28 or 29 grand for my SE. This would not be good news.

 

Pretty much my thoughts......... went with a friend the other day and we test drove an 04.....yes it had get up and go....but it seemed to lag some compared to my 5th gen. You can definately feel the extra weight and very little difference in the engines.

 

Definately not good news for current 6th gen owners.....resale values will suffer.

 

Well believe what you want but I can feel a slight difference, I have lots of experience with Maximas and Z's and it definately is tad slower.

 

Yes those previous rentals tend to sell for thousands less than from a personal owner, I am seing the 03 previous rentals with 25-30,000 miles going for 17-19,295 at local HERTZ car sales here. Keep in mind they are taking a huge hit for having about 12-20,000 more miles than a single family owned example 2003 Maxima. I am seing some used personal seller ones in the 21,000 range which isnt too bad.

 

Yep you can even rent the S-Type, they also had some Volvo S60, S80.XJ8's and the V70 and Avalons.

 

Yea Monte I believe this is what is known as a "butt dyno".

 

when i was in arizona...the lexus ls400 was available for rental

My dad got the 02 Maxima SE in white....love that color...wish my dad got the LS!

 

I suspect that the VQ35DE in the new 04 Maxima is similar to what is in the G35 and 350z. The difference between these VQ35's and the ones in the 02/03 Maxima/Altima is that they are tuned for more top-end power whereas the old Max VQ35 was tuned for low-end and mid-range.

If true, this would mean that the 02-03's would have less weight to lug around and more oomph down low which would make them feel a lot quicker. It would also mean that the 04's would feel slower off the line and through medium speeds (more weight, less low-end), but will really hustle if you keep it planted with the extra top-end. The more aggressive gearing helps also.

I can't wait to see the first dyno on a 2004 Max. That's the only thing that will really figure this out.

 

It similar thing I noticed when I went from 95 SE 5-speed to 2000 SE 5-speed. My 95 5-speed definetly felt quicker downlow, but 2000 5-speed felt quicker at highway speeds.

 

Anyone that buys a car that was a rental car is a moron. Those things are beat to **** day in and day out. People do things to rental cars that should never be done to a car, and then someone else is dumb enough to buy it. There is a reason they sell these cars dirt cheap, they aren't worth much after they have been in a rental fleet.

 

I bet you aren't going to find a fully loaded 04 rental Max for $16 grand. I would imagine it to be a great bargain for someone in search of transportation but I can't imagine anyone else being happy with a rental copy they snagged up for cheap. Even if they purchase with the intention to mod then the cost really wouldn't be 16 clams.

 

Why havent any 6th gen owners dyno'ed??????

 

Yea it's a bit odd. A couple of people claimed they ran very high 14s and never showed up with proof when asked to do so. One guy claimed 14.5 or 14.6 even and never posted again. On another note, I saw a brand new 2004 Maxima SE with Enterprise-Rent-A-Car tags. This lady was driving it. Lucky her

 

That guy, who's daddy was gonna buy him one, is full of ****. I will get mine dyno'd as soon as I get a CAI, I will do it before and after. I am guessing that the current intakes out there don't have any increase in power since none of the companies making them have done before and after dynos. I think that is odd, seems more like they probably did them and there wasn't much of a difference.

 

Adding a CAI should result in about 10 hp in most cars. I wonder how the G35c is pushing 280+ hp with the same engine. Maybe exhausts are the way to go instead?

 

I would guess it is a combination of both intake and exhaust.