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2016 Nissan Maxima SR: interior rivals luxury vehicles

Published 10:57 am Friday, January 8, 2016

If you’re willing to “fudge” a little bit, and take a chance on a four-door sports car, the re-imagined and re-energized 2016 Nissan Maxima SR will reward your forward thinking.

It’s still Nissan’s flagship model, and a large sedan, but it looks and drives like nothing else in the large sedan market niche. A bold new design — combined with a 3.5-liter V6 engine that delivers 300 horsepower, more rigid chassis and sports car-like acceleration and handling — makes it happen.

The 2016 Maxima is offered in five well-equipped grade levels, including new SL, SR and Platinum grades. No options are available. Maxima seats five, offers spacious trunk space, and my onboard computer rated my miles per gallon average at 24.6 for my week of combined city/highway driving.

The exterior projects a distinctive upscale look through its lower profile and wide stance. Highlights include a V-motion front end, signature boomerang lights, 18-inch, machine-milled aluminum alloy wheels with painted inserts, and a unique floating roof appearance. It almost makes you forget about the two extra doors.

My SR tester was designed with the specific goal of pushing Maxima’s performance boundaries further than ever before to placate dyed-in-the-wool driving enthusiasts. There are pages of technical data to make these types drool, but I’ll provide the expurgated version. Exclusive hardware starts with unique suspension damper tuning and a larger front stabilizer bar. And the panoramic moonroof was eliminated to help lower the SR’s center of gravity and further enhance torsional rigidity.

Having firmly established the Maxima’s “driver’s car” pedigree, let’s move to creature comforts – my personal favorite. Maxima’s interior truly rivals luxury vehicles. It offers genuine stitching on the instrument panel, doors and console, available ambient lighting, available premium Ascot leather seating surfaces with diamondquilted inserts, unique faceted finishers and a sporty D-shaped steering wheel.

They don’t just look good – they fit like a glove. Nissan’s unique zero-gravity front seats with sport bolstering are standard (8-way, power-adjustable driver’s seat and 4-way, power-adjustable front passenger’s seat) and offer increased softness provided by a new three-layer foam design. Heated or cooled air can be dialed up on command.

An 11-speaker Bose sound system delivers the highest audio fidelity experience in the segment, which is amplified because the Maxima interior is so darn quiet. Wish I had it in my family room or man cave. An eight-inch color display features multi-touch control for intuitive smartphone-like gestures such as swiping and pinch-to-zoom to operate the navigation system with hands-free text messaging assistant and voice recognition.

Other standard luxury features include a power tilt/telescoping steering wheel with an easy-entry system, heated steering wheel, Around View Monitor, remote start via key fob and a power rear sunshade.

An extensive range of safety, security and driving aids – many included as standard equipment (depending on grade level), put the Maxima over the top. For example, predictive forward-collision warning, intelligent cruise control, forward emergency braking, rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot warning are all standard equipment on the SL, SR and Platinum grades.

2016 NISSAN MAXIMA SR

BASE PRICE: $37,670

AS TESTED: $38,750

Base price includes destination charge. Vehicles are provided by the manufacturer. Prices may vary at local dealerships.