How the worm has turned. Remember the early days of front wheel drive vehicles when people questioned the technology?

This had perhaps something to do with some early cars having CV joint problems and in some cases a turning circle of a Jumbo jet. Those in doubt kept to what they knew: rear wheel drive cars. Commodore, Falcon and Valiant.

Fast forward to 2009.

“Over the past five years we have seen the halving of sales volume from the two local Rear Wheel Drive large car manufacturers,” said Darren Holland, brand manager for Nissan passenger vehicles.

“But the fact still remains that while the large car market has experienced this decline, in 2008 there were still over 180,000 Australians purchasing a medium or large sedan every year. This represents almost 1 in every 5 vehicles sold into this market.”

Holland was speaking at the launch of the all-new Nissan Maxima, a medium to large front wheel drive car.

Maxima has not contributed significantly
enough to the above figures: its understated looks, conservative interior, have limited the car's sales to mainly males of around 55 years of age.

Which is a pity. Maxima has been a great touring car since its introduction here 20 years ago. It just got better.

Nissan is taking its family sedan which is normally describes as `affordable luxury' in a new direction, aiming at younger buyers plus mounting a two-pronged attack for the first time with a choice of engines: one designed to take on the usual suspects in the large car segment, and a smaller 2.5 litre V6, aimed at the likes of Toyota's Camry four and Honda Accord.

Maxima is aimed at private buyers who already vote with their feet in a two to one ratio for front wheel drive ahead of rear wheel drive.

Heading the charge will be the Maxima 250 ST-L, powered by a 2.5 litre engine, a first for Maxima which for years has campaigned the superb Nissan 3.5 litre V6.

The bigger engine remains in the line-up, in the 350 ST-S and top of the line 350 Ti.
The small V6 puts out 134 kW of power and 228 Nm of torque with Nissan claiming similar fuel economy to competitor's four cylinder medium size cars.

Both the 2.5 V6 and the 3.5 V6 are linked to Nissan's CVT transmission.

Nissan's official fuel consumption figures are 9.5 litres/100 kms from the 2.5 and 10.2 litres/100 from the 3.5 litre. The economy is said to be 6 per cent better from the 3.5 V6 in the previous Maxima, while the engine now outputs 15 kW of extra power, at 185 kW and 326 Nm at 4400 rpm.

At launch we drove all three variants. Maxima is now on a 40 per cent stiffer torsional frame delivered via the new Global D platform, which it shares with Murano, with front lateral stiffness up 85 per cent.

The result is an improved ride and even better NVH (Noise, Vibration Harshness) in a car already known for its quiet ride.Front and rear suspensions are also new with a multi-link rear suspension, now shock absorption system as well as a new front suspension.

The overall feel is of improved handling and cornering.

The 2.5 litre V6 lacks the pure grunt of the 3.5 litre, but is no slouch and will easily meet the needs of buyers in the market for an economical, yet well-performed family sedan

It comes well appointed for a car that will sell for $33,990.

Standard fare includes leather trim, dual zone climate control, 8-way electric drivers seat, 4 way electric passenger seat, 6 CD players with six speakers, 17inch alloy wheels, Xenon headlamps, six airbags and Vehicle Dynamic Control.

The 350 ST-S , at $37, 990adds the bigger engine, rear spoiler, rear parking sensors, intelligent key system and heated front seats. Luxury 350 Ti includes electric sunroof, memory seats, satellite navigation, rear parking camera with predictive path technology, Bluetooth handsfree, DVD player and 11 speaker Bose system. The 350 Ti will set you back $46,990.