I was heading south on the NJ Turnpike from Exit 10. With my wife as my passenger, I was cruising in the left lane at my normal cruising speed of about 80mph on this two lane stretch of road (truck lanes). As I pass Exit 9’s onramp, I come across this 3.2TL Type S in the right lane with a pretty hard, banged-in driver’s side door. When I rolled about a couple of car lengths past him, I look in my rear view mirror and see him jump over to the left lane (as there was a car in front of him) and turn on his HIDs & fog lamps (in mid-afternoon daylight) and briefly hit his flashers.

Seeing this and seeing that the road in front of me was somewhat clear, my face lit up but my wife didn’t notice. Watching the rear view mirror, I see that he rolled up on me but not so close as to be dangerous. (Just close enough to let me know that he’s game.) Once I cleared the semi in the right lane, I slap the stick to D3 and floor it accordingly.

As I’m accelerating, the TL is doing likewise. We were pacing each other for about 1-1.5 miles before we came upon some other traffic. Once we cleared this traffic, the road got SUPER clear and we started running hard again. He pretty much hung with me until I got to about 115mph. At 120mph, I saw him fading somewhat but still running hard. As I got to 130mph, he began to fade a bit quicker but it seemed like my speed maxed out. Then I realized that my Max was still in D3. So I slap in D4 and quickly accelerate to 135mph.

At these speeds we reached some more road traffic ahead that caused us to slow it down. (Coincidentally, this was the same time at which my wife stated ‘enough’.) So I slide over to the right lane and the guy (and his girl/wife) rolled up next to us and I gave him a thumbs up and he returned the thumbs up.

I know there are a few of us on this board that flame the TL-S at every chance possible but the TL is a NICE car and I have a lot of respect for it. As for TL drivers, all the ones I’ve come across are really cool guys willing to make a game of it.

Sidestory: Some moron in a 6G Civic EX (that I saw since Exit 10) was trying to keep up with us the whole time. This guy was skating all over the road trying to run with us. As I'm watching the TL in my mirror, that Civic faded to a dot in notime. WHAT was he thinking!!

 

go speed racer go...

 

You did that with your wife in the car?

Awesome!!!

Yup, after about 110 the TL-S has that huge gearing hole from 3rd to the overdrive 4th and it bogs, so that probably explains why you were able to pull on him after that, with you still in the Max's highway-beast 3rd gear

That's cool that your wife lets you have some fun, though. My fiance is the same way. I think I'd need at least a Y-pipe to beat a TL-S though

 

Steve, this is what I figured out: If there aren't many/any on-the-road speed references (i.e.: slower traffic) AND I keep my wife engaged in some sort of dialogue she's really interested in (i.e.: window dressings, kitchen remodeling, clothes shopping), it keeps her somewhat distracted and buys me enough time to make a good race out of it.

 

Good kill.

 

Evil evil evil!

I give my fiance full control of the stereo and she's always flipping stations and doesn't realize what's going on half the time. Or I just pop in any disc from my 6 CD dedication to her (when I proposed) and she sings along. hehehe

 

Good kill! I was challenged by a TL-S, but with my 30 HP deficit, I don't think I have a chance. They are nice cars though.

 

hey, does ur 02 max run that much quicker in 3rd, cuz i always race in 4th, because my car has like 2000 miles on it and i dont want to mess with it.

 

I slapped it in 3rd in order to acheive the best midrange acceleration possible. Racing in 3rd or 4th gear won't hurt your Max. Running hard in third gear only really hurts gas mileage, which is the furthest thing from my mind when I race.

"If Ford Motor Company is FoMoCo, is Honda Motor Company HomoCo?"
-That's cold Burton!! Logical and funny but, cold!!

Steve, just keep in mind that in due time, they'll catch on!! They'll learn the sounds of a hard running Maxima and give us hell for it. (My next car has to be the super quiet, super powerful MB S500!)

 

when i race, ill throw it in 3rd. whats the actual redlines on 2k2 autos? i havent really revved it past maybe like 5400.

 

I raced one from a start, when I was stock, it was an awesome race, I took him by about a car, but we hit 100MPH on the street ! They are awesome cars, but I'm still happy to be able to beat them. As far as the HUNDUH is concerned, thats happened to me before, Im in a good race, and some RICER BOY, starts trying to keep up.. Bye Bye Ricer Boy... !

 

It never fails Kloogy.

 

 

Edit: MB S500 and replace with: BMW M5

 

If you keep it in 4th and you slam on the gas it will at first unlock the converter and depending on how much you hit the gas will also downshift accordingly. In most cases, sliding it to 3rd has a more instantaneous effect.

 

I have had a friendly encounter with a TL-S on the highway before and they certainly seem as fast as the 2K2 at highway speeds.
It was difficult to tell a clear-cut winner especially since he probably had his AC on (90 degree weather and his windows up) and I had all windows and the sunroof open. We never got a chance to start next to each other but being behind or in front of him I could not lose him but he couldn't lose me either.
A quick wave when I exited the highway was returned and he had the same huge grin on his face that I did.

 

Ditto here. We both had the A/C on. (At least I pressume he did as his windows were closed and it was mid 80s outside.)

It seemed like I had a bit more pull than him, especially at higher speeds. I'd previously assumed that I would have more low end (given the Max's extra 14 or so lb-ft torque) and the TLS would have a little more high end (given its 5 extra horses.)

Anyhow, it was my second TLS kill.