I'm just wondering since I don't have a 5th gen maxima.

 

4th generation for sure. Not by much though the engine bay is just less cluttered. Especially near the firewall there's a lot more room to work with.

 

the 4th gens stupid fender to bumper bracket is a terrible engineering design. though.

 

also maximas shouldve been the first cars with power mirrors to not have to remove the door panel to remove the mirror.

 

It's not too bad on the east coast where the bolts just rust away took apart the front end on a 4th gen about 2 weeks ago, every bolt snapped or broke through the fender. It made the removal a snap (literally).

 

4th gen

 

From easiest to the most pain in the as$ 4th gen > 5.5 gen > 5th gen

 

4th by far. Even the spark plugs are a PITA on the 5th's

 

I don't own a 4th gen so I wouldn't be able to compare but my 5th is pretty easy to work on. I simply do my homework before attempting to fix something and everything goes smooth. I'd rather buy a tool to make the job easier than get frustrated cause I'm not prepared. That's just how I see it anyway. I do however think the 5.5 gens have more room in the bay than my 5th gen. But as I said before I can't compare a 4th cause I have never worked on one.

 

I agree...although I haven't worked on 5th gen. My 4th gen has been kicking my *** this entire time I've been working on it! I need 3 elbows and some E.T. fingers to get this finished!

 

Not so on the 00-01. You can get to all 6 coil packs and spark plugs without any "hassle" since you can access them between the intake runners for the back 3 cylinders.