When you compare the Maxima to cars costing as much or even less (in most cases) that are in and around the same class, would you say that Nissan has one of the most underpowered cars in this class of vehicle? Is the Maxima underpowered by comparison?

It goes for other vehicles in Nissan's line up as well in comparison to the class category that they're in too, are all Nissan's in general underpowered barring the GTR?

Please discuss!!

 

I think putting 290 hp and and however much torque it has to the front wheels is a little much. My 4th gen. has 100 hp less and torque stear is an issue with spirited driving. By the time you get all the options you've spent nearly enough to buy a G37, which has 330 hp and rwd. The new acura TL type-s has awd now, it's a shame it is as ugly as sin. I do love the 7th generation's styling, they hit a home run with that. Also, independent rear suspension...about time!!! Just my personal opinions, so don't take offense anyone.

 

My opinion is that even with the 290 hp a stock heavy 08 accord 4 door walks themax from a 60 mph roll.so to me that is a joke cause the Honda is rated abkut 30 hp less.and runs on 87 octane vs the Maxima 93 octane recommend fuel.for the price of the 7th gen it think it should have had the g37's 330 hp.but thats just me.i didnt buy this car to be the fastest in its class but the hinda beating it? Really?

 

An Accord shouldn't flat walk a 7th gen Maxima unless it has a 6 speed.

 

Sorry but I've seen 7th gens beat accords on numerous occasions I don't believe it.

 

Had no idea there was a HP war going on?

 

IMO, a car in the same class would be FWD. Makes since doesn't it? So the G37 would not be a fair competitor. The closest comparable car that has almost as much horsepower is the TL. But the FWD TL is still using an old 5 speed trans. The Accord looks like it can hang with the Max but I doubt it would dust a Max. I can't think of any midsized FWD sedan with much more than 300 hp.

 

Juggernaut23 - I have a close friend that loves her Accord. It is a fine car, but not in the Maxima's class. The Maxima has features not available on the Accord. The Accord is a competitor of the Altima, Camry, Fusion, etc. Only the top of the line Accord can stay close to the Maxima, and it is not going to beat the Maxima. No rating service puts the Accord in the Maxima's upscale class.

In Consumer Reports testing, the Maxima got better fuel efficiency than the 6 cylinder Accord. Consumer Reports has rated the Nissan Altima as the best vehicle in the Accord's class for three years straight. That tells us something about the Accord.

But the REAL difference shows up in handling. The Maxima has a better suspension, stays flatter in turns, and has considerably better braking (128 feet from 60 MPH, while Accord is a long 140 feet from 60 MPH).

Carrying this further, there are MILLIONS of Accords on the road, and they do absolutely nothing for me style-wise. They aren't ugly, but they just don't stir any excitement whatsoever. Folks don't turn their heads when an Accord rolls by. But I see heads turn for my Maxima, even when it is simply parked in a parking lot. I like the interior of my Maxima much better than the interior of my friend's Accord.

We could discuss this all night, but there is no point. Tha Maxima is now in the near-luxury class, with appointments to prove it, while the Accord, although a very good car, is marketed as Honda's middle-of-the-road, pedestrian, family vehicle for the masses. And that is exactly what it is, and it excels in that role. But it is no Maxima.

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Bk2k3max - Times are changing, and the horsepower races are drawing to a close. Nissan is astute enough to understand this. To meet the government fuel requirements of 2015 means many current vehicles will actually either stay at their present HP, or even drop in HP. Those who feel this Maxima is underpowered have not adjusted their thinking to the future we are inexoribly approaching.

In my opinion, this Maxima has more power than should ever be needed in any normal driving situation. More power could result in wheel spin, which is about the most inefficient and wasteful situation we can put a vehicle in, especially when we consider the cost of these tires.

Where some manufacturers try to overcome their product's shortcomings by simply adding more power to draw in the uninformed, Nissan is working on improving their suspensions and drivetrains in an effort to make the product they have even better in the future.

 

Me too!!

 

Exactly and it wont exactly walk it, as far as automatic V6's in the Accords class Camry V6 will give the Maxima a run... The current V6 Camry will definately give the Max a run for its money and in many cases beat it as it has excellent gearing with that current unit, but not the V6 auto Accord.

 

2010 maxima premium with sport 19's. 93 octane

2008 accord auto,lowered,20's,87 octane.

both cars are stock.we left even at 60mph roll and he slowly walked away from 80-140 mph.This was not cool.lol.I left the car in DS mode and let it do the shifting.

 

^Supposedly drive is fastest.

 

That is one downside to the 09/10 Maximas on the high end...The CVT just does not seem to pull that hard....There was a guy that owned an 09 and 08 on you tube and complained about the same thing of the CVT's that they do not pull hard on the top end.. Many of us saw the videos! I have also noticed it with some of the 09/10 rentals that I have had on business on the high end.

 

Did you ensure that the TC was turned off??

I've never seen any Accord walk any Max, ever. Go to youtube and you'll see vids of them racing and the Max usually just leaves it in the dust or is the one doing the walking.

 

Incorrectly run test. Something not right here. The stock Accord is NOT faster than the Maxima. Even mag testers tell us that. Of course the Accord you mention is not stock (lowered, oversize wheels, lower profile tires, etc, etc), and all elapesd time runs by ORG members here were faster in 'D' tranny setting, NOT 'DS'. I assume you turned off the VDC, as that wonderful safety function does impact abrupt manuevers such as WOT racing.

I will not argue what may happen at the absurd speeds well over 100 you mentioned, because that should never happen on a roadway, and the Maxima is a near-luxury vehicle, NOT a 'pocket-rocket' or track car.

But a stock Accord, even with its poorer fuel efficiency, will not pull away from a stock Maxima at speeds below 100 MPH when the Maxima is operated with optimum racing settings. The only real advantage of the Accord it that it is far less likely to be noticed by any police in the area, due to its bland styling and proliferate numbers everywhere we look. I don't even notice Accords any more.

 

Don't let this drift to road racing please.

 

lightonthehill nailed the nail right on it's head, the accord is the blandest car on the road right now, it's not aimed towards an audience who wants style, power and amazing technology, but for people who just need a car to get around and who are more mainstream. Also, I think 290hp is more than enough, The max has 62 more hp than the current C-class mercedes(hideous car btw) like 30 more hp than a 328i Bimmer and 12 more hp than a base TL, so Im happy and for the price I got my well equipped Maxima, people are getting v6 accords and camrys.

 

Honda accord compression ratio 10.5:1 anything 10 and above is premium,
7th Gen Maxima 10.6:1

The Maxima was listed as needing Premium cause of the engine and high class of people who are buying it over Accord, I guess Nissan changed the wording, even Lexus changed the wording on the ES350.

Interesting fact, manufactures don't care what you do with the car, cause if you ruin it you always need to buy another

Simply put an engine senses a knock/ping and retards the timing, so the engine does not ping, after so many cycles or miles, it restarts the program and if it senses another knock/ping it retards the timing, definitely some interesting info on cars, Honda has an interesting knock sensor system/setup compared to others.

Back to your buddy, running his car above 80-140, even hard up to 80, he should try 93 I'd be willing to bet his engine will sound diferent, less stress and pinging that he thinks is his engine sound

Now back to the point at hand, I've had my car up to 90mph and then some, yeah it's exhilarating but I can't stand the stress of maybe getting pulled over and after you pass age 25, the waiting game of what mood the cop is in grows old real fast, I like cursing and showing off in my car, and don't really feel like making myself or other Maxima owners look like d-bags to other car owners cause I feel a need to show off and do 100mph run on the highway

 

Driving to class I was thinking about the horsepower, for my daily needs it's more then enough, how much horsepower do you need to sit in traffic

 

I know right, I get my car up to 100 once in a blue moon, but Im always paranoid about highway patrol cars hiding, and of course I dont want to hit someone and kill myself or another. So, this 290hp is more than enough to play around with considering Im only 18 and this is my second car, what else do I need? People need to stop complaining about the power, if you want raw power, spend the extra $$$ and get a g37. Other than that people should just accept what Nissan has given us in the 7Gen Maxima. The way I see it is, some people expect 50k performance for a car that costs at the most 32.5k.

 

This thread was about some "war" in horsepower. How many cars it the maximas class have more Horsepower? And how would you break the class down? Obviously 4 doors. Only FWD? Price? Weight?

So how many cars match up to the maximas class that have more HP any in this "war" you speak of?

The reg TL has less HP at 280 and IMO it's the closest competitor even though it's a car from a luxury brand. The AWD TL has a tiny bit more Hp but then again it's AWD and may not then be considered the same class.
The CC has less hp @ 280
The ford fusion has less HP @263
The Buick lascross has less HP @ 280
The Ford Taraus is one of the few with more Hp weighing in at a whoping 365 but it has twin turbos.
The accord has less HP @271

That's just a few of the top of my head.

 

I have owned 2 Maximas. I still have an 03. I ended up buying the 2010 TL SH-AWD because it definitly have more off the line power than the 2010 Max.
Wife is still not sold on the TL, thinks it's too big and hard to drive.

I think I will revisit the 2012 Maxima when it comes out. The key IMO is that they need to up the HP to at least 325 and they have to consider an AWD option. Then I would definitely go for it because I just like the Maxima better.

 

I am sorry maybe I have worded it wrong.
I am just saying that bland lesser rated car like this accord walked the maxima from that roll.

I am sure that from a dig the Maxima would leave it behind.I never meant to say this accord is in the maxima's class.Just pointing out how the power struggle in this race from a roll went down.I did have the TC off and my A/C off as it was hot and all the windows up.Maybe I shouldnt have has the shifter to the left in auto D/S?

These CVT cars remind me of my supra with the chevy turbo TH400 trans.I had a 3800 stall converter and on the highway it feels exactly like the maxima.Just screams the whole time unless i flip the switch and lock the converter up.

I am sure when my y-pipe and Borla full exhaust shows up to my door and along with my Racingline intake then the max will wake up a bit and breath a little easier.
So I am sorry if I worded it wrong,I just wanted to point out a scenario that went down.

 

a war? the only competitors are Toyota Avalon and Acura TL. I think the Max does just fine in it's class.

Accord and such need to be compared to Altima

 

A.) This won't happen. Nissan is not going to go forced induction on the Maxima, and getting that kind of power is going to hurt gas mileage too much. Throw AWD on there, and you have an even heavier car with worse gas mileage.

B.) Who cares about the HP number? It could have 325, and still feel no stronger than the 02 Maxima. The 7th gen has a whole bunch of power on the 5.5 gen, but if I recall correctly, failed to be substantially faster.


C.) When comparing cars, if you do so by looking at the advertised HP, you fail. I know a guy who goes on about how much more powerful his WRX is than my car, because his dyno says readout says 312 whp. What a tool.

at 2500 RPMs, his car makes 58 whp. Mine makes 101 whp. At 3500 RPMs, his makes 88 whp, mine makes 188. At 4000 RPMS, his makes 115 whp, mine makes 207. 4500 RPMS... his is at 164 whp, and mine is at 238. 5000 RPMS... he's at 235 whp, I'm at 255. at 5500, he's at 291, I'm at 282. At 6500, he's at 312 whp, and I'm at 274.


So, my point is this: My car is advertised at 300 hp. His car would be advertised at about 312/0.85 = 367 hp. Even though he would win in the "HP war", in the real world, his car only makes more power than mine for 26% of the RPM band. And the amount of power my engine has over his for the other 74% of the RPM band is quite a larger margin than the power he has over me for those 1700 RPMs.

Plus, for a daily driver (which both cars are), I make that power in the usable part of that band.


CLIFFS:
Conclusions: Using peak advertised HP numbers is a poor and misleading way to compare thier power.

 

That 7th gen Accord had to have been modified beyond just the wheels. My Dad has a 6th gen V6 Accord and he test drove a 7th gen when they first came out. He decided to keep his '04 because the 7th gens were too big and didn't feel as quick as his car. Plus he gets 22 city and 30-31 mpg freeway-and I can verify the freeway mileage after driving his car to Kentucky and back (had a 626 POS at the time that was acting up) and averaged 30.6 mpg and a best of 31.4 mpg while averaging 75-78 mph.

The real competitor for the Maxima and any other mid sized 4 door family car, IMO is the Taurus SHO. Base price for the SHO is higher but the way most people option out the Maxima, the price difference isn't that much in the end.

 

[QUOTE=Flip2cho;7717669]
So how many cars match up to the maximas class that have more HP any in this "war" you speak of?

The reg TL has less HP at 280 and IMO it's the closest competitor even though it's a car from a luxury brand. The AWD TL has a tiny bit more Hp but then again it's AWD and may not then be considered the same class.[Quote]









I agree, I have said this a many of times as well as many others. The TL is the Maxima's closest competitor in mission, size, power etc and has been since the 5th gen in 2000. They were very comparable in power etc then and 10 years later, the same!

 

The SHO is actually AWD. The 280 HP version of the LaCrosse is AWD. Still can't think of any midsized FWD car with more HP.

 

I wouldn't want the Maxima to get any more HP then it already has. 290 HP is a lot to have through FWD and I noticed this, this past winter when we had several snowstorms and a blizzard. The POS RS-As have some responsibility but I think that in combo with that much HP caused the front-end to slip alot during just light snowfall. The VDC was flashing like crazy and probably is the only thing that kept me on the road during winter weather and I was doing 10-20mph below the speed limit and it still was slipping and sliding.

There comes a point when if you go to high in HP with just FWD it becomes a problem and most then have to switch to RWD or AWD to compensate for that. I too can not think of any other FWD vehicle on the market with the high HP and torque the Maxima has. I think it is King in that regard.

They should keep the HP the way it is and just improve upon traction, stability etc. I think by putting more HP and torque into this puppy with just FWD is asking for trouble! There is a reason why the 330HP G37 is RWD and not FWD!

 

No offense taken. I think one thing that led you to a conclusion that was not that far off is the programmed Nissan software that doesn't permit full applied power to this redesigned CVT until the car is well underway. With a ten year CVT warranty, Nissan does not want to take any chances.

If the CVT ever reaches a point where full power can be applied from the start, THEN we will see the full benefit of the CVT.

 

The point of this thread isn't to complain, I'm simply asking in comparison to other cars in its' class, please do not twist the discussion into something else. A 300C is in the same class, Mercedes 300-350 are in the same class, BMW 328, Acura TL are all in the same class.

 

It's hard to find a perfect comp to say it's the same class as the Max. All you named are luxury brands besides the Chrysler. The 300 is also offered in a V8 Hemi.
The closest comp on the 300 is the limited 3.5l V6 weighing in at 250 HP
The BMW 328i has only 230 HP with 200 Foot pounds of touque.
The Mercedes c350 puts out 268 HP.

Some might consider them in the same class and some may not but the Maxima still comes out ahead in this "war".

 

How much hp can u put into a fwd car?
This is my first non Acura, I had a 2001 cl type-s , then a 2010 tsx (which my girl took from me and gave me her 2005 tl) I traded in her tl for a 2010 maxima premium tech..
The car has more then enough hp for fwd.. You can't really put anymore then 300 hp into a fwd format without getting massive torque steer.. The car has plenty of power and is faster then 75% of cars on the road..

 

Each car has it's own specific class, but I do know that between class, price and options a lot of vehicles overlap, I have never been one to look at a badge, usually price followed by options, and price.

My brother has a 300C AWD, pretty sweet car, in fact I wonder why I did not get one but, my Maxima literally feels like a Z when you drive it after the 300, my brothers 300 does 0-60 in 5.2-5.4, with the help of the AWD launch but it's just rides so much differently then my car

MB 300-350, if that is the C Class, not so much interested in that, part of the reason I chose the Maxima was the roominess, that also includes the BMW 328, but I also swayed away from German cars cause of the long term reliability, if I have a break down at 60k plus I need to be able to afford the fix, German cars are sometimes not so wallet friendly if you don't have the right connections.

Lastly, the Acura TL, I would have loved an 08 Acura TLS, but it did not happen, the current style of the new Acura is growing on me, but still with certain options they are way more expensive, and like it always happens, I sign the papers for my current car and the next day the phone rings and the other car dealer with the other car I wanted is willing to do the same deal as the one I just signed for

 

Your thoughts pretty much mirror mine on the above two vehicles. I recently a 300 on a business trip about 2 yrs ago and I found the steering to be vague and unresponsive and the car to just be a big boat. Not interesting for me to drive at all.

And as for the C class I rented one last year to go to NYC with the wife and I'm in another C class rental today (car is in the shop for reg maint) and it feels too small inside, and very awkward to get in and out of (though I do like the engine note). The lack of an aux port drives me crazy.

 

If anything I think Nissan is winning the HP wars. Ever since they droppped the VQ35 in all their V6 cars in 02^ they have had the highest HP or near the highest HP rating in their respective class

 

As I've written in other threads, the existing engine is already limited by the CVT and Nissan's desire to reduce torque steer. More power isn't going to help without AWD, and I personally wouldn't pay for more weight, less mileage, and duller steering. There's a reason that FWD sedans have been in the six-second range for almost ten years. Getting more out of them requires compromises that won't sell.

 

Good to know man, take care of that red 6th Gen, seems like a rare color

 

Im sorry but that upsets me Thats just riddiculous

 

One less digit - Keep in mind that DS is NOT the fastest tranny setting for the Maxima. Also keep in mind that the poster said both cars were 'stock', but in the same post said the Honda was 'lowered'. Wonder what other changes may have been made? Also keep in mind that this same poster later backed off somewhat in this same thread, listing a few mitigating factors, such as that he had his AC on the whole time and had his tranny lever in the slower left position.

But the thing we all should know is that the Accord will not beat a Maxima in a fairly run test, even though the Accord is a lighter vehicle. Also keep in mind that, other than the top of the line Accord, no other Accord could even come close to the least expensive Maxima 'S'. Also keep in mind the Maxima is a near-luxury vehicle with tons of bells and whistles, while most Accords are designed purely as transportation vehicles, with no pretense of being anything special.

The Accord is very good at what it is designed for, but it is no Maxima.