Car review: 2015 Nissan Maxima

Nissan's flagship sedan attempts to ride on that 4-door sports car theme again by introducing new levels of styling sophistication and dynamic merit

This week, judgment is on the Nissan Maxima, or what the Japanese manufacturer calls 4DSC - short for 4-Door Sports Car. People in the Middle East have shared a raging love for Nissan's popular sedan since the early 80s. Key attributes like affordability, respect for family responsibilities and potent power made this a 'People's Car' of choice. In the last 35 years, we have seen the coming and going of almost all generations of the car. And, now, for 2016, comes a reengineered and redesigned all-new Maxima - so we had no other option but to take it out for a spin. Here is our word on the car!

DESIGN & AESTHETICS
The all-new Nissan Maxima is the production twin of Nissan's Sport Sedan Concept which debuted at the Detroit Auto Show in 2015. It was not one to be missed. The new Maxima rides in with hot-blooded muscularity, visual velocity and distinction. The 4-door family sedan format is also lower by 1.3 inches, longer by 2.2 inches and leaner by some 40 kgs than the previous generation.
The new Maxima's face is dominated by a V-Motion front end, which constitutes a chrome V-shaped grille to which all of the front bodylines converge, giving it some form of unison. You also have a graduated version of the signature boomerang lights that we have been familiarised with by the last generation. It comes with day-time LEDs; "4DSC" is embossed in the lamp housings, both front and rear.  This is not an aggressive front end - it's a brutal one, yet elegant enough to challenge the aesthetic appeal of premium vehicles, even its own cousin, the Infiniti Q50.
Nissan has created a sporty silhouette, seamlessly integrating the hood to roof and roof to boot deck; pronounced door panel details that protrude like muscles off a bouncer in a tight T-shirt; and slim window outlets that write a graphic novel on speed, putting a stamp on the '4DSC' moniker. The painted black parts on the C-pillar gives a floating roof visual, which is something we have seen work on the Lexus RX too.
The base model gets 18-inch wheels, but the SR model adds a host of mechanical upgrades to go with 19-inch diamond-cut machined aluminum-alloy wheels. They fill up those wheel wells real nice! Nissan has also managed to tie in the rear-end design with the front and sides. The rear lamps also share that boomerang shape, and the large oval exhaust tips are aptly designed for that throaty V6.
In terms of pure aesthetics, the Maxima takes the middle aged man's acceptance of mediocrity and throws it out of the window, offering customers a bold and daring style statement instead. Even younger buyers will have a right to buy without feeling like the 'dad tag' is upon them.
If ever you do choose to get one, do note that red and bronze paint schemes feature a new nano-pigment technology, which uses pigments that are ground 10 times finer than those found in traditional paints giving it a very smooth, fluid finish. That is, maybe, one reason to choose one of those shades.
The interiors are a new high for the new Maxima. The jet-inspired cockpit has been designed with such verve, it outdoes the exterior styling in our eyes. The D-shaped, i.e. flat bottom, steering wheel is joy to steer; the 8-inch infotainment screen, with its arrangement of hard buttons that surrounds it, is stacked on a centre console angled 7 degrees towards the driver - it may or may not indulge your dual personality as a jet fighter squadron leader. The infotainment screen has tablet-like touch screen functionality to go with the iDrive-like controller which Nissan calls Display Commander Switch; it allows for fingertip control of the centre display information screens, just like it those more expensive German cars. Do note that the push button start for the intelligent key has been moved to the console itself and it pulsates when the driver enters the cabin.
There is a certain 'je ne sais quoi' to the interiors. It is a magic that is spread further by quilted leather and alcantara on the surfaces where you rest your elbow and body. And along with that hide comes more double stitching than a denim factory.
But clearly the ghost of its unfriendly past catches up as I came across a quality issue or two: like the wobbly shift lever. It didn't have a well-dampened feel on activation either.
Nissan's zero gravity seats makes its attendees relieved, thanks to good spine support and, in the front row, occupants have more space than what one needs. Even in the rear end, there is no dearth of space with adequate legroom or headroom for regular folks.

POWERTRAIN & PERFORMANCE
So the all-new Maxima has a new 3.5-litre V6 to which you're going say, "Ah, same old, same old." But that is not the case; some 61 per cent of the parts are brand new. It now has shorter and wider intake runners and the Maxima has even has pilfered quite a bit from the GT-R supercar - like sodium grade exhaust valves and what not!
The maximum top-end figures for horsepower and torque for both the Altima and Maxima come up at the same rpm, but the Maxima delivers bigger outputs. The SR makes 300bhp at 6,400rpm and 354Nm at 4,400rpm, which is some 30-odd bhp and 4Nm more. so that is what you are paying for the Maxima over the Altima V6.
In the mix is an Xtronic CVT - the rubber band tranny - to which I can hear a few boos, but there is news, folks. This CVT, with its shifter synthetic gear points, has been prepped to behave like a regular automatic and by that you'd notice that the rpms rise even while it engages a single ratio, thus eliminating the engine drone to some extent. But again that fiddly shift lever gets my attention - and for the wrong reasons.
We climbed aboard and pressed on the push button starter to get the engine running. Interestingly, the Altima was amongst the first cars to have this feature as standard and the Maxima soon followed suit. As soon as the engine settles into an idle, you notice that the cabin is reasonably quiet; you also notice that most of the harshness associated with Nissan's VQ has been eliminated, thanks to the Acoustic Laminated Glass on the windshield and front side windows.
On the move, there is both good and bad news. Even with the infusion of so much technology, they have not managed to eliminate torque steer. But the good news is that right from the get go, you notice immediacy in power and there is a lot of it. The car sprints to redline smooth, without much inhibition and runs past 100km/h in 0 in about 6.2 seconds, and that is pretty quick for any car in almost any class.
The Maxima's hydraulic pump-electric power steering, unlike the Altima we tested, was slightly vague and hefty. Also, it felt especially heavy in parking lots. But what the steering lacks the chassis responds with decent traction around corners. The SR model comes with ZF mono tube dampers, stiffer springs, stabilizer and more grippy tyres that make for some confident action around track and town. For all that is good and holy in realms of driving enthusiasm, if they could recalibrate the steering this would be the 4DSC Nissan calls it.
As for fuel economy, Nissan claim a 9.4L/100km on a mixed cycle for the Maxima, which is a 15 per cent improvement over the last model. But whilst we were at it for a few days, the Maxima was returning a fuel economy of between 13 and 14L/100km. still a respectable figure for a potent V6.

FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITY
Like the Altima and most Nissan products, it comes with the safety of a strong air-conditioner to save you from a blazing heat wave we simply call 'day' in this region. On the keyfob is an extra button for remote starter, that allows to get the cabin cooled before you slide in; then, you have seat heaters and coolers and, finally, a good, no-nonsense blower-chiller unit with hard HVAC controls on the centre console.
The Maxima certainly has all active and passive safety tricks and gimmickry that help you feel secure. Features like VDC and TCS control the vehicle's on-journey dynamics and make sure optimum traction and power goes to the appropriate wheels. Then, you have the traditional ABS that adjusts braking force and many new-age technologies like blind sport warning and rear cross traffic alert. And last but not least, systems like forward emergency braking and predictive forward collision speculate the action of vehicles two cars ahead and help warn the driver and mitigate accidents or their impacts. You also get adaptive cruise control that brakes and accelerates for you and an overhead camera that gives you a bird's eye view of the car, and as many airbags as your fingers can count.
The boot is sufficiently large, but not so much bigger than an Altima and you have covers which protect your valuable luggage but they do eat away some space. The rear seats do drop down, too, for added space.
The Maxima gets the 11-speaker Bose-sourced audio system that is fine-tuned for its 5-seat architecture. Besides playing regular radio frequencies, it also plays  mp3, CDs and there is a special media bin on the console that houses two USB and auxiliary ports, along with room enough to hold an iPhone 6 Plus or a Galaxy Note 5.

VERDICT
The 2016 Nissan Maxima SR is a sporting family sedan that will win over a large population thanks to its radically styled exteriors and interiors. If you overlook the flaky shift lever, the unusually hefty steering wheel and the CVT that has been vetoed out by public several times, you will find a car that loves to put down big power and race to the horizon, while pampering occupants with comfort and exquisite aesthetic detailing. Its biggest vice is its sibling - the very competent Altima V6. Have a think before choosing sides!
wknd@khaleejtimes.com

• On The Road