Mike S.

When will the official spces be out? Its seems like all the major shows are over. In sept are we just going to drive to the dealership and a see a 6sp 3.5L and say....WOW. OR are they going to release it somewhere?

Mike S.

MaineI30

I would guess August or September.

Matticus

I almost think that the 02 Maxima will maybe the same as 01. It sounds stupid, but here is my thoughts. Nissan is pumping up the Altima, and letting everyone know, along with the other cars, Sentra-R ect... But not one word about the Maxima, one would think that they would like to announce that the latest Maxima has x amount HP/TQ, x sp trans, and so on. They haven't, so, it might be that they are afraid to tell everyone that it will be just the same as last years model. Dealerships don't know, and nothing has been said on the Nissan website. I don't know. Just a thought.

CKNY

iTrader: (1)

doubt it. the maxima is still nissan's flagship. there's no way the altima will be making more power than the flagship, thus the reason for dropping the 3.5 in. My guess is they're waiting to hear from toyota/honda on what kinda specs the accord/camry will be making. The 3.5 is easily tuneable/detuneable so if toy or honda say camry accord will come with 250 or less they will leave the power rating at 260 - otherwise they can up it to say 270. That would be my guess.

bert

The 2002 has not been announced yet. Go to www.nissannews.com for all your info needs. The old rumour was that Nissan was waiting for all the others (H/A, T/L, M, S....) to show thier cards but I think that everyone has done so. The 2002 H's and A's are announced, I think the T's and the L's are announced also.

There should be something coming down the pipeline... what is the next major car show?

Matticus

We are all definitely waiting in anticipation. Nissan will have to be carefull not to nerf their Infinty lines by boosting the Maxi's performance. It will be interesting indeed....

NYC GS4

iTrader: (2)

I assumed I knew the answer after going to the NY auto show a few weeks ago. The brand new Infinity I35 was on full display, it featured nicer looking headlights but basically it was the same exact car. This leads me to believe that the 2K2 Max will have the 3.5 VQ and perhaps some of the options the 20th AE has, such as the headlight surrounding.

Sounds like for the 2K2, the Maxima, Altima and Pathfinder will all be powered by the same exact motor.

The more interesting thing for me is who will actually want to buy the Maxima when its little cheaper cousin will now come with Xenon, perform slightly better and look like a GS. I'm assuming the price tag for a fully loaded one should be around $25K since they are trying to aim at Accords, Camrys but offer more for the price. If that is the case, I'd be very interested.

kierandill

Another thing to consider here is that car makers have the same problem with advance info that computer chip maunfacturers do. If they spill all the beans early, their sales plummit short term because everyone knows whats coming in 6 months, so they stop buying the current offering.

TexMaximum

I know this sounds horrid, but I heard that the I35 is coming out, and that Nissan may replace the Maxima with the New Altima as their flagship. This way, the I35 isn’t referred to just a Maxima, and separates the product lines and helps infiniti pick up more steam in the entry luxury car market.

I thought it was crazy rumors from the Infiniti guys, but then I also thought about why no talk on the 2002 Maxima, and plently on the 2002 Altima, Senta, the new Infiniti RWD sports coupe, and leaks on the I35 already. Then I was also wondering why Nissan would have two same sized cars, as the Altima will be bigger, and the Maxima does not look like it will increase in size much if any. If its still going to be the cousin of the I30/I35, then the Maxima is not changing much, which also sounds right for a car that’s only been around 2 years. I always thouht how crazy and a waste of tooling cost to totally redo the car in only 2 years, and just upping the power on the Maxima with a similar sized Altima that has 20 more HP then the current 5th gen and would cost less, didn't seem right. No other car maker has cars that close in size and performance on the same name plate.