I learned how to drive a 7th gen today...
#1
I learned how to drive a 7th gen today...
This is my first Maxima. I bought a new 2012 S. As a past 13 year Nissan employee at Smyrna, I drove hundreds of Altimas, Sentras and "Big Foots" in my secondary role as a Quality Control checker. You see, admin plant employees used to have to spend three eight hour shifts every ninety days driving new Nissans off final and running them through a static check for defects in workmanship and electronics and then a test drive over a special track. So over the years I had the opportunity to drive all except the Max, since then the Max was only made in Japan.
I finally realized, after driving my new Max for 45 days, that the Max is a different breed entirely. I finally realized you need to drive her differently than an Altima or an Avalon for that matter and certainly differently than a Charger or a Caddie.
First, I finally realized you don't sit in a Max like you do an Altima or Sentra. Instead of upright seating you sit in a lower, semi-inclined position with your legs almost fully extend with only a slight bend like you are poised on a basketball court with your knees slightly bent ready to go any direction necessary and quickly, like you do in a Max. You set the steering wheel as low as possible but stopping when you have a full view of the entire instrument cluster, nothing covered in that cluster with the top of the wheel outlining the top of the cluster. Extend the wheel to the point you have the cluster perfectly outlined AND your arms are only slightly bent to reach the expanded hand grips on the wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock position and you are comfortable doing so.
I also finally realized you never leave the 10 and 2 o'clock position and nor do you need to unless you are doing a slow tight turn into a driveway. 10 and 2 are majic positions on the Max because she handles best in all situations when you FIRMLY KEEP a grip her wheel exactly at her expanded grips at those positions. Apparently they (the grips) are not for looks, she actually needs to be handled 99 percent from those positions. No cruising with one hand on the bottom of the wheel like you're driving a chevy around an old Shoney's drive-in on a Friday night. No way, always 10 and 2 at the grips and with a decently firm grip. Remember. She likes a FIRM grip. It actually is comfortable to hold the wheel there after you get used to it and then you realize she is suddenly following your thoughts when you will her into turns.
So, apparently there IS a sports care there after all and she is not a reskinned V6 Altima after all...nice.
I finally realized, after driving my new Max for 45 days, that the Max is a different breed entirely. I finally realized you need to drive her differently than an Altima or an Avalon for that matter and certainly differently than a Charger or a Caddie.
First, I finally realized you don't sit in a Max like you do an Altima or Sentra. Instead of upright seating you sit in a lower, semi-inclined position with your legs almost fully extend with only a slight bend like you are poised on a basketball court with your knees slightly bent ready to go any direction necessary and quickly, like you do in a Max. You set the steering wheel as low as possible but stopping when you have a full view of the entire instrument cluster, nothing covered in that cluster with the top of the wheel outlining the top of the cluster. Extend the wheel to the point you have the cluster perfectly outlined AND your arms are only slightly bent to reach the expanded hand grips on the wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock position and you are comfortable doing so.
I also finally realized you never leave the 10 and 2 o'clock position and nor do you need to unless you are doing a slow tight turn into a driveway. 10 and 2 are majic positions on the Max because she handles best in all situations when you FIRMLY KEEP a grip her wheel exactly at her expanded grips at those positions. Apparently they (the grips) are not for looks, she actually needs to be handled 99 percent from those positions. No cruising with one hand on the bottom of the wheel like you're driving a chevy around an old Shoney's drive-in on a Friday night. No way, always 10 and 2 at the grips and with a decently firm grip. Remember. She likes a FIRM grip. It actually is comfortable to hold the wheel there after you get used to it and then you realize she is suddenly following your thoughts when you will her into turns.
So, apparently there IS a sports care there after all and she is not a reskinned V6 Altima after all...nice.
Last edited by Tennesseeart; 08-26-2012 at 09:21 PM. Reason: Correct for missing words etc.
#3
i wonder if this was key in designing all Maximas. the driving position/style is exactly for me, in my 95's, as you described for your 7th gen. minus the whole 10 and 2 bit but you get the point, haha.
i've driven some cheap, comfy, "american" cars as well as some of the more-expensive sport/luxury foreign vehicles, and nothing drives like a Maxima. it's just in a league of it's own.
i've driven some cheap, comfy, "american" cars as well as some of the more-expensive sport/luxury foreign vehicles, and nothing drives like a Maxima. it's just in a league of it's own.
#5
#6
yeah, OP did a great job describing the "driving experience"...
#7
To be clear, I meant to say "back then the Max was only made in Japan and not in Smyrna. I left Smyrna in 1997 to pursue other interests. Thanks. When I started in 1981 we only made the truck and then we had the Sentra after proving ourselves with the truck and then the Altima came off the line and with the Altima we started driving each Altima, 100 percent of the production, a few years to make sure it was perfect. Nissan and the Smryna plant had a lot on the line with the Altima and it had to be perfect.
#8
#9
#10
Don't even ask me about the early 90's when sales were off bad and new Sentras were stacked around Smryna all over the place.
#11
Nothing drives like a Maxima ???
i wonder if this was key in designing all Maximas. the driving position/style is exactly for me, in my 95's, as you described for your 7th gen. minus the whole 10 and 2 bit but you get the point, haha.
i've driven some cheap, comfy, "american" cars as well as some of the more-expensive sport/luxury foreign vehicles, and nothing drives like a Maxima. it's just in a league of it's own.
i've driven some cheap, comfy, "american" cars as well as some of the more-expensive sport/luxury foreign vehicles, and nothing drives like a Maxima. it's just in a league of it's own.
#12
Lets not get carried away here. The Maxima is the best value for the money. A BMW 535i with twin turbos and the sport package blow it away in handling, comfort and acceleration. However, you can buy two Maximas for the price of one BMW or 4 Maximas for the price of a Porsche 911.
#13
#15
Lets not get carried away here. The Maxima is the best value for the money. A BMW 535i with twin turbos and the sport package blow it away in handling, comfort and acceleration. However, you can buy two Maximas for the price of one BMW or 4 Maximas for the price of a Porsche 911.
#16
irrelevant. it's not that the Max handles the best, or rides the best, accelerates the fastest... it's about the feel of the thing. sure a bimmer will blow it away on paper, and maybe it's fun to drive, but you get the sense it's a tool or a machine where as with a Maxima, you're part of the excitement.
PS I would not buy a BMW for a few reasons such as too expensive, costs much to insure, run flat tires, soft rims prone to damage, less reliable than the average car. However, with money being no objec it is still superior to the Maxima
#17
You are still carried away with the Maxima. I agree it is the best value for the money, however, having driven my son's 535i sport model for a few months I can attest that the BMW blows it away in real life driving. Perhaps you need a test drive in one to convince yourself the the Maxima is not the holy grail.
PS I would not buy a BMW for a few reasons such as too expensive, costs much to insure, run flat tires, soft rims prone to damage, less reliable than the average car. However, with money being no objec it is still superior to the Maxima
PS I would not buy a BMW for a few reasons such as too expensive, costs much to insure, run flat tires, soft rims prone to damage, less reliable than the average car. However, with money being no objec it is still superior to the Maxima
#18
I do know this for sure, the rear suspension stays glued down even when taking a curve at speed and then hitting some bump, like when the overpass on a curve is an inch higher than the asphalt. I hit one today in Nashville on a curve at about 70+ and was expecting it to jump and lose contact with the pavement and slide out but both rear wheels stayed glued down like nothing happened. I was frankly amazed. One my say the independent suspension does this on any car but I took that same curve in a mitsubishi front wheel drive with a decent independent rear end and when I hit that ramp the rear end jumped up and slid at least half a foot.
Perhaps this is the "maxima-ness" the engineers discussed as needing to be kept when designing the 7th gen. I do know this for sure, it was like there was no break in the pavement when the Max hit it, she never moved from the track I had her on. It was like she was on rails, to use a cliche.
#19
This is my first Maxima. I bought a new 2012 S. As a past 13 year Nissan employee at Smyrna, I drove hundreds of Altimas, Sentras and "Big Foots" in my secondary role as a Quality Control checker. You see, admin plant employees used to have to spend three eight hour shifts every ninety days driving new Nissans off final and running them through a static check for defects in workmanship and electronics and then a test drive over a special track. So over the years I had the opportunity to drive all except the Max, since then the Max was only made in Japan.
I finally realized, after driving my new Max for 45 days, that the Max is a different breed entirely. I finally realized you need to drive her differently than an Altima or an Avalon for that matter and certainly differently than a Charger or a Caddie.
First, I finally realized you don't sit in a Max like you do an Altima or Sentra. Instead of upright seating you sit in a lower, semi-inclined position with your legs almost fully extend with only a slight bend like you are poised on a basketball court with your knees slightly bent ready to go any direction necessary and quickly, like you do in a Max. You set the steering wheel as low as possible but stopping when you have a full view of the entire instrument cluster, nothing covered in that cluster with the top of the wheel outlining the top of the cluster. Extend the wheel to the point you have the cluster perfectly outlined AND your arms are only slightly bent to reach the expanded hand grips on the wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock position and you are comfortable doing so.
I also finally realized you never leave the 10 and 2 o'clock position and nor do you need to unless you are doing a slow tight turn into a driveway. 10 and 2 are majic positions on the Max because she handles best in all situations when you FIRMLY KEEP a grip her wheel exactly at her expanded grips at those positions. Apparently they (the grips) are not for looks, she actually needs to be handled 99 percent from those positions. No cruising with one hand on the bottom of the wheel like you're driving a chevy around an old Shoney's drive-in on a Friday night. No way, always 10 and 2 at the grips and with a decently firm grip. Remember. She likes a FIRM grip. It actually is comfortable to hold the wheel there after you get used to it and then you realize she is suddenly following your thoughts when you will her into turns.
So, apparently there IS a sports care there after all and she is not a reskinned V6 Altima after all...nice.
I finally realized, after driving my new Max for 45 days, that the Max is a different breed entirely. I finally realized you need to drive her differently than an Altima or an Avalon for that matter and certainly differently than a Charger or a Caddie.
First, I finally realized you don't sit in a Max like you do an Altima or Sentra. Instead of upright seating you sit in a lower, semi-inclined position with your legs almost fully extend with only a slight bend like you are poised on a basketball court with your knees slightly bent ready to go any direction necessary and quickly, like you do in a Max. You set the steering wheel as low as possible but stopping when you have a full view of the entire instrument cluster, nothing covered in that cluster with the top of the wheel outlining the top of the cluster. Extend the wheel to the point you have the cluster perfectly outlined AND your arms are only slightly bent to reach the expanded hand grips on the wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock position and you are comfortable doing so.
I also finally realized you never leave the 10 and 2 o'clock position and nor do you need to unless you are doing a slow tight turn into a driveway. 10 and 2 are majic positions on the Max because she handles best in all situations when you FIRMLY KEEP a grip her wheel exactly at her expanded grips at those positions. Apparently they (the grips) are not for looks, she actually needs to be handled 99 percent from those positions. No cruising with one hand on the bottom of the wheel like you're driving a chevy around an old Shoney's drive-in on a Friday night. No way, always 10 and 2 at the grips and with a decently firm grip. Remember. She likes a FIRM grip. It actually is comfortable to hold the wheel there after you get used to it and then you realize she is suddenly following your thoughts when you will her into turns.
So, apparently there IS a sports care there after all and she is not a reskinned V6 Altima after all...nice.
#21
#22
Originally Posted by TRUMPETGEEK
Well, I'm new to the MAXIMA ride guys but.......... no matter how I position my seat, I can never drive with two hands on the wheel.. NEVER!
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