CEG\'er
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 443 |
Originally posted by ZoomZoom Diva:
Compared to other cars of its day, the 1994 Maxima SE was a total package. It combined the room and amenities of a luxury sedan with the driving experience of a sports car. It truly liked up to the 4-Door Sports Car it advertised itself to be. Taut, responsive, and quick it's a joy to drive while providing the leather, moonroof, and power features to pamper.
1995 was a disaster, like every other design Nissan brought out in that generation, it was a pale shadow of its predecessor, cheap and boring. Ride and handling were both ruined by a cheapened suspension (particularly in the rear).
2000 rolled around, and this is the beginning of soft and ugly. Power increases, but luxury is emphasized over sport, even in SE trim lines. It's a soft near-luxury car that tries to pass off a sporting model. More power is added later, but the softness issues aren't even peeked at.
2004 rolls around, and it gets bigger, uglier, and softer. The SE wallows like a Buick. The interior cheapens again, though it's still trying to place itself as near-luxury.
I want to see the Maxima return to the "4-Door Sports Car"
The max is no longer targeted in the same market segment, the Altima now plays where the Maxima once did. Nissan's problem is that too many of their vehicle platforms don't line up well from a marketing/pricing perspective. The high end V6 Altimas, Max's, and the G35 sedan's all price out very similarly at this point, or within a few thousand of each other, which is right around 30k. Granted the G35 is a base model, but is still very well equipped just w/o the sport options and so forth. The SE-R Altima is now the "four door sports car" variant within the Nissan line-up, at least at the current time.
I think the Max should be designed and built off of the G35's underpinnings (RWD), basically a less expensive G35 sedan with less luxury emphasis (similar to the Camry versus Lexus ES330 but RWD instead). Currently the Altima and Max share the same frame and much of the same design, which makes them too similar in features and price points (at least with the V6 Altimas).
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