got a 95 altima with automatic, and 113,000 miles.
perfect (scarily it's really like brand new(now a believer in the reliability of nissan and the ka24de motor)). I'm a mechanic and I've kept the car in good shape and did the maintenance on it myself, etc. car is compeltely 'stock', with 0-mods - just a special audio system I installed and calibrated myself using SPL, and various tracks.

was thinking about getting a 95 maxima SE with 5 speed manual, has 160,000 miles. its in good condition. the bad things, after i inspected it(somewhat breefly- i wanted 30 more mins with it but the owner was busy that day) were two codes in ECU, 0707 0304, which are o2 sens and k.s. sensor. i think the 0707 is prb the real thing , and the knock sensor was just tripped off, since that has happened in the past with different probs on the altima (the knock sensor just likes to be a code whenever there is another problem HAHA who knows why). also, the car has been regularly filled with Regula gasoline with 87 oct and i believe it's supposedto be 91 or higher. so maybe there is gradual damage to car from knocking, and i dont know how much actualy life there is in engine. engine ran smooth, actually shocking smooth, kindof reminded me of a jet engine turbine acceleration... weird. driven many many many cars, but almost none are THAT smooth. the driver's side axle seemed lose in the spot where it connects to differential. I heard a slight whining sound on take off in 1st gear.

should i get max, and enjoy and over time modify for more perf. or keep altima and modify for more perf, since i hear max has less handling, and the ka24 in altima when turboed gets like the same hp as the maxima when it's supercharged...?????

thanks -
Pass

 

I don't think that the altima will handle much, if any better than a maxima. The Max pulls approx .8 G on the skidpad, give or take a smidgen depending on SE or not.

It's going to take a while to get that altima up to speed with the Max. I'd buy the max. It's just a much nicer car. Of course the transmission on the altima is another bunch of drivetrain loss that the max won't have, given its manual.

Something you forgot to mention though was how much they're asking for this one!

 

i own:

1994 nissan altima GXE, automatic tranny, 80k miles.
1998 nissan maxima se, fully loaded, 50k miles, automagic.

lets compare the two:

Acceleration: maxima is by FAR alot faster and smoother.

Handling: altima handles by FAR ALOOOOT better than maxima

Reliability: maxima hands down is more reliable. VQ30DE is a bullit proof engine

Room: altima's interior sux, luxury wise and roomy wise, very tight and very short seats. no leg room. maxima is 10x better

Braking: altima brakes MUCH better and gets a better grip even on ****t autozone rotors and cheap cheap cheaaaaap pads. i have brembo drilled and slotted rotors and brand new raybestos pads on the maxima and the altima still grips much better. u can slightly press the brake pedal and ud almost hit the windshield with ur head.

now lets see what suits u. i think you are better of with the 3.0L v6 5spd since it has alot more potential that then altima. you can never replace displacement. the knock sensor goes bad cuz as you mentioned, its been feeding on 87 octane. it can be replaced with $100 and few scratches on ur hand. depending on the price tag on the max, i think you should sell the altima and go with the max. its much sportier much roomier and has much more potential. even tho u might spend a few hundred bux here and there to fix a few problems, at the end if taken care of, its gonna last you along time.

there are SEVERAL members here with 250k+ miles. we have members with 300k+ and still running strong. you can never make a mistake with the VQ30DE, go for it

IMO only performance advatnages the altima has over the max are : handling and braking.

 

The maxima was being offered at 3,000, with room to go lower ever since I foudn the 'issues' especially.

Good still?

also, yeah anyone who has driven my altima is like'' WHOA you have hair-trigger sensitive brakes''. ha. sometiems i get the question 'there's ABS on this car??' which doesn't make sense, but they think ABS means faster braking, so I take it as a 'compliment' to Altima.

 

I would go with the Max for that price... try to lower it and haggle the price down.... the Knock Sensor is pretty easy to change, just make sure you use 91 from then on.

 

the max is a steal at that price and why are altima's brakes so kick ***?? my maxima's brakes suckkk compared to altima. the altima will still have a better grip even if i put 13" BBK's on the max.

 

I think I should remind you of a fact that may contribute both to the handling and the braking. the altima in its first generation 1993-1997 (mine is in this , as it is a 1995) have a 52/48 frt/rear weight distribution. That's good for a top-of-the-line sports car, nevertheless a 'family' sedan. Next, STC, or super-toe control in other words, passive rear steering initiated by a special suspension setup for the rear of the car allows the car to handle in turns extremely well and the car drifts neutrally or have OVERSTEER and not the understeer so famous of FWD cars. it's REALLY cool and I never have any fears on turns just a smile on my face taking normal turns that people think they go too fast when they go 30 on, i can go 55 to the limits of my 'futura' cheap *** tires which are so worn the sidewall 'cornering' portion is ripped up from my driving style. i dont care i still drive the same. anyway, i doubt the maxima can turn the same as the altima as it has a lame-*** beam axles in the rear, and has a 60/40 oir something worse generic FWD weight distribution, and also, the car is longer and that can't help handling.

i dont know if the car's THAT much of a steal. I think for 2500 it would be a good deal. owned by a smoker, doesn't smell bad though, surprisingly, had 160k miles, run with reg gas, which means engine has progressive damage, that the knock sensor could only have helped reduce by detecing knock.... and now the knock sensor may actually be bad on car... not sure, since the 0707 code is there too which may have just caused the 0304 code to just come on too, since with nissans the knock sensor code comes along for the ride with a nother code.....

 

Altima brakes kick A$$! I have a 97 Auto with 194k on it . Got it in 2000 with 79k. Takes regular gas, comfortable. No jet-engine acceleration as my 02 Max 6speed, but even with Auto puts some unsuspecting fart-can civics out of business

My recommendation -- keep the altima. You know what condition it is in and how it has been maintaind. Drive it for another 90k and get something different later on.

 

yeah it's liek you read my mind... but i love shifting stick, and i have been driving the same car for 4.5 years.
later on, there may not be as good a cars out there cause the US govt will, i think, have enforced those little cars, and schit like that. also, gas will be in shorter supply.
I feel 'trapped' with this car. ha

the altima does seem to have eerily good brakes sometimes. what is the 'stock' 60-0 or 70-0 mph time?

the altima's stuff is so OEM that im afraid soon enough ill have to start replacing all the W&T items.. like shocks and tires and tranny schit schit schit .. while this maxima seems to have aloto fthose things replaced recently. i dunno im irritated

btw, im an altimas.net member, my name there is Brian Passarelli, i spelled it wrong signing up on here haha been going to altimas since i got the car, but registered a little later. been going here for almost as long as altimas, but JUST registered since ,well, you know, the maxima i was interested in.

 

'skoorbmax', what do you think now that I told you theprice ( less than 3000, but my guess is not lower than 2500... she said 3000 first, and then after i foudn the issues, she said i can go lower) - plus she's moving in 2 weeks, and needs to get rid of it... so it's like i have that too to help me go lower - she needs the cash more than ever, and needs to get rid of it because she has no choice.... any advice even with this situation im in?

 

yeah, this suggestion is probably played out...but have you considered doing a FWD sr20det swap?

Keep the Altima and mod the hell out of it...you know it's "brand new like nice". For that, you'll hate the smokers Maxima...even if it didn't smell that bad the day you drove it..

-vq

 

Get $2,000 in cash and show up the day before she moves and offer it to her (if it is not gone by then). I guarantee you that you will get it. Mean but effective.

 

Yeah, it's , but they won't be far behind the maxima, maybe a few car length, but they have enough to play around with the Maxima. The KA is a torque monster...they'll keep you on your toes.

Agreed, I believe the 1st gen Altima still had the Independent rear suspension from the previous stanza/2nd and 3rd gen Maxima.

More reliable might be a bit of the stretch. The KA24DE has been a back bone motor for Nissan for quite sometime, and they are just as bulletproof as the VQ if not more.

2 different cars statisfying two different niches. But I can say how much the newer gen maxima seat suck compared to my 2nd gen.

You totally underestimate the Altima here. Mod for mod, the gains maybe different. But your talking about a car that shares a motor with a the 240SX. That motor has far more aftermarket support than the VQ does, and you can easily make that motor support 400whp...which very few maxima's can do.

Yeah, but there are probably a ton of people that have 250-300k+ miles on thier KA24DE. Really, its how you take care of your car. If you take care of it, you can make any car, no matter how crappy it is last a long time.

I mean really, this isn't really a comparison, as there is too much bias towards the Maxima, which is typical because the Maxima is one damn nice car.

S

 

my car is in good condtion but there are some cosmetic issues.

the sr20de engine? isn'tthat 140 hp compared to this motor (about 150)? nvermind, i see now... its a turbo thing. wel, no, because it prob wouldn't fit without modification, right? the axles and transmission and motor mounts dont all line up, do they? besides, i could turbo the KA , as it is, wi/out mod's and it would have 240 hp-250 hp at only 9psi 'boost'.. only need to change the ECU's programming to my knowledge.

 

maximase86 we both wrote at the same time. i just read yours. you were right about everything. u had funny joke at the end of your post. hehe nice!

 

97 Maxima SE 5spd. =)

 

bro for 2500 buy it and keep both. worse case senario u sell it for 2500 ? i woulda bought the max and kept the alty as well..

 

Before my 1997 Maxima SE that I own now, I had a 1993 Altima SE, it was a great little car, drove very nicely, and handled well. The Maxima is a whole different car, it feels much more solid, the VQ engine is very smooth and quiet compared to the KA. The Altima may be more fun to drive due to it's smaller size, peppy/torquey I-4 and more nimble handling, but the Maxima is simply a better car.

 

I'm feeling lazy right now, so somebody may have already mentioned it, but the whining sound and loose axle are caused by the very common '95-97 differential bearing problem. Evidently the bearing's were shimmed incorrectly from the factory. Read the 4th gen faqs and this http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/804 for more info. Given that you are a mechanic, you could rebuild the tranny (just make sure you do it right this time), or if you don't feel like doing that, get a 98-2001 tranny (yes that includes early 5th gen trannies...but they work). Despite all this, the maxima is a VERY fun car and you won't be disappointed.

 

Very true....I guess the other thing to consider too is, what do need in the car. I mean, both cars have very good strong points and either fulfill different fuctionality traits too. For instance....fuel economy....the Alty would murder the Maxima. But for large size and power, the maxima would reign surpreme. So if there was a comparison, I guess the first thing to find out is what you need the car to do for you.....not which car is better. As for performance....same thing goes...and believe it or not...it's not all about making insane amounts of power.

S

 

you may not realize this, but altimas get terrible gas mileage (comparitively). they only return good economy with automatic when you drive smooth, and also such that it shifts at 2000-2500... the altimas with stick gets markedly better economy, however. this is reflected inthe epa 21/29, and 24/30 ... notice how different the city one is..

 

do you know how slow that is to make it shift at 2000-2500? in any case, it's quick off the line... but that doesn't last long with the early shifts, and the fact that it's geared veryyy tall... it sucks

 

im a busy person .. that diff bearing thing is not funny. you do realize that you have to remove the transmission! I have work 35 hrs a week, and im enrolled full-time in schoool. so it's a big deal that this could be broke. by why was the axle somehwat loose, and the other not? in anycase, it may just be the fluiud level or condtion that was leading to some whining. my mother had a forester 5sp (2003) , and that car had all kinds of whines and stuff. so, at first, I didn't even notice the maxima doing it. then .. i did. and it was only in first gear at low speed that i could hear it.

 

They aren't geared that tall. It's the same 5-speed in the maxima, if you don't believe me, look up the tranny model number for both. Someone trying to conserve gas isn't going worry how fast the car is going, or the fact you have to shift at 2k-2.5k. It's the samething the otherway around too....if your driving fast, you know your not going to get good fuel economy. It's common sense.

Also, what numbers are what that you posted for the EPA mileage? If the Altima is the 24/30, it's still better than 21/29 and would add up to more savings over time. 3mpg in city is a big difference. If you add 15 gallons to each car on a regular basis, that's 45 more miles you can drive on the altima for the given amount of fuel.....which means you wouldn't have to fuel up as often.

S

 

i dont know what the hell your whole post is saying! My altima is an automatic, and your post only makes sense assuming I have a manual.

 

yes, though, the auto tranny on maxima and altima of 1995 and up maximas (1993 and 1994 altima had it first) are the same. ...... the manual trannys are not. to my knowledge, the maxima 4th gen never had the same manual tranny too. but dont forget, tehre are two manual trannys for 'first gen' altimas. one for the XE, GXE (no GLE has manual). and another one for the SE models.

 

21/29 is epa for auto 95 altima. 24/30 is epa for manual 95 altima

 

ok, just pulled this from a webpage. is this true?
Braking Distance: 132.00 Feet 60Mph To 0Mph
Cornering Index: 0.79
Turning Circle: 37.40

for first gen altiam gxe

 

No way I'd trade for a 1995 maxima if I owned an Altima in excellent condition. On a car that old and with that many miles, there are just too many things that will probably need to be addressed in the next year or two: rear main seal, coil packs, water pump, etc. And yeah, the differential carrier bearings is a definitely concern (check the driver's axle for free play entering the tranny).

 

umm, yo, the driver's side axle IS the one that had free play near the diff(tranny). the passengers didn't. just like you're saying

but the max has a manual. would it be worth it just to spend money on a turbo and get a manual tranny swapped into my altima and stuff?

or sell the altima, get a used CRX and mod that bad girl

(SORRY FOR MULTIPOSTS - I HAVE CONDENSED THEM NOW)

 

Wow dude.....can you like put all the replies into one one post? It's like your typing one sentence....then starting a new post for the next....

S

 

so .... anyone else's thoughts?