Well I finally took my Max for its first road trip.
I went to Vega$ this weekend to get married.
Driving there and back I saw one other Max, that was on the strip in Vegas, it's kinda nice not seeing maxima's everywhere (like a Camry or something) people trip out on my car especially with the shaved emblems and the wheels. Nobody seems to know what it is, If I hear "is that an Altima" one more time I'm going to freak out!!! My car drove super good, avg. MPG 15.2.
Does that seem low to you guys for straight highway driving??
Do the wheels (20's) affect those numbers a lot?
It pretty much stays the same whether on the streets or highways.
Anyways like I said the ride was nice, stayed around 80-90 the whole way out.
The way home was was a stormy mess though,
I actually drove through a HAIL storm!!
Big news for Southern Cali. I was freaking out that my car was going to be all dented up, but I'm sure it was nothing like the storms back east...no dents just a dirty Max once I got home....

 

Hey man are you ever in the West Covina/ La puente area??? i could have sworn i saw your car once when i was going to get a hair cut..hahaha ..nice car by the way.

 

jsmith!!! That mileage blows! I get 28's and an occasional 30 on the road routinely, and very little ever passes me. In fact, my wife and I took the inlaws to Vegas from Texas last November 1, and with 4 adults and a trunk full of luggage I got 28's and 29's, and my car had only 1,000 miles on it when we left.

What I'm wondering is this: Are the 20" wheels throwing your odometer off so much that you're miscalculating your mileage? If you didn't change your speedo drive to compensate for the oversized wheels, you are actually traveling farther with each revolution of the wheels than the speedometer/odometer indicates. That would make your mileage seem lower than it really is.

I'm behind times with oversized wheels, since the speedo doesn't drive off the trans anymore (or does it?). I think it's now electronic, so it either counts the revolutions of the wheel via the ABS sensors, or uses driveshaft sensors. In any case, you have to compensate for the change in wheel diameter.

And btw, if ttis is the problem, you were probably going 90 and 100 when you thought you were going 80 and 90.

Mike

 

congrats on getting married!
15.2 mpg seems low, maybe it's the 20" wheels. how many miles per tank might be a more accurate way of determining mpg

 

I just got back from my first road trip also. Put 1100 miles on the car, ABQ to PHX and back. Lots of mountainous roads, never let up on throttle. Ran it 90-100 on the back straight roads, 85 on the freeway.
I had 4 adults, stuffed with luggage and averaged 21 mpg for the trip, including 150 miles city driving.

Car did really well. My back was a little sore from the drive, and I noticed an air leak on the passengers door. I did have some occasional vibrations from the driveline, still don't know if I want to address it with Nissan at this time. Handling was very good even with all the weight, power was good in the mountains.

Enjoyable ride but I wish I could get comfortable in the seats.

On a side note...I noticed a G35 coupe while in PHX that had wider rims and tires on the rear axel. I must admit that it really looked wicked. I was thinking about doing it to the Max, but on the way home I noticed there was ZERO room in the rear fenderwells for any more meat with the load that I had. Has anyone tried to go to a 235 on their '04 max?

 

Are you getting the 3.5 emblem from the 02+ Altima, or 04 Max or Pathfinder. I added the one from the Altima and it blends perfectly.

 

The car doesn't have a driveline

15.2 is crap, I get better then that in the city when I'm doing constant full throttle accelerations. I got 30mpg over the corse of 1100 miles, half of which in california... so as you know, high speeds outside of the cities, a dead stop in them. All with somewhere between 500-750 pounds of extra weight in the car. My Uncle followed me in his 02 Altima with the 4cylinder and he was getting around 33-34.

Your wheels shouldn't make a big difference. What size tires do you have? I'd expect from 1-2 mpg drop from the rolling resistance increase, not 15. No SES light? It doesn't smell rich when running?

 

The tires are 245/35/20, no SES light and no smell...I'm going to the dealer to get an oil change this weekend should I say something to them about it???

 

Definatly! There has to be something up, you should not be getting that bad of milege.

 

monte,
got the 04 max one from mikenatas. is the altima one the same size as the ones on your 03? i think 04 one is about the same size as 02.

 

The car doesn't have a driveline...yeah well drivetrain or whatever. I am getting an intermittent vibration and I'm pretty sure it's not rotors rims or tires.

 

Are you sure it wasn't detonation? High altitude, hot temp, high weight, inclines, ****ty west coast gas, that makes for a good chance of detonation.

 

Hi. Since I brought my car in Oct., I put over 10,000 miles one the car driving from Brooklyn, NY to Plantation, Fl.. I avg. 24 to 26 mpg.

 

intermittent vibration?

pay closer attention to what you are doing next time it vibrates...

if you are not braking...then it shouldn't be warped rotors.

-vq