Seem like the 06 Maxima was the ultimate, a four door 350Z. The changes in 07 to the Altima clone grille, and CVT trans seems like the end of the line where the Altima has become as good if not better for less money. Now they are going to put a diesel in the 2010 Maxima, so Maximas have been relagated to test mules for fuel efficiency. Seems like 06 was the end of the line, and thats a shame. Altimas should have been kept with 4 cylinders, or Maximas should be given upgraded VQ engines to keep them distinct.

 

Don't shoot the horse until after it gets out the starting gate, on a flip side, it may be a nice surprise!!!

 

Your statement in bold above is a big misconception that many people seem to have. A fully loaded Maxima costs around 36K while a fully loaded Altima costs around 33K. Nissan was offering a 3K cashback on the Maxima while a 0.5K on the Altima last August-September on 07. Even now, for the 08, Nissan is offering 2K cashback on the Maxima and no cashback on the Altima. So, when I bought my car, a Maxima actually cost around 33K while an Altima around 32.5K. Thus they are almost equally priced cars with the Maxima being the bigger of the two, having bigger wheels and a few more luxury features. In fact, the Maxima offered more car for the price than the Altima.

I do not know whether the Altima has gotten as good as the Maxima or not. At least I did not feel the 07 Altima (3.5 V6) better when I test drove both. There is a lot of difference between what you see on paper and what you feel when you actually drive.

But for sure, the 07-08 Altima (3.5 V6) is not a lesser priced car than the 07-08 Maxima as is widely but wrongly perceived.

 

!d00d!

 

Well, 3.5 SE Altimas are selling for 26K nicely equipped, cloth seats, and there is maybe 2500 between them and a cloth Maxima. Not a huge diff, but I guess my point was the Maxima is no longer the "flagship" with Altimas having the same drivelines and available options, and Maximas languishing with CVT trannies and the same basic front grille as the Altima. Altimas are outselling Maximas 5 to 1, which is fine in the sense there are fewer Maximas driving around, but at the stoplight the Altima is going to run as quick or quicker than the Maxima, which means the Maxima is not the flagship anymore, which kind of sucks to me. I wish Nissan had put the higher hp tuning on the Maximas to make them stand out. The 350Z has gotten continued hp but not the Maxima.

 

There is a 2500 difference between comparably equipped Altima and Maxima and Nissan provides 2000 more incentive on the Maxima. So the difference is just 500 on comparably equipped Altima and Maxima. Now given this small difference, isn't it enough selling point for the Maxima that it is bigger, comes with bigger wheels and a few more luxury features?

It is true that Altimas are outselling Maximas 5:1. Out of those 5, 4 people buy 2.5 Altimas. The rest 1 person buys an Altima either because he/she does not know about the Maxima and Nissan's incentives on it or is keen on saving $500. My point is there is absolutely no reason to purchase a 3.5 V6 Altima over a Maxima given the 07-08 configurations and the prices of the two cars.

Maximas are not languishing with CVTs. I love the CVT and the power it generates at mid to high range (30-90 mph). Regarding the higher hp tuning to a Maxima, every owner of a Maxima would have loved to see that. But that would increase the price of the car too and make it less affordable. Wait another year or two and you will see that extra hp along with a nice price tag. It might be everyone's dream car and the perfect "flagship car" but will remain a dream for most of them.

The only thing that I feel Nissan should have had in the current Maxima without changing its price is the Rear View Backup Camera which is already present in an Altima SL.

 

You might love the CVT in your SL, but i think its a rubber band tranny and not the best choice for a sport sedan. The lack of a manual option in the Maxima sucks. You totally ignore the hard fact that the 3.5 SE Altima runs dead even or might be quicker than the Maxima. Glad you like your 07 SL but its just a rebadged Altima at this point, and that is the fact, without more power the 07 and on Maximas are a step backward.

 

I love the luxury of my Maxima which the Altima does not offer. Many people in this forum think that the interior of an Altima is the cheapest they have ever seen. That the Maxima is sporty is a bonus but I did not purchase it for that. If the Maxima was sportier and less luxurious, I would have purchased a Toyota Avalon or Lexus ES350 but not an Altima.

When I start from a dead stop at a signal in any city street, I am always at par or ahead of any car. And I drive softly never letting the RPM go over 2k while accelerating from dead stop. How much quicker is the Altima than the Maxima? Provide concrete numbers from proper scientific experiments to back up what you are saying.

 

If you buy an Altima wanting to actually buy a Maxima...you will always wonder what could have been. Not to mention it will always say Altima on the back and you always know that it could have been a Maxima. Thats what stopped me from buying an altima coupe

 

 

The end of the 4DSC was with the 2003 maxima, sorry guys but the 6th gen is too big, to plush and to slow.

 

Somebody referred to the maxima as a sport sedan, Nissan made the altima to be a sport sedan and the maxima to be a luxury sedan- for nissan. People like us try to make them Sport-sedans by modding the maximas.
Go back to 1988 and the maxima was a luxury sedan (that talked to you), then the altima in 1993 came out looking sporty compared to the boxxy maxima because it was a sport-sedan. I agree that the maxima should still come with a manual trans option but the fact is that the majority of people in the US want automatics. Go to Europe and every other continent and you will find majority manuals+sport sedans.
CVT is Nissans way to sell cars and impress the average car buyer, and those who prefer the bumpier Less-luxury riding ALTIMA, go buy one and find a new board to whine on!

 

you're looking at the entire lineup very ignorantly.

why does flagship have to be the fastest?

why does the flagship have to sell the most?

those 2 points do not define the flagship and your "end of era" statement is invalid.

 

I respectfully disagree. Having owned both, they feel very very similar and I would take a 6th over a 5th anyday.

 

I agree. I had an 02 Max SE and I have an 04 SL and I think they are pretty even in their acceleration. The ride in the 04 is way superior than the 02 in both smoothness and handling. Plus the bigger size is great for the family. I am very happy with my UPGRADE to the 6th gen Max.

 

Definitely don't know what you're talking about. Stock for stock the 5.5 feels just as unstable and clumsy at high speeds. I had 2 5.5 Gens, an 02 and 03. Both 5.5 and 6th Gens respond very well to suspension and power mods. I give the 6th Gen a slight edge with the IRS.

 

I own both an '05 Maxima SE loaded and a '05 Altima SE. The reason i bought the Altima is because this is my wife's car and she didn't want to drive a large car like the Max. The turning radius on the Max sux.

 

Geez, do you sit down to pee so it wont bother the downstairs neighbors? Go to caranddriver.com if you want the numbers, no information welfare for you.

 

Worst selling and slowest constitutes flagship to you? Ok.....

 

4DSC ended in 1994. :repsot2:

 

No, I live on the ground floor with no basement.

Without numbers, your claims of Maxima being slower than Altima, etc. are baseless. Providing the url of a random website doesn't help.

Also, can you please do us a favor by defining the term "flagship"?

 

show me how many flagships are the highest selling and fastest of their line????

Altima is designed and marketed to be the highest seller. 350z is designed and marketed to be the sportiest and quickest one. Flagships are not made for those reasons. Yet the maxima is more often faster at the track than the Z stock for stock. But the Z is marketed with modibility to make it fast.

Maxima was never designed for the masses or for the modifiers. Flagships are more of a status for best quality in a line-up. Nissan never intended and for some reason ignores that so many took used Maximas (now more so new ones) to make what the Org represents.

Yet the Maxima continues to sell more than planned.

 

This site is whacked, ask about removing the speed limiter and they close the thread, like Big Brother is reading this dumb board. What the hell good is a site you cant talk about improving the performance on your car? Then this old goofball bb7000 whining for me to prove the simple fact that Altimas are as fast as Maximas cuz hes too lazy to read the friggin tests that have been out for years. Ever heard of the SER Altima ya coot? 140 is peanuts, you buzzards would die if you read the Mustang sites and saw how fast people are going. Or the Vette sites. Or the Dodge sites. Get a clue, it aint illegal to talk about going fast Dumbledore. Nissan is going the wrong direction and i miss real power, im getting a Hemi Charger. Bag this lameass site, im outta here.

 

I take it you don't realize that about 80% of Altima sales went to the 4 cylinder version. :stfu:

 

You posted the speed limiter thing before and it was answered. So again: :stfu:

And Hemi charger is limited at 130. Again: :stfu:

 

and this is why people bet banned

 

I have to admit, there is a lot of pleasure in irritating you

We just realized from your thread that Nissan is going the wrong way and Maxima is the worst car in the world. But you knew that before, didn't you? So why are you visiting a Maxima forum like this one? Why are you even talking about a Maxima? Such lowly deeds don't befit you

BTW, we are really grateful that you opened our eyes

 

Oh damn, I wasted 2 posts...

 

naw, now we can carry a logical, mature discussion on this reoccurring fallacy.

you brought up an excellent point. I'm sure the 4 banger alti still out sells the Max, but how many 3.5 and even SER altis really sell?

I have nothing against someone saying "i got the SER since it's what the max should be" as long as they admit they paid more than I did, still have less space and deep down inside they want to rebadge it MAXIMA

 

Here are some timings for 0-60 mph:

2008 Nismo 350Z, 2007 350Z, 2007 350Z Roadster 5.4 secs
2008 Altima coupe 5.8 secs
2007 Altima SE/SL 6.0 secs
2007 Maxima SE/SL 6.3 secs


Some Maxima competitors:

2007 Infiniti G35 (sedan) 5.2 secs
2007 Acura TL (type S) 6.0 secs
2007 Honda Accord V6 (sedan) 6.9 secs
2007 BMW 335i (sedan) 5.0 secs
2007 Toyota Camry V6 6.4 secs (no data for Avalon)
2007 Lexus ES350 6.8 secs


Source: http://www.performancecarnews.com/Fa...cess=ShowTable

 

i bought my 04 SE a couple weeks ago. while giving the car its first good cleaning, i found all of the sales paperwork (including the window sticker) in the trunk. it clearly reads "Nissan's Flagship"- which is what the maxima is.

while the Altima has become somewhat of an unintended competitor for the Maxima, its still not a Maxima.

i chose the Maxima over the Altima because i love the styling of the Max, over the Altima. you really need to load-up an altima to make it similar to a max.... whereas just about every max i loaded up.

 

Somehow I don't think that all of this Maxima discussion is uppermost in the minds of the top leaders at Nissan.

Check out this information about where Nissan is planning to take cars in the future -- "Nissan Moving to Smaller, Cheaper Cars."

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....41#post6021341

 

C&D tested 6th gen 5AT, and gave a 0-60 time of 6.1 sec. And I don't think a 335i is a Max's competitor, given it's price.

 

Hmmm. I would humbly say that the comparison days of Altima vs Maxima are numbered. Nissan needed to move the Altima more upscale to keep up with the newer Accord and Camry. And that brought the Altima into the Maxima territory. But not for long. I will bet anyone that Nissan is now pushing the Maxima back to where it belongs (unquestionable flagship), without of course, eating into the Infinity sales.

 

All the flag ship cars have increased in size. They all want to be like the Maxima. The 300C is huge,dodge Magnum,Ford 500/taurus,Camry got bigger. A lot of new entry level cars are being made because the entire line up is getting bigger. The Maxima can stay the same size, all it needs is more power and a Manual transmission option. Huge cars with lots of power seem to be the new trend.

 

I was at the Nissan Dealer tonight to turn in my leased 05 Pathfinder LE b/c we got a sick white 08 Ford Expedition Limited. Anyway, after the salesman busted my ***** for buying a Ford we talked Nissan, more specifically the Max. Now, take this with a grain of salesman bullshiot salt but he told me: The 7th gen will be on the M35/45 platform and it will have the capability to be offered with AWD and the diesel but those will not be standard features. The CVT will be an advanced generation model to handle the higher engine power and the 3.7 liter V6 will be under the hood. He said the Max will have some sort of release at the next Tokyo auto show. "Moving the Max to the Flagship position once again." His words, not mine.

http://www.caranddriver.com/autoshow...a-concept.html

Don't flame, I'm just passing on what I heard.

Oh, and for anybody looking for the next gen Murano like I was, the 09 will be released Jan 15, 2008. Refreshed- not a complete remake, no third row.

 

I'll take that bet...

Definitely not a good way to win over 6th gen customers!!!

 

Not with higher gasoline prices. You need to read the article here:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=542312

In that article you can see what Nissan is working to accomplish. Profits in all lines, but a small car line that is profitable -- and serious automotive engineering work to accomplish this. Smaller more fuel-efficient cars are what will sell now. Lets just hope that some manufacturers continue to make the power cars we like.

 

The Intima is most likely what the next gen Max will look like, at least in the silhouette; and probably has what yoursales guy mentioned other than the M platform.

 

I, personally, think the '06 grill is hideous. I, also, find myself wondering how people in their right minds think that a PT Cruiser and that Toyota thingy-suv-boat-whateverthehellitis are actually good looking...