|
|
|
|
24/09/2010, 01:26
By John Crawford
|
|
|
The dreary landscape of a long term parking lot at San Francisco Airport is hardly a location to glamorize an automobile described by its maker as a four door sports car, which is how Nissan North America labels its 2011 Maxima. Settling into the bumper to bumper stream of southbound peak-hour traffic on Highway 101, you just get to take in the interior view, and quickly come to grips with the comfort and convenience features in this smart, compact car.
Splitting from the inland freeway to hit the coast at Santa Cruz, there’s time to stop for a coffee and soak up the exterior as we pause by the Pacific Ocean. Immediately the word ‘sculpted’ comes to mind, and this latest version of the US Maxima certainly looks a whole lot more visually interesting than the rather bland version we get Down Under. In fact the American Maxima is a pretty snazzy-looking car.
Nissan’s Maxima has been its mainstay in the hotbed of the medium car market since it debuted in 1976, based on the ‘Bluebird’ platform, and in fact was called the Bluebird 810. It was a pretty ordinary front-drive-wheel sedan with a two-litre four cylinder engine, and it was also a pretty ordinary drive too. Talking of ordinary, Toyota’s competitor, the Cressida, was a car that gave ‘bland’ a bad name. Distinguished it was not! However, by 1984 the Maxima featured a V6 engine, and a fresher-looking exterior and interior styling job, but the first serious makeover came in 1989, when it was launched in Europe and Australia.
In 1995 the Maxima in Australia and the USA became a V6 only model, and sales began to increase. After a number of facelifts engineered in Japan, Nissan North America won the right to redesign the Maxima for its own market, and in 2000 a new model, designed at Nissan’s La Jolla studio created two different Maxima model lines. The US model shared its platform with the smaller Nissan Altima and Murano SUV, whilst the Australian Maxima sat on the existing platform, and continued to be sourced from Japan. The most recent restyle of the US Maxima has been dramatic and well-received in the marketplace. However, styling-wise it’s a bit of a three card trick. The car sits on the same underbody dimensions, but the ‘sculpting’ of the external panels has given it apparent greater substance.
It’s significantly wider than the previous model, but the interior package remains the same. It’s not ‘squeezy’, but not as generous inside as some of its competitors. However, in equipment terms the Maxima is a class leader. The standard car comes with iPod/MP3 connectivity, SatNav, Bluetooth and a great stereo, with Bose speakers. The transmission is one of the best-developed CVT types we’ve tested, and the Maxima even has steering column-mounted transmission paddles!
It’s very smooth in operation, and most drivers would be unaware they were driving a CVT-equipped car. Whilst the change is nowhere near as fast as a twin-clutch type, it performs admirably when driven on the ‘paddles’. Nissan seems to have achieved its aim, in separating this car from its (mostly) Japanese competitors, and endowed it with a powerful and quite frugal V6, a snappy CVT transmission, excellent ride comfort and passably good handling.
The US Maxima still exhibits more understeer than we’d like, but it’s very responsive and the rack and pinion steering has quite good feel, thanks to a very ‘fast’ steering box ratio. Leaving Highway 101 just north of Santa Barbara we climb into a mountain range, and pass through the village of Solvang, which is one of those backwoods oddities you find sprinkled around the USA. Solvang is what you might call ‘Little Denmark’ and is populated by Danish settlers who began arriving in America between 1896 and the early 1900s. Solvang was established in 1915, and the restaurants, cuisine, architecture and customs has created a pocket of Danish culture high in the hills of the Santa Ynez mountains.
The drive south heading towards Los Angeles along Highway 154 is just the right sort of road to test the “Four Door Sports Car” and the Maxima did not disappoint. There’s no point comparing this car to a dedicated sports sedan like a BMW 5 Series, or an Audi A5, but the Maxima points precisely, performs well, rides comfortably and inspires confidence. The suspension is very well sorted, and the secondary ride quality is outstanding for a Japanese-designed car. Rarely have we encountered such an excellent ability to handle small deflections as well as this car does.
Okay, truth is, it’s not a sports car, but who are we to argue with the success of the ad agency’s campaign. However, the American Maxima is a neat package, well-sorted and we believe is streets ahead of the model Australians have been offered. Back onto Highway 101 and it’s traffic tailbacks all the way into the northern approaches of the City of Angels. Here is where the Maxima really shines. It’s comfortable, well-equipped and good value. What more could you want? If it’s brand caché, or European breeding you’ll pay a lot more, so Nissan North America seems to have made its mark with the Maxima.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print Article
Submit Feedback
Email This Article
