During a recent media preview, my driving partner and I played a little game as the conga line of media vehicles traversed the predetermined route. If you remove all the make-and-model badging, what do you see?
A little Nissan GT-R with the flared rear-wheel wells and angular lines. Perhaps a little bit of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class with the chrome accent on the trunk. But the biggest surprise came when we discerned there was a little Aston Martin and Jaguar XF seeping through as well. Especially if you look at the taillights.
2009 Nissan Maxima
Engine: 3.5-liter V-6
Horsepower: 290
Peak torque: 261 pound-feet @ 4,400
Drivetrain: Front-wheel drive
Seating capacity: 5
Length: 190.6 inches
Wheelbase: 109.3 inches
Width: 73.2 inches
Height: 57.8 inches
Cargo volume: 14.2 cubic-feet
MPG (city/highway): 19/26
Price: $28,000 - $34,000 (est.)
By sight, without badging, what you wouldn’t see is a Nissan Maxima. Yet that’s exactly what it was. The all-new 2009 model has, without a doubt, reinvented itself.
The seventh-generation Maxima takes a new spin on the flagship sedan, living large, yet getting a little smaller and sportier. In fact, Nissan introduced the new Maxima as: “The Return of the 4-Door Sports Car.”
The aggressive new design is punctuated by a wheelbase that shrinks by about 2 inches over the previous model, a wider track and 18-inch standard wheels. The L-shaped headlights are unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and the well-defined hood lines show that there is some muscle under there. The rear of the vehicle is both classy and sporty, and it looks great with or without the optional spoiler.
Gone is the cookie cutter wedge shape and vanilla styling. Thank goodness.
The exterior is hot, hot, hot, but the interior is where the new Maxima glows. I have always had this love-hate relationship with Nissan’s interior craftsmanship. I love the way it looks but hate the cheap, plasticky materials. Thus, I was thoroughly impressed with the interior of the 2009 model. The soft dash materials, solid brushed silver door handles, sumptuous leather seats and slick wood inserts all combined to create one heck of an interior.
The only thing that made me say, “Hmmm,” was the reverse stitching. On the up-level SV models the red stitching circles the seats as well as the gearshift and looks phenomenal. On the base S model, it’s on the seats and not the gearshift. I’m sure the purpose is to create distinction, but it comes off looking like a mistake.
The center stack takes on the look of the higher-end Infiniti brand with a command center that is easy to use and easy to reach. Whether you are in a model with the optional navigation or the standard audio screen, both present an attractive face.
To cement the “Sports Car” status, the new Maxima actually borrows the steering wheel from the 350Z complete with speed sensitive steering. It’s smaller than a steering wheel you might encounter in a regular sedan and really gives the feeling of driving a sports car from the inside out.
Plus the new Maxima benefits from all the cool technology that Infiniti has been rolling out over the last year. The Around View Monitor, XM NavTraffic and a slick iPod integration that rivals Ford’s Sync are just a few of the optional features that have made their way into the Nissan flagship.
One of the vehicles I drove during the preview had the available premium Bose sound system, and Nissan provided us with a CD that highlighted the sound quality. I’m typically tone deaf, but I have to say I have never heard sound that good and that clear coming out of a speaker in a car.
To top that off, the cabin quietness with the radio off is phenomenal. Very little noise vibration filters back into the cabin. In fact, Nissan execs stated that the engineers did such a good job making things quiet that they actually had to create a sound generator that would bring the engine sound back into the cabin. I mean, what’s the fun of having a sports sedan if you can’t hear the engine growl when you accelerate?
The driving position was incredibly comfortable, and the power adjustable seats and tilt/telescoping steering wheel allowed me to be close to all the gauges yet not feel smothered by the steering wheel.
So, the new Maxima is comfortable, sounds good and looks like a rock star, but how does it drive? Very well. The new Maxima shares the front-wheel drive “D Platform” with the Alitma, Altima Coupe and Murano. But in adapting it for this sporty sedan, the rear suspension received some tweaks, and there was a lot of attention paid to the problem of torque steer. During the brief drive, I had some fun powering around curves and corners and am please to report almost zero torque steer.
The ride in the Maxima is more sport than luxury, and bumps in the road are a little more noticeable than if you were in, say, a Lexus ES. During the four-hour preview drive, the ride was nice and tight, and there was a high level of comfort as well.
With 290 horsepower bottled up in the 3.5-liter V-6 engine and the next-generation three-mode Xtronic CVT, acceleration is smooth, seamless and plenty fast. I enjoyed slowing down just to speed up again, and the passing momentum was a constant, consistent forward movement.
With this new model, Nissan has managed to coax an additional 35 horsepower out of the 3.5-liter V-6 engine as well as one additional mpg in highway driving. The 2009 model delivers 290 horsepower and 261 pound-feet of torque. EPA estimates city/highway fuel consumption to be 19/26 mpg.
Much of this was accomplished through requiring premium fuel in this new model. However, Mark Perry, Nissan North America's director of product planning, stated that if you scrimp and use regular fuel instead, you could get as much as a 15 to 20 percent decrease in horsepower. Interestingly, that could put you below the horsepower ratings for the previous model.
The 2009 Maxima lineup comes in two trim levels: the base S model and the up-level SV. But, to look at the vehicle you’d be hard pressed to tell which is which. For 2009 Nissan has removed any trim distinction from the badging on the car, making the simple statement that the Maxima at any level is the flagship.
The 2009 Maxima shows up in dealers at the end of this month. Though pricing hasn’t yet been announced, execs stated that 2008 Maxima has a price range of $28K to $34K, and the new 2009 model should be in the same ballpark.
During the press conference portion of the preview, Perry mentioned that the Maxima is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and I have to say I agree, especially if the 2009 model can maintain the 2008 pricing. The exterior sheet metal is a cue that there’s something special going on, but it’s with the hidden punch behind the wheel that the wolf shows its pretty teeth.
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