Well an uncle of mine is quitting EA because, well...he hates them. Horrible hours, poorly managed, etc etc... (He was responsible in large part for NCAA 2004 and the Fight Night games. Only sound in NCAA but the physics in the Fight Night's were all him. Ya know the "super punch" at E3? That was his work.

Moooving on, he's taken a job in Vancouver with a new developer (Propaganda, they'll be trying to redeem the Turok series soon) and living in the city he and his wife won't need 2 cars. being the chum he is he sold me his Max, which he bought new, for about 3k less than it bluebooked for.

It's an '02 SE 6spd with about 58k on it. Pretty much flawless...





Don't have any really good shots of it yet as this is my 3rd day of ownership, and the weather's been awful.

A few thoughts:--The car is pleasantly powerful througout the rev range, and even a little hard to drive when slippery.--The VQ is scarily quiet and smooth.--I HATE electronic throttle. Say I'm poking along at about 3/4 throttle at about 3.5k RPM and I let off the gas then clutch in. The rev's will rise about 500-1000 RPM before falling. That is terribly annoying.--The suspension is pretty nice/sporty for a luxo/family sedan but it could do with a little less body roll. Only real suspension plans are some H-tech's and mild strut upgrade. Illuminas? I've yet to look into swaybars but may be interested.--The driving experience is vastly different from my 240's. I feel like I'm in an SUV. Being high off the ground kinda makes me uncomfortable, especially at any decent speed. It's not quite as quick as my RB20 S13 but has more than enough power to pass mostly anyone and do it damn near silently. I like that.

So yeah, I'm basically just bored and sharing. Feel free to comment/suggest.

Great looking car, congratulations.

I'm very surprised that you didn't mention torque steer--especially being a RWD guy.

Personally, I'd do something about that 4x4 stance first, and then I'd get rid of those horrid altezza-style taillights Nissan felt like plaguing the otherwise beautiful A33 with.

Oh, and thank/congratulate your Uncle on behalf of the gaming community for leaving EA. For that, he gets a nod of respect.

Welcome to the NICO Maxima family

Not sure what you can do about the throttle response of a 6mt since I'm a autotragic

If you still have the RE92's on it, I would suggest a tire upgrade ASAP. Those are horrible in rain AND worse in the snow. To get a more sporty feel from the suspension, a RSB is a must and a FSTB will help out as well. Illumina's are great! I have mine set to 2 front and rear right now, but have run them at 4 and the car handles awesome! Of course, the ride suffers at the higher rate, so I adjusted it softer.

MOD, there is nothing wrong with the tail lights!

audtatious wrote:MOD, there is nothing wrong with the tail lights!

Yeah, you're right.

I loved the 00-01 SE blacked taillights so much--one of my favorite tail light designs ever--it made me mad that Nissan replaced them with clears.The clear ones aren't bad, though. The fifth gen IS my second favorite Maxima body style for a reason!

The torque steer is...interesting but not too awful because I'm not really one to pound it around town. I must admit though, the steering wheel feels very strange due to the torque but I'll adjust.

And yeah on height, I mentioned hoping to get some H-tech's and Illuminas but money's kinda tight at the moment. =\

Get a FSTB to get rid of 70% of the torque steer. They are cheap and they work

MinisterofDOOM wrote:
Yeah, you're right.

I loved the 00-01 SE blacked taillights so much--one of my favorite tail light designs ever--it made me mad that Nissan replaced them with clears.The clear ones aren't bad, though. The fifth gen IS my second favorite Maxima body style for a reason!

Before I bought the Maxi, I was looking at the 2k2 Alti SE. I'm glad I don't have one now because those tail lights aged horribly. IMO. Maxi is clear, but they don't look as much like Altezza's.

Very nice car. I know how you feel about the elec throttle.. My step-mom has a 6th gen and it gets very aggrivating. You have to be used to it to be able to drive one smooth. "has more than enough power to pass mostly anyone and do it damn near silently. I like that.".. Same here, my Maxima isnt near as loud as my 240 but the last guy that had it put a Y-Pipe from CustomMaxima.com on it and its quite a bit louder even with the rest of the exhaust stock. I like it, its just enough to give it that mean *** growl when you get on it. Anyway..VERY nice car and for the 6mt! That will be my next Max if I ever get another.. That will be in the quite distant future though. I will still get a 5 gen because I am not too fond of the 6gen styling..

MinisterofDOOM wrote:Yeah, you're right.

I loved the 00-01 SE blacked taillights so much--one of my favorite tail light designs ever--it made me mad that Nissan replaced them with clears.The clear ones aren't bad, though. The fifth gen IS my second favorite Maxima body style for a reason!

audtatious wrote:Get a FSTB to get rid of 70% of the torque steer. They are cheap and they work

My 4th gen has a FSTB and it was on there when I got it. I defiantely noticed the torque steer the first time I drove it. This weekend was the first time I have driven my 240 since I got the Maxima and I was so used to the torque steer I was trying to correct it in the 240..haha.. Anyway, are you saying that even with the massive torque steer my car has now it would be even worse if I took off the FSTB? Not that I would want to do that. I just wasnt aware that the Strut bar would help with that..

audtatious wrote:If you still have the RE92's on it, I would suggest a tire upgrade ASAP. Those are horrible in rain AND worse in the snow. To get a more sporty feel from the suspension, a RSB is a must and a FSTB will help out as well. Illumina's are great! I have mine set to 2 front and rear right now, but have run them at 4 and the car handles awesome! Of course, the ride suffers at the higher rate, so I adjusted it softer.

Yes, the fronts are still the RE92's (which I have very little experience with but so far am not a fan) and the rears are some RS-A's. I was planning on picking up some winter tires for atleast the front anyway seeing as the RE92's are looking kinda worn.

As for the strut bars, will they help even if I'm not tossing the car back and forth quickly? I know in my 240's, STB's were marginal upgrades for daily driving but helped alot in AutoX. Also, what springs are you running? I've been spending alot of time on Maxima.org in anticipation of getting the car so I've done some research and the S-tech's are too low for me, and the H&R's leave the rear too low or the front too high...however you wanna look at it. I was thinking H-tech's for the minor, but leveling drop and a softer, more daily driver-friendly ride that all da fly honiez won't mind.

Edit: Also, I gather you know your way around the 5th gen as far as audio goes. This max doesn't have the Bose system so while the stereo's OK, it lacks clarity at higher volume, which is what I'm really after now that I have a car that's I won't be concentrating on making really fast. I don't like tons of bass as I find it really rude of other people when I'm at stoplights, but I was thinking something along the lines of Infinity Kappa 6.5 components and a Basslink, or *maybe* a single 10" in a small box. I know very little good audio setups as my 240's just had speakers and a bazooka tube. Is this a decent setup for a casual audio enthusiast? What amp(s) would you suggest, with price of course being a factor. Oh, and the deck, I'm assuming I'll need a double din unit or one of those single din conversion trim pieces I saw on eBay?

As audtatious said, get rid of the Blo-tenza's. That is the most common complaint from 5th gen owners that I've heard. Get some Toyo's or Nitto's for when the weather gets better.

The FSTB will aid cornering tremendously. The rear will tighten up with new suspension and/or a RSB. I noticed a HUGE difference on my Max with the addition of both. If you choose to add a RSB before you do the struts/shocks just be aware that on sloppy shocks the rear end will tend to kick-out over bumps at highway speeds.

H-techs and Illuminas have proven to a great combination on my 4th gen. I would recommend them highly.

SeVa-S13 wrote:
Yes, the fronts are still the RE92's (which I have very little experience with but so far am not a fan) and the rears are some RS-A's. I was planning on picking up some winter tires for atleast the front anyway seeing as the RE92's are looking kinda worn.

As for the strut bars, will they help even if I'm not tossing the car back and forth quickly? I know in my 240's, STB's were marginal upgrades for daily driving but helped alot in AutoX. Also, what springs are you running? I've been spending alot of time on Maxima.org in anticipation of getting the car so I've done some research and the S-tech's are too low for me, and the H&R's leave the rear too low or the front too high...however you wanna look at it. I was thinking H-tech's for the minor, but leveling drop and a softer, more daily driver-friendly ride that all da fly honiez won't mind.

Edit: Also, I gather you know your way around the 5th gen as far as audio goes. This max doesn't have the Bose system so while the stereo's OK, it lacks clarity at higher volume, which is what I'm really after now that I have a car that's I won't be concentrating on making really fast. I don't like tons of bass as I find it really rude of other people when I'm at stoplights, but I was thinking something along the lines of Infinity Kappa 6.5 components and a Basslink, or *maybe* a single 10" in a small box. I know very little good audio setups as my 240's just had speakers and a bazooka tube. Is this a decent setup for a casual audio enthusiast? What amp(s) would you suggest, with price of course being a factor. Oh, and the deck, I'm assuming I'll need a double din unit or one of those single din conversion trim pieces I saw on eBay?

I love the infinity kappa series. I have 2 10's waiting to be installed but I need to get an amp first. Im also gonna pick up 2 pairs of infinity reference 6.5" speakers for the interior. I cant wait. When it comes to my stereo stuff ebay and crutchfield.com are my best friends. Cant beat free shipping on a head unit with free installation stuff and I think it includes the dash piece for the deck that you choose. At least thats what I had gotten with my Alpine head unit.

Good luck with the Max man and hit me up on AIM if ya ever want to talk about them.

Great buy there SeVa! I bought my 2k2 brand new(it was my wifes car), now it has 75k miles on it. I've loved every mile I've put on her!

Maverick7687 wrote:My 4th gen has a FSTB and it was on there when I got it. I defiantely noticed the torque steer the first time I drove it. This weekend was the first time I have driven my 240 since I got the Maxima and I was so used to the torque steer I was trying to correct it in the 240..haha.. Anyway, are you saying that even with the massive torque steer my car has now it would be even worse if I took off the FSTB? Not that I would want to do that. I just wasnt aware that the Strut bar would help with that..

I kind of did things out of order on my car. Eibach springs were first (I still had torque steer). RSB and FSTB were put on within days of each other. I noticed a huge decline in torque steer afterwards. I had <5k on the car when I did these three upgrades. No, torque steer is not totally gone, but it seems very minor at this point, without the crazy left-right pulling off the line. Then again, maybe I simply got used to it. Kinda doubtful. Something changed.

jdmfreak wrote:Im also gonna pick up 2 pairs of infinity reference 6.5" speakers for the interior.

I hated the Reference series. I actually have a 6.5" set in my garage right now. I paid around $120 for them new (at the store) and replaced them with JL Audio XR's for $100 more (ebay). Best $100 stereo upgrade I made.

So the JL Auidio speakers were around $200 a pair? Im on sort of a budget and Im probably gonna convert my 6x9 rears to 6.5" ones. I'll have the 2 10s in the trunk by that time and wont really need the 6x9s for bass.

audtatious wrote:Get a FSTB to get rid of 70% of the torque steer. They are cheap and they work

Are these a straight bolt on to I35s?

jdmfreak wrote:So the JL Auidio speakers were around $200 a pair? Im on sort of a budget and Im probably gonna convert my 6x9 rears to 6.5" ones. I'll have the 2 10s in the trunk by that time and wont really need the 6x9s for bass.

They are normally around $400 I believe, but I picked up a set off ebay for $192 + no shipping (local seller). I would not worry much about the rear 6x9's and would focus time and money on a great set of front speakers.

MattB wrote:
Are these a straight bolt on to I35s?

Absolutely. I did the FSTB in my garage. Just make sure you have a torque wrench for the bolts and the car is on level ground, else you could throw your alignment out.

I have a question. would you be interested in possibly selling those reference speakers? Not any time soon, but maybe like in feb. or something? How long were they in there before you took them out?

nice car i was looking at getting one of those! looks like you need some wheels on it!

jdmfreak wrote:I have a question. would you be interested in possibly selling those reference speakers? Not any time soon, but maybe like in feb. or something? How long were they in there before you took them out?

Just surf ebay. You can find them pretty cheap on there. I believe one of the tweeters may be messed up with my set and I don't want to sell someone something that may be bad

Welcome to the 5th gen club

But don't even bother doing any kinda spring/strut combo - these are a must.