I just heard that Nissan is going to make a hybrid Altima. What's the possibilities of them doing the same for a Maxima. Would the Maxima Community be in favor of this? What you think?

 

Hell no to both questions.

 

Eventually they should have some sort of hybrid technology in all cars. As long as they can keep the weight/cost down, the pros outweigh the cons.

 

I'd say as soon as gas goes up to about $4 a gallon we'll be seeing hybrids for all the models. Give it a few years.

 

Eh, they need to skip Hybrid and go right to Hydrogen

 

id like to see it. ability to have more power than regular models when needed and better gas mileage for everyday driving. i am unfamiliar with the additional maitenance that it might require.

 

Hell YES.

Honda did their hybrid Accord by tacking an electric motor onto their standard car, plus adding some technology that shuts off one bank of cylinders -- or even the whole engine -- when it's not needed. The hybrid Accord is significantly faster AND more fuel efficient than the standard model, and it only costs $3k more. What's not to like?

Something similar could easily be done on a Max. The price difference would be greater than $3k, but it wouldn't have to be by a lot (maybe like $5k or something). Let's not forget that companies have to satisfy fleet-wide fuel economy standards, so it's in their best interest to make hybrid technology as cheap as possible. And if it also makes the car faster, why not shell out a little extra and have it?

 

I agree, its probably gonna be almost mandatory in a few years cuase of gas prices... What I'm wondering is how will performance mods change if this happens? Will it be harder to modify the engine with the technology it will upgrade to?

 

I want one.. Sick of paying $60-80 a week, when i once paid 20 to fill her up.

 

You might need a different shape for some parts (intake, headers, etc...), I'm not sure how turbocharger/supercharger kits would work, and whether you can use an ECU would depend on how they implement things... but other than that, the basics will still apply. Stuff like cams wouldn't even be affected.

It really all depends on how they do it. It WILL leave you with less space in the engine bay, but that's never stopped the modding community.

 

I'd definitely be open to the idea of a hybrid Maxima as long as they don't compromise the performance aspects of the car.

 

cars already cost to much making the prices higher no thanks.

ive talked to many people those hybrids dont do that much better than regular cars ,real world tests that insight and prius gets in the low 40's at best .

My car gets low 30's on the highway and runs low 13's . Cars will save much more gas when they start making lighter and cheaper materials.

Honda once said some of its engineers that cars do best on gas when reducing weight.

 

According to Honda's wesbite, the difference is 7mpg between the V6 LX and the V6 hybrid. The difference is also almost $7,000 up front. Is it worth it? When you consider the cost of replacement batteries and other problems that might come with such a new technology (a warranty doesn't last forever) I'd be awfully hesitant to buy a hybrid at this time. The technology is ever improving, and I believe in time it will be worth it. But is it worth it right now? I don't know...

 

if they put that 7k into carbon fiber and aluminum the car would get that mpg or better without extra moving parts and added weight

 

Significantly? If by significant you mean almost identical to the normal v6, I agree.

 

Very intelligent response--I agree with you. Do you ever see at your own job how money is thrown at a problem? Does it solve the problem? Usually not. In my co., we don't want to pay doctors very much, so they don't want our patients. Therefore our patients go to the ER and we deny the claim. The dr's appeal so we spend more money on MD's and lawyers to be sure we don't have to pay. If we all stepped-back and looked at the problem, we'd see that the ER visit could have been avoided with normal and proper care in the first place.

Hybrids are the same. The idea is good, but given the product and the cost of it, it's like when flourescent lightbulbs first came out for lamps. They cost $10, and you could get 100W worth of light for only 27W. Problem was you'd have to use the light more than 10 years to break even. The light didn't last 10 years. And neither will the hybrid.

Can you imagine if Americans car-pooled, how the ripple effect would ultimately improve our lives? But we'd rather buy the $10 lightbulb.

 

That is something I'd like to see. You do mean the straight hydrogen and not the fuel cells, right?

 

I think the hybrid Accord was a stupid idea, personally. They should have mated the I4 engine to the electric motor to generate V6 power at I4 or better fuel economy. Right now it doesn't make sense to use hybrid technology to "add" horsepower to existing high-performance engines, but rather to make economy or mid-size cars more fuel efficient.

 

Where do you think they'll get the Hydrogen from? Most of it would come from oil.


And do you know how much evergy it takes to farm it from seawater?

Hydrogen is only a clean solution where it is being used. It doesn't solve the problem, it only moves the problem. Just like electric cars.

 

Could you please explain this a little. How would hydrogen be coming from oil? I know hydrogen is extracted from natural gas and used to turn crude oil into gasoline. What I don't get is how it would be coming from oil.

 

Do you know what hydrocarbons are and where they come from? They don't use hydrogen to create gasoline. But they would extract hydrogen from the gasoline, which comes from crude oil.

 

Forget gas... 8th Gen Max will be diesel-powered

 

Nissan is only doing the hybrid Altima to meet the new CAFE standards. They need to sell 50,000 of them or else they'll face federal penalties. Otherwise, Ghosn has been publically against them. I think he is right. Hybrids are a near-term trend, just like electric, solar, alcohol, natural gas, etc. of yesterday. Chrysler made a big push for hybrids ten years ago. GM tried hybrids 10 years before that! Later, Ford decided to go the electric route as did GM. GM even built a nuclear-powered concept once.

If you listened to the media during/after the oil crisis, you would have thought that gasoine cars would be extinct by now. But fast forward nearly 30 years and not much has changed. Cars run cleaner and are more powerful, but still burn gas and get the same mileage. Alternatives didn't happen, for the same reason hybrids won't take off: the public has a short memory. As soon as gas prices back off, buzz for expensive hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells, etc. will die off and so will development. The buzz is already dying as people discover that real-world numbers don't even come close to the EPA estimates. You'd have to drive 300,000+ miles just to break even on the added cost of a hybrid. Way before then, gas prices will have come down and hybrid owners will have traded them in for the next new trend.

I had a really old school teacher once who swore he would quit driving if gas hit $0.40! Well, he kept driving until he died, when gas was $1.50 (almost a 350% increase). I suspect that will be true for most of us too. We'll gripe about gas prices, but just keep driving. Europeans pay way more than us and that hasn't kept them from driving nor created any interest for hybrids (a phenomenon unique to the US, maybe because they already have diesels that get excellent mileage). Anyway, how many of us have found alternative transport (public transit, carpool, etc.) or driven slower since gas prices spiked? And how many of us plan to hop into our cars for a weekend trip this July 4th, instead of staying home? My point exactly.

 

That's interesting but check this definition.

Catalytic hydrocracking: A refining process that uses hydrogen and catalysts with relatively low temperatures and high pressures for converting middle boiling or residual material to high octane gasoline, reformer charge stock, jet fuel, and /or high grade fuel oil. The process uses one or more catalysts, depending on product output, and can handle high sulfur feedstocks without prior desulfurization.

I think you're referring to a later stage in the refining process which is reforming. That is where any additional hydrogen is removed from the low grade gasoline.

Here's the definition:

Catalytic reforming: A refining process using controlled heat and pressure with catalysts to rearrange certain hydrocarbon molecules, thereby converting paraffinic and naphthenic type hydrocarbons (e.g., low octane gasoline boiling range fractions) into petrochemical feedstocks and higher octane stocks suitable for blending into finished gasoline. Catalytic reforming is reported in two categories. They are:

Low Pressure. A processing unit operating at less than 225 pounds per square inch gauge (PSIG) measured at the outlet separator.
High pressure. A processing unit operating at either equal to or greater than 225 pounds per square inch gauge (PSIG) measured at the outlet separator.

 

Bottom line is, unless you've got major amounts of solar, hydroelectric, wind, or nuclear power, the majority of the energy required to produce hydrogen comes from fossil fuels. That's what SR20 meant when he said it only moves the problem. I'm all for hydrogen or any environmentally fuel source, but sadly it's going to take years.

 

and to get the output of H from gasoline, your tank would need to be larger than your car. otherwise you're at the Hydrogen station atleast once a day.

 

$1 per gallon of premium gas here
regular is even cheaper

 

I say bring it on. $3/gal. gasoline neither makes nor breaks me. Look at it realistically--I burn about 650 gal of fuel a year, so the difference between $3 and $1/gal is about $1300, which is chump change. I already lost $3400 since March on a stock I bought, $1300 is not much in the big picture.

Again, be realistic--spend $27,000 on a Prius to save 275 gallons of fuel per year? So every 10 years the savings is about $6200. Boy, hybrid drivers sure are good at math.

 

U know whats real crazy? we are all payin around 2.30 or 2.40 for premium grade on the average and I was lookin at some map where they give gas prices all around the world... I think its Venezuela that has $0.43 cents per gallon... THATS CRAZY!!

 

I've slowed down my driving. I remember one time in Nov '03 I filled up the tank at a Shell station (they have a rep for being expensive) for $18.50!!!! Now it takes $38ish to fill it up at a Citgo!!!!

I dont accelerate hard as much as I used to. I try to be nice and shift at around 2800. Of course I gotta have some fun every now and then, but my average driving is slower paced to help out. I went from getting 275ish miles per tank average, to 330 average

 

That's why they cram hydrogen into kevlar-reinforced steel tanks at very high pressures (5,000-10,000psi?). That will make refueling a nightmare. Can you imagine the idiots who already overfill their gas tanks?

Not that it makes any difference. There is no way we can supply enough hydrogen to meet the current demands we place on fossil fuels. The US alone consumes about 3 billion barrels of oil a year. Hydrogen at 1Pa contains 0.1kwh/l of energy, while gasoline contains 8.76, which means you'll need 8,760% more hydrogen to completely replace our oil consumption. Current global production of hydrogen stands at 50 million metric tons. We would consume the entire global supply of hydrogen in a fraction of a second. Every square inch of land would need to be used for hydrogen production plants. We would have nowhere to live or drive.

 

What will keep the price of gas up is increased demand; blame that for the most part of China (and some others to a lesser extent). The simple fact is, that many in China dream of owning a car. Combine that with the problem of lack of refining capacity and the EPA stuff, and it just gets bigger.

I do drive a slower now unless I have to spank a Honda or Toyota.

Ah, $1 a gallon for gas! But that is easy when Bahrain is its own gas station.

 

Not for nothing, but I wish nissan would stop with the damn altimas already and do something good to the maxima for a change. Face it, the '04 and up....nevermind, not flamming. I'm just saying I wish they would do something nice to the new model when it comes out, like maybe all wheel drive or a 4.0 liter engine...something....

 

I would definitely buy a Hybrid Maxima! We have a Hybrid Accord right now and its great! Much faster than my Max...and definitely faster than the regular V6. Plus it runs on 87. If they can use an electic motor to boost the Maxima's power and make it more fuel efficient, how can you be against that? We didn't buy the Accord because we figured we'd save more money over buying the V6 model, we bought it to invest in Hybrid technology and to drive something different. Plus my Dad is a businessman so he figured it would be a bit of a conversation piece when he's driving clients around.

I doubt that gas prices will ever drop again...not signifigantly anyway. We're depleting our natural resources and who knows how much longer we'll even have gasoline. Up here its much more expensive than in the U.S. so I'm up for anything that gets me better fuel economy. Hopefully as more hybrids become available their prices will drop though...I agree that they're too high right now.

 

CNN went around the country to interview people about gas prices. As would be expected, New Yorkers didn't flinch when asked about high gas prices. A businessman said $5/gal would get his attention and it would be over at $6/gal. But as far as going beyond $3, he couldn't have cared less.

I can't really remember but I think I paid nearly $3/gal. in Norway back in 1997, so everyone should chill out. All you have to do is change jobs and you should be getting enough of an increase to overcome the gas prices. Stay at your current job and take your 4-7% raise, then that's your decision.....