3 weeks ago a truck ran a stop sign and I t-boned it, wrecking my 2003 Altima 3.5 SE with the 4AT. Fun car, drove it 46,000 miles in 14 months with no issues at all. AIrbags went off, I walked away without a scratch. Car was totaled.

With the money my insurance company gave me for the Altima, I bought a 2002 Maxima SE 6MT with 85,000 miles on it (the Altima had 146,000 on it).

-Car is way heavier and smoother than the Altima, but not as 'zippy' due toi heavier weight. Lots more body roll, but hey, its a luxury car, right?

-Fantastic mileage. Today I drove from San Diego to Los Angeles and back, 250 miles roundtrip. I filled up before I left, filled up again at the same pump when I got back. The onboard computer says I got 32mpg, the calculations from the odometer divided by the actual gallons I used says 30mpg. About 2mpg better than the 4AT in the Altima. Nice...

-Both the speedometer and the gas gauge are incredibly accurate! That was a surprise. When speedo says 70mph, GPS says 70.2 Gas gauge doesn't sit on full for 8 gallons and then drop like a rock, like my Altima did, It comes down pretty accurately.

-Turning radius is not as good as the 4th gen cars by a long shot, but it does seem better than the Altima's turning radius. Go figure. The ALtima's turning radius was really, really bad, the worst feature of the car.

-The wiper nozzles suck on the Max

-Lots more torque steer than the 4th gen or the Altima, maybe that is because or the 6MT? It wants to really yank the steering wheel in 1st and 2nd gear under even moderate throttle.

-A little more road noise than I expected, but could be the Dunlop tires in the front.

-The free short-throw-shifter mod is AWESOME, did it the 4th day I had the car. This forum rocks!
Speaking of the shifter, do most of you guys use the stock shift ****, or have you installed aftermarket *****? The stock one is actually pretty decent looking, IMO.

-Shifting is a bit notchy when cold and even sometimes when hot. I'm putting in Redline MT90 tomorrow, so maybe that will improve things.

-Not real happy with the light-colored carpet and floormats that came with my car with the Sterling Mist exterior. Anyone add dark gray or black mats? How does it look with that light interior?

-Trunk mat is cheesy for a luxury car, even 4-cylinder Camrys have nicer trunks.

-The low-beam Xenons lights are pretty cool, but a horrible match for the fogs when you have the fogs on. Xenon fogs would not make sense in terms of function, however.

-Lots of interior room, I'm 6'1" and have lots of leg and headroom.

-I miss the in-dash storage compartment the Altima had, as well as its "double" center console storage compartments. Not many places to stash stuff in the Max.

-To much cheap black plastic in the engine bay. Yuck...

-Fugly grill, I've never gotten used to it. Not sure if I will leave the tail lights stock or go all red. Styling on the 5.5gen is not its strong suite.

-Wimpy horn

-Nice that the rear seats fold down, but the Altima did a better job of it, they folded down all the way to both sides. My 4th gen Maximas do not have fold-down seats, just a pass-through for skis.

-The stock dash gauges are nice, I like them. The factory Nav is good for its day, I hope it lasts since the A/C controls are built into it. Bose stereo seems OK, no issues with that so far. The heated steering wheel gets HOT quickly! The leather seats are comfy, lots of back seat room. Overall, I like the cabin.

-Stock wheels are OK, can't believe they put such ugly calipers under them though.

-Is the clutch adjustable on these cars? I have to push the pedal pretty far down to totally disengage the clutch, wondered if that is normal. Almost have to push it to the floor to start the car.

Overall, am happy with the car. Mileage and comfort are most important since I drive a lot. If it keeps getting close to 30 freeway and doesn't require a lot of maintenance, I'll be good with that!

 

good review of your personal experience.

I loved my max when i had it, hoping to get back into one again soon.

I always got 25-26 mpg city/highway driving. I drove my car with a light foot most of the time.

 

Congrats on the Max...if you fit nicely in the Max and you're 6"1 imagine how I feel...I'm 5'5"...I feel tiny

 

I'm 6'4" and fit nicely.

 

That's a pretty good analysis on your new(ish) car.

Some of those things can be modified to your liking, some can't.

Good to have you on the Org.

 

Nice review, The Max isn't perfect but it delivers quite a nice over all package.

Look into some Energy Suspension Shifter bushings, they really help the shift "feel" of the car and get rid of the play and slop in the stock assembly. Also, they are like 22 bucks, so pretty hard to go wrong with them.

A few months back I replaced my shift **** with a new OEM one. I like the design and it freshens things up in the cabin.

 

I have a new one showing up any day now from Dave B. I'll post side-by-side pictures in Roy's interior thread.

 

How much was your ****? Mine has seen better days.

 

I bundled the order with some black reservoir caps, so I don't have the exact dollar cost on hand... but I think it was $58.

This was never on my radar until a few months ago, when I got my hands on the new shift **** in MaximusTi's car.

Pictures soon.

 

Nice review man!

To answer one of your questions, I have the dark gray floor mats in my Titanium Edition Max (the original light gray were just too dirty), and I think it looks good IMO.

 

As promised, shift **** photo, old and new, side-by-side.

 

Cool, nothing like new parts
I like the design of the Max's shift ****.. Fairly classy..

 

Two upgrades today to the 'new' Maxima

1) Changed out the OEM gearbox lube for Redline MT90. Doesn't make the notchiness in the shifter disappear altogether, but improves it a lot. No metal found in the old lube, so things look good. Easy to drain the old fluid, PITA to pump the new stuff in.
Something like 160 pumps per quart. I used a gear lube pump that I use to change my boats lower unit lube.

2) Added the Progress rear stabilizer bar from Cattman. All I can say is wow, $129 well spent. Took me about 2+ hours to get it installed, I thought I could do it on ramps but I really had to take off both rear tires to get to the e-brake bracket bolt.

Huge difference in how the Max handles in curves at any kind of speed, it is like a different car. I have the stock suspension, wheels and tires, and it really improved handling. I'm surprised Nissan didn't include a RSB as stock equipment. Seems like cheap suspension improvement.

 

The NWP torque link will also help improve your shift feel as well as the torque steer.

 

As far as weight is concerned the 2003 Altima 3.5 SE 6-spd and 2003 Maxima 6-spd are within a few lbs of each other in Sport Compact Car.....It's no way the 4-A/T is lighter than a 6spd Maxima.....

 

The Maxima is about 10% heavier than the Altima
And larger in every dimension.

 

I also came from a 3rd gen Altima SE. The Altima definitely feels faster and more nimble than the Maxima.
I do like my Max, but it feels like a bigger car when driving compared to the Altima.

 

good review! im also loving the free sts, and plan on doing strut braces, stabilizer bars, and MT fluid.

and for some reason, i keep pronouncing your username as "troo-pull-wiz"

 

They are actually about the same weight as stated before. ~3250lb+ You may have your numbers confused with 6th gens which are around 3500lb+

Also I think something may be wrong with your particular car if you think your auto altima was quicker. There is up to a second difference from what I've seen with 1/4 mile times.

 

I believe the fastest FWD VQ goes to 5MT Altima SE's. Followed closely by SE-R and 6MT 5.5's.

4AT's weren't particularly that quick but the low end tq can be deceiving.

 

How can we improve it?

Different rack or tie rod ends? My friend gave me an idea of maybe using aftermarket S14 tie rod ends might work.

 

No, the tie rod ends won't do a thing. The problem is the geometry of the spindles. The steering arm on the spindles needs to be shorter and the steering lock bumpstops need to be trimmed back. The controlling factor which may have led the factory to make the turning radius so big might have been the CV joints. Just speculation on my part.

 

 

same here. 6" 4' with plenty of room.

 

Nah there all about the same. Hell there have been stock 5.5gens here running at or near 14flat...

 

They are all close, but I do believe fastest FWD VQ35 stock for stock is an early Altima with 5MT.

My 2002 3.5SE, MT hauled ***.. If you actually raced my 02 6MT with it, it would probably be close, but I'd put my money on the Alty.

 

I guess the weight difference I was looking at was for the 4-cyl Altima which weighs in at 2900 and somne change.

Mine still felt much faster and definitelty more nimble that my Maxima.

 

NICE!!

 

nice *** writing troop.
i agree with the trunk, and stash spots, and weak as horn, and useless fogs