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Four Wheel Drift-Internet EDITORIAL REPLY and COMMENT For Volume 2 Number 2 On 3-6-03 I got the following e-mail from a former SHO owner about the Nissan Altima review. Editorial comments interspersed throughout the letter in regular type: Nissan Altima
Hi Don, You bet your bippy I am into classics. My 1966 Grand
Prix is a superb example of a great highway cruiser, I love the 911 in its
many versions, and yes, I think the SHO is a classic. Funny thing is,
it is a MODERN classic that is still so good, after almost 15 years (as of
this writing) that it is competitive in almost ALL ways with your Altima.
AND with anything else now offered that is even close to the inflation
adjusted 20 grand the SHO sold for in 1989. Given a choice of a brand
new SHO or Altima, I think I would still choose the SHO. I am not
totally dumb though, given the choice of a worn out 15 year old SHO or a
brand new Altima, for free, I might have to take the Altima, but you would
never pry my '89 or '91's keys from my hands... they are still great
cars. Question is, in 15 years, would you take a 15 year old 2003
Altima or a brand new 1989 SHO? Hmmmmmm. --Ed. You are like a lot of magazine writers today. You give lip service to American cars but still put them down. "as much as Ford could do." ? EVERY magazine of the day celebrated the power, luxury, quality and handling of the SHO. The performance numbers from 1988 hold up very will with the best of today. How many cars made today will still be competitive in 14+ years? I will give you that Ford is blowing it big time with
the V8 cam issue now, and they haven't had a decent sedan since they killed
the SHO and SVT Contour, but to even hint that the SHO had "simple
comforts" is to not pay attention. Look at your list of
"comforts" on your Altima below, and see that with VERY few
exceptions the SHO had the same things! My SHO's are aging well, no
rattles, materials are holding up well and those seats are better than
anything from Nissan at the moment. --Ed. Wow, don't hold back David! The SHO IS a classy performance sedan. Want to talk about silent? Driving the Altima I could hear every seam and crack in the road vibrate through the entire body of the '03 Altima. Nothing like that makes it though the suspension on any of my SHO's and the handling is comparable between the two. Resale value? HAhahaha. Don't try to embarrass someone that has enjoyed the low resale value of the SHO from the beginning. Heck I used to own British Sports cars. NOTHING you can say will make me blush, but the MGB is still a great car, warts and all. As for resale value; what could be better than to buy a GREAT car at a bargain basement price. I doubt the Altima will be a danger to BMW or Acura or even Nissan's own luxury division, Infinity, when it comes to resale down the road, but yes, I would hope it would beat the SHO. But again, let's wait 10-15 years and see how those Altimas hold up and if they are really worth any more than a similar age SHO today? Only time will tell. For now, understand that SHO owners usually CELEBRATE the low value of the car, makes it cheap to buy. The Taurus body has been proven to be solid, doesn't fall apart with rust if taken care of in a reasonable fashion. 245 HP? I would hope that from a half liter more motor and over 14 YEARS of technology gain that the Nissan could come up with something to at least equal the SHO. Glad they were finally able to step up to that very old water mark! My comment about engine noise has more to do with "quality" than quantity. The Nissan 3.5 IS quieter than my SHO's motors, but the SHO has a real performance sound. More like a finely tuned racing motor than a sewing machine. When going down the road, or tooling around town, the SHO motor is the definition of calm and quiet. When opened up, it makes delicious noises. Not so the Nissan 3.5. As to the interior. I found the Altima to have a lot of buttons, it was confusing, but I guess I could learn it. materials? Still talking mostly plastic and vinyl in both cars and I have never liked Nissan's idea of what an interior should look like. Seats? Leather baby, can't get much better than that in the SHO OR the Altima. One thing I loved about the Altima was the two position height adjustable arm rest. Maybe I could just order one and bolt it into my SHO, then I would have a perfect car! Interior style is personal, like exterior style. I
like the SHO, and it has aged well. Again, what will you think of your
Altima in a dozen years...will there be an active club to celebrate
it? Who knows. To me the Altima is just one step above the
typical stinky (where DO they get those awful smelling plastics? same
problem they had in 1978) Japanese interior I always see in the low to mid
line cars from Japan, Inc.--Ed. I prefer to think of the Lean Mean SHO GUN warrior to the
Nissan Panda; cute and cuddly, but not much substance! .--Ed. (you didn't read that right...What I said was: "I think I could get used to it, but
NOTHING about this car makes me want to take on a payment book, (pricing about 30k nicely equipped) and get rid of either my '96 V8 SHO or my '89")
I still feel that way. No way would I trade any of my SHO's for a
Nissan. The new G-35 ALMOST excites me but it still has the universal
Nissan 3.5 motor that is getting old before its time. --Ed.
Daniel, I am glad you wrote, you gave me good reason during the cold snowy March days I am writing this, to reflect on why I love my SHO's so much. They are aging well compared to the typical car from America, and especially Japan in the late 80's early 90's. Only the German cars seem to hold up as well, styling-wise. Gotta Love a BMW with the same power as my SHO's for twice the price new, but they sure do look great and have great resale. Drove a new 540, and even IT didn't make me want to trade! Takes a lot to put a grin on my face...it takes a SHO! (or an old Pontiac, or maybe the new GTO?) Power? 220 hp is exactly what Mazda is touting for their new "6" and although Altima and Maxima have more advertised power, the performance figures are pretty close to what the SHO does bone stock, even with 100,000 miles on many of them. My SHO's interiors are still ergonomically designed to be easy to use and they hold up pretty well. The SHO motors (V6 and V8) have a better sound and feel than the Nissan's I tested. More like a well designed jewel than the rough sounds that come from under the hood of just about anything with the universal 3.5L Nissan motor. Have you read any of the reviews of these cars now that they are on the road a while?: All the magazines mention how the motor is a bit rough at the high rpm ranges (a tendency of V6 motors that are a bit too big to be "rev-happy"). The SHO may be out of production, but it is far from extinct. The SHO had an 11 year run, and despite poor resale value, it enjoys the respect of virtually the entire motoring community to this day. The mark of a great car is not how much it is worth to a dealer, but how much it is worth to the guy that owns it. Based on that, I would not put much money into an Altima, but people are "investing" to maintain, improve and play with their SHO's. If we are all around in 14+ years, let's see how the Altima ages and how many are around versus how many SHO's you see today? Also let's see today AND in 14 years which car gathers a crowd when you pop the hood. The SHO motor is a classic that does and WILL draw crowds. Keep the rubber side down and the dual path intake side up! Don Mallinson, President Feedback? mailto:shoclub1@shoclub.com SHOclub.com |
