SLC I30t

iTrader: (1)

ouch, I hope it wasn't expensive.

DA-MAX

iTrader: (10)

well before you guys dis the SC'd Accord...just a question...if the Accord V6 runs 14.7 on 5psi, what will/does an auto Max on 5psi run??? I don't know so I'm asking.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

SC'ed Accord only gets 5lbs of boost?

SC'ed max stock gets 6-7lbs, and with a smaller pulley, up to 12....

Also, I think it was JD Power that voted the VQ one of the 10 Best Engines 8 years in a row, and the Accord only made that list once, and at the bottom.

The VQ never rated below 5th.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I am kinda pulling this out of memory.

IanS

Ramius83

To be honest with you, all the mods for the Maxima are not as abundant and cheap as the Hondas are. Almost everything you can get for a Honda, you can get for a Maxima, but there may be only one item in that category at a high price. But, you will be very happy if you get one, I promise you that...

JAY25

iTrader: (38)

Lets back on the subject with going from a Civic EX to a Maxima...

I would recommend you get the newer maxima 2000-2001 220HP in 5 speed and if you can afford the new one 2002 255HP then knock yourself out. It has more space and power then a civic stock. Mods for a Maxima, you can buy some used ones here or just post a thread where to get what a good price and members will reply and give you your answer. Civics are nice cars to modify but there are so many of them on the road that muthaf@ckers will steal yo **** if you park it in the wrong spot. Thats one of the downfalls I see with Hondas they are on the top of the list for being stolen. Also the civic doesnt not have a lot of space and it will cost of alot of money to give that car some power not unless you install Nitrous being the cheapest power mod.

Honda Accords are nice but the idiots that make them dont want to make them in 5 or 6 speed they can have their piece of **** V6 autos because I need a 5 speed and thats why I walked away from Honda and went Nissan.

97GLE

Make the rambling idiot go away

DA-MAX

iTrader: (10)

thats slick as hell!!!!

SteVTEC

The 00-01 222 HP Maxima autos have run mid-15's bone stock, and that's with much much heavier 17" rims. If the auto Max's had the same tiny "I have no torque so I need 15" rims" that the Accord V6's did then auto Max's would probably be in the low-15's. The 00-01 auto Max's are about 100 lb lighter, have more torque, and EXTREMELY wide and plentiful powerband, and are a good bit faster than Accord V6's. I can't think of anybody here that has had trouble beating Accord V6's.

Even the older 4th Gen auto Maxima's are faster. They weigh close to 300 lb less than Accord V6's, only have 10 less HP, but still more torque, and still a much wider and useable powerband.

I'm talking about stock performance, not modded. Yes, the ECU is a huge bottleneck if you mod.

The whole engine is tuned for economy though. Honda marketing wanted 200 HP from a 3.0L SOHC engine that still runs on 87 octane fuel with detonation so unlikely that they didn't even need to put a knock sensor in it, and LEV emissions. Honda engineers scratch their heads and say, "well we can do that, but it's gonna suck." Marketing says do it anyways so they do, and here's the result.

To meet fuel economy and emissions requirements, Honda had to literally castrate the cams. Did you know that the secondary intake valve doesn't even open below 3500rpm? This is to promote better intake charge swirl which increases combustion efficiency, fuel mileage, and emissions. It also MURDERS low-end torque. The Accord V6 has 10-20 lb-ft less torque at 2500rpm than every other V6 in the class. It freakin sucks. ZERO low-end power.

To keep operating expenses low for consumers, they also speced a low compression ratio of 9.4:1 so that it could run on 87 octane fuel. That's a good thing (for economy) and in fact that's one of the reasons I bought the car since I was driving 30,000 miles per year at the time. Probably saved me about $400 over the course of the year. But they speced the CR so low so that they wouldn't even need a knock sensor (saves them $$), and the low CR also kills torque output overall. 195 lb-ft in a 3300lb sedan is just not enough. The Camry V6 makes 209 lb-ft, the old Maxima engine makes 205 lb-ft, and the 00-01 Maxima made 217 lb-ft - all 3.0L engines.

Now making 200 HP is even tougher. To still make the numbers engineers had to design an extremely narrow/peaky resonance intake manifold (non-variable ) that centered power waaaaaaaay too high up in the rev range. Peak torque isn't until 4700rpm, and there's not even much power below 4000rpm. And then peak power comes at only 5500rpm. So as soon as the engine gets in the powerband it falls right out of it and the power drops off like a friggin rock after 5500rpm. The VQ30DE makes peak torque at a much more useable 4000rpm (it pushes you back in your seat at only 3000rpm), and peak power is at 5600rpm. On the DE-K engine (00-01) the variable intake manifold helps the engine maintain power all the way up to redline instead of dropping off.

When you have a 3300 lb family sedan with a wide ratio auto tranny and an engine that doesn't make any useful power below 4000rpm it just sucks for performance. I didn't realize how bad it really was until I got my Maxima. I just said to myself, "well it's just a typical 4-valve import engine - they're all like this. If I wanted low-end torque I should have bought a domestic." Then I got my Maxima and the VQ. This puppy pulls hard even below 3000rpm. VQ torque is awesome, and this is coming from someone who has owned both engines.

You said that if the Maxima was so great it'd outsell Accords. That implies all Accord's since you didn't limit it to just V6 Accord's. To outsell all Accord's the Max would need a 4-cyl and that's sacrilege. The Maxima continues to outsell Accord V6's by over a 2:1 margin.

Typical Accord V6 owner using the TL-S as their crutch

I have owned a J30A1 Accord V6 and know exactly what it's capable of and what it's not. I know how it feels and I know how it sounds, and I know the power curve like the back of my own hand. When I had my Accord V6 I used to think that Ward's was a crock too. But then I got my VQ30DE Maxima and I saw the light.

The VQ has waaaaaaaay more torque and a much much wider powerband than the J30A1 does. It also gets about the same fuel mileage (although it requires 91 octane fuel), and the NVH levels are not one but SEVERAL steps better than the J30A1. The VQ is completely silky smooth all throughout the rev range whereas the J30A1 can get a bit noisey and vibrational up in the top end.

As for the J32A2, it only made the Ward's runner-up list. The reason? They said because it was a good engine, but just didn't feel nearly as smooth and refined as the Maxima's VQ. It was said to be a "wannabe" and just didn't feel right. No Honda J-series V6 has made the Ward's 10 Best list yet.

The TL-S and 2k2 Max auto are also about dead even in terms of performance. If the TL-S driver knows how to defeat all of the idiot proofing in the car (VSA, TCS, SS) then apparently it can hit high-14's, but otherwise it's a low-15 car. The gearing is better, but the car also weighs 250 lb more than a 2k2 Max auto. 5 HP extra isn't going to make up for that, and the VQ has waaaay more low/mid-range power than the J32A2 does. 2k2 Max autos have run high-14's stock with more consistency than TL-S/CL-S's, but yes, it is pretty close. Better 1/4 mile gearing on the TL-S is the only thing that puts it in the same ballpark.

And stop using the TL-S as your crutch. You drive an AV6, not a TL-S.

Don't worry, I'll wear you down

bill99gxe

iTrader: (1)

Time to call off the dogs.


SteVTEC =


Steve is about the only one here who states reasonable arguments and has direct experience with both vehicles. Most of the rest of you are doing nothing more than spamming.


If I see another one of these Accord/Maxima/TL/CL arguments in any forum I moderate, you get the "problem user" label, where you will be hounded by me on every statement you make in the future. Hopefully, the expectation is clear NOT to see this useless penisenvy bickering again.

J9CIV9,

Hopefully, you received some good advice in this thread. However, we have a few immature members here who for some reason are obsessed with justifying why they have a Maxima and not an Accord. Some here have WAY too much time on their hands that should be devoted to improving the Maxima rather than b!tching about how other rides compare when they really aren't that comparable in the first place.