RR of the Day: 4DSC tuner sedan
The idea of a four-door sedan that shelters a sports car within its mechanical soul has always been appealing to us, and the Nissan Maxima was the original 4-Door Sports Car. Lately, however, the Maxima is a adrift within a lineup that doesn't need it thanks to the more than competent Altima and the real four-door sports sedan from Japan, the rear-wheel drive Infiniti G35. Nevertheless, people like Flickr member Ca3ey still believe in the Maxima, and this 2002 Maxima GLE has a healthy list of mods that's turned the original 4DSC into something a bit more menacing.
What we particularly like about this tuned Maxima is the lack of traditional tuner flair in favor of a monochromatic color palette and a host of handling upgrades. You see the, the VQ V6 underhood (a VIS Racing carbon fiber hood, in this case) has a decent amount of power for a front-wheel driver; any more ponies in the corral would only worsen torque steer. So dropping the ride height with TEIN S-tech lowering springs, firming up the ride with Tokico adjustable shocks and dropping in a rear sway bar struck us as the right areas of improvement. The Maxima's cosmetic upgrades are also to our liking, as they're aggressive enough to ward off the Soccer Dad who thinks his Camry has what it takes but subtle enough not to draw unwanted attention to itself.
Check out the full list of mods for Ca3ey's 2002 Maxima GLE after the jump along with more pics.
If you'd like to see your own ride featured here, simply upload photos of your ride into our Flickr group. We select one image to highlight each week day, and on the weekend let you vote for the RR of the Week. Detailed instructions can be found after the jump.
2002 Nissan Mazima GLE mod list
- MaxxTuning front lip
- Stillen sides/rear lip
- 19" Axis Hiros
- VIS Racing carbon fiber hood
- Ionic Dynamics carbon fiber trunk
- Left Coast Tuning carbon fiber eyelids
- Custom smoked headlights, with smoked signal and parking lights
- Smoked corner lights
- Tein S-Tech lowering springs/Tokico Illumina adjustable shocks
- Berk Technologies intake
- Cattman Y-pipe, cat-back, and titanium strut bar
- Progress rear sway bar
- Eclipse navi/dvd head unit
- ARC Audio component set/5 channel amplifier
- Rainbow speakers
- Alumapro bandpass box
How to submit to RR of the Day:
Create a Flickr account if you don't already have one. Search for and join the group called 'Autoblog RR of the Day'. Upload up to three photos of your ride to your own account at a size no larger than 450 pixels wide if possible and include as much information about it and yourself as possible. Even if your ride is sweet, it will not be chosen if there's not a lot of info accompanying it. Click on each photo and just above the picture it will say "Send to group". Click that and select the Autoblog group. You're done, that's it!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Rick 10:14AM (10/09/2006)
Boring. Next...
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glitched 10:16AM (10/09/2006)
nice! have the wheels been color matched or what?
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Kamil 10:16AM (10/09/2006)
Cars like this are dime-a-dozen.
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djSyndrome 10:20AM (10/09/2006)
You Autoblog guys are pretty funny. Could you go ahead and post the *real* RR of the day now?
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Michael Karesh 10:25AM (10/09/2006)
All the "4DSC" designation has ever accomplished is letting the world know that Nissan is full of idiots.
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Erik 10:30AM (10/09/2006)
HAAA 4DSC! LOL!! That always cracked me up when they put that sticker on the windows of the Maximas. If it truely was a "4 door sports car", they wouldn't need to announce it on the windows, it would be self-evident. And the panel gaps on the hood of this one are an excellent example of why non-metallic panels are rarely used on production vehicles.
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mattlach 10:41AM (10/09/2006)
It's interesting to call the Nissan Maxima the "original 4 door sports car", when I think that tradition started in 1962 with the BMW 1500...
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Seabass 10:42AM (10/09/2006)
Was it me, or was Autoblog comparing a Rice-a-roni Maxima to a sports car?
"Carbon fiber eyelids"? Wow, we've got a true racecar enthusiast. Yup, he sure can beat a BMW, Audi, Mercedes, and everything else now.
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Mondo 10:47AM (10/09/2006)
I kinda like it. Okay, I'm a little partial because I own a 2002 Maxima as well. But, it is subtle and stylish. Kinda cool.
I think people are missing the point of the RR of the Day. You're not going to get gullwing SL's everyday. Just real people and their cars.
I like it.
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Bowie 10:47AM (10/09/2006)
"What we particularly like about this tuned Maxima is the lack of traditional tuner flair..."
ARE YOU BLIND? Twelve of the sixteen items you listed were purely cosmetic. The Soccer Dad in his Camry wins in this situation. Why? He's not an idiot like the person that wrote this article.
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Phelix 10:48AM (10/09/2006)
Well, I like it. The whole tuner scene isn't really my thing, but I can respect people who are proud of their cars and want to make the most of them. The over-the-top styling on a lot of cars is hideous, but I like how this car tries to make it look stock-ish. I bet it's a blast to drive.
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Tim UF 10:51AM (10/09/2006)
i like any tuned car that wont draw the ire of the crazed VW engineer (time to unpimp ze ahtow). nice job. i always liked this iteration of the maxima most.
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CriticPoint.com 10:56AM (10/09/2006)
It doesn't matter.
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jose 11:05AM (10/09/2006)
1. the reason it was called the 4dsc is because performance was always comparable to BMWs and Audis but by 1/2 the price. (that happened models before 1994) and that name was given to it and later added to the windows by nissan , which not all maximas had it (not mine at least)
2. that maxima is nice as hell!
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dave 11:16AM (10/09/2006)
I've owned two Maximas, a 91 and 00, so I admit my own bias. That having been said, they are excellent cars capable of hauling a driver and four drunk adult friends in safety and comfort, with some serious speed to boot. My 00 was a 5-speed and would make the jump to 60 in 6.8, which isn't bad for a sedan that weighed nearly 3800lbs and had more rear legroom than most minivans. It came at the cost useful trunk space, but it was a great car to have. And it never, ever, ever broke down.
I also agree that the Maxima has been out-designed by both the Altima and G35, but in its day, it was the best performance sedan that was available to the masses - BMW, Audi, and Mercedes being far to expensive when compared to the $20,000ish MSRP for my 91, and the Taurus, Accord, and Camry struggling to be considered "Most Vanilla."
This one is not my taste, but it definintely doesn't deserve the beating it's taking on this forum.
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pharmer 11:20AM (10/09/2006)
Like putting a dress on a pig...very rice.
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Rob 11:25AM (10/09/2006)
It's a nice car, the critics should go outside and look at their cars before authoring their comments.
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Ryan 11:26AM (10/09/2006)
You guys are being a bunch of assholes. Somebody spent time on their ride and THIS is what they get on a AUTOMOBILE website. What a bunch of pricks.
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PJ 11:41AM (10/09/2006)
I always thought the "4DSC" tag was pretty blatant marketing cheese, but I like this car. When it was new, it was shockingly fast for its segment, so I've always thought it had a certain "sleeper" cachet. The tasteful visual mods on this Maxima fit well with that stealthy personality.
Today's 6-second Camrys and Avalons do make this car seem less special, though. Sorry to chime in with the peanut gallery.
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Timmay 11:41AM (10/09/2006)
Most of you who talk about Bmw, mercedes audi have never owned one because you can't aford a new one. Audi's are the most unreliable cars on the market with Benz close. Bmw is decent w/o Idrive.
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