Auto vs. Stick on 4th Gen Maxima

Ok guys to answer that question once and for all.

Let's take any normal car that comes in both a stick and an automatic.

A BMW 328is (~1999) - This car comes in both auto and stick. It compares to the Maxima in performance. The stick shift 328is does 0-60 in 6.6-6.8 seconds. The automatic version does it in 7.1-7.3 seconds. So basically add 1/2 a second on. Automatics have gotten pretty good that it's just about 1/2 a second to the 0-60.

That BMW is the average example of an automatic vs. stick comparison.

Now Ferrari on the 355 F1 created a somewhat hydraulic triptronic padel shifting thing. The numbers are actually the same as the stick, actually a bit faster. Ferrari drivers are plagued with the slotted gate shifting machnism. It's hard to get the shifter into gear, and they cannot do it as fast as normal cars. Thus, this somewhat automatic transmission is better than the stick, but I'd still get the stick cause it's more fun.

The Ferrari is an example of when an automatic might be a better performer. One of a few that is like this.

The Acura NSX is another story. Acura gave the Automatic NSX another engine. Not only does it suffer from the 10-15% drivetrain power loss, it suffers from an engine that makes 20-30 less flywheel horsepower. 0-60 times on an NSX stick are 5.3 seconds, the auto's are doing it in 6.6-6.9 seconds. Pretty depressing for an exotic.

The NSX is the worst comparison between the two.

Where does the Maxima fall. It is perhaps the second worse comparison. Stick Maxima's in 95 were doing 0-60 in 6.6-6.7 seconds (Motortrend), the autos in 7.7-7.9. Ouch that's 1.2 seconds. The reasoning behind this. The Maxima's 5spd tranny is designed purely for performance. The gearing is perfect. Especially our 5th gear. Stock Maxima Sticks have no problem reaching 140+ MPH, and it does it quickly and confidently. The auto is designed for grandma and grandpa. The revs are kept low for a comfortable ride. Thus, 4th gear is a total overdrive where no real useable power is obtainable. Thus, the top speed falls off around 120MPH.

You need to realize that these might as well be two different cars. 530I Automatic vs. 540I Stick, that's almost the comparison here.

So people who are complaining that their automatic Maxima's are getting beat by other cars, and are getting pissed because everyone hails the Maxima as this incredibly quick car. Well they need to realize that the incredibly quick Maxima is the stick, and the nice luxury car that rides so nice, and is bang for the buck is the auto Max.

Any performance enthusiast needs to buy a 5Spd.

Amen

agreed :)

well....after looking at what u just said.....my hopes are all gone for my car.....0~60 in 7~8 sec...??...i alwayse thought it ws somewhere around 6.7~6.8
....this is bad....can i make my car faster.......well it`s wierd cuz i raced lots of cars like I30 and we r just about the same.....how could it be 7~8.....ahhhhhh
by the way my car is 99` max SE...yeh one last thing....
...2000,I30, does 0~60 in 7 secs rite?....well it`s automatic trans??

Your car is an I30 so that's why you're staying the same. Actually Max's are a bit lighter you should pull away.

The enw I30 has more power and the 5th gen auto trannies are a little sportier than 4th gens.

6-7 seconds is definately a 5spd Maxima.

i have an auto 98 MAX SE, the top speed is NOT 120, as posted above, I have driven it at 135.

Just thought I would let you all know.

There were no performance mods at the time.

I said it basically dies at 120, meaning it doesn't pull hard in 4th

Amen Brother! Stick or Die!!!!

:D

Lemme me hear you say AMEN!!
I couldn't have said it better!!

ehhh...
i got my auto up to 140mph..

5spd is faster than the auto..

i like my auto..it doesnt bother me that much that i dont have a 5th gear..if i had a 5th gear i'd prolly have a suspended license.

btw...its up to the driver...

ive beaten 5spd maximas...:)

hmm buss any stock 5spd max should be able to take any auto max. Even if the auto has intake, y, and exhaust.

if you woulda gone to palmdale and seen me race a 5spd max..you woulda saw me beat him by .3...

yes he was a 5spd..

we both had 17s on...

and HE had an intake...

i was still stock at the time...

way before that i raced a 5spd with intake and exhaust from a rolling start..at around 25mph...i beat him by 1 1/2 car length...

i had my g/f with me in my car...i dont mention this much around the max forums.cuz whos gonna believe me?

i hardly ever race other maximas...heck where i live i go up against mustangs, el caminos, monte carlos all day.

5spd guys always look down on the automatics...
thats cool with me..i look down on the 5spd guys that cant drive..

Damnit, I had my hopes up about a '90 Maxima that I'm gonna test drive tomorrow. The car had leather, moonroof, power everything, keyless entry, and a nice stereo for $2800, but it's a damn automatic!

humm..........after all i still think a 4 speed max is good enough.....yeh i agree.....i'll already get my licence
suspended with my 4 speed.....if it's a 5 speed....??...i'll prababily get arrested and sent to jail....^^ :D

okok....i went and took my car for run yesterday......i discovered that if ur above 20~30km/h
.......the most downshift the automatic will do for you is 2nd gear.......if u wanna drive fast
from that speed......shift into the 1st gear and full throtle.....the car lunches like a rocket...
.......when u reach about 6200RPM, shift into 2nd gear and press the O/D.....so it says O/D
off on the panel................let the 2nd gear reach about 6400RPM and shift in to (D).....
....since the over drive is off the gear will maintain in 3rd gear.....and the speed is still rising fast
.........trust me all the ppl who owns a auto max should try it......it's alsome...^^...!!:cool:

ohh yeh i forgot to tell u guys......turn off the traction control......!!...

kiss ur tranny good bye.......

hehe.......!:D

I've got an auto and I've beat 5 speeds with no problem. However, my last max was a 5 speed and I miss it everyday. I just put the Y-pipe on and my tires will now chirp 2nd:sun: The biggest factor is the driver

i agree it`s the factor of the driver....^^:o

We had a meet in Calabasas last week and maxiumbrian (Brian) and capmaxima99 (Chris with the BLK 99 SE) had a little race. Now from what I remember, Chris and you were dead even in the race and Chris has an auto... You did take him on the freeway, but we're talking 0-60 times...

yeah he suprised me, but the race you saw consisted of a rolling start where he was rolling almost 10mph faster than I. At the light on the way back we got a launch from a light. I pulled enough on him to be able to get in front of him to turn into the lane. So to 70ish I had about a car length. On the fwy it was horrendous. His auto surpised me though.

My bad Brian. I thought on the way back from the stop light that you were even. I never saw the race, just thought you said that.. Stick Maxes should beat an Auto max any day. But it's all in the driving ability of the Stick max driver. All we have to do is slam on the gas (Auto)... Thanks Brian for meeting with us at Calabasas.. later..

Yeah, I was still astonished on how well the auto max kept up. Especially since he had 18's on his ride. Damn kinda scares me. However, the sticks come alive on the freeway.

Hey Tom, you down to goto Carlsbad this weekend and run?

Brian,
I've been reading the posts from maxima.org and here about Carlsbad. I'm going to be in San Diego that weekend visiting some friends and I was thinking about going to Carlsbad. How far is it from downtown San Diego? Are you going? Are you meeting up with all of those guys at 11:00am? Let me know, I'll try to meet up.. BTW don't you need a helmet to race? Oh yeah, I like this forum much better than the org... Much faster... I hope more people start coming to it.. Let me know if you're going.. Later..

Helmet only if you're breaking into 13's. I'm gonna meetup with Hoon and the Dennis's in Irvine and head down with them I think. Wherever they go I go.

ohh yeh......i just tested my maxima........i could go behond 6600RPM,,,,,,,,,,!!!:cool:

damn...u going to carlsbad? that's like a 2 hr drive from here...plus traffic....but ne ways like u can see on my name i want a stick badly....but i guess i'm still happy with my car and the fact that it's an auto cuz whenever i go snowboarding it's hell driving back cuz ur all sORE...cuz i was driving young lee's civic back and my leg was shaking on the clutch trying to hold it down...haha...but i still want a stick....damn half a second slower....then y am i losing to allen's car soo badly?

Sup Peter, haha I dunno why you're losing to Allen's ride? Umm yeah auto is cool sometimes, but I like stick still.

people wit auto cars shouldn't be racing, there is no skill involved at all, all you do is fuckin slam down on the peddle and go, it's shit..... i hate auto :bandit:

gang$tarr,
You are correct about the skill part on us auto drivers. Your comment about auto drivers should not be racing is a crock of shieeiit.. It sounds like you've had your ass whooped by alot of us auto drivers... Quit your whinning and take your beating like a man.. "I hate autos," You should have said " I hate getting beat by autos... Sorry that your one of those not so skilled manual drivers.. You make it like manual driving takes some skills? It's a pretty bad feeling getting beat by an auto, isn't it gang$starr...

:rolleyes: i was just wondering...how long did it take u to get to 140miles?......cuz it took me pretty long to reach even 190km/h with 4th gear........and well it was faster to use 3rd gear......:D

has anyone gone faster then 140miles?...is 140 miles good for a 190hp max?:confused:

So you say your car can go past 6600RPM? what does it redline at...I hope you aren't going over redline.

Also, 190KPH in 3rd gear seems kinda steep, are you sure that's under redline???

uh 2KMAx, i'm juss sayin that i hate autos, not auto drivers. I'm sayin I'd never buy an auto cause it's so boring, and racing isn't fun at all in an auto, cause all you do is push the pedal.... take it easy buddy

oh, and i've never lost to an auto

My bad gang$tarr.. Didn't mean to go off. Truely I really want a manual.. It's no fun just slamming on the gas.. Didn't mean to cause any beef between us.. It's cool..

WAsnt that far away from you brian! hehe good run today at carlsbad.

Yeah I was having a bad day, not to mention something is real funny with the left lane. I don't know how it's possible to run a 15.2 at 80 MPH? Considering I was running a 15.3 at 91 earlier that day. Oh well, yeah the auto's were strong today.

You cheated by gutting your interior, I ran with box and all lol. My clutch is slipping bad in first gear after launching. My 14's will return one day and I'll prove it to you.

its okay, my car was slow anyways.. gotta include the body kit and bondo Z3 fenders. thats added weight. hehe, hmm, i wonder if a B pipe will increase my speed.

Originally posted by bobo_80
:rolleyes: i was just wondering...how long did it take u to get to 140miles?......cuz it took me pretty long to reach even 190km/h with 4th gear........and well it was faster to use 3rd gear......:D

when i hit 140 i didnt even notice till my friend told me.."fool ur going 140!" i glimpsed down and saw my needle chillen right there, and saw my odometer spin like a mofo. anyway after 120mph it started creeping up to 140.
i didnt clock how long..i was too busy with my eyes on the road.

anyway.....how did the autos @ carlsbad?? anyone wanna clue me in???????

Wayne your killin me!!! You just need to quit jumping the light. I don't think I did bad for an auto on stock tires with full interior. With some practice I think I can drop 1-2/10ths off my time. 15.4@88mph. Wait a month and then we'll see whats up!!! Damn I miss my 96 5-speed.:mad:

The 4th gen auto's did well ranging from 15.4 to 15.6

5th gen 5spds were running 15.4-16.1 (Hoon's first run wasn't slick).

I ran with system, full interior, half tank of gas, tires at 25PSI.

I managed to get a best of a 15.20 @ 80 MPH?????????

I also got a 15.41 @ 79.5 MPH

and

15.3 @ 91.5 MPH

I've heard that Carlsbad timing equipment isn't very accurate, but I was getting horrible reads. My 15.2 run honestly felt faster than ANY other run I've done including my 14.7-14.9 runs. Oh well, the Carlsbad Rednecks, I mean ppl who ran the track didn't like us imports much, but all in all it was fun meeting everyone. By the way I was trying new stuff with my clutch, my launches were more aggressive than ever on this track. I slipped from 2500 and it went real well (the 15.2 run), but when I was running 14's I just dumped from 1500 and had better runs?

No matter what I did on this track all of my 60's were exactly the same 2.41 seconds which is high for how effective I thought my launches were.

hey mtrai760 I love the chick in your signature...... damn!

i must go check out some porn now :D

Sung Hi Lee, and yes, she is a God:D

well thx guys............now i gotta answer heep's question.....well the RPM is about 5600~5700 @ 178.5km/h..@ 3rd.....when i saw my speed again it was @ 189...and the RPM is around 6100~6200...@ 3rd still.....
.......and i also found out something pretty interesting about the auto max......if u like to go fast...
...use 1st gear in accleration until 6500RPM, 2nd gear till 6400RPM........let the O/D be on.......
....if u wanna go fast from under 100km/h....but faster than 70km/h use second gear and shift in to
D....when it almost reaches redline.....keep the O/D on so it could shift into 4th gear in time to reach
200km/h.....:D .....and last....ohh yeh...i didn't actually try to rev pass the red line, all i did was shift into 2nd gear a little late so it went about 6800RPM...i dunno how fast it could go though...it's maybe at its limit.....i was wondering if i could change my auto to a stick....can i do that?
...how much would it cost?...thx

ohh yeh i just remembered....it's kind of weird though.....do u belive a 1.8L can reach 195km/h without any turbo, nitro, or supercharger?.....i was riding in my cousin's BMW 318i.....and i asked him if he tried his top speed....he said no...then i said if he wanted to try it.....sure he said...then we went on the highway......he floored it and it took pretty long......hehe i though it was prtty cool...and funny too...!!!:alien2:

OK, good. Just be careful...I care about Maximas :)

Theoretically, your pistons can move at huge speeds (like 20,000+ RPM). The reason for your redline is move the valves. If you overrev, they can float open (not close in time) and they may strike the piston. This would almost definately mean it's time to get a new engine. Plus, the amount of horsepower and torque you have past redline is probably less than the amount you have 4000 RPM below redline, so there is no real reason to exceed redline. That's OK if you accidentally downshift too high, just be careful. Your engine doesn't like it :D

Yes, a 1.8 can really get going, they can make them quite powerful now. Given enough room, almost any engine can get going that fast, depending on aerodynamics and gearing as well.

well...after hearing from u....i think i won't push my engine as hard.....i won't want it to screw up...:rolleyes:
.......and i was wondering if there are any turbos or SCs for my 99'auto max.....if there are...how much are they?.
.....and about the y pipe...how does it work?....thx:)

You can still work her hard...just don't go past redline :)

Stillen sells both a supercharger and a y-pipe for the 99 Maxima. Prices are $3599,00 for the supercharger (part #407250) and $395 for the Y-pipe (part #503385). You can call them at (714) 540-5566 for more info, or visit the website at www.stillen.com

thanx heep......:D

No problem, man ;)

does anyone know if i could put a turbo in my 99' max?
....is a blow off valve reasonable for a automatic tranny?
....thx a lot..!!:D

I dont think that you will hurt your maxima going over redline,
if you do, the engine just shuts itsself off until it shifts again.
Bo Bo I dont get what your saying about the od being off when trying
to race cause when you got the pedal to the floor, it isnt gonna go
into overdrive anyway. If you hold it to the floor long enough
it might go into od, but if you hit the od button to shut it off, then
its gonna redline and then?
:D

hahaha....
you think all maxima's are alike???
you're wrong man...
I own an Asian Market Maxima, Auto of course, cause I like it sporty and luxurious...
I have raced a Manual American Market MAX< non of the two cars is moded, both are still new, And guess what, I beated his ass, I didn't expect that, his car is Manual and mine is heavier than his.....
but, I beated him because when we started the race his car didnt go fast first, because the tires were circulating very fast making smoke while it's not going that fast, but mine didnt take long as his car did>>>>

IT'S NOT ALWAYS THE HORSEPOWER OR WHATEVER, It's about many other things!

http://www.geocities.com/dr_hacker101/maxima.html

so you raced a guy who can't drive? what's the big deal
i've seen civics beat Ferrari's
it's all about the driver

Originally posted by bobo_80
okok....i went and took my car for run yesterday......i discovered that if ur above 20~30km/h
.......the most downshift the automatic will do for you is 2nd gear.......if u wanna drive fast
from that speed......shift into the 1st gear and full throtle.....the car lunches like a rocket...
.......when u reach about 6200RPM, shift into 2nd gear and press the O/D.....so it says O/D
off on the panel................let the 2nd gear reach about 6400RPM and shift in to (D).....
....since the over drive is off the gear will maintain in 3rd gear.....and the speed is still rising fast
.........trust me all the ppl who owns a auto max should try it......it's alsome...^^...!!:cool:

u don't have to turn off the O/D switch...at that rate of acceleration, the computer won't hit the OD....

Originally posted by Heep
You can still work her hard...just don't go past redline :)

Stillen sells both a supercharger and a y-pipe for the 99 Maxima. Prices are $3599,00 for the supercharger (part #407250) and $395 for the Y-pipe (part #503385). You can call them at (714) 540-5566 for more info, or visit the website at www.stillen.com



they won't sell it to you if you have an auto...don't blame me for this...there have been too many blown auto tranny....

the auto tranny on Maxima isn't designed to take that much hp..sooner or later, they'll all blow..seen it myself too...

Originally posted by 2KMAx
My bad Brian. I thought on the way back from the stop light that you were even. I never saw the race, just thought you said that.. Stick Maxes should beat an Auto max any day. But it's all in the driving ability of the Stick max driver. All we have to do is slam on the gas (Auto)... Thanks Brian for meeting with us at Calabasas.. later..


i was racing this one black 4th gen...GXE...i think he was auto...had intake and exhaust(don't know if he had y-pipe)..we were on freeway and i heard his tranny kick-down, so i just mashed my pedal too(i stayed in 5th gear)...like Brian's saying...5th gear in Maxima is really good..the 4th gen gained on me just a little, but i started to pull away..all without even changing my gear..:D

you are right about the 5 speed and the auto max, the auto kinda
sucks in speed after 90 mhp , put a five speed down and it goes
off flying..

My auto still fly's after 90mph, and I don't lose to 5 spds either... :D

Originally posted by mtrai760
My auto still fly's after 90mph, and I don't lose to 5 spds either... :D


well..ur little different....:D