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Sit Down and hold on to something
immovable. After the 1996 model year, the sportiest car Don't blame Nissan for its change
of heart. Rather, you car buyers out there should look in the
mirror. The 300ZX has been on a downward sales slide since the
most recent model's introduction in 1989. The Sentra SE-R never
topped eight percent of total Sentra sales in the four years it
was offered. Rumor has it, though, that even
Nissan is concerned that its product line may be straying too far
from the racetrack. Which helps to explain why the company is
maintaining a close relationship with Steve Millen Design, also
known as Stillen, an aftermarket parts and performance-car
operation owned by Steve Millen. Millen won two IMSA GTO/GTS
driver's championships behind the wheel of a factory-prepared
300ZX. That racing experience inspired the #00ZX-based SMZ, which
the company began selling in 1994, and which we reviewed last
June. Although the company sells performance and visual tricks
for domestic trucks and other imports, the Stillen catalog is
dominated by Nissan and Infiniti hop-up parts. Currently,
Millen's 100 Man operation in Costa Mesa, California, is working
on heating up the 200SX, in an almost-factory effort to establish
that Sentra SE-R replacement as Nissan's performance flagship. A
very ambitious goal. We'll leave that endeavor for a
future issue. Steve Millen Design's latest effort is the SMX, a
version of the Maxima. Like the SMZ, the package includes
appearance, handling, and power modifications. The package price
of $7995 (on top of the Maxima SE's base price of $23,099) is
steep, but there's more to it than meets the eye- meaning more
than the SMX's grille inserts, its front and rear bumpers, rocker
panels, and decals, and its beautiful Momo *.0-by-17-inch allow
wheels. Stiffer progressive rate springs lower the Maxima's ride
height 1.25 inches. Inside those Momos are stock brake rotors
that have been cross drilled for improved cooling and reduced
fade. The SMX's cabin is spruced up with
custom floor mats, a numbered dash plaque, and a carbon-fiber
shift knob (for manuals only). Some SMX parts will be sold
separately , but the SMX badges are integral to the package. Our
test car had a few more Stillen options, including larger
cross-drilled rotors ($65), a painted rear win ($530), window
tinting ($150), and a short-throw shifter ($360). The shifter's new found precision
is a foretaste of the rest of the SMX. The stock Maxima's tipsy
body roll at the limit is excised by the SMX's handling package,
which imparts flatter cornering and more responsive steering to
this Maxima. Some credit foes to the big Yokohama P235/45R-17 AVS
tires, which also play a part in the SMX's 0.84-g cornering
ability, a laudable 0.09-g step above our long term Maxima SE's
when it was new. The second obvious change can be
heard as well as felt. Above 4000 rpm, the uncorked V-6 spits our
a healthy, honking growl-a Steve Millen Design's test car
came without the anti-lock brakes that have been fitted to all
Maximas we've tested, so making a direct comparison of braking
numbers isn't possible. Without ABS, detecting wheel lockup was
difficult, and our best 70-to-0-mph stop used 196 feet. That's
not terribly impressive for a performance sedan. (The long-term
Maxima accomplished this in 187 feet on two tire sizes smaller.)
Suprised at this weak performance, we looked between the Momo
spokes and noticed severely worn front pads. Apparently, our car
was fitted with stick pads by mistake, instead of the high-metal
pads sells for $104 a set. Millen says that those pads fit
without clearance problems and actually brake much better. Even with the distressed pads,
Stillen's cross drilled rotors kept fade to a minimum. The ol'
panic pedal never went limp during a half-dozen laps at Willow
Springs International Raceway's Streets of Willow, a track known
to be hard on brakes. The SMX took to the streets unlike any
street Maxima. The big tires would scrape a fender once in a
while, otherwise, the SMX's hunkered-down roll control, ample
grip, and terrific balance (accompanied by that NSX soundtrack)
made us feel like lapping all afternoon. The SMX feels a little raw
compared with those cars. Performance-wise, though, it can hold
it's own. That's good news for the Nissan fans, and better news
for Steve Millen. After all, in the foreseeable future, if a
hot-rod Nissan is what you're after, Stillen may be where you'll
have to go. Vehicle type type: front-engine, front
wheel drive, 5 passenger, 4-door sedan |
available stateside from Nissan- the company that
gave the U.S. the original Datsun 240Z, the 300ZX sports car (a
seven year C/D Ten Best Winner), and the late Sentra SE-R(a
four-year Ten Best Winner)- will be the 240SX. The 240Sx's
normally aspirated engine makes a tame 155 horsepower. Its
steering is somewhat slow, and its ride pleasant. When we last
looked at a 240SX, we proclaimed it "the sports coupe to buy
for your niece."
fine imitation, we notice, of Acura's
whooping NSX V-6. The noise- all 87 decibels of it at full
throttle-make the SMX certainly feel faster than stock. And it
is. The Steve Millen Design sedan will grab 60 mph in 6.4
seconds. That's .3 second ahead of our long-term Maxima when new,
and it's right up there with the previous generation Taurus SHO,
a front-drive hot-rod sedan benchmark. The quarter-mile at 15.1
seconds is only 0.2-second improvements, though, and the speed
advantages subsides from there. This suggests that the SMX owes
much of its 0-to-60 improvements to the launch of those sticky
Yokos. Top speed is 2 mph higher than the Maxima SE's, at 139
mph.