A guy on Edmunds forums claims that his "source" told him that the 280HP VQ is actually 266HP under the new SAE measurements. I am not surprised that the FX45 got 5HP bump under the new standard since the VK in other cars are 335-340HP. However, the VQ in the G is in the "upper end" of the VQ variations. It would suck if this was true. Anybody heard something similar?

EDIT: It seems that the *source* was wrong. On nissannews.com you can see that the FX35 and M35 are still both rated at 280HP with SAE 1349 (08/04).

I don't really care about all these numbers, as long as it doesn't drop to something like 210hp hehe....I wouldn't notice the difference from driving.

At least it's still more HP than the TL if it was less we would see all kind of flame wars across the forums...

People get wrapped up in HP numbers too much. Granted, HP matters. However, there are so many other factors in determining the performance of a car i.e. weight, transmission efficiency, etc....

Who cares what numbers are reported if the performance doesn't change. Just like the RX8 numbers were lower thanstated by manufacturer but the claimed performance were not affected.

It's called bragging rights. 266hp doesn't seem as serious as 280hp. It doesn't matter if the car performs the same. I hope this isn't true...

Ok I guess I can lok at it that way.

Also remember power to weight ratio too, 300hp and weighing 5000lbs isn't as fast as something with 100hp and 1000lbs. All in perspective :-)

Come on the hp arguement is like the whole I'm better than you, ok so a crapstang has more HP than us, yippie its also American and redneck. I'll take my refined sports car please.

just my .02

Of course I undestand that the engine performance doesn't change. All I'm saying is that it would kinda lame to have the HP rating decrease when some other cars see a bump in HP with the new SAE rating. Wouldn't it be nice to know that the engine in the G was underrated from the factory?

I haven't seen a G ad, but for a few of the print ads for the Maxima, Nissan has put in fine print, "horesepower will test lower under revised SEA testing procedure." I think they should stop "bragging" that the Maxima has 265hp only to put in fine print that it will be LOWER under SEA!

Odds are Nissan knows the G will test lower as well.

It doesn't matter how they rate our engines......as long as the actual performance hasn't changed

Same with the VK in the FX........it got a bump in rating only....... it won't go any quicker...lol...... even if they rated our engines +50 hp-- they won't go any quicker either.
same thing will a lower rating.......it won't go any slower....right.

C.

Mazda did you samething with their Miata. I believe there was class action lawsuit and all the owners of that particular model got couple hundred bucks back. Any lawyers out there?

Mazda overrated their engines for sure but Nissan definitely did not under the old SAE rules. The new SAE rules are stricter thus its not a matter of overrating engines, its that the rules have changed. Class action in this case is impossible.

But the issue with the RX8 now is that it's current power rating will most likely be knocked down another 20hp or so once Mazda uses the new SAE system. It's already well known that the RX8 with it's "238hp" rating is still way overrated. On the dyno, these cars are only making ~175-180whp with a 6MT. 180whp translates to about 212hp at the flywheel using a realistic 15% powertrain loss. RX8 owners have been screwed since day one

As for the G35 sedan, we already know what the 03/04s were making. Most 5ATs see ~215whp and most 6MTs see ~230whp. That equates to 270hp. With the new SAE rating, I could buy 266hp. There aren't enough 05 5AT dynos to know if they're really making the advertized 280hp or if Nissan just rerated the motor and threw on a different midpipe to give it the sound of more power. As for the 298hp Rev-up motors, I'm convinced they will get knocked down to a 280-285hp. I'm almost certain of it due to the dyno numbers we're seeing in both the G and Z Rev-up VQs.

Regardless, these cars perform quite well thanks to thier fat and useable powerbands.

daveb very true, but hey as long as I know what the car can do and keep throwing me back, whether is 280 or 266 or 255 who cares. I just know that I'm not in a prius (gf has that slow treehugger car) and that when I hit the gas I can actually pass people in 70mph traffic!