I got the new Car & Driver issue today (October 2002) it has the new Accord on the cover. On page 148 there is a Short Take on the Maxima SE. When I started to read it, I knew this wasn't going to be a good article.

The very first paragraph says: "If you've ever found yourself speculating on famous names that have faded into obscurity-like, "Whatever happended to Bill Haley?"-you have a basic understanding of our feelings when we've strapped on recent editions of the Nissan Maxima: Whatever happended to the real Maxima?"

While they did bash the Maxima a little bit, because it has turned into more of a BMW then staying true to what it was orginally a "4 Door Sports Car". They still rung out some impressive times. 0-60 in 6.0 -- 15.7 to 100 -- and 14.7 @ 97 MPH through the 1/4 Mile.

Too bad the Maxima is going to be even larger, they should do a redesign of the Maxima but keep it the same size and bring back the independent rear suspension. Only 0.82G on the skidpad

What's sad is that the last time the Maxima placed first in a comparo was in August 1992.

It's a pretty interseting article. This issue also has every car and truck for 2003. They mention a sentence about how this is the last year for this body style. And that 2004 will have a new design, and that's about it for the Max.

 

Dang, it gets to 97mph in 14.7 seconds, but takes a full second to reach 100 at 15.7 ??

 

what are the times for auto 2k2?

 

They have a point and obviously Nissan does too, when they dumped the 4DSC stickers from the Maxima after the 3rd gen. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE EVERYONE... it is just too hard to beleive that an older car is...well nevermind...I will end it here.

 

Cyrus: "Mom, I have a 4th Gen. My friend Nghia's Maxima - the newer rounder one - that's a 5th Gen. And you see that elder one over there, can you tell me what that is?"
Mom: "The Best Gen. Why did they ever change it." That's 1 for you 3rd Gens.
-Cyrus

 

hehe You know you love it!!

 

gee, wonder why


see Bill's quote in my sig

 

That quote is beautiful.

 

Anyone who says a BWM isn't a 4 door sports car has never driven one of 98-03 models. That is very poor journalism coming from an automotive magazine. And a 4 door sedan with 255 horsepower and a 6spd transmission isn't sporty? Sometimes I get the feeling that there are certain journalists who have been so spoiled by testing Mercedes and Corvettes that they forget about the price conscious segment of the market that is what the Maxima competes in.

Jesse

 

255hp with a 6 speed is powerful. But it still does not make it sporty. For example...a dragster is powerful, but does not go hitting the corners hard...dont get me wrong the 2k2 is just about right there as one of the sportiest Maxs made.

 

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And the Lexus IS300 is quick around the turns but is slow in the straights. There is no sedan under 30k dollars that will do both well. And I believe there are quite a few IS300's over the $30k mark.
Whenever you put a price restriction on a vehicle there will ALWAYS be "shortcomings" or more specifically....b*tching.

Jesse

 

yup, the 2k2 is beyond excellent in its price category. I really dont know what they were thinking. I would take a 2k2 over a IS300 anyday.

 

on edmunds.com, it says the 2k2 max runs 0-60 in 6.3 seconds....

.3 seconds faster than the acura TL-S running at 6.6

 

Wow, imagine after all that a 1996 M3 will beat it's pants off by .3 0-60? 6 senconds, I thought it could do better than that. Then again, for 21 grand maybe 6.0 and 97 mph is best bang for buck.

 

The G35 starts at $28k, handles well and is very quick! I think if they redid the tail, it would be killer...

 

I forgot to mention that Car & Driver did mention how the Maxima has great bang for the buck. That's one thing they gave it a plus.

I'll probably get flamed for this, but here goes. I made the comment about how the Maxima became more of a BMW. I'm not saying BMW isn't a 4 door sports car, I think they are really awesome cars. I was just saying that the Maxima has become more luxurious like a BMW, than staying true what it was set out to be. Infiniti has the I30/I35 that's the car(s) that should be competing with BMW. The Maxima should have stayed sporty like the 3rd Gen, IMHO. While the Max is still sporty, it's just not what it use to be.

 

Nice trap speed but the 1/4 mile time seems a bit slow, some stock autos are running 14.7's.

 

does C&D break in the car before testing it? doesn't the max perform better after breaking in first?
anyways, those times are respectable, but i guess i will have to get the mag and read it myself to see what they say. btw, what cars did they compare it to?

 

Well, the mainstream press may have something to nitpick on, but I truly think the mainstream appeal of the Maxima is really taking off. Times have never been hotter for to get a Maxima. I remember my 1995 Trans Am with just Borla exhaust trapping 100.3 mph. Now we have an affordable 4-door trapping 97 mph?!?!? Sheez.

 

Alright, let me see if I understand what you wrote. They did the 1/4 in 15.7@100mph and 14.7@97 mph? Something doesn't seem right.

 

15.7 to 100 mph. (vs. ~25 for my VG )

 

I didn't read it correctly. I got it now.

 

Don't worry your not the only one that didn't read it correctly. When I was reading the article, I was like WTF? Car & Driver doesn't know how to drive a stick. But then I realized they worded it all funny.

They mentioned how sedans are becoming even faster each year. They used examples like the WRX, the TL Type-S, and few others. I don't have the article in front of me at the moment.

 

May 2000 Road and Track "America's Movers"

5th place- Toyota Camry V6 XLE
4th place- Ford Taurus SE
3rd place- Pontiac Grand Prix GT
2nd place- Honda Accord EX V6
1st place- Nissan Maxima SE

"...the Maxima was everyone's choice for gobbling up stretches of twisting caynon road, with the least understeer and best grip, promoting high driver confidence."

 

I'm pretty sure the Edmunds article was an estimate.

 

Trap speed is the average speed of a vehicle over the last 60' of the dragstrip. It's not the speed of the vehicle as it crosses the finish line. A simple example is a car entering the traps at 90 mph and crosses the finish line at 95 mph would have a trap speed of 92.5 mph.

As to the 14.7 et for the 6-spd I wouldn't read to much into it. I'm happy to see a sub 15 second et in a printed publication. You don't know the weather conditions, how much gas was in the tank, where they using premium gas.....the list goes on.

 

I agree with what you said 4DRSpeed, however, nissan was not profitable from 93-99..... Granted a new president was named in 2000 (finally) and business operations, etc. changed; but money is the name of the game, and if a 4dr luxury car makes money and a 4dr sports car doesn't.... well which one would you make?

 

this thread reminds me of having read somewhere about C&D taking $$ from car companies for biased articles. Somehow, i never completely trusted car mags since then (yes,regrettably including such less financially endowed/prestigious mags like "Wards auto world". All-in-all, although its difficult to do, I try as hard as i can to ignore for the most part, those mags that potentially have interests other than giving the sole subjective opinion of the editors themselves.
geez, in these days, even the olympics arent so sacred anymore.

 

I believe it was Motor Trend that took money for awarding a car with 'car of the year' honors. C&D is the best North American car mag (R&T a close second)---IMHO.

 

I don't mean to interject something totally OT, but I thought this might be worth mentioning (and before I offend someone, I should mention that I'm a huge maxima fan, and would love to own a 6-spd).

W/ that said, a recent issue of C&D nearly put the CL-S 6-spd FWD coupe OVER the 330Ci .. a car they've revelled over for YEARS... The CL-S lost by a point, after having read that article, I've been a little more trusting of C&D reporting. However, Acura may also have invested a good amount of money into that article to produce such great journalism (on behalf of Acura).

 

oops, i probably was talking about MT! too bad, its a shame that ruined my faith in auto-mags in general. Guess im going to have to test drive more often from now on!

 

imho attention to details does matter. It doesn't matter if the 2k2 Max has a trap speed of 108 mph and does 0-60 in 4.5 sec, it still looks as it does, very unmodern and skinny. Stuff like the fact that the rear windows don't go all the way down, why do they miss details like that? the 2k2 Camry has rear windows that go all the way down. Take a look at the CL/TL, the rear windshield. It's mounted the old way, 1998 technology. Doesn't matter to most, matters to car enthusiasts. Like dating a girl who is not good-looking but has a good job. Some say I don't care about looks and they go for it, others do care and look at the "total package." Looks will always matter in my mind even if they're only skin deep.

 

Blah Blah Blah

 

I just bought a 2002 Camry and I am very disappointed. All four wheels were out of alignment and the dealer would not align it. I took it in two times and all I got was that it was within specs. The camber on all four wheels was -1.0/-1.3 degrees. I could visually see all four wheels/tires leaning. I even checked several other cars on their lot with my level and they were all that way. I finally bought some eccentric strut bolts and paid to have it aligned. Maybe the rear windows go down all the way but I would be more concerned about all four tire wearing out prematurely.

 

I totally understand. I just wish at the end of 2003 model year, that Nissan will bring out a sporty Maxima, stiffer springs, and maybe a slight boost in HP. From the looks of the 2004 model, the Maxima will never really have a sporty edge again.

Will see.

 

If you actually own a Maxima I suggest you get rid of it. Go buy a Camry or Accord so you cna complain to those people on their message boards. If you own a Maxima it deserves better.

 

What is does 'skinny' mean? In the Camry they left out the most important 'details', such as a real engine, manual gearbox and soul.