Nissan Maxima Interior Review
The Maxima offers more headroom and more legroom than before -- and more than any other mid-size car, including the Accord, Camry and Taurus. My 6-foot 4-inch riding companion barely brushed his hair on the headliner -- and our car was equipped with a sunroof.
The rear seats are comfortable, but the Maxima doesn't offer as much space back there as many of the other cars in its class.
The trunk is bigger than before and, though the Maxima doesn't lead the class in cargo capacity, it boasts more trunk space than the Accord and Camry. The rear seats split and fold down to make room for longer items.
Nissan's California designers shaped the dash into a stylish wave that gives it an airy feel. The steering wheel and other controls were repositioned to improve comfort and the seats were designed to provide more support and dampen road vibration. A roomy center console accommodates 16 CDs or a cellular telephone. Steering-wheel-mounted stereo controls are now optional on the GXE and standard on the other models.
The leather GLE and cloth SE interiors are attractive and inviting. The GLE is the most luxurious with wood-tone trim and an automatic temperature control that's a big step up from the manual system. There's readout for ambient temperature. Power seats and an integrated HomeLink transceiver are included. (Most of these are available as options on the SE.) Optional heated seats are a luxury on cold mornings. Nissan worked with Bose to develop an optional stereo designed for supreme sound for both front and rear-seat passengers.
We weren't impressed with the GXE interior, however. It doesn't offer the cheerful ambiance of the SE and GLE. The GXE trim looks cheap and will likely look worse in five years. We recommend spending the extra $2,600 for an SE. To be fair, the GXE does come with a high level of standard equipment and the seats are supportive and comfortable.
Nissan Maxima Road Test
This car is smooth and quiet. You can hear the tires over the engine -- and the tires don't make much noise. The V6 provides plenty of power. It's an exciting engine that revs freely to its redline. Yet it's flexible around town, providing strong, smooth torque throughout the rev range.
On a narrow road winding through the Coast Ranges south of Monterey, California, we found the four-speed automatic transmission shifts smoothly and changes gears quickly to suit driving conditions.
It is on these types of roads that the Maxima really comes into its own. The steering is precise with sharp on-center feel; the steering on last year's model lacked feel and precision on the highway. The rear suspension has been re-engineered for improved ride and handling. Bumps are damped well, yet the ride isn't mushy. There's little body roll, or lean, in corners; the Maxima now matches the discontinued 300ZX sports car in this regard. The SE and GLE turn in more sharply than the GXE, which comes with 15-inch tires.
We turned some hot laps in the Maxima at Laguna Seca, a twisting road racing circuit in the hills above Monterey. There, we found the SE was very easy to drive quickly and smoothly. This car is rock steady at high speeds and it's easy to make smooth transitions from gas to brakes. We chose a five-speed for this work and found the pedals are positioned well for heel-and-toe downshifting. The manual gearbox shifts smoothly and adds to the fun. Acceleration performance and fuel economy are better with the manual.
The four-wheel disc brakes and high-performance 16-inch tires did a commendable job of slowing this car down. We were activating the ABS as we braked hard for a set of chicanes erected to slow us down from 90 mph to a walking pace. The Maxima was stable during threshold braking.
On a second-gear autocross circuit, we found the Maxima tended toward understeer when driven beyond the limit of the tires -- the usual tendency for a front-wheel-drive sedan. We were unable to get the rear tires to break traction in a corner. This makes for predictable handling at the limit.
Nissan Maxima Lineup
Four models are available: an unadorned GXE ($21,249), a sporty SE ($23,849), a luxurious GLE ($26,449), and the new SE 20th Anniversary Edition ($27,149). A four-speed automatic is a $1700 option on the base GXE, a $500 addition to the SE models, and standard on the GLE.
The GXE, GLE and SE come with the same 222-horsepower, 3.0-liter V6 engine. Nissan officials say their twin-cam V6 is the best available and they may be right. By comparison, the Camry V6 offers 194 horsepower, the Accord V6 makes 200 and the Lexus ES 300 V6 delivers 210. The entire model lineup also shares a sporty suspension and four-wheel disc brakes with ABS. Front airbags are standard, side airbags are optional. Traction control is an option.
The GXE comes with an attractive price and a high level of standard equipment. The SE comes with a sporty cloth interior and titanium-faced gauges. It is distinguished by a rear spoiler, black trim around the grille and black trim around the taillights; the latter is most noticeable on lighter colored cars. (The spoiler and SE trim are not available for other models.) The SE is fitted with a unique set of sporty five-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels with 17-inchers available as an option. The automatic-equipped GLE comes with an attractive leather interior, an option on the SE.
The SE 20th Anniversary Edition benefits from a 5 horsepower increase, to 227, courtesy of a revised exhaust system with less back pressure. It also gets a limited-slip differential, 17-inch alloy wheels, plus visual cues such as a different engine cover, side sills and a rear under-spoiler, bronze-colored headlamps, drilled metal petals and metal-look interior trim.