80 to 110 the alti pulled everytime!!! both cars all stock, my wife was driving the alti!!!!she steadily walked away 3 times!!!.........

 

Have your wife drive the Maxima, maybe shes the better driver

 

hahaha,here we go!.......we were both on cell phone and both floored it at the same time going straight!! this was not a drivers race. .........

 

i raced a 03 altima 3.5 se auto with intake and exhaust last night and beat him by two cars on the first run, and on the second had about half a car and i was pulling away.. this is in my stock 04 maxima se auto.. so its all on the car and driver i guess. these where both from dead stops. one was from a role and i still pulled not walked away but pulled.. i had two people in my car he had three but the max weights more already.. the alti sounded mean as hell though.. spoke to the guy after that, nice guy. it was a good run..

 

maxgsxr1 - The Maxima weighs more than the Alti, and is a near-luxury car. These cars are not competitors in either general use/purpose, price range or target clientele.

Even so, if all factors were exactly equal, the Maxima gets the edge, barely. One possible factor here is quickness. I consider myself to be ultra-quick at most things. My wife, however, is more leisurely in her movements. I can beat her at almost anything requiring quickness.

But there is an arcade game called 'crab crackers' we play at the beach. It is based on nothing but quickness. She has won about a hundred straight games from me. It may be that, even though the 'word' was received by both of you at the same time, your wife's reaction time may be unusually quick, and her foot might have been a tenth of a second faster at hitting the pedal.

What other factors could be involved here? Could have been any number of things. My money is on the Alti engine tuning and tranny adjustment being slightly better than the Maxima on the two specific cars involved.

I remember when my wife and I had exact duplicate '85 Maximas. The only difference was my license tag was one digit higher. But no matter which of us drove which car, mine always got around 28 or 29 mpg on long trips, while hers always got between 31 and 33.

We used the same dealer for all service and tuneups, used exactly the same tires with the same psi, and the same gas.

Which reminds me, the Maxima is supposed to perform best with 93 octane. Is that what you were using? Also, at high speeds, tire pressure becomes a factor. If you are going to be driving over 100 mph, you need to have more than the recommended 32 psi. I would advise 34 or 35 psi for very high speed driving.

But your experience is further proof Nissan absolutely MUST put more separation between the Alti and the Max. This will happen next summer, when we find the '06 Maxima will be getting a power boost; probably around 15 more horses. Then you will be able to see your wife's beautiful face in your mirror as you edge away in your clearly superior '06 Maxima.

 

Look at the specs on the new 2005 Alti SE-R

 

AngryPotato - I have looked at the SE-R specs, and that is a VERY big reason the Maxima need a little more oomph.

Of course, the Alti SE-R costs more than the base Maxima SE. And is probably worth it.

 

we also raced with her behind me at 70 (5 car lengths between)and both floored it.she closed up gap by 100 mph..........not bad for the alti!

 

I agree, never really thought about buying this car to compete with the Altima. Yes, could I get a fully loaded Altima cheaper than my Maxima, could have, but this is my second Maxima, loved the interior and the exterior over the Altima....plus never liked the altezza style tail light "PERSONAL OPINION" on the Altima. Will the HP vs weight ratio play into place....you bet, the Maxima is heavier even with a few more HP. Will Nissan do something to change the seperation between the Altima and Maxima, only 06 will tell, the G is getting the good stuff before the Maxima as it is market to a higher level..just a tad higher. Do I imagine the Maxima needs a HP boost and AWD to compete....yep.

My PERSONAL predictions, the Maxima gets AWD as a expensive option, SE gets a HP increase...just a bit under the G.

 

Carcus - I agree with everything in your post except one detail; Nissan will give the same HP boost to BOTH the SE and the SL. It is much cheaper to do this, as otherwise, they have two engines to document, two engine types to arrive at the right spot on the assembly line for the right vehicle, two HPs to advertise, etc, etc.

Especially in view of the fact the base SL costs over two thousand $ more than the base SE, it will certainly not be given 'short shrift'.

Just my opinion.

 

I know what you mean....but you never know, they can always say...."The sport tuned SE model has increased handling and 10 extra HP due to high flow sport tuned exhaust and high flow sport intake." IN other words they can put a louder exhaust and intake on it. Would still be the same engine, just a few cheap parts to differentiate the SE from the SL and attract different buyers even in the same market for a Maxima. But I can see where you are probably right. I do say that AWD will come and most of our stuff will come from the G35.

Wonder why there will never be a Maxima SER....not like the Altima SER is that big of a deal.