I know driving fast is not condoned on this forum. But what I did over the weekend did not jeopardize any one besides myself.

My Story: car=silver Maxima 2003 SE manual, time=6:15am, location=I-10 Texas going eastbound. I haven't pushed my car since I bought it brand new with only 100 miles on it, it now has 3000 miles. There I was driving around 70 mph on this open 4 lane highway as this Mercedes passes me by going around 80. I don't know the model but I know it was a C series. Since it was only me and him I decided to catch up to him and keeping a safe distance of 50-75 yards back. As I matched his speed about 80 mph he decided to take off, guess he didn't like me following him. As he took off so did I, I down shifted to 5th on my manual and slowly edged up to 120 mph. I don't know if it was the adrenaline or what but took a good while to get to 120. Since it was only a C class series Mercedes I was disappointed that it took so long to catch up to him, but I did. After about 30secs to a minutes I decided to back down. I just wanted to see how this car performed after waiting a long 3000 miles for it to break in.

Conclusion: I post on this forum today to get some answers. 1) Should I have down shifted to 4th at 80mph instead of 5th. If I have 6 gears and top speed is 155 would max shifting be the following 1st=0-25, 2nd=25-50, 3rd=50-75, 4th=75-100, 5th=100-125, 6th=125-155? 2) Is the 2003 regulated? Like I said, I don't know if the car felt sluggish but it did take it a while to get to 120. 3) What RPM's should I be looking at for max power?

Tim

 

the owners manual gives the maximum recomended speeds for forst through third
it says 80 for third but when i run hard my car does about 83 in third right before upshirt to fourth.
you should hav definaterly downshifted to fourth fifth is practically overdrive. and you will top out in in fifht not sixth because sixth is overdriven too much
WHEELMAN

 

yep...defintley should have dropped it to 4th in 80, would have caught up a lot faster and probably killing him unless it was a C32 AMG

4th still has a pull...5th is OD like wheelman said. you'll get to the speed with lower rpms but more times. more rpms and low gears gives you the best power and best acceleration.

 

Wheelman_03_SE,

Are you saying that I should be able to hit 155 in 5th gear?

 

yes

 

I DUNNO ABOUT 155. THE MAXIMAS AERODYNAMICS LIMIT THE VEHICLE TO A TOP SPEED OF 145 SO IM TOLD

 

I don't think you'll get 155 out of a stock 02-03 6spd. I got 142 in mine, in 5th, it was pulling, but I don't know about 155. Too much drag for the hp.

 

I did a GPS measured 144.93 mph in my 03 SE auto. The speedo was reading well over 150 though. I guess there is a bit of error at the highter speeds.

BTW, a C320 is designed to accelerate between 70 and the speed limiter at 130 (IE autobahn driving). So, unless you dropped to 4th and mashed it to all hell, you'd have trouble catching him. I think the ratios are like 1:1 for 4th, .82:1 5th, and .69:1 for 6th. Those are guesses, correct me if i am wrong. Thanks.

 

October 2002 issue of Car & Driver backs that up too.

 

Your maxima should never have a hard time beating a c class. 4th gear was definitely the gear you needed. What you need to do is go out redline all your gears get acquainted at what speeds they redline at, that way when such another situation occurs you can embarrass that mercedes, Mustang, camaro or whatever.

 

Nearly a Yr ago some1 hit up 155mph with 4people in the car, there was no GPS to prove this but he had the Frankencar installed. Do a search you might find it... Drag limited is basically my car were it stops accelerating a little over 130, the body kit doesnt help much either.

 

Thanks for everyone's reply. I feel like taking this car out for another high speed run. Guess I have to wait for the next time I see an open highway. :-)

 

With a blowout ..your toast

 

Not really, if you are goin straight, you should be ok. Now, in a turn, ya, kiss your *** goodbye

 

Not a good idea. You must be crazy to do that!Just imagine getting pulled over or loosing traction. In both cases you will get F*cked.

 

Dude I would no way in hell do a top speed run like that, ive had my fait share of trouble with the law already. It was obvioulsy a sraight line run w/o any twisties either way its not a good idea and you'd most probably go to jail if you got pulled over at that speed. Unless I was in a TT Z06 and could hit 200+ in no time and back to legal speeds id never do a top speed run ( Thats only if im alone on the road) if I happen to blast by a cop at 220+ then whats he gonna do pull me over? Not even the helicopter could go 220+mph

 

C&D also has the 2k/2k1 doing the 1/4m in 15.8s.... how much do you trust them now?

there are dozens of threads on this... people have used GPS to PROVE the car can break 150. Of course others then claim the GPS must not be working right.... whatever I know I was going 139 and had a lot more than 4mph left