Any Maxima/Altima 3.5 owners on AT?

[angry hampster]

I'll be buying a car upon reentry into the states next month assuming my Jeep sells on Autotrader. I'm looking for a sporty but classy car around $10k that gets reasonably good gas mileage. A friend of mine has an '02 Maxima SE and is very pleased with it. I've always thought they're nice looking cars so I may just get one when I get back. Mine will have the six-speed.


Anyone have experience with them? Specifically the '02-03 models with the VQ35?

 

[lurk3r]

The altimas got much nicer in 03 (model change), but it would be a stretch to consider one having good gas milage. The 3.5L is a beast, 275 ish hp, should be 19-25 highway. The 2.5 with a manual is actually quite fun, 170 ish hp, and the car usese ALOT of aluminum, its very light for its size. I havent seen a manual maxima, they are actually smaller than the 03-07 altima, but I'm pretty sure they only sold V6 autos.

 

[joutlaw]

02-03 Maximas came with the VQ35 and could come with a 6 speed manual or 4 speed auto

02-04 Altimas came with the VQ35 and 5 speed manual or 4 speed auto

05+ Altimas are much nicer and you could get a SE-R with the VQ35 and 6 speed manual or 5 speed auto. SE models could come with the VQ35 and a 5 speed manual or 5 speed auto.

That generation of Altimas are notorious for big time torque steer with the VQ35.

The 02-03 Maxima fits your budget. They came standard with reflector based HID headlights as well. I believe they were still made in Japan too.

 

[OdiN]

Well I have a 97 Maxima and love it! It's a VQ30, but lately I've been getting about 28-30 MPG highway. 150K+ miles and still going strong. So yeah I'd say an 02-03 Maxima would be a great car. I like it more than the Altima - feels a bit sportier to me.

And yeah Maxima has been V6 only for quite a while.

The VQ is a very, very good engine too.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I have a silver '03 Maxima SE (the last model year that was made in Japan-'04 and on are made in the US and the early ones had a number of issues). I am the original owner and my car has just over 70,000 miles on it now. I bought it when the redesigned '04 models were hitting the showrooms so I paid $22k for it with the moonroof option and got 1.9% financing on it for 5 years-it is paid for now though.

It is a comfortable car and it has been reliable but it suffers from some pretty bad torque steer. The rear suspension is pretty lackluster too and the car doesn't handle all that well over uneven pavement.

Still, it is better than a Camry or Accord of any of the crappy American midsize sedans of the same era and it's a pretty good performer too. It has quite a large back seat and a good size trunk and my wife and I find ourselves taking it over her 2006 Lexus IS250 when we go to Los Angeles to visit her family.

Things I would improve, more sound deadening inside the car, wind and road noise is a bit higher than I would like. The stock stereo sucks and the Bose unit is even worse.

I get about 19mpg city and 24 is about the best I've seen on the freeway. The trip computer is horribly inaccurate BTW. I took the car to Palm Springs recently and on mostly freeway driving the computer said I averaged 28mpg (I reset it after filling up) but when I filled up the actual mileage was 24mpg.

 

[kevman]

my i35 usually gets about 20MPG with a mix of city and highway.

 

[T2urtle]

VQ35's aren't exactly going to get high numbers in MPG and they need prem.

with that said i would still target a SE 3.5 altima as they come out a little bit cheaper then the maxima in a lot of cases.

+ 1 on looking for a SER model, but probaly jacked up on prices.