I had just dropped my friends off after a long night of driving. I came to a stoplight where a black 5th gen. Maxima was stopped. I recognized the driver, he and I have made small talk before about Maxima's. I told him that I had always wondered if my car was able to beat the newer model. He smiled and said, "let's see." The light turned green and we both slowly accelerated waiting for the other to punch it first. We were right at 40 miles an hour, because I was about to shift in to fourth. All of a sudden he punches it and immediately I drop into second gear. We were dead even all the way through second when I shifted to third and I was just inching ahead. By the top of third gear, his front bumper was at my front door. He hit the brakes hard right when I started pulling ahead. He motioned for me to follow into an apartment complex which I did where we pulled over. He said he was quite surprised at my Max's acceleration. I couldn't help from smiling since I always get a big kick out of winning close races. His car was an automatic se stock and he was telling me he wanted to sell it ang get a supercharged Mustang. I tried talking him into getting a supercharger for his Max, but he had 40,000 miles on it and he wanted a new car. He was surprised when I told him mine had 140,000+. We bid our farewells and he said next time we will race from a start. I went home happy with a nother win under my belt. I just wanted to share my experience with everyone. I know I always like reading about roadkills. I would like everyones opinion on somethings though. I thought he was going to beat me, is anyone surprised with the mods that I have, that I won? Who else can beat a 5th gen and with what mods? Does this mean a manual would take me? Thanks in advance for your replies.
Peace.

 

You GO! If he wants to replace his max with a crustang, that's his perogative...he's a fool though.

 

5spd 4th gen with ypipe, intake, whatever else barely beat a stock 5th gen auto? Man you should have pulled on him harder. The 5th gen autos are not all that....since the tranny just kills them. The 5spds are completely different beast...I see that now after having both!

 

I have auto 98se and i beat a 2k max (both of us were auto)..all i have is intake, he actually jumped a sec earlier then i did when we were racing and he was shocked how i caught and beat him, wasnt long race so i assume he would of pulled at higher speeds, with u having a 5spd and those mods u should of beat him a lot easier....

 

You should have easily walked on him if he was an automatic.

 

kan u say auto vb mod???

 

Also Level 10 and Protorque

 

How would this make my car faster? Isn't it true that an automatic Max pulls pretty hard in second gear? I'm sure I would have beaten him by more if we would have raced longer or if we had raced from a start. Your replies make me think my car is slower than it should be. Could it be too many miles? It still has a lot of power. Maybe I should try what Emax did with the compression test.

 

Let's think about this for a second, fellas. This was a roll on race at 40mph. If it was from a stop, the 4th gen 5 speed would have put about 2 cars on the 5th gen auto by 40mph. Then the 5th gen auto wouldn't loose much ground until the 4th gen got into the heart of it's 3rd gear, then the 4th gen would start walking away again. What I'm trying to say is that the auto was right in it's powerband at a 40mph roll on.

Dave

 

The guy racing did downshift into 2nd gear when his friend punched it. If it was at 40mph, his automatic transmission downshifted into 2nd gear also. Wouldn't both be in the "meat" of the powerband?

 

What you say does make a lot of sense. After all the 5th gen. does have 222 hp and I'm probably right there or a little under that. So, maybe thats why it was pretty close. We really didn't race for that long plus I had a full gas tank (excuses). I guess I just wonder how my Max compares to others on the board. I do have a lot of miles and I got it with over 100,000 on it. So I don't know how it drove new. Maybe I will get to the track sometime this summer and I can put these petty worries behind me. I can beat a 5.0. Does that sound like good engine compression? TIA

 

The advantages of the 5 speed over the auto are most apparent off the line and after 80mph. The advantage is that you can launch at a much higher rpm and the 1st gear has much more torque multiplication. If you bog the launch in a 5 speed, an auto will be hard to loose until you get over 80mph.


Dave

 

Well, I have run my 00SE auto against my bro's 97SE std. We ran them from about 55 - 100. I have to say, I would be paying him for a new bumper if we passed 105 mph.

 

it helps by firmer, faster shifts, losing less hp during the shifts, and less time during the shifts. =faster car

 

It wouldn't be possible for me to shift any faster. I am very fast. Would appreciate more replies/opinions.

 

I ran a friend here locally in my 2k Auto when I had hit. He had a 96 SE 5spd. He had Ypipe done. Thats it. I had CAI done. I also had my heavy MOMO-Arrows. I had no passeger, he did.

But we ran twice switching the passeger around.

We lanched, he got the jump, by the time we hit 70 or so I already passed him by about half a car and we let off.

Switched passeger to me.

This time he got me, by 1/2 a car thats it.

A 5spd 4th gen depends on the situation but it will run even with a auto 2k stock for stock to me. It won't do 2 car lengths..sorry.

 

'dems fightn' words......

Russ, you got a 5 speed 5th gen now. We'll see if your 5th gen can outrun this 96 5 speed Everyone, get your cameras ready


Dave

 

He's talking about the VB modification. It takes most of the hesitation out of the automatics. The hesitation is part of what is slowing the automatics down.

 

What do these mods do:
Also Level 10 and Protorque