Automakers don’t make cars like the Maxima to make money, or at least not much. Such exercises are more about building brand
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
image, and to that end Nissan’s all-new flagship sport-luxury sedan is a serious head-turner that will cause many to sit up and take notice of a Japanese brand that’s going through a styling metamorphosis as of late.
We started seeing the new Nissan when the current second-generation Rogue appeared in 2013, but even that couldn’t have prepared us for the third-generation Murano that rewrote CUV styling the following year, the eighth-gen Maxima layering this wonderfully unusual new high-tech look onto the sleek shape of a four-door coupe.
Nissan might have issue with me using the four-door coupe terminology to describe
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
its latest 4DSC, but as it is I have issue with that cute alphanumeric abbreviation for four-door sports car. The Maxima certainly looks sporty enough, but it’s a bit of a literal stretch to consider something that’s front-wheel driven via a continuously variable transmission a sports car or even a sport sedan, despite having a 300 horsepower V6 stuffed under that overtly sculpted hood, but at 1,583 kilos (3,490 lbs) at its lightest and 1,630 kg (3,594 lbs) at its heaviest, my SR tester weighing in at 1,617 kilograms (3,565 lbs), it doesn’t weigh all that much more than the worst offending 370Z Nismo’s 1,547-kilo (3,411-lb) curb weight, so maybe I should go easy on this uncommonly imponderous luxury sedan.
Its long, low and lean styling not only makes it look lither than its predecessor, but
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Nissan also made the new base Maxima 45 kilos (99 lbs) lighter than the car it replaces. This said, however, others in its mainstream volume branded four-door flagship class aren’t all that heavy either, the base Toyota Avalon at a mere 27-kg (59-lb) disadvantage, while the Kia Cadenza weighs in at 77 kg (170 lbs) more, the Chevrolet Impala with a slightly more significant 109 kg (240 lbs) greater mass, and Buick’s LaCrosse with 121 kg (267 lbs) greater girth. Yet after these five the scale starts to tip more dramatically in the Maxima’s favour with the Dodge Charger 201 kilograms (443 lbs) heavier, Chrysler 300 a chunky 245 kg (540 lbs) more, and the Hyundai Genesis sedan a hefty 365 kg (804 lbs) its senior, that last model ironically considered the most Audi-esque, BMW-ish or more correctly Mercedes-isch amongst its direct rivals, which in some respects makes some sense.
Forget
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
the late great Lotus-founding Colin Chapman’s featherlight ideals for a moment and consider that the mid-size sport sedan of mid-size sport sedans, BMW’s 5 Series, in its lightest current incarnation is 147 kilos (324 lbs) heavier than the new Maxima, or ponder for a moment that the considerably “sportier” version of that car’s chassis architecture, the 6 Series Gran Coupe, hits the treadmill running with 397 kg (875 lbs) more fat in its leanest guise, M-B’s base CLS downright fit in comparison with just 252 kg (555 lbs) more midriff baggage, although the car that many consider the sportiest of all four-door sport coupes, Porsche’s Panamera Turbo S, is a full 410 kg (904 lbs) heartier. This is what’s wrong with today’s super sedans, the majority in the need of a serious low carb… I mean, carbon-fibre and aluminum diet. Back in most peoples’ reality, only VW’s CC, another true four-door coupe, hits the scales any
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
lighter than the Maxima with 73 kilos (161 lbs) to its advantage in its most basic six-speed manual-equipped form.
Ah, what a thought, a six-speed manual in a Maxima. The last one I tested would’ve been a 2004 model that torque steered something awful but was nevertheless a blast to drive due to only 6 fewer lb-ft of torque than this newer model that pushes 261 through the front wheels, the engine now direct injected but still displacing 3.5 litres for a lot of spirit off the line. That 12-year old Maxima SE was only a fraction lighter than this new version, an impressive accomplishment
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
in a market that always seems to be getting bigger and heavier, the result being a luxury car that certainly lives up to its sporty styling.
The ride in the SR-trimmed Maxima is extremely firm, however, to the near unforgiving point that you can feel every ripple and seemingly each pebble you drive all over, its 245/45R19 Bridgestone Blizzak winters no doubt increasing the firm factor, but they can’t be solely responsible. The SR model gets a beefed up sport suspension which is my guess as to its rudely awakening ride that was discomforting on many of my left coast city’s roads, which I know by experience are nowhere near as rough as those in the cold belt. I could possibly live with the rough ride if the SR’s handling was outrageously good, but it’s merely good.
It
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
tracks well through fast-paced corners, but understeers when approaching its limit, which is the exact opposite of what I want a performance sedan to do, while that rigid suspension can cause the tires to break contact with the road when hitting bumps at mid-corner and, well, you can’t get any grip from air no matter how capable a tire is; winters inherently less capable than a good set of anything else, which could have been part of its aforementioned understeering issue. It’s as if they’ve done all this car’s testing on ultra-smooth racetracks and none on real roads, because it’s set up with such minimal wheel travel that once again a few dips, dives and pavement irregularities, the kind expected on your average backcountry road, can easily upset the car at high-speed. The problem is that such are the types of places where most who own Maxima SRs will want to exploit them,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
track privileges not available to the majority of we plebes. Before making an overall verdict, I’m looking forward to testing the new Maxima in Platinum trim to see if a softer sprung version works better in the real world.
All said this isn’t the Maxima’s weakest point: that would be the CVT. Nissan has worked miracles with its continuously variable transmissions over the years, a device that’s plenty of fun in ATVs and snowmobiles but proven to be more about fuel efficiency than extracting optimal performance in automotive applications. Despite the beautiful big racing car-like paddles that optimally stay fixed to the steering column, this gearbox, or rather lack of a gearbox, doesn’t react the way of performance
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
car’s automatic transmission should. Put it in Sport mode, hit the throttle, ramp up speed and then flick through the paddles and it merely interrupts the CVT’s process, hardly showing any sign of shifting at all. It’s as if the “gear” it’s changing is part of an outrageous 18-speed automatic, where each increment is so imperceptively small that it’s difficult to notice anything has happened at all. The paddles are more useful for downshifting, but again the pseudo-gear it finds is unpredictable and the results unsatisfying compared to the many seven-, eight- and nine-speed conventional torque converted automatics on today’s market, such as the brilliant downshift rev-matching autobox available from Nissan’s luxury division, Infiniti. This CVT is simply not a very effective performance transmission, hence my appeal to Nissan to once again offer a manual or borrow that just noted seven-speed automatic from your premium division, and while you’re at it, all-wheel drive.
So
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
let’s talk about the Maxima’s strengths. Number one, other than styling, which is a personal taste issue anyway, is the interior that combines what I believe is excellent design along with very high quality finishings. Actually, I’d go so far to say the cabin is beautifully detailed, its overall motif leaning towards a sporty performance look like the exterior. For instance, there’s no use of woodgrain at all, but rather my SR tester boasted particularly attractive metallic inlays across the instrument panel and doors, done out in a stunning creased diamond pattern. I’ve never seen anything like it and hope to see a lot more of it. The entire dash top is finished in a premium quality soft touch synthetic with contrast blue stitching, while that same treatment covers the sides of the lower console that are quite comfortable against the knees, plus the door uppers and armrests, the door inserts finished in a soft, rich feeling ultrasuede. This is by far more luxuriously detailed than a top-line Avalon, for instance, that model using hard plastics surrounding the lower console,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
although they both don’t soften the lower extremities of the dash, the glove box lid or the lower door panels.
The Maxima SR’s sports seats get a similar treatment to the dash top and door inserts, with blue stitching on the leather bolsters, the upper backrest and headrests plus the front portions of the lower squabs, the driver’s of which is extendable, while the inserts are finished in perforated suede with blue stitching in a diamond pattern.
The steering wheel continues this theme, its leather and perforated suede rim also featuring blue stitching around its circumference, while its bottom section is flattened
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
for a sportier look plus a bit more legroom, its V-shaped split centre spoke doused in a silver metal-look surfacing that goes nicely with the aforementioned paddles just behind, whereas the switchgear on each side spoke is comprised of very high quality, nicely organized buttons and toggles that are also tightly fitted and well damped.
The top half of that wheel frames a combination analog and digital primary gauge package with the usual tachometer on the left and speedometer on the right, a small temperature meter on the left bottom and gas gauge to the lower right. Its mid-point is filled with a stunningly styled high-resolution full-colour TFT multi-information display that includes a large arcing compass for real-time directions, a nice digital speedometer readout,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
and the usual trip and odometer information, plus radio, exterior temperature, digital clock, etc.
Amid a centre stack background of glossy black lacquered plastic that flows from top to bottom is a large, clear and colourful infotainment touchscreen surrounded in buttons for accessing its menu, navigation mapping, audio functions, and more, while the screen itself houses digital go-to buttons across its lower edge for going more in-depth with features such as hands-free text messaging, NissanConnect with Mobile Apps, SiriusXM Traffic and more, whereas a rotating dial and three fast-access buttons provide easy control of the
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
comprehensive system from the lower console. Although not yet infused with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, my smartphone connected easily enough and the system’s Bluetooth worked flawlessly throughout my test week, while the integrated backup camera with guidelines provided a clear rearward view when needed.
All of the Maxima’s dual-zone HVAC system access comes via a narrow panel just underneath the infotainment display, filled with buttons and dials for adjusting temperature, auto on/off, and sync features, while the heatable and ventilated seat controls are actuated via rotating dials on the lower console.
The gorgeous sport seats offer good support all-round, although the power-adjustable lumbar could only be moved in and out, not up and down. Fortunately it
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
fit my backside ideally, so at least I found it comfortable. The rear seat is also quite comfortable and despite my calling the Maxima a four-door coupe earlier in this review, it’s much larger in its rear quarters to be designated to that class. Likewise for its trunk that not only accommodates 405 litres (14.3 cubic feet) of gear but also provides the capacity for longer items via 60/40 split-folding rear seatbacks.
These folding rear seats come standard, as do whole host of features in the Maxima’s base SV trim, such as the seven-inch primary gauge display, big eight-inch infotainment display along with its navigation system and rearview camera plus the dual-zone auto HVAC noted earlier, as well as 18-inch alloys on 245/45R18 V-rated all-seasons, auto on/off halogen projector headlamps, LED DRLs, fog lights, LED turn signals integrated into the side mirror caps, signature LED
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
taillights, dual chromed tailpipes, remote start, proximity-sensing keyless access with pushbutton start, heatable powered side mirrors, a heatable leather-wrapped tilt and telescoping multifunction sport steering wheel, a leather-wrapped shift knob, heatable front seats, Razor Steel trim, leather upholstery, an eight-way powered driver’s seat with powered lumbar support plus a manual thigh support extension, a four-way powered front passenger’s seat, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, overhead sunglasses storage, a HomeLink universal garage door opener, front and rear parking sonar, cruise control, a great sounding eight-speaker AM/FM/CD/MP3/WMA audio with an aux plug, two USB ports, satellite radio, Bluetooth streaming audio, and RDS, plus tire pressure monitoring and all the usual active and passive safety equipment, all for $35,900 plus freight and dealer fees.
The
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
second-rung SL adds adjustable ambient LED interior lighting, an upgraded eleven-speaker Bose audio system, adaptive cruise control, active noise cancellation, active sound enhancement, blind spot warning with rear cross traffic alert, predictive forward collision warning and autonomous forward emergency braking, plus more for $38,950, while my SR added LED low beams and aluminum sport pedals along with the already noted 19-inch alloys, sport suspension, climate-controlled front seats, gorgeous diamond-patterned Liquid Chrome inlays, Ascot leather-wrapped steering wheel with Alcantara-suede insert and paddle-shifters, and Ascot leather-trimmed seats with diamond-quilted Alcantara inserts for $41,100. The Maxima Platinum gets some items the SR doesn’t and leaves a number of the more sporting elements off of its menu, so I’m looking forward to experiencing this one soon and reporting on its overall prowess.
If
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
you live in a land of ultimately smooth roads or happen to have access to a freshly paved racetrack I recommend checking the Maxima SR out, as, CVT aside, it’s an impressive sport sedan that no doubt can do wonders on ironed-out tarmac, but those not so fortunate may want to look at one of the model’s other trims for daily use. The Maxima does many things very well and while its transmission is not my favourite it may suit your driving style ideally, plus the car’s eye-arresting styling, luxuriant interior, long list of features, surprisingly good 10.9 L/100km city and 7.8 highway fuel economy, full five-start NHTSA crash test rating, Top Safety Pick + IIHS ranking, and good expected reliability should make for a rewarding ownership experience.
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