A33 SE 6 Speed vs. E39 BMW 520...a cross shopping that did make sense to me in 2002..
08-07-2012, 10:20 PM
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A33 SE 6 Speed vs. E39 BMW 520...a cross shopping that did make sense to me in 2002..
I meant to write on this forum for a long time...actually I do not even own my Maxima anymore 
...., at the end of 2010 I did trade it in for a new Acura TL SH-AWD 6 speed....so consider this post a late tribute to my beloved Max...better late than never!!!
I arrived in Northamerica in 1999 from Europe and my first two primary cars in my new country were Americans, trying something new for me...what did I know....
The first experience was rather underwhelming (Oldsmobile Aurora) and cut short by an accident where the car was totaled and the second was truly horrific (Chrysler 300M) so much so that in 2002 I had to get rid of that lemon in a hurry (in the shop on averaqe every 2 months or so).....I pretty much decided that I would never buy an American automobile again, feeling reinforced by the occasional rented crapmobile from Detroit when I was travelling...do you remember those Gran-Ams and Aleros??
I was pretty much dead set of going back to an European brand (owned Audis, BMWs and Alfa Romeos back in Europe), new from the factory and with a stick.
Audi was out of the picture for its questionable reliability at that time and the boring design.
I never did own a primary Japanese car until that time (other than an old Accord for running errands) but I was aware of their reliability reputation (my wife owned a Subaru) and the good value for the money proposition.
The strong candidate was the E39 BMW 530, a well proven and well known car, for many the quintessential large sport sedan...
However someone at work suggested to me to look at the new Nissan Maxima with the 3.5 liter engine and 6 speed transmission...I still remember my first test drive one night...boy I was hooked and I could not believe the goodies you were getting for the price (my money minset already "accepted" the 530 price).
The negotiation and the decision process went on for 2-3 of weeks till I finally pulled the trigger for a fully loaded SE 6 Speed....
In the early 2000s Nissan was recovering from its financial crisis, they launched the all new Altima and they threw the kitchen sink, pretty much all the had on the Maxima, the value proposition of that car was amazing at the time.
Stuff that you could not even get in the 530 as an option, for example the 6 speed, the HID lights, the mechanical LSD.....the BOSE stereo system was phenomenal and the GPS was one of the best in the business.
The Maxima was actually a bit larger and with bigger passenger and cargo volume compared to the E39.
While the rear end did not convince me immediately I did find eventually the design more modern......actually the front of the E60 5 Series arrived in 2004 had some styling cues from the front of the A33.
Fit and finish was truly excellent, this was the last Maxima to be built in Japan and it did show...obviously the E39 had some more upscale materials (fit and assembly were not necessarily better though) but you did pay dearly for it with many extra dollars and lack of some hardware and power.
The inline 6 BMW was one of the best 6 cylinder out there but these early
VQ35 were not behind....super creamy and sweet sounding, they were maybe just a touch less smooth because of the V architecture but the erogation even from the low end was more forceful....only the late 3.7 liter started to exhibit a bit more thrashy behavior at high rev...
On the road there were not many sport sedans that could keep the pace of the A33 manual Max....the 530 was a very easy picking (my co-worker went for a 530 and we did cross drive them often) and not even the smaller 330 could outaccelerate a properly driven manual SE.....in the E39 family you did need to step up to the 540 to leave a Max behind.....a 50K car....
Only the late manual Acura TL Type S will eventually keep the pace and post better numbers.....
The Maxima was not only smoking fast on a straight line but in the twisties as well.....it's funny how some media of the time dimissed the twist beam axle of the Max as some sort ow low tech aplication...it wasn't....the A33 rear suspension was cleverly engineered with a lightweight (it used alluminum in some conponents) special lateral link which allowed the wheels to move only up and down eliminating asymmetric jacking and side to side movement (scuff change).
The name "beam multilink" was to meant that the final objective was the same as a classic multilink architecture. The proper name for this suspension is Scott-Russell link.
The result was a light and compact setup, less expensive to produce than a full fledged multilink suspension and left more space for the trunk (I still miss my Maxima trunk volume compared to the Acura).
The behavior was unflappable cornering ability....the only downside was a bit of bumpiness on uneven roads.....but afterall this was a sport sedan so it was fine to me.
Even torque steer, the bane of many powerful FWDs, was very sedate, barely noticeable...my only gripe was the pathetic steering circle diameter....
The LSD allowed me to bolt out of tight corner at full blast....during the years in the wet and twisty backroads of western Washington state I had my fair share of bimmers and other RWDs fishtailing behind me or where I could see that their tractionl control kicked in...
Reliability has been excellent in almost 8 years and almost 100K miles.
I did like the style of the 6th generation but the interior quality was a big let down to me and I felt that the Maxima got "soft".
The 7th generation is gorgeaous (I drove one in several occasions) but it is even less "pure" and more sedate than the A33....on top of that, fit and finish are still not at the point where the A33 was at the time vs. the competition.
In one way, my new Acura TL SH-AWD is another amazing value proposition....after 8 years the same "battle" emerged and I did look at the 535i...and in 2010 as in 2002 I did not find the difference compelling enough to make me lay down the extra cash....
The character is completely different...my TL is more "robotic", more "aseptic" in its behavior when engaging in its immense cornering abilities...more jetliner like...
Hopefully she will do as good as my beloved Maxima in the reliability department...keeping my fingers crossed...
I apologize for the long post but I felt that the A33 Maxima did deserve a proper tribute, if the E39 can be considered the best large sport sedan ever built I thik the A33 Maxima is the E39 of FWD sport sedans...the best Maxima ever buit in my humble opinion.
P.S.
10 years ago I was not the only one that did cross shopped the Maxima with the E39....
In Europe Nissan sold the A32 and in some market the A33 and they were considered luxury sedans competing with 5 Series, MB E Class, Audi A6, etc...
Regards
...., at the end of 2010 I did trade it in for a new Acura TL SH-AWD 6 speed....so consider this post a late tribute to my beloved Max...better late than never!!!I arrived in Northamerica in 1999 from Europe and my first two primary cars in my new country were Americans, trying something new for me...what did I know....
The first experience was rather underwhelming (Oldsmobile Aurora) and cut short by an accident where the car was totaled and the second was truly horrific (Chrysler 300M) so much so that in 2002 I had to get rid of that lemon in a hurry (in the shop on averaqe every 2 months or so).....I pretty much decided that I would never buy an American automobile again, feeling reinforced by the occasional rented crapmobile from Detroit when I was travelling...do you remember those Gran-Ams and Aleros??
I was pretty much dead set of going back to an European brand (owned Audis, BMWs and Alfa Romeos back in Europe), new from the factory and with a stick.
Audi was out of the picture for its questionable reliability at that time and the boring design.
I never did own a primary Japanese car until that time (other than an old Accord for running errands) but I was aware of their reliability reputation (my wife owned a Subaru) and the good value for the money proposition.
The strong candidate was the E39 BMW 530, a well proven and well known car, for many the quintessential large sport sedan...
However someone at work suggested to me to look at the new Nissan Maxima with the 3.5 liter engine and 6 speed transmission...I still remember my first test drive one night...boy I was hooked and I could not believe the goodies you were getting for the price (my money minset already "accepted" the 530 price).
The negotiation and the decision process went on for 2-3 of weeks till I finally pulled the trigger for a fully loaded SE 6 Speed....
In the early 2000s Nissan was recovering from its financial crisis, they launched the all new Altima and they threw the kitchen sink, pretty much all the had on the Maxima, the value proposition of that car was amazing at the time.
Stuff that you could not even get in the 530 as an option, for example the 6 speed, the HID lights, the mechanical LSD.....the BOSE stereo system was phenomenal and the GPS was one of the best in the business.
The Maxima was actually a bit larger and with bigger passenger and cargo volume compared to the E39.
While the rear end did not convince me immediately I did find eventually the design more modern......actually the front of the E60 5 Series arrived in 2004 had some styling cues from the front of the A33.
Fit and finish was truly excellent, this was the last Maxima to be built in Japan and it did show...obviously the E39 had some more upscale materials (fit and assembly were not necessarily better though) but you did pay dearly for it with many extra dollars and lack of some hardware and power.
The inline 6 BMW was one of the best 6 cylinder out there but these early
VQ35 were not behind....super creamy and sweet sounding, they were maybe just a touch less smooth because of the V architecture but the erogation even from the low end was more forceful....only the late 3.7 liter started to exhibit a bit more thrashy behavior at high rev...
On the road there were not many sport sedans that could keep the pace of the A33 manual Max....the 530 was a very easy picking (my co-worker went for a 530 and we did cross drive them often) and not even the smaller 330 could outaccelerate a properly driven manual SE.....in the E39 family you did need to step up to the 540 to leave a Max behind.....a 50K car....
Only the late manual Acura TL Type S will eventually keep the pace and post better numbers.....
The Maxima was not only smoking fast on a straight line but in the twisties as well.....it's funny how some media of the time dimissed the twist beam axle of the Max as some sort ow low tech aplication...it wasn't....the A33 rear suspension was cleverly engineered with a lightweight (it used alluminum in some conponents) special lateral link which allowed the wheels to move only up and down eliminating asymmetric jacking and side to side movement (scuff change).
The name "beam multilink" was to meant that the final objective was the same as a classic multilink architecture. The proper name for this suspension is Scott-Russell link.
The result was a light and compact setup, less expensive to produce than a full fledged multilink suspension and left more space for the trunk (I still miss my Maxima trunk volume compared to the Acura).
The behavior was unflappable cornering ability....the only downside was a bit of bumpiness on uneven roads.....but afterall this was a sport sedan so it was fine to me.
Even torque steer, the bane of many powerful FWDs, was very sedate, barely noticeable...my only gripe was the pathetic steering circle diameter....
The LSD allowed me to bolt out of tight corner at full blast....during the years in the wet and twisty backroads of western Washington state I had my fair share of bimmers and other RWDs fishtailing behind me or where I could see that their tractionl control kicked in...
Reliability has been excellent in almost 8 years and almost 100K miles.
I did like the style of the 6th generation but the interior quality was a big let down to me and I felt that the Maxima got "soft".
The 7th generation is gorgeaous (I drove one in several occasions) but it is even less "pure" and more sedate than the A33....on top of that, fit and finish are still not at the point where the A33 was at the time vs. the competition.
In one way, my new Acura TL SH-AWD is another amazing value proposition....after 8 years the same "battle" emerged and I did look at the 535i...and in 2010 as in 2002 I did not find the difference compelling enough to make me lay down the extra cash....
The character is completely different...my TL is more "robotic", more "aseptic" in its behavior when engaging in its immense cornering abilities...more jetliner like...
Hopefully she will do as good as my beloved Maxima in the reliability department...keeping my fingers crossed...
I apologize for the long post but I felt that the A33 Maxima did deserve a proper tribute, if the E39 can be considered the best large sport sedan ever built I thik the A33 Maxima is the E39 of FWD sport sedans...the best Maxima ever buit in my humble opinion.
P.S.
10 years ago I was not the only one that did cross shopped the Maxima with the E39....
In Europe Nissan sold the A32 and in some market the A33 and they were considered luxury sedans competing with 5 Series, MB E Class, Audi A6, etc...
Regards
Last edited by saturno_v; 08-08-2012 at 02:45 AM.
10-31-2012, 05:51 AM
#3
that was an interesting read and I agree with the price difference perspective for new car shoppers. Ofcoarse when you are a used car shopper, those differences get smaller for the right deals. I've been a maxima "fan" for a long time but am looking to pick up a E39 in the next year.
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