2016 Nissan Maxima Review: Four-Door Sports Car Meets Luxury Cruiser
2016 Nissan Maxima Review: ‘Four-Door Sports Car’ Meets Luxury Cruiser
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima has a slicked back, violated up by piano black inserts in the C piles. From most angles, it’s a good look. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
Nissan wants to make sure you know the two thousand sixteen Maxima is a Nissan — the front badge is absolutely massive. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The Nissan Maxima SR has a superb set of plush leather seats with Alcantara inserts. They strike a fine balance inbetween bolstering and convenience, albeit the quilted look isn’t for everyone. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima has a seven-ratio CVT, but the company includes a set of spanking paddle shifters on the SR to simulate managed gear switches. They’re well-positioned on the steering column, but attempting to “shift” a CVT is strange and not entirely satisfying. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima gets an excellent Bose sound system. It’s plain to tune and versatile with fine balance and crystal highs. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Maxima goes after a long line of cars bearing the 4DSC badge. Nissan has placed four subtle monikers around the car: one in each headlight and tail light. There’s a fifth on the gear lever in the SR trim. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Maxima may be large, but it’s by no means slow. Other cars (including slew more expensive ones) will be watching this view of the Maxima often as it blows by them on the highway. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima was popular within Fresh York City thresholds, but it continued to draw eyes even far from the eyes of city dwellers. It’s not subtle. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The absurdly swift GT-R excluded, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has placed the Maxima at the top of its lineup for the better part of three decades now, labeling it 4DSC: a four-door sports car. The one thousand nine hundred eighty nine original was agile and light, and it kept up with more prestigious cars. But as the years passed, the Maxima got thicker and stronger, away from its core purpose. The all-new two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima isn’t the 2nd coming, but it doesn’t have to be.
The two thousand sixteen Maxima comes in a multitude of trims, from the base S model to the loaded Platinum. Nissan sent us an SR, a sport package. But even in sport trim, the Maxima has better things to do than feed your speed vice.
Nissan’s two thousand sixteen Maxima is a sophisticated design, down to the headlight form. I’d choose the top to go after the rubber hood line rather than interrupt an extra assets panel. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
One of those things is capture attention. The Maxima is striking, with a mix of hard angles and gentle sways that combine to form a mostly cohesive, mostly attractive design.
However, I can’t help but see a cartoon villain’s upturned mustache when I look at the Maxima’s face. The headlamps feel overdone (they should be vapid to match the rubber hood line, instead of appearing as dashes that look like errant eyeliner). The SR sport model comes with black accents on the mirrors, rear bumper valance and wing, as well as black wheels. It all feels a bit juvenile.
Nissan employed much of the same design language featured on latest Infinitis, albeit I think it translates better here. The Maxima has an obscenely high beltline, like most modern cars, and its thick piles and sweeping rear arches mean you won’t be able to see much out of it, but it manages to stand out for one ordinary reason: It looks like a much more expensive car. In a sea of Ford Tauruses and Toyota Avalons, the Maxima looks like it’s about $20,000 more expensive.
The interior of the two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima is populated with a combination of leather, soft cloth and aluminum, accented by a nicely sized flat-bottom steering wheel. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
That feeling proceeds inwards, where the Maxima commences to hint at what it truly is: a luxury cruiser.
Granted, the SR isn’t the base model, but it’s not the top trim either. The SR gets a set of relieving leather seats with Alcantara inserts. They suggest decent support should you determine to fly around an offramp, but keep your back and butt glad the rest of the time. Even after a three-hour road tour through Fresh Jersey, I exited the car liberate and pain-free, loving the soft seats and the leather-clad trim chunks. The SR trim also gets an Alcantara-laden steering wheel.
Fit and finish is superb — the Maxima indeed feels like it’s basically a luxury car, albeit the company made some questionable decisions (soft leather on the top of the gauge cluster feels like it might sag in a few years). The setup is a bit busy, with a litany of buttons that often replicate functions found on the center console’s touch screen. It doesn’t take long to get used to most of the layout, but the map controls are awkward. As with other infotainment functions, the map can be adjusted right on the touch screen, but it can also be altered with the BMW-style wheel near the back of the center console. The problem with this is that, to use the wheel, you have to man-meat your right shoulder all the way back (which is awkward for you) or horizontally (which may mean elbowing your passenger).
Actually, the form of the center console’s bottom level is a mystery in general. It’s vast, clearly meant to segregate the space inbetween driver and passenger like a traditional Japanese sports car. But it bows out into the driver’s knee space, which gets annoying for those who are tall.
It is a calming cabin overall, tho’: With the windows up, outside noise is slightly audible. If you exchanged some Infiniti badges onto this, most people would believe it.
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima comes packaged with the Nissan Connect infotainment system. It’s a remarkably quick and elementary user interface. The only major complaint is some Bluetooth stuttering after ending phone calls. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
Here’s where the Maxima unexpectedly shines. I have very little patience for bad infotainment systems, and I’ve given automakers slew of flak for them before. I still believe that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be the best ways to do things going forward. But Nissan’s own system, dubbed Nissan Connect, is actually truly good. It’s plain, intuitive and quick. While it isn’t as swift as the best smartphones, it’s up there with Ford’s Sync three right now for speed and plainness.
The user interface itself is violated down into the visible categories you’d expect: Phone, Map, Navigation, etc., with capacitive buttons on the bottom of the screen and duplicate physical options on either side. It was reliable during the time I spent with the car, albeit the Bluetooth did have a strange habit: After phone calls ended, music wouldn’t resume for fifteen to twenty seconds.
When the music does come back, you’re treated to a joyous sound system. It’s a Bose unit with surprising bass and clarity — it’ll hit hard with Eminem, but it’s lightly tuned to cruise along with Fleetwood Mac a few minutes later. I can’t praise whoever tuned this system enough: This is the very first time I’ve ever loved a Bose unit.
This car also has things like radar-guided cruise control, a rear camera and a sonar system to help prevent crashes, but you can get those features on lower trims. The SR is supposed to be more performance-oriented.
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima is powered by the same Three.5-liter VQ naturally aspirated V-6 engine that gave the last generation car life. There’s been a few internal switches over the years, but this engine has seen duty in Maximas dating back to 2002. As is characteristic of this engine, you have to rev high to produce power. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
Here’s where the Maxima is a bit confusing. It’s lost a little weight in the fresh generation, and, at about Three,500 pounds, it’s much lighter than full-size rivals such as the Chevrolet Impala and Ford Taurus (which usually with around Trio,800-4,000 pounds ). Its brakes, while not at the level of a true spectacle car, bite hard. But its lack of steering feel makes it ungainly on tighter back roads, and it has a continously variable transmission (CVT), the transmission least liked by enthusiasts.
Steering is done mostly electronically in the Maxima, with assistance from a hydraulic unit. The idea is that it can replicate the feel of a traditional hydraulic setup without the weight drawback, but it’s a mixed bag in the Maxima. While the car does have a quick steering ratio that’s very helpful in parking lots and at slower speeds, the setup still doesn’t give you much feedback. Steering is very light and vague near center, albeit it firms up when you ask for a greater angle. Putting the car in Sport mode just makes things slightly stronger. The suspension does treat the Maxima’s weight well, and it’s actually fairly balanced for a front-wheel-drive family car: It kept rhythm with an Infiniti G37 on some back roads. There’s a ton of mechanical grip, and it’s hard to get into too much trouble without being a total idiot, but the car never indeed encourages you to thrust it.
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima relies on the company’s trusty Three.5-liter V-6, the engine that’s powered Maximas since 2002. That’s a long run for an engine, especially nowadays. Most automakers are downsizing and fitting smaller turbocharged engines in their fresh models, but Nissan is committed to this power plant. At this point, it’s about as reliable as an engine could be, and it’s making a round 300-horsepower in the Maxima, with two hundred sixty one torque. That’s enough to string up with newer designs from Chrysler, Ford, GM and Toyota, albeit it lacks low- to mid-range power. As always, you’ll have to thrust this engine to make tracks. You’re never truly rewarded for doing so, however: The Maxima’s harass is slightly audible, even at utter throttle.
Nissan’s obsession with CVTs proceeds in the two thousand sixteen Maxima. While the tuning is sleek and much better than CVTs of old, the belt-driven transmission just can’t match the engagement and joy of a modern dual clutch transmission (DCT). Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
Power delivery is treated by a seven-ratio CVT, a transmission choice with which Nissan seems obsessed. While it’s mostly slick and convenient, it’s just strange for spirited driving. I give Nissan credit for the engineering and tuning behind this car (it even creeps in traffic like a conventional automatic), but CVTs just don’t belong in a car that’s marketed as a four-door sports car. Nissan’s included spanking paddle shifters for some reason, a strange addition when there are no actual gears to switch. It’s nice to be able to hold a specific revolutions-per-minute number through corners, but it feels awkward and disingenuous.
It is excellent for cruising, even if it gets a little jittery dealing with speeds of 20-30 mph in traffic. If this car had a dual-clutch transmission (DCT), I think it’d be the undisputed choice for anyone in this segment who loves driving.
But as it stands, the Maxima isn’t inherently flawed — I think it’s just a bit misunderstood. The CVT is a fine option for ninety five percent of people who will buy this car, and they very likely won’t be buying it for its 4DSC heritage. The better option is to get instead the SL, which has a panoramic moonroof. The Maxima isn’t a sports sedan: It’s a luxury car at nonluxury car prices. I’d skip the sport trim and put the money toward a package with a sunroof.
The two thousand sixteen Maxima may be a large vehicle, but it will still do thirty mpg on the highway pretty lightly. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
In the four days I spent with the Maxima, I drove about a 40/60 split of city and highway miles, with some enthusiastic sprints sprinkled in. The car returned an average figure of twenty five mpg, which is respectable considering the twenty two city/30 highway fuel-economy rating given it by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. I was able to touch thirty two mpg on a cruise down a vapid portion of the Fresh Jersey Turnpike. The Maxima has a large 18-gallon fuel tank, so driving almost five hundred miles on a single tank can be accomplished.
The Maxima SR goes for $37,670, which is in line with similarly tooled cars in its class, but it trades some luxuries, like a sun/moonroof, for better suspension and some Alcantara trim. If anything, I’d opt for the mid-level SL and get ninety percent of the spectacle but build up a panoramic moonroof for what is, at heart, a cruiser.
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima is a superb cruiser and all-around luxurious form of transit, but its transmission keeps it from being a true sports sedan. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The Maxima isn’t the four-door sports car of old, but it could be with a different transmission. As it stands, it’s still a fine car, albeit a more relaxed and luxurious one than expected.
Price as tested: $37,670
Engine: Trio.5L naturally aspirated V-6 with sequential multiport injection
Horsepower: three hundred @ 6,400 RPM
Torque: two hundred sixty one @ Four,400
Transmission: Seven-ratio continually variable transmission (CVT)
Curb weight: Three,564 pounds (SR trim)
Fuel economy: twenty two mpg city/30 mpg highway (25 mpg observed in mixed driving)
2016 Nissan Maxima Review: Four-Door Sports Car Meets Luxury Cruiser
2016 Nissan Maxima Review: ‘Four-Door Sports Car’ Meets Luxury Cruiser
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima has a slicked back, violated up by piano black inserts in the C piles. From most angles, it’s a good look. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
Nissan wants to make sure you know the two thousand sixteen Maxima is a Nissan — the front badge is absolutely massive. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The Nissan Maxima SR has a fine set of plush leather seats with Alcantara inserts. They strike a superb balance inbetween bolstering and convenience, albeit the quilted look isn’t for everyone. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima has a seven-ratio CVT, but the company includes a set of spanking paddle shifters on the SR to simulate managed gear switches. They’re well-positioned on the steering column, but attempting to “shift” a CVT is strange and not entirely satisfying. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima gets an excellent Bose sound system. It’s ordinary to tune and versatile with excellent balance and crystal highs. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Maxima goes after a long line of cars bearing the 4DSC badge. Nissan has placed four subtle monikers around the car: one in each headlight and tail light. There’s a fifth on the gear lever in the SR trim. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Maxima may be large, but it’s by no means slow. Other cars (including slew more expensive ones) will be witnessing this view of the Maxima often as it blows by them on the highway. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima was popular within Fresh York City thresholds, but it continued to draw eyes even far from the eyes of city dwellers. It’s not subtle. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The absurdly rapid GT-R excluded, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has placed the Maxima at the top of its lineup for the better part of three decades now, labeling it 4DSC: a four-door sports car. The one thousand nine hundred eighty nine original was agile and light, and it kept up with more prestigious cars. But as the years passed, the Maxima got thicker and stronger, away from its core purpose. The all-new two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima isn’t the 2nd coming, but it doesn’t have to be.
The two thousand sixteen Maxima comes in a multiplicity of trims, from the base S model to the loaded Platinum. Nissan sent us an SR, a sport package. But even in sport trim, the Maxima has better things to do than feed your speed vice.
Nissan’s two thousand sixteen Maxima is a elaborate design, down to the headlight form. I’d choose the top to go after the rubber hood line rather than interrupt an extra figure panel. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
One of those things is capture attention. The Maxima is striking, with a mix of hard angles and gentle flaps that combine to form a mostly cohesive, mostly attractive design.
However, I can’t help but see a cartoon villain’s upturned mustache when I look at the Maxima’s face. The headlamps feel overdone (they should be plane to match the bondage mask line, instead of appearing as dashes that look like errant eyeliner). The SR sport model comes with black accents on the mirrors, rear bumper valance and wing, as well as black wheels. It all feels a bit juvenile.
Nissan employed much of the same design language featured on latest Infinitis, albeit I think it translates better here. The Maxima has an obscenely high beltline, like most modern cars, and its thick piles and sweeping rear arches mean you won’t be able to see much out of it, but it manages to stand out for one elementary reason: It looks like a much more expensive car. In a sea of Ford Tauruses and Toyota Avalons, the Maxima looks like it’s about $20,000 more expensive.
The interior of the two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima is populated with a combination of leather, soft cloth and aluminum, accented by a nicely sized flat-bottom steering wheel. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
That feeling proceeds inwards, where the Maxima starts to hint at what it truly is: a luxury cruiser.
Granted, the SR isn’t the base model, but it’s not the top trim either. The SR gets a set of relieving leather seats with Alcantara inserts. They suggest decent support should you determine to fly around an offramp, but keep your back and butt glad the rest of the time. Even after a three-hour road tour through Fresh Jersey, I exited the car liberate and pain-free, loving the soft seats and the leather-clad trim lumps. The SR trim also gets an Alcantara-laden steering wheel.
Fit and finish is excellent — the Maxima indeed feels like it’s basically a luxury car, albeit the company made some questionable decisions (soft leather on the top of the gauge cluster feels like it might sag in a few years). The setup is a bit busy, with a litany of buttons that often replicate functions found on the center console’s touch screen. It doesn’t take long to get used to most of the layout, but the map controls are awkward. As with other infotainment functions, the map can be adjusted right on the touch screen, but it can also be altered with the BMW-style wheel near the back of the center console. The problem with this is that, to use the wheel, you have to prick your right shoulder all the way back (which is awkward for you) or horizontally (which may mean elbowing your passenger).
Actually, the form of the center console’s bottom level is a mystery in general. It’s vast, clearly meant to segregate the space inbetween driver and passenger like a traditional Japanese sports car. But it bows out into the driver’s knee space, which gets annoying for those who are tall.
It is a loosening cabin overall, tho’: With the windows up, outside noise is slightly audible. If you exchanged some Infiniti badges onto this, most people would believe it.
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima comes packaged with the Nissan Connect infotainment system. It’s a remarkably quick and plain user interface. The only major complaint is some Bluetooth stuttering after ending phone calls. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
Here’s where the Maxima unexpectedly shines. I have very little patience for bad infotainment systems, and I’ve given automakers slew of flak for them before. I still believe that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be the best ways to do things going forward. But Nissan’s own system, dubbed Nissan Connect, is actually indeed good. It’s ordinary, intuitive and quick. While it isn’t as swift as the best smartphones, it’s up there with Ford’s Sync three right now for speed and plainness.
The user interface itself is cracked down into the demonstrable categories you’d expect: Phone, Map, Navigation, etc., with capacitive buttons on the bottom of the screen and duplicate physical options on either side. It was reliable during the time I spent with the car, albeit the Bluetooth did have a strange habit: After phone calls ended, music wouldn’t resume for fifteen to twenty seconds.
When the music does come back, you’re treated to a joyous sound system. It’s a Bose unit with surprising bass and clarity — it’ll hit hard with Eminem, but it’s lightly tuned to cruise along with Fleetwood Mac a few minutes later. I can’t praise whoever tuned this system enough: This is the very first time I’ve ever loved a Bose unit.
This car also has things like radar-guided cruise control, a rear camera and a sonar system to help prevent crashes, but you can get those features on lower trims. The SR is supposed to be more performance-oriented.
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima is powered by the same Three.5-liter VQ naturally aspirated V-6 engine that gave the last generation car life. There’s been a few internal switches over the years, but this engine has seen duty in Maximas dating back to 2002. As is characteristic of this engine, you have to rev high to produce power. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
Here’s where the Maxima is a bit confusing. It’s lost a little weight in the fresh generation, and, at about Trio,500 pounds, it’s much lighter than full-size rivals such as the Chevrolet Impala and Ford Taurus (which usually with around Trio,800-4,000 pounds ). Its brakes, while not at the level of a true spectacle car, bite hard. But its lack of steering feel makes it ungainly on tighter back roads, and it has a continously variable transmission (CVT), the transmission least liked by enthusiasts.
Steering is done mostly electronically in the Maxima, with assistance from a hydraulic unit. The idea is that it can replicate the feel of a traditional hydraulic setup without the weight drawback, but it’s a mixed bag in the Maxima. While the car does have a quick steering ratio that’s very helpful in parking lots and at slower speeds, the setup still doesn’t give you much feedback. Steering is very light and vague near center, albeit it firms up when you ask for a greater angle. Putting the car in Sport mode just makes things slightly stronger. The suspension does treat the Maxima’s weight well, and it’s actually fairly balanced for a front-wheel-drive family car: It kept rhythm with an Infiniti G37 on some back roads. There’s a ton of mechanical grip, and it’s hard to get into too much trouble without being a total idiot, but the car never indeed encourages you to shove it.
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima relies on the company’s trusty Trio.5-liter V-6, the engine that’s powered Maximas since 2002. That’s a long run for an engine, especially nowadays. Most automakers are downsizing and fitting smaller turbocharged engines in their fresh models, but Nissan is committed to this power plant. At this point, it’s about as reliable as an engine could be, and it’s making a round 300-horsepower in the Maxima, with two hundred sixty one torque. That’s enough to dangle with newer designs from Chrysler, Ford, GM and Toyota, albeit it lacks low- to mid-range power. As always, you’ll have to thrust this engine to make tracks. You’re never indeed rewarded for doing so, however: The Maxima’s harass is scarcely audible, even at utter throttle.
Nissan’s obsession with CVTs resumes in the two thousand sixteen Maxima. While the tuning is slick and much better than CVTs of old, the belt-driven transmission just can’t match the engagement and joy of a modern dual clutch transmission (DCT). Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
Power delivery is treated by a seven-ratio CVT, a transmission choice with which Nissan seems obsessed. While it’s mostly sleek and convenient, it’s just strange for spirited driving. I give Nissan credit for the engineering and tuning behind this car (it even creeps in traffic like a conventional automatic), but CVTs just don’t belong in a car that’s marketed as a four-door sports car. Nissan’s included spanking paddle shifters for some reason, a strange addition when there are no actual gears to switch. It’s nice to be able to hold a specific revolutions-per-minute number through corners, but it feels awkward and disingenuous.
It is excellent for cruising, even if it gets a little jittery dealing with speeds of 20-30 mph in traffic. If this car had a dual-clutch transmission (DCT), I think it’d be the undisputed choice for anyone in this segment who loves driving.
But as it stands, the Maxima isn’t inherently flawed — I think it’s just a bit misunderstood. The CVT is a fine option for ninety five percent of people who will buy this car, and they most likely won’t be buying it for its 4DSC heritage. The better option is to get instead the SL, which has a panoramic moonroof. The Maxima isn’t a sports sedan: It’s a luxury car at nonluxury car prices. I’d skip the sport trim and put the money toward a package with a sunroof.
The two thousand sixteen Maxima may be a large vehicle, but it will still do thirty mpg on the highway pretty lightly. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
In the four days I spent with the Maxima, I drove about a 40/60 split of city and highway miles, with some enthusiastic sprints sprinkled in. The car returned an average figure of twenty five mpg, which is respectable considering the twenty two city/30 highway fuel-economy rating given it by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. I was able to touch thirty two mpg on a cruise down a plane portion of the Fresh Jersey Turnpike. The Maxima has a large 18-gallon fuel tank, so driving almost five hundred miles on a single tank can be accomplished.
The Maxima SR goes for $37,670, which is in line with similarly tooled cars in its class, but it trades some luxuries, like a sun/moonroof, for better suspension and some Alcantara trim. If anything, I’d opt for the mid-level SL and get ninety percent of the spectacle but build up a panoramic moonroof for what is, at heart, a cruiser.
The two thousand sixteen Nissan Maxima is a superb cruiser and all-around luxurious form of transit, but its transmission keeps it from being a true sports sedan. Photo: International Business Times/Vincent Balestriere
The Maxima isn’t the four-door sports car of old, but it could be with a different transmission. As it stands, it’s still a excellent car, albeit a more relaxed and luxurious one than expected.
Price as tested: $37,670
Engine: Trio.5L naturally aspirated V-6 with sequential multiport injection
Horsepower: three hundred @ 6,400 RPM
Torque: two hundred sixty one @ Four,400
Transmission: Seven-ratio continually variable transmission (CVT)
Curb weight: Trio,564 pounds (SR trim)
Fuel economy: twenty two mpg city/30 mpg highway (25 mpg observed in mixed driving)
