Well, I decided to stop on the way back home today to check them out. They had no 5spds or 6spds on the lot, so I have to settle for the autos.

1st test drive was the 3.5L Altima Auto SE

Oh my god. The car rocked. It defintely felt like it handled better than my Maxima, and it hauled ***! I mean 1/4 pedal and the car just moved. That low end torque us 5th gens are missing is on this car! I floored it, and had to hold that steering wheel tight, and I haven't had a car push me back in the seat in a long time, that Altima did this. Interior, seats are great, design, nice, doors, cheap. But if I had the chance again without being so upside down, I would defintely get the Altima over the Maxima.

2002 Maxima SE Auto.

Shifted nicer than the Altimas tranny, but didn't feel like it hauled as quick. The Maxima defintely has alot of low end grunt though, and the power is there when needed without punching it! Interior, hate the new sunroof controls, but like the sunglass pocket. I wonder if this would work on a 2001? I might try one with the sunroof and lights to see if it would work. Stereo is defiintely not as nice as the Altimas. The Altimas stereo sounded much better.

After that, I left in my max and pushed her to feel. My 5spd feels as fast as the auto Max did, or Altima, but that 6spd has got to be killer. My max was much louder of course due to the intake! hehehhee.

Well that sums up my review....very nice indeed!

 

Hmm...I test drove both of them last saturday. The Maxima felt like it was a good deal quicker than the Altima. There must've been something wrong with that Altima's tranny. It simply would not accelerate.

Another interesting thing: The Altima has larger exterior and interior dimensions, and is 20lbs heavier.

 

That and the bose stereo in the max has 50 more watts, so I think it's safe to say the maximas stereo sounds better. I have driven both a 5spd altima and 6spd maxima and the Altima definatly is not any faster.

Russ, are you thinking about getting a new Altima .

 

russ, the altima might have seemed quicker because it was not as refined as the flagship? all i know is, my maxima feels faster than a gs400, but if you look at the speedo the gs400 is pulling like mad compared to my max.

 

No way the Max stereo sounds better. The Max stereo sounded like a POS compared to the Altimas. The Altimas has 8 speakers, the Maxima 7.

Maxima : 2 pillers
2 front doors
2 rear doors
1 sub rear deck

Altima

2 pillers
2 front doors
2 rear doors
2 rear deck

Sorry but we cranked both and adjusted, the Altima stereo was defintely better.

 

All I know is with 1/4 throttle the car scared me! It had alot of grunt..

 

Watts has little to do with sound quality. Often, stereo systems are optimized for the interior of the vehicle using all sorts of complicated geometry calculations. So, it is possible for a fully optimized 100W system to sound better than a 200W system.

If both stereos were hooked into the same car and both optimized for the interior, I would agree that the 200W one would sound better then 100W, due to more power for those low end bass thumps and high end shreaks. But between different cars, you can't even compare watts.

 

Eric, there is only one little problem... The Bose in the Maxima IS optimized (acording to Nissan and Bose).

Taken from Nissandriven.com:
Premium Bose® Audio System
Only the best: a 7-speaker 200-watt CD audio system, custom-engineered by Bose®. After thousands of calculations to study how sound waves resonate in the Maxima cabin, Bose engineers tuned and positioned the seven speakers accordingly. Unique Bose technology includes the Nd woofer speaker, one of the world's most space-efficient woofers, pumping out some of the fullest bass you'll ever hear. This year, for ultimate convenience and hours of uninterrupted music, the Bose system is also available with an in-dash 6-disc CD autochanger.

I must say that the Altima radio played lood but I liked the low end better in the Max (tighter).

 

russmax: hmm u said me that ur dad bought a altima GXE for around 20k,
why did u test drive a altima, when ur dad already bought one?

 

That altima is a big POS. I was thinking about trading in my max for it until i drove it today. It was a 3.5 auto but I thought it was slow as hell. That engine was no way free revving like the maxima's is. It revved like it was a ford fucus. Maybe if it had leather it might have been nicer. Its noway worth what they want for it........I'd buy a honda before i bought that. another thing is there is almost no space under the hood.....doesn't help if you were to supercharge it........dissappointing.......hey at least i get a free watch now from the testdrive.....btw the car was 3.5 auto, no leather, with sunroof......also the dash is really cheap....our car has a soft vinyl on top of the dash....this thing had hard plastic.....

 

Does the Altima have two subwoofers or separate components like the front?

 

Thats funny becuase I listened to both stereos and the maxima's was definatly better. Maybe the one you listened to did not have the BOSE option? BTW Russ I know all about the lay out of the speakers for both car, I know tons about stereos, I use to be a HUGE, HUGE car stereo nut!

Eric, like Amazing2 said .

 

I agree. The Maxima Bose sounds better. Plus... all that cheap plastic in the Altima vibrates.

 

Why do you hate the sunroof controls Russ? Isn't the 2002 one touch open and close, while your's is not? I remember you saying that it looked cheap on the 2002. I have no idea why you say that. I'll take a picture of the 2002 controls and you take a picture of the 2001 controls. Let's post and talk about it.

http://paulwendy.com/maxima/photos/2002/sunroof.jpg

 

Controls look good to me .

 

My sister is a Nissan sales associate, and last week her dealership got in a 6-speed 2002 Maxima SE. When we took it out to get its first tank of gas, and we wanted to see what it could do. Man, that car is really quick! Nice interior, too.

 

My dad has a 2001 GXE auto, not a 2002. He also got it for 15k.

 

I believe they got rid of the subs, and went 6x9s in the rear. It sounded much cleaner.

 

Sorry but I know which one sounded better. When I build 2000watt+ stereo systems in cars I know which one sound better with better quality. The Bose in that Maxima sounded like mine, with way too much bass and not enough clarity. The Altima had perfect clarity and tight bass.

 

The control feels like something that will break. Cheap plastic feeling..