I'm trying to find out why everybody who owns a 4th Gen. Maxima w/auto thinks they own a lot faster car then us 5th Gen. autos. To this date i've still seen no evidence that this is true. I for one have raced several 5spd not automatic 4th Gen. and I won every time. Now i'm not saying that my car can beat every 4th Gen. out there, but with the way my car has performed I would put my car up against a 4th Gen w/auto anyday of the week. If it is true that the the 4th Gen. infact is faster than the 5th Gen. it could only be by miliseconds. So please spare the bullcrap and quit bashing the 5th Gen Maxima's as if your 4th Gen. are so superior. Maybe i'm the only one that feels this way, but i'm sure i'm not.

 

5th Gen's are a good bit heavier, and that nullifies out most of the extra power. And all of the extra power on the 5th Gen's occurs at above 5000rpm because of the VAIS. It's been said that 4th Gen's actually have better low/mid-range power because of slightly more aggressive cams (because of the lack of the variable intake manifold) and this is most of what you need in races, especially with the wide-ratio auto tranny.

I've done a considerable amount of research on this, and it appears that the 4th Gen's do seem to have a very slight advantage in the thrust vs. weight department overall. But yeah, it's small, and nothing to write home about. As a 4th Gen owner, I wouldn't trash talk any 5th Gen's because the difference is small enough that it would just come down to the driver.

4th gens, 5th gens, can't we all just get along

 

I guess its one of those things where it depends on the car. I have a 4th gen auto and ru4real has a 2001 AE auto. At Island Raceway, I was a tenth fast than he. I've driven his car and although his car feels fast, it didn't have the explosive pull that I feel in my car. I have a GXE with C&C, no bose, no sunroof, no leather.

 

I am an auto 4th Gen and when I raced my buddys auto 5th Gen we were basically neck and neck, but he seems to think I was ahead of him. I was really concentrating on the road and traffic, so I didn't pay attention. He says my car pulled harder to 20MpH or so. When I drive his car is feels like there is more of a "kick" to acceleration but it doesn't pull as hard as mine. Note this was all before my intake
-Cyrus

 

Thanks for the responses and yes SteVTEC I have friends that own 4th Gen. I'm defiently not a 4th Gen. hater. I'm glad you explained to me what maybe some of the advantages are of the 4th Gen. You did say though it would come down to driver vs driver in the end which is what my point is. Keep the comments coming and again thanks for the responses.

5th Gen.4th Gen.

 

BTW, no offense but you're 4th Gen 5spd buddies must be horrible drivers. A stock 4th Gen 5spd can outrun most any N/A automatic Maxima (excluding 2002s).
-Cyrus

 

Probably the same reason us VE guys boast, about how better our cars are compared to 4th gens.

 

deezo what is c&c?

 

I'm not Deezo, but... Comfort and Convenience package. Inclues power driver's seat, chrome exhaust tip, cruise control, keyless entry and a few other things.
-Cyrus

 

Where's Steve and those 4th and 5th gen graphs of where the respective gen's power are?

 

yay! - my car is fast, 4th gen auto ......from a roll, i'm pretty sure that the 5th gen will whoop me though

 

Because 90% of the people on this forum are 4th gen owners. That is why. We had this debate a long time ago and it was proven in Dallas at a Maxima meet. I raced a 4th gen auto modded with almost all bolt ons, CAI, YPIPE, EXHAUST, PULLEY, etc. I only had CAI and Ypipe in my 5th gen auto. Guess what? I smoked him, 1 1/2 cars off the line to 60 or so I also won my $100 bucks, since they were all **** talking like they always do. And Justin Mcbee took pictures of it all. It is already proven that the 5th gen period is a bit faster than the 4th gen. Not by much, but it is.

 

Russ, come on. You proved that your 5th Gen auto was a tad faster than his 4th Gen auto. You can't then make a blanket statement saying that 5th Gen autos are "proven" to be faster than 4th Gen auto's. Geez, a whole car and a half to only 60 mph? All you proved was that you launched better than he did.

There are plenty of 4th Gen's around here that have "smoked" 5th Gen's with equal/similar mods.

Don't get a big war going Russ - you're just inviting flames from all of the 4th Gen guys.

4th Gen's have:

• 200 lb less weight
• A better torque vs weight ratio.
• Better low/mid-range power.
• Smaller/lighter wheels for less unsprung weight.

5th Gen's have:

• That nice variable intake and a better top-end (horsepower vs weight).

The net effect: Both cars are damn near EQUAL

...and 90% of the time it will come down to mods/tuning or the driver between similar (stick vs stick, auto vs auto) 4th gen and 5th Gen cars. It also depends on where you race. From a stop 4th Gen's seem to have an advantage. From a roll 5th Gen's seem to have the advantage, especially on the highway where they can take advantage of that nice top-end in 3rd gear (auto) to high speeds.

 

i have to say 5th gen auto is faster.......4th gen auto can take it off the line till the end of first then second and above it will start to pull on you

 

He had the jump on me off the line, but as soon as I got the power up, I went right by him. My 5spd 5th gen hasn't been beaten by a 4th gen yet. Okay, once, but my filter fell off the intake pipeing I found out later. We ran again and I took him again. And my 5spd 5th gen was stock.

Oh btw, 5th gens only weigh 50-100lb more than a 4th gen 5spd loaded vs loaded.

 

hmm wait a sec... there are two diff 4 gens in my eyes...95-96 and 97-99...my 95 auto is quick...the 95 is the fasted out of all 4th gens... less saftey sh_it...???

 

1995 was the lightest year, and no obd2.

 

All the magizines that I have read about got a 0-60 time of 7.8 seconds for the 2000 Maxima at the fastest. The time for the 1995 Maxima was 7.3-7.6.

I think an important factor that everyone is missing is the fact that 2000-2001 auto's are revv limited. Us 4th gen's redline at 6600rpm's and the 5th gens are cut off at 5200rpms right? I'd say that's a big power killer.

1BADMAX You wanna settle this once and forall? Let's meet at the Winter Park village and me and you can go at it I'll give you a 3 second head start

 

I'm a newbie and I'm getting tired of hearing this crap from 4th gen owners. Just face facts guys, the 5th Gens are an improvement over the older model Maximas in every way. The 6th Gen Max will be even better than my 2002. It's called progress, and you can't stop it no matter how much you disbelieve.

Any chance of getting a 2002 board started on this forum? It's gets confusing as heck trying to sort out the useful mod information between 5th Gen 3.0L and 4th Gen users. I'd like to know about stuff specifically made for the 3.5 VQ's, and not just a list in a sticky thread.

 

6200.

 

That makes more sense.

Still that extra 400rpm's could make a difference especially with a variable intake right?

 

www.5thgenmaximas.com dedicated to them only.

 

Yea the car's hp peak was at 6400rpm, so it cut alot of its power out. When I race I always manually shifted the auto.

Same goes for the CL-S, if you use D5, or SS mode, it shifts before redline by 200 rpms or so. You have to manually go from 1-2-3-4-5 and alot of people dont do that, they use SS. The ones that hit 14s are the ones that push it up.

 

Yeah, I've already registered on your board, Russ. Very nice site, but very few Maxima owners post their. They all seem to come here.

 

That is opinion, and not necessarily reality.........4th gens feel faster than 5th gens unless you rev them like VTEC Accords.....thus, they are more livable in a day to day typical use basis for most drivers.

To cover some areas of build quality concern of the 4th gens, Nissan seems to address those but leave the dash and interior presentation on the hollow side on 5th gens. I found the interior of the 5th gens quite staid and less luxurious looking than the 4th gens. They seemed to want to go too radical inside and out and try to copy their own success of the 3rd gen Maximas, which is the standard by which they were measuring the 5th gens against. I find it ironic that Nissan had to go back 10 years to figure out what they themselves did to get the Maxima "on the map".......


The only VAST improvement of the 5th gen is the movement of the lateral links on the rear beam, which all but eliminated the rear end skip 'n hop that plagues the 4th gens when turning corners on all but the smoothest surfaces.....



I'm confused why you are convinced a newer model HAS to be better, but if that's your perception then Nissan has pulled the wool over yet another customer's eyes. Unless Nissan substantially increases the price point of the 6th gens, I fear the same quality and overall looks of the Maxima will be no better.

 

Russ....go back to your corner

 

I have a 2002 Maxima SE w/AUTO. Your car may feel faster or whatever, but the reality is my car is faster. And as far as looks go, I never liked Maximas until I saw the new ones. Maximas have always been on the fugly side, but the new ones are more rounder, with a more attractive rear. I can't honestly say the same for 4th Gen and older cars, which are in my opinion, homely.

As for the interior, the new Maxima has one of the most attractive looking interiors I've seen in a semi-luxury car. I don't know what you mean by staid. It's classy and comfortable. The ergonomics aren't perfect and could use a few improvements, but the same can be said about all Nissans, past and present.

But the bottomline is: 255hp, 246lb.ft. of torque. stock, electronic throttle control for smooth acceleration. For 27K, I think I got the better deal than you, sorry.

 

Whatever!!! We 4th gens have proof too.

 

Great point Carig Mack and very true one M/Trend even had the 00 Max GXE in 8.5 sec range comparing it to the Accord Ex V6 and Camry V6. I had a 2001 and 97 SE at the same time until my 01 was totalled and bought and 02. My 97 was quicker off the line and up to 70 it was still quicker both stock of course. Me and a friend raced them on the 190 in Dallas from a stop one night both got good launches and the 97 had about 1 car on the 01 up to 70.

 

4th Gen (95) SE 5spd: 3001 lb and pre OBD-II
4th Gen (96-97) SE 5spd: 3010 lb
4th Gen (98-99) SE 5spd: 3014 lb
5th Gen (00-01) SE 5spd: 3199 lb

Source: http://www.edmunds.com

That's about 200 lb difference, not just 50-100lb as you stated. Your point has been disqualified.

 

Everyone here knows good and well stock for stock the 2k2 is on another level. Also, there are a few 4th gens running NA mods that are still in stock 2k2 territory, which I think is more amazing.

 

yeah, the 2k2's are in a different league

4th Gen vs. 5th Gen we're talking about VQ30's.

VQ35DE owners all watch on the sidelines and laugh at us!

 

All this is just speculation about which is faster. The 5th gen auto did get more power, but also weight. The power is all up top where it is not as usable also. Even if you manually shift (besides first), it shifts early before you ever hit peak power. All of this still comes down to driver though. The cars are so close that the results could come up different every time. Cars depend on alot of things. If two cars don't hit the gas at exactly the same time, the results could be different. Victim64 and myself have raced numerous times, and he has a 4th gen 5 spd with intake. One time at the track, we were literally side by side the entire time. Other times I beat him, then others he beats me. We are both good drivers also. There are tons of variables to take into account. You can not make one blanket statement that ones is faster than the other. I have beaten cars that I shouldn't have, and I have been beaten by lesser cars before. We should all get along since we are in the same family. That being said, I would like to race a modded 5th gen auto sometime just to see how close it really is.

 

I have a 95 SE 5M and just bought my wife a 2K2 SE 6M. I took the 2K2 out today and really enjoyed driving it. It only has 200 miles so far so I had to take it easy but it was quick regardless.
Having said how much I enjoy the 2K2 I think I enjoy my 95 a little more. It feels more connected to the road and a little quicker of the line than the 2K2 but this may be attributable to the drive-by-wire stuff.
The 2K2 is certainly more luxurious than the 95 even thought they have the same options but I guess Nissan wants to push luxury before performance for the Maxima and let the Altima become more of a drivers car.
As soon as I get my ACT and NOS hooked up next week there will be a wider 'grin factor' in favor of the 95.
But I am glad that we got another Maxima before it get Avalonized.

 

One thing that I'm proud of is that my 5th gen goes down the road with less suspension noise and road rumble than my cousin's 4th gen GXE My rear axle thumps alot less and it feels more glued down on bumps and doesn't side-step as much.

Just had to boast

His car just has the Comfort and Security package and it's a 95. I know his car will take me off the line but his car doesn't feel as strong above 5,000rpms like my 5g.

 

The 5th gen is more of a solid car; structural rigidy was up like.. a lot

 

Im not sure about that! My roommate has a 5th gen. auto Max and I have a 4th gen. 5 speed max. We have raced numerous times before I have really started to mod my car and have won every time. I jump him by about 1/2 of a car length off the line and then we pull the same until I pop into 3rd. PEACE, im out like a boner is sweat pants.

 

You mean these?

 

oh...hehe. I thought clee was referring to the other steve for something

Those were for when we were having some optimal shift point discussion, though. The charts proved that the optimal shift point for 5th Gen's was all the way up at redline (so manually shifting the auto's would be beneficial) and the 4th gen's w/o the variable intake seem to like shifts at around 6100-6200rpm rather than redline.

 

IN THAT CASE.. SHUT THE F#CK UP