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NISSAN MAXIMA 3.5 SV

Published 2:21 pm Friday, January 15, 2010

It’s been a few years since I’ve had the opportunity to drive a Nissan Maxima. My esteemed (in her mind, at least) colleague Mary Lowry has been hogging them.

After my recent test drive, I can understand why.

The 2010 Nissan Maxima premium performance sedan, which touts itself as the “four-door sports car,” is in fact all that. There is no argument that this baby delivers dramatic styling, a refined interior and wide range of technology features that fuses family sedan practicality with the soul of a sports car.

Only one year removed from a ground-up redesign that returned the Maxima to its roots, this mid-size sedan receives only cosmetic changes for this model year. It’s hard to reinvent the wheel in the span of 12 months.

Powered by a responsive 3.5-liter V6 engine that delivers 290 horsepower, Maxima seats five adults and delivers an EPA-rated 26 mpg on the highway.

Combined with an Xtronic CVT automatic transmission, the car purrs like a kitten while performing like a mountain lion (at a higher level than mere Cougar).

The engine delivers driving performance worthy of Nissan’s flagship, with virtually no torque steer during acceleration and a level of nimbleness that ultimately makes the Maxima a fun car to drive. It zooms from zero to name-your-number in the virtual blink of an eye.

And what goes fast must stop equally fast – or even faster – on occasion. Braking is provided by standard four-wheel vented disc brakes with a four-channel, four-sensor, four-wheel anti-lock braking system complemented by electronic brake force distribution and brake assist.

My Maxima 3.5 SV tester came with a sport package featuring 19-inch aluminum-alloy wheels with P245/40R19 low profile, all-season performance tires.

Maxima’s exterior cuts a visually pleasing swath highlighted by a bulging catamaran-style hood and wraparound L-shaped headlights. But the styling feature I found most intriguing was the dual panel moonroof, which combines a front section (positioned farther forward than typical) and a fixed translucent rear section that provides light to rear seat passengers. The overall design gives the appearance that the entire roof is composed of black glass. The dual panel moonroof includes dual power sunshades for both the front and rear glass sections, adding a level of convenience for redheads such as myself who are bothered by actual sunshine.

The car’s interior succeeds in creating a cockpit-style look and feel without sports car-induced claustrophobia. All controls are ergonomically close, yet with ample roominess and comfort for both driver and passengers. The driver’s seat includes an available manual thigh extension for long distance driving and additional padding in the side bolsters for good lateral support during sporty driving.

My tester’s front seats also came with heating and cooling functions, and premium leather-appointed surfaces with special stitching. The rear seat has a 60/40 fold-down with access to a cavernous trunk that was great for transporting gifts and golf clubs.

Maybe best of all, Maxima is chock-full of technology and Larry-pleasing amenities such as navigation, rear-view camera monitored via 7-inch color screen, hands-free Bluetooth, satellite radio, iPod USB connectivity, DVD playback capability, 3GB music box hard drive, and a Bose premium audio system with nine speakers (including two subwoofers and a center channel speaker) that allowed my new Jimmy Buffet CD to make me believe I was sailing somewhere in the Caribbean.