I posted a previous post asking if anyone knew what the new car magazines had timed the Maxima and the SHO from 0-60mph.

Well I have now obtained 2 older Car and Driver mags (3/91 & 6/94) and 1 older Road and Track mag (10/89).

Here is the tally:

R&T 10/89 1990 SHO 5spd
0-60 6.6sec
1/4mile 15.2@92.5
Top Speed 140
Skip Pad .81g
Braking 60-0 168

Car&Driver 3/91 91 SHO 5spd
0-60 6.6sec
1/4mile 15.2@93
Top Speed 140
Skip Pad, 300ft .77g
Slalom 100ft 61.3mph
Braking 70-0 183

Car&Driver 6/94 95 Maxima SE 5spd

0-60 6.7sec
1/4mile 15.3@91mph
Top Speed 135mph
Skip Pad .78g
Braking 70-0 185

These two cars appear to be virtually identical as far as performance. Yeah, the SHO is faster, and one could argue that 0.1 seconds is about a car length in a drag race, but what ever. I feel that the Nissan's reliability makes it the obvious choice for me.

To top it off, the 6/94 issue of C&D noted that in 1992, the 92 Maxima SE had narrowly won a comparisson test that C&D performed against both the 92 Camary SE and the 92 SHO.

My mind is made up.

Braking 70-0 183

 

If wanted the faster car, the SHO is the car to get. They were slightly faster off the showroom floor and they have a lot more mods to choose from. They've got stroker kits, turbos, SC, revised intake manifolds, headers, varible swicthovers, ECUs, LSDs, stronger CV shafts, etc, etc. It is very possible to get a SHO to run into the 13s NA with a full interior. The SHOs problem is everything surrounding the motor is crap, especially the Mazda 626 tranny that is already far over-taxed with the V6. These cars eat trannies constantly. The mag numbers you list are for the quickest SHOs ever made. The 89-91 models were the quickest. As the SHO progressed, it gained substainal weight and performance fell off. The 94 5 speed was only capable of running mid 15s due to an increase of about 200lbs over the earlier models. The automatic SHOs were in the upper 15s.

The Maxima is better choice if you want a nicely built car and is fractionaly slower. I've run plenty of SHOs around Kansas City and I have yet to be beaten, but most SHOs have little mods and many are a bit out of tune.

Dave

 

But MT had a 6.6 second 0-60 for the '95 Max. Funny thing is, their '95 Mustang made it in 6.7.

 

I agree w/ you 100% Dave. Bro had an early SHO. Massive torque but the only thing good about that car was the engine. It ironicly enough was the only thing not Ford made. LOL.

The sho is just not gonna stand the test of time like my 3-gen or any maxima will.

I leave the following question. How many nice shos or tarus have you seen from this vintage? I bet you can count them on one hand. But I see nice old 3-gen/4-gen maximas all the time. Testimony to the built quality of the maxima I think.