Nissan has barged into the medium-large segment with its all-new Maxima. Gautam Sharma discovers what it’s like to live with
It certainly wasn’t a case of love at first drive. Having collected our Maxima long-termer from Nissan’s Middle East headquarters in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone, I began the journey back to our office, initially underwhelmed by the car as a whole. There just didn’t seem to be anything special about the Maxima to differentiate it from the horde. I didn’t particularly care for the CVT (continuously variable transmission) either.
Unlike conventional transmissions with five or more ratios, the CVT feels like a single giant rubber band that seemingly just stretches endlessly. There’s no sensation of revs rising and falling… just a constant drone as the transmission keeps the engine spinning at a fixed speed, even as road speed rises. If you’ve ever owned a car with a slipping clutch, you’ll know the feeling.
Anyway, over the past couple of weeks I’ve had time to get used to the CVT’s workings, and subsequently got into the habit of using the paddle-shifters to gain access to six virtual ratios. By doing this you can effectively engine-brake on corner entries or on the approach to traffic lights. It’s basically a way of making it behave like a conventional transmission, rather than a mechanised elastic band.
The 3.5-litre V6 engine doesn’t lack punch – as reflected by outputs of 290bhp and 350Nm – but the peak torque figure doesn’t arrive until 4400rpm, which means you need to keep it on the boil to extract the best from it. It’s a smooth enough unit, although not as sonorous as a BMW inline six.
Nissan bills the Maxima as the most sporting car in its class, and company execs proudly boast that its chassis was honed at the hallowed Nürburgring. Having taken every opportunity to hurl it through the precious few sweeping bends and roundabouts that I traverse daily, I can confirm that the Maxima does indeed show impressive composure for a large-ish front-wheel drive sedan. It’s a much tidier handler than a Toyota Avalon, and it even eclipses the Honda Accord (which is far nimbler in four-cylinder form than it is with the heavier V6 up front).
Other aspects of the Maxima are also starting to grow on me. These include an almost-perfect driving position, a cavernous boot and the very handy front and rear parking sensors and reversing camera. I have the worst parking space in my building (tucked into the corner), and these aids make it a lot easier to slot into it.
I’ve also been making the most of the Maxima’s crisp handling and communicative steering by driving it in highly spirited fashion even on short jaunts. Despite its somewhat nondescript persona, the big Nissan is a car that rewards enthusiastic drivers. I intend to make the most of this over the next month.
Slam dunkin like Shaquille O’Neal, if he wrote informative artceils.
What was your tested 0-100 time in D and DS mode?