2002 Nissan Altima 3.5SE

T

tritonheat1

Banned
:
06 MS6, 98 A4 1.8T Rebuilt
02 3.5SE sdn c&d dec 01 3.5/V-6/4a 0-60 7.3
1/4 15.6
Top speed 124mph
70-0 ft. 192
skidpad 0.81

02 3.5SE sdn c&d nov 01 3.5/V-6/5m 0-60 6.28
1/4 14.72
60-0 ft 125

look how much difference there is in 0-60 run with the 5 speed manual transmission and for top speed 240hp 124mph that aint nothing that i thought it would be. 90-00 Altima's could do easy 112-118mph i thought this year with the altima's 240hp engine could hit at least 130mph. but hey what can i say it's still spankin new and they will be testing it every month untill it's broken in more miles. that altima Kicks A** though i love the new sporty luxury look and it's mean a** 160mph speedometer.
 
i think we've had this discussion before about top speed. drag is a big factor in deciding top speed, and if you've seen the new altima...its not really aerodynamic. our car sits lower and even though its kinda boxy id bet its more aerodynamic than the altima, and we can barely hit 125 in our cars
 
No, I think the Altima is more aerodynamic than our car. The only thing I see that is holding the Nissan back more than ours is that it's a little bit bigger than ours. But the Altima's rear doesn't slope down as drastically as ours, so there will be less turbulent airflow there to cause a suction. The Altima kinda reminds me of the Audi A6, looks wise. Especially the way the rear is shaped. If you will notice the next time you are driving in the rain in our MP3, look in the rear view window and you'll see the rain going in circles on your back window. That is a lot of turbulent air back there. It even makes me think that the center portion of the spoiler has no effect at all. I've noticed this a lot.
 
The Altima is no joke....I would like to have one for a few weeks. But I'll leave the topspeed thing alone...I've already spoke my mind on this topic :)
 
I'm not a wiz at Physics, but if you want a better explanation you could also back order the 2001 August Issue of Sport Compact Car. It discusses Drag Coefficients , Air Density, and a couple of other things that are pretty interesting. It kinda helped me understand how much Drag effects top speed a lot better. It also has a calculation that can give you the expected top speed of a car, but unfortunately we'd need to know the cars Frontal area and Drag Coefficient, with those 2 pieces of information, you can plug in the Hp and viola, you'll get the estimated top speed. It's pretty cool. Notice I'm saying estimated topspeed, which is Drag limited.......I'll scan some of the pics and post them if you guys want me too..... Just thought I'd point out some helpful info for those who care to use it. :(

:D
 
Sup guys, I find the topic of top speed and drag very interesting...I believe the VW Passat (98-01?) has a drag cof of .29 which is very low compared to other production cars.

Take a look at salt flat racers..they lower the car, place a smooth air dam in front, tape off all openings, take off any elements that stick out (side view mirrors etc) and place a drag style wing (low and flat)...smooth is good….you want air to flow around (not under) your car smoothly…

I’m not an expert, just sort of gathered knowledge here and their…any peeps with salt flat experience???

For example…any one read the article on the 2 civics in SCC or was it TURBO?…good example of import landspeed racing.
:cool:
 
Yeah, I read that article as well and pointed it out to Trinton. But he still seems to think that HP and Topspeed aren't directly related to one another. From what I've gathered in reading quite a few articles and some chapters in body kiw design books is that reducing drag and turbulence behind a car is a good way to increase it's top speed and stability at those speeds. But again, I'm not an expert either. :)
 
ok, apexistud i understand what you mean when you say hp and topspeed have to do something together, but that's not the main subject of topspeed, bore x stroke, compression ratio, gear ratio,and (FINAL DRIVE RATIO) is the main thing for topspeed i've proved that hp has nothing to do with topspeed.
Example:

chevy cavalier: 150Hp 155lb.ft topspeed 109mph
chevy monte carlo: 210-240hp topspeed 121mph
Honda civic: 113-127hp topspeed 110-115mph
Dodge neon:132-150hp topspeed 109-118mph
Pontiac Sunfire: 150hp 155lb.ft topspeed 114mph.
Honestly hp gives you power to go through your gear's as quick as you can to get to the speed your trying to achieve hp has nothing to do with topspeed, it's all about the final drive ration,and gear ratio. Yes u can increase your topspeed if u draft up behind a car depends though. :D
 
Triton,

How many of those cars you've listed have a speed limiter via their ecu?

The top speed of the Altima looks like it's been limited by the ECU as well.

Top Speed is limited by both HP and Gear ratio. You can have a car geared for a top speed of 300MPH, but if you don't have enough HP to push the car, you'll never get there. The same goes the other way. You can have a car geared to the max speed of 100MPH, the car can have 300HP, but it will not exceed 100MPH.
 
opusX you made no sense at all to whatever you are trying to say. your trying to compare a funny car or lamborghini to a import domestic car. a funny car has well over 300++++++hp and does the 1/4mile in 6-8sec as your trying to say. I'm not talking about souped up car's buddy, i'm talking about stock topspeed and HP. some car's have governer's and some don't. If you have a car that has 220++Hp don't expect the car to do 135++150mph, just because it has that many horses. THE CAR IS GEARED TO THE CERTAIN SPEED THAT THE FINAL DRIVE RATIO IS SET AT AND WILL ONLY GO SO FAR. For instance why do you think we have a redline tach on cars, it's so that if you go past the redline the car will bogg down or you will blow your engine and there's a fuel cutoff on every car there is. topspeed drag limited is different from a car that has a governer a governer blocks the speed from going past that the engine can only handle unless you by a ecu chip and do some serious modification to your "ride". Don't try to argue with me when all my friends tell me that either there car has a governer or not Hp has nothing to do with topspeed.
speedometer says 0-120mph with a 100hp engine as soon as you get to 100mph i'm sure your car will take forever to get to 115-120mph with only 100hp and the way the car is geared. if you have a 0-140mph speedometer with a 200hp engine and it can go 140mph i'm sure it will get to 125mph easy then when it get'so a certain point where the car is gonna take forever it will take awhile to 140mph. I'm just using this for an example. :D
 
Ok, bro do whatever you need to do to help yourself get to sleep at night. :D If I remember correctly I already addressed the gearing issue in the 0-60 dicussion in the Just Test drove a Spec V post. So I see no need to have to dicuss it again. I'm not sure what mag you pulled this gear ratio comment out of, but I'm pretty sure you can't explain to me what would happen to the top speed of a car if you change the final drive from 4.111 to 4.411. And OpusX made perfect sense to me. And to answer his question....all the cars you listed (assuming the Civic is not an SI) have a top speed governor. :rolleyes:
 
All's I have to say is you are all three correct.

Top Speed can be limited by several things:
Power; as Apexi mentioned
Drag; kepO
Gearing; as mentioned by Triton
HP vs. FDG ratio; point made by Opus
Governor; as mentioned by all except Triton

For example:
My n/a FC3S is geared to do 150mph, no governor, but I don't have the torque to get me there, nor the horsepower to maintain the desired constant velocity. It's like Voltage and Current, hehe good analogy.

However, my Tahoe has plenty of torque and hp to get me to 150, but drag, weight, gearing, and the infamous governor cut me out at about 100. If you removed the governor I still wouldn't get there because of gearing, weight, drag, although the power is there.

Then in T2's we often do the 4.33s in place of the 4.11s for drag and tight courses. Though these cars produce over 300hp, their top speed is around 135 or so, can't exactly remember. But I do know that if you put the 3.90s in it the gearing would let you get up to 170. Your 0-60ft times would suck some serious ass though. Although, trap speed should be high once boost comes on yeeehaaaaahh!!!!!!

I know you all know this, Triton just jumped the gun a bit. Nobody offends nobody on this forum. We are all here for a common good and you gotta be complete in your statements or you'll be liable to get jumped on. hehe.
 
my budys got a 95 mustang gt, stock its probly got about 210 hp, considering wear and tear, he got k&n filter, borla exhaust and a few other things. oem gears were 2.93 and his top speed was 140. he put 3.73 gears in it and now it does 155 and it 0-60 is much quicker. top speed is about breaking the wind barrier(drag), having hp(to get through that wind barrier) and gearing so that the engine is in its peak performance curve. if our cars had a little extra hp we would get a little more speed, but if we lowered our gears we would get a little faster too. but also if we got more hp after lowering the gears it would still be limited by gearing. with stock gears, our cars arent going much faster than 130-135 just because of rpm limits. next time you top out, look at your rpms, their pretty high. in about two weeks im going back to florida, where they make straight smooth roads, and im gonna draft behing my buddys gt. i think ill be able to tach out and see how fast it will go. ill try to bring a digital camera and get a pic of the tach and speedo. we'll see
 
For some reason, that doesn't sound right to me.

If you keep all variables constant, drag, hp, tq, no governor, all the other s***, and only change the final drive gear: ring and pinion, when the ratio increases the top speed should decrease. You can only go as fast as your gears will let you, assuming that drag is not a factor and that there's plenty of power to get you there.

A lower gear ratio, 3.90:1 will have a higher top speed than the "exact" same vehicle with a 4.33:1 final drive gear ratio. This is pure physics and I have tons of books to confirm that math.

I used to think that you want a smaller gear so the ratio should be a smaller number, wrong, it's the opposite.

A mechanic buddy of mine explained it to me in our youth, because I had it all backwards and couldn't understand all the damn gear ratio's in Road and Track. Bugged the s*** out of me.

In lamen's terms:
It all has to do with the number of turns. A higher ratio means more turning to complete the 1 revolution on the right side of the ratio. A lower number on the left will indicate less turns, and therefore indicate a taller final drive gear. I hope this helps and is not theory, this is FACT.

See ya, Rishie

We should start a post on physics, that would be one helluva battle. May the best physicist win. LOL.
 
Originally posted by tritonheat1:
opusX you made no sense at all to whatever you are trying to say. your trying to compare a funny car or lamborghini to a import domestic car.
Click to expand...

Seems like it made sense to everyone else

a funny car has well over 300++++++hp and does the 1/4mile in 6-8sec as your trying to say. I'm not talking about souped up car's buddy, i'm talking about stock topspeed and HP.
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter what type or where the car is made from, whether it's a domestic or an import. If the car is geared to have a top speed of 140mph, that'll be fast as that car will go given that the car has enough horsepower to push it that fast.

some car's have governer's and some don't. If you have a car that has 220++Hp don't expect the car to do 135++150mph, just because it has that many horses.
Click to expand...

The 2000 Eclipse GT can get up to 140mph with a rated 205 horsepower at the crank.

THE CAR IS GEARED TO THE CERTAIN SPEED THAT THE FINAL DRIVE RATIO IS SET AT AND WILL ONLY GO SO FAR.
Click to expand...

I agree with that. That's what I've been trying to explaine to you.

Don't try to argue with me when all my friends tell me that either there car has a governer or not Hp has nothing to do with topspeed.
Click to expand...

You don't think so?

speedometer says 0-120mph with a 100hp engine as soon as you get to 100mph i'm sure your car will take forever to get to 115-120mph with only 100hp and the way the car is geared.
Click to expand...

What if the car only has 80hp? will it eventually get to 120mph even though the car is geared for it?
 
ok all of you guys are partially right. i read an article on this a few months ago. they even had a calculation of what your top speed would be. it has to do with weight of the car, drag co efficient, final drive, hp, and torque. i had a 2001 vw golf tdi which had 90 hp and 155 lb-ft and i got it up to 127 and i could have kept going. there are many factors in top speed. i believe the mag was SCC. it was like 6 months ago.

chris
 
No more responses on this thread please.

SHOULD be closed. If anyone wants to repost a Nissan Altima thread they should do so.
 
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