A/C a good race platform?

[chow]

I was looking at videos online at youtube and was watching the Altima sedans race various cars..The one thing that hit me was the races where an SER was against an acura RSX type S. The honda junkies were talkin **** about how the rsx type s would smoke an altima SER stock for stock b/c of its 500lb difference.Also b/c the SER doesnt have a LSD? is that true?

The coupe weighs like a 100lbs less? is the suspension more tuned for racing? The engine bay doesnt seem like it can accomadate many mods..

Hrm.. Is the A/C a stylish grocery getter?

BTW i love the car, and i know this sexy grocery getter will smoke a number of cars but, whats its potential being FWD and all?

[generic808]

The Altima is far from a race car if that's what you want to know. Just wondering, are you planning on going all out with your car? If so, I honestly think it'd be a waste of time and money. You should've just gotten an STi or EVO or something which comes pretty ready from the factory, and that was made specifically for that type of application. The Altima is a "family" sedan/coupe, which happens to have a great motor in the VQ and a "sport" suspension, if that's what they want to call it.

[nismofool]

The Altima is far from a race car if that's what you want to know. Just wondering, are you planning on going all out with your car? If so, I honestly think it'd be a waste of time and money. You should've just gotten an STi or EVO or something which comes pretty ready from the factory, and that was made specifically for that type of application. The Altima is a "family" sedan/coupe, which happens to have a great motor in the VQ and a "sport" suspension, if that's what they want to call it.

i'm with eric. in all honesty the altima coupe/sedan are both great cars and great lookin at that! with a dependable nice engine, the VQ. however the car is not meant to be a race car. and FWD with anymore power is um....pointless??

[mcheddadi]

I'm not with eric, go all out with your altima! it's got a great platform (D platform) and an AWESOME engine. Strip out all the interior and lower the car to the max. then you add super WIDE front tires and have the rear a lot higher than the front of the car. Add a huge wing to the back for high speed down force and you are ready to carve some pavement!

don't forget the turbo!

FWD FTW:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f53hxmksuaM

[SHIFT_2.5S]

I'm completely with Eric. I've also learned to ignore mcheddadi's silly comments.

[LegendRacer]

wait a second... u guys are saying the altima cant be made into a race car? depends wat level you want it

u see a tiny civic (frontwheel drive with a 100hp engine) getting tuned into a "race" track car...

and for ur the rsx type s... its also a front wheel drive...with a 4 banger for christ sakes....

the altima has potential over these 2 cars

unless your comparing to a evo or sti or super cars, this car still has potential over alot of front wheel drives

[nismofool]

no doubt it has potential, but the car itself from when bought isnt at racing standards? i dont know how to quite explain it. but from the beginning its just a fwd coupe. of course with extra after market additions onto the car you can put it up to racing standards.

[SHIFT_2.5S]

True, but it requires too much work and rebuilding. IMO, it's much easier to just start with a true racing base (i.e. EVO, STi) and work from there.

[mcheddadi]

too much work? there is no such thing as too much work when bringing a car to race specs. this one has everything already. its light, its got a 500hp+ capable motor and its got one of the most symmetrical platform every made. What more do you want for a FWD race car?

[LegendRacer]

too much work? there is no such thing as too much work when bringing a car to race specs. this one has everything already. its light, its got a 500hp+ capable motor and its got one of the most symmetrical platform every made. What more do you want for a FWD race car?

I donno man... cause u kno... a rsx type s or a civic Si can pull about 800hp...

lol people really need to start thinking with there heads out of there ***'s... those who tuned civics dont get mocked cause its frontwheel drive

but a altima with bigger engine gets mocked?

its simple as 270HP FWD V6 > 120HP FWD 4banger... i think my lil brother (7year old) will know which is "better" with greater "potential...

[mcheddadi]

Happy to know I'm not the only one who thinks the VQ has MASSIVE potential!

[nismofool]

i dont think anyone here mocks the VQ or underestimates the power or potential of it. i just think right out of the dealership or factory or w/e , the altima coupe isnt a racing car. any car can be made into racing terms. this of course includes the altima

and if you look back at the CHOW's original question it also includes somethin about stock to stock of a rsx type s and a stock altima se-r. although i cannot say what the outcome of the race is, the altima coupe as a stock car is great, but definitely not a race car. and if the altima did have limited slip differential that'd be awesome. lol (just my wishful thinking)

[mcheddadi]

Do you have VDC on your car? It's a mighty good substitute for the LSD I think.

in stock form the rsx has about 13.6lbs/hp power to weight ratio and the altima coupe has 11.2lbs/HP so its clearly gonna rip through that acura.
Modified by mcheddadi at 5:56 PM 12/15/2007

[Hussain]

Happy to know I'm not the only one who thinks the VQ has MASSIVE potential!

lol i went through this before and just stopped trying. we had a thread a while back about races and people talked sooooo much **** about the A/C. one guy was saying that a A/C had to struggle to keep up with a regular RSX.... i just let those people talk.... when it comes to racing (street or track) and going fast with the A/C, you hear more positive comments in Honda forums. i mean don't get me wrong, this is a cool forum and people are very helpful but as soon as performance comes up people talk about the A/C like it's a 20 second car. with the VQ motor and the D platform you can't go wrong. our cars are still new, LSD's will come later, along with many other performance parts.

[jdshift]

Altima 3.5 will own a RSX hands down, just my .02 cents. An Altima would make a great race platform with the money invested dude.

[SHIFT_CR]

The Altima is not a race car because in my opinion, there are not enough aftermarket parts for Nissans, compared to Hondas. Plus, I think Honda been more in the car scene then Nissans so the production of aftermarket parts just became more available for Hondas. Also the selling of Nissans compared to honda in the 90s, Honda had great looking cars and Nissan had some ugly looking cars. all nissan had was like the 240sx and 300zx as there proformance line in the 90s? and the skyline in japan

[generic808]

wait a second... u guys are saying the altima cant be made into a race car? depends wat level you want it

No one is saying that. Anything can be made into a "race car", even a soap box. But, what I'm saying is that the Altima is a family first sedan/coupe, not a race car. It doesn't come remotely close to being a "race" car.

With enough money, any vehicle can be "fast". But what I was saying is that if you really wanted a "race" car, you'd be better off starting out with a race-inspired car like the STi or EVO. It's an awesome platform to start out on because it was developed for that purpose. The Altima, on the other hand, is a family car. Simple as that!



I find this thread quite amusing. The ones who keep saying the Altima is race potential are the very ones who haven't done anything to their cars. Hurry up and do something with your cars, guys! Forget a turbo, bore out the motor or do something. Fab a G35 header to fit your VQ's and run a straight pipe. Bore out the throttle body, run Nitrous, F/A management systems, etc. It'll give us something to think about doing. But, you should first start with your basics: intake and exhaust.

Someone should take the lead so to set an example for the rest of us

[mcheddadi]

I just ordered an intake and changed the tires, and the manual transmission fluid. I'm not about to bore the motor yet, that's too much I think! I'm gonna turbo charge it first. and If VDC isn't enough to keep it from wheel spining, I'll try to get some LSD for the car. then I'll get that sweet sounding medallion touring full catback exhaust, a new light weight clutch and at the end I'll just strip the interior seats and put some racing seats with nothing in the back. but that's the max I want to do. it's gonna be awesome! I have big dreams for my car. but one thing a a time. now I'm just gonna install my intake and enjoy the music while the winter is in full force

SHIFT_CR and SHIFT_2.5S, keep discouraging us from seeing the 3.5SE's max potential (jealousy! you 2.5ers!), but I've known the VQ for soo long, I've seen it go as high as 718hp on youtube. the nissan GT-R is one of the best handling cars in the world and its got only about ~480hp. with proper tunning a car can become awesome. and if it's got a stable platform to begin with, it will have even more potential at handling corners and going fast. All the haters will see one day!
Modified by mcheddadi at 6:58 AM 12/16/2007

[generic808]

I just ordered an intake and changed the tires, and the manual transmission fluid. I'm not about to bore the motor yet, that's too much I think! I'm gonna turbo charge it first. and If VDC isn't enough to keep it from wheel spining, I'll try to get some LSD for the car. then I'll get that sweet sounding medallion touring full catback exhaust, a new light weight clutch and at the end I'll just strip the interior seats and put some racing seats with nothing in the back. but that's the max I want to do. it's gonna be awesome! I have big dreams for my car. but one thing a a time. now I'm just gonna install my intake and enjoy the music while the winter is in full force

Uhh...If you're going to turbo soon, why are you going with the Tanabe exhaust? It would serve no purpose because you'll be pushing massive amounts of air, thus needing a turbo exhaust with large diameter piping to release all that back-pressure. The Tanabe would be a big waste of money.

[mcheddadi]

I didn't check the diameters of the exhaust when I said that lol. then i'll get a big 3" turboback exhaust . haha

[SHIFT_2.5S]

mcheddadi, I am far from being a hater. I am a realist and don't see the point of 718bhp in a FWD coupe, even if it can happen. I believe that there are everyday road cars and then there are race cars. Sometimes, those spheres can overlap but it's not as fine of a line as you think.

In the end, you should prove to public with your actions, not your words.

[zenki07]

oh boy...should I even jump into this thread? lol.

Honestly, to some extent, everyone in this discussion is right, although "race car" is such a vague term.

No vehicle that is sold at a dealership is deemed as a "race car", but CAN be built to be driven and used in race/motorsport type events.

There's more that can be said, but it will take forever, so I'll just leave it at that

[generic808]

Zenki, I totally agree with you. Any car can be "built" to be used in race/motorsport events. But, money does come into play. I hardly think it would be worthwhile to invest $10K-$20K to make an Altima fast. Whoever does that should've just bought a fast car in the first place. An STi would've been a good start because quite frankly, it is a beast of a machine. Probably one of the best bang-for-the-buck cars out there. A new STi could've been had for around $32K and a fully loaded Altima goes for almost as much. If I wanted speed, I would've spent the extra $2K for the STi and would've been that much more ahead. It has such great aftermarket support that the potential is almost endless. Imagine what an STi with $10K worth of mods would do?

After spending $10K+ in aftermarket parts and their Altima still can't hang with an STi will they realize they should've just spent their $40K+ and bought themselves a brand-new Boxster or something in a different class Maybe a nice pre-owned M3

[mcheddadi]

But the new sti is ugly as sin while the altima coupe is one of the most beautiful non exotic car out there! making an ugly car fast is nice, but making a beauty fast, thats awesome.

[generic808]

^ Porsche Boxster? Now that's a beautiful car which can be had brand-new for $45K. The Boxster S is even nicer, but is also $10K more.

[mcheddadi]

Porsche....RIGHT!! How could I have forgotten them!??? maybe because its 10K more than an altima LOL and that I do consider them supercar like

Also that for that 10k$ more you get 0.1sec faster than the Altima coupe in 0-60 time lol!

2007 Porsche BoxsterPrice: $45,600 HP: 245 0-60: 5.7sec 2.7 liter engine (H6)

[Hussain]

i love the 06-07 STi and i know they can be really fast but (don't want to sound stupid here) can't a V6 VQ35 take more then a 2.0 4 banger? the new STi is one of the ugliest cars ive seen in a long time, a pinto looks better.... the Evo X, theres a lot of talk that it sucks and the Evo 9 is better. my car is a 3.5SE A/C with CVT (they didn't have any manuals at the time) and it was $25,000 before tax and license fees. the 2007 STi is $33,000 before tax and license fees. that's $8,000 difference. the Artisan Turbo kit is $4,500. say you need a LSD and a couple other things. it will come out to AROUND $8,000 (maybe more, maybe less, depending on which route you take). that Turbo kit is pushing 448whp which is around 550 hp (no one corrected me when asked if my conversion was correct so im assuming it's correct). so i mean, a beautiful A/C with 550 hp or a ugly *** STi (im talkin about the new one, which will probably cost even more) with a little over 300 hp. i mean i'm sure you can go and spend more money into either car and make them even faster for a race car but if you do then it will be a track only car and in that case just buy a C5 corvette for around $25,000 and twin turbo it lol

[jdshift]

You sir mcheddadi take great pride in your altima..........I really like that. A Altima can be a FR beast in it's own right, family sedan/coupe regardless could be just plain sick on the track..............if somebody wants to throw money into a FR ride for racing, let them..........it's their choice if we agree or not. I believe a Altima would be a nice track car when tuned properly.

[rjdmmfl1]

Found these stats while rummaging the net...

1/4 mile times for various stock cars...

2003 Infiniti G35 coupe ........14.6.......100.1,ph2008 Altima coupe.................14.8.......96.9mph2007 Lexus Sc 430................14.8.......96.3 mph2003 Infiniti G35 Sedan........14.9.......96mph1995 Ford mustang Cobra.....15.12.....96 mph2002 Acura RSX (typeR).........14.92.....96.5mph2001 Audi TT Roadster ..........15.00....90.8 mph

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm impressed with the A/C... just my .02
Modified by rjdmmfl1 at 5:38 PM 12/16/2007

[zenki07]

Touche, generic; it's all about the cheddar. Money will always come into play when dealing with making a car "faster" or turning them into race cars. But what one person spends on their car to make it fast may not make sense to some, but will be totally worth it to the one that does. It's hard to say what should be done or what car should have been bought for the money being spent.

This discussion will be ongoing with no end because there's too many factors. Everything that everyone has said so far can be turned against them because of different opinions. For those that don't see the Altima as a "race car", they're 100% right. For those that see the potential and willing to do what it takes to make it a "race car" they're 100% right too.

To what one does and to what extent they do to their vehicles is all up to them. But, everyone here bought the Altima for one main reason; cause they loved the car.