Hey,

I know this might sound really annoying to some of you. I am a complete Noob when it comes to cars, at least performance wise.

It's my first car and still deciding between 4th and 5th Gen Max SE. I had a few questions (tried search but couldn’t get the answers):

1. I can buy 5th gen but pushing it as far as budget is concerned (college and all). Is it worth the money or should I get a 98-99 Max SE?

2. Y-Pipe, Cat ... What are these and how do they affect the HP? Which one should I get (in other words, which makes the most difference)?

3. I really really want to get manual tranny, but have no experience with it. I know how to drive it but never really driven a car more than a day (even if that) with manual. Should I get manual or just stick with Auto? Is it easy to learn?

Any help would be appreciated

 

I would go manual, but it is all up to you. Do you like manual? I personally hated manual when I first began learning it. Once I got good at it, I fell in love with it (I don't even drive automatics at all anymore). Manual Maxima's are faster than automatics, so if you are looking for speed, I would go for manual. Also, it depends on how long you want to wait to get your Maxima, because only 1 in every 10 4th gen Maxima is a manual. So, it will definately take some time to find the one you want, or at least it did for me. As far as the other stuff you mentioned, I can't help you there, sorry. Good luck with your purchase.

Well, I can probably help you out with the y-pipe. The y-pipe will give you around 10-15 hp when you get it installed. The budget y-pipe is only around $190 with shipping included, so it should definately be one of your first mods if you want performance. It's one of the best bangs for your buck. The cat will cost you more money and will give you less gains.

Also, here is a great place to learn about Maxima performance, and where to buy it from:

http://maxmods.dyndns.org/index.php?MaximaPerformance

 

1) Since you're on a budget, get a 4th gen. For the price of a 5th gen, you can buy a 4th gen and a few mods. When you get out of college and get a better job, buy a 5th gen or a 6th gen That's what I'm going to do

2) http://maxmods.dyndns.org/?MaximaPerformance

3) If you have someone to teach your a stick, then get one. If not, stick with an auto. A tip I learned from this forum is to learn to drive a stick on a rental car You'll need someone to help though.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the info ...

Damn those rental companies though! Non of them have manual tranny, or atleast the half a dozen that I tried

 

Try to learn stick on a maxima if possible...

 

if you can learn really well, get one... if you never learn very well your just going to be beating your car up everyday. i live in SF and know how to drive a stick perfectly well, but choose not to for locational reasons (stop and go everywhere and our infamous HILLS!) if your confident enough with driving one everyday, everywhere, they do perform better, and can respond better to mods. good luck!

 

check this page https://maxima.org/shoptalk/sub_read...ns/index.shtml it should answer your questions on 4th vs. 5th gens, but personally I would get a 4th gen (I may be biased by my 96 ) A y-pipe is a nice mod to get, it will give you really nice gains for the money, but a high flow cat won't make too much of a difference. Also if you have a y-pipe, a high flow cat may make it hard to pass emissions, if you have them in your state, since the y removes the 2 precats (but you should be able to pass with just the y as long as you warm the car up a little before the test). I hope that answered your questions, & good luck finding a car.

 

Nice ... the linked article was really helpful!

thanks