i know this question has been asked before but no one really knew the answer. i am only curious cause i planning on getting me another max. i know the 3rd and 4th gen have 190 hp (ve) (theres also the vg, 160hp) and the 5th gen has 222 hp (vq) so i would think the 5th gens are faster but i also need to consider weight. aren't the 4th gens lighter so they should be same or faster then 5th gen? but what i really want to know what is the fastest year? i remember a while back that someone said the 95 and 96 are the lightest and also the fastest, i don't know. help me out here guys...and also no flame war, just honest opinion, don't say that gen or year is faster just because you happen to own that perticular model, hehe

 

The fastest collectively would be the early 4th Gens('95-'96, VQ engine with 190 HP), where the major car magazines (Motor Trend, Car and Driver , Road and Track, et. al) got ~6.7 seconds 0-60 for the 5 speed and 7.3 to 7.6 seconds for the automatic. The 4th gens got slower as the years went on however. The next fastest seem to be the 5th gens, with ~6.8 for the 5 speed and ~7.8 seconds for the automatics. The 3rd gen later SE models ('92+) had 190 HP and got ~6.8 for the manual and ~8 seconds for the automatic, but the GXEs bring the 3rd gen down because they only came with 160 HP engines. The slowest is up in the air, but I would assume it was the first gen.

3rd gen power: 160 HP('89-'91), 190 HP for SEs ONLY ('92+)
4th gen power: 190 HP (All years)
5th gen power: 222 HP, 227 HP for AE edition

3rd gen weight:~3350 lbs.
4th gen weight:~3050 lbs. early, ~3150 lbs. later ('97+)
5th gen weight:~3250 lbs.

 

Make the 3rd gens weight about 3250 lbs, not 3350 lb.

 

I raced a 5th gen 5spd with no mods (we were both beginner drivers) at Cayuga 1/4 track and I beat him everytime except for one where I was not paying attention to the tree.