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| 2005 Nissan Maxima Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Inside & Out | |||
Aside from the fanny lift and the cheese-grater face, the Maxima's body differences are in the numbers. With length, width, height, and wheelbase now up at 193.5, 71.7, 58.3, and 111.2 inches, the Maxima is just asking for tax penalties in its home land (oh wait, they're built in Tennessee now). Compared to last year's car, those are increases of 2, 1.4, 1.8, and 2.9. The Maxima was born as a compact sedan, but with total interior volume up to 119.1 cubic feet, it looks mighty eager to graduate right out of the mid-size category. (Just 0.9 to go!)Two straight years of hate mail regarding the Altima's interior apparently gave the stylists enough time to get things right for the Maxima, which sports a fair number of differences. Addressing the biggest complaint, reasonably high-quality plastics cover the surfaces. Nothing looks suspiciously shiny or feels brittle. There isn't much to say about the main ergonomics, which are pretty standard - just the usual Nissan goodness. One difference is the Maxima's standard dual-zone automatic climate control and the array of buttons that comes with it. It has an annoying habit of defaulting to recirculated air when you turn it on, but works fine otherwise. Like Volkswagen, Nissan lets you roll down the front windows with the key, and goes one step further by putting the same function on the remote key fob. In terms of quality and ergonomics, the Maxima passes. Beauty, while subjective, rarely gets a lot of disagreement when it comes to interior design. The center stack wears a bold shield of metallic trim (SL models get wood accents) to keep things interesting, but that's about it. Neither the big triple-barreled instrument panel nor the orange-on-gray markings found many fans within these walls. The steering wheel controls need night lighting and the four-spoke steering wheel on last year's Altima not only looked better but had a smarter button design. The dual SkyView sunroofs run like an interrupted Mohawk down the center of the roof, bringing light (but not air) to everyone's life. Optionally, you can order a traditional one-panel sunroof that does open. No complaints about driver comfort. The tilt-telescoping steering wheel (electrically powered on the Driver Preferred Package) and power seat adjustments make finding your sweet spot easy; our version even lets you heat the steering wheel. And while the Altima had the roomiest back seat in any Nissan to date, Nissan sculpted out a little extra for the Maxima. Both space and comfort rank highly: there's plenty of room from head to toe and the bench mounting seems to have been restored to its more comfortable pre-1995 height. Also, outboard riders get adjustable head restraints for the first time and the back windows go all the way down. If the floor were completely flat like on the new Avalon, it would be pretty much perfect, but even as it is, five slim passengers could ride in a Maxima and be on speaking terms after hours. Optionally, you could take one out and have four live like kings. Capitalizing on the insight that people rarely stuff their sedans with a full load of five, the Maxima has an optional Elite Package to replace the back bench with contoured twin bucket seats with a center console and cupholders. They also get a 12-volt power outlet, one-touch windows, heated seats, and a power rear sunshade. This package replaces the seat's full foldability with a mere center-rear portal. Like the cabin, the trunk is pretty big now too at 15.5 cubic feet, further blessed with strut suspenders, three cargo nets, an interior release handle for not-so-bright children, and straps to fold down the seat from either side of the wall. A funny effect of the big trunk is that it reduces rear visibility to a coupe-like slot, though it really isn't a problem. All passengers get entertained by Nissan's stereo, which optionally benefits from Bose's partnership as always. Eight speakers (the normal six plus two back deck subs), 320 watts, sounds great, what else is new? Here's what's isn't new: MP3 playback. Instead, we get... a cassette player. Our Maxima also had the $2,000 navigation system - now DVD instead of CD-based and with a 7-inch screen - which doesn't have some of features found in Infinitis but serves a Nissan well enough, and the Maxima's new MPG/MPH-measuring trip computer should amuse the video gamer in everyone. |
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