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| 2005 Nissan Maxima Review | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Road Test | |||
The Maxima once held the title of the fastest and greatest-driving sports sedan. Even the little "4DSC" (4-Door Sports Car) stickers plastered onto their windows didn't seem so silly when considering their high truth content. This would be the third-generation Maxima of 1989-1994 vintage.Whether this counts as the fifth or sixth Maxima, it's here to reclaim the glory. Starting with the Altima's platform is an obvious leap up from the cost-cutting philosophy that guided the design of the 1995-2003 models. Because there are few things more embarrassing than a near-$30,000 car running around with a torsion beam axle suspending its wheels, the Maxima has regained its independence. In fact, it did one better: instead of four struts, the Maxima gets an elaborate four-link setup on the rear wheels for the first time ever. Having lived with a beam axle-suspended Nissan for three years, the benefits struck me right away. The Maxima's ride is now less clompity, and bumps hitting one wheel no longer upset the other. Bumps in the middle of turns don't make the back wheels react like a set of pogo sticks. The Maxima just tracks like a pro. Some have complained of bone-jarring ride characteristics on the 3.5SE version of the Altima. Our Maxima was also a 3.5SE, with the same firmer shocks and front springs coupled to tires more extreme than those on any Altima: P245/45VR18. All Maximas also have stiffer rear ends thanks to an extra-thick 26.5 mm rear stabilizer bar for more neutral handling. You'd think this would ruin the ride, but I found it agreeable, maybe even on the high side of average. Overall, it's an obviously better ride-and-handling balance than the last Maxima. Even on front-drive cars, don't underestimate the importance of a good rear suspension. With relatively quick and steering and fairly strong grip from the wide Goodyears, handling's pretty good, though I didn't much care to investigate. While the vagueness of the 1995 Maxima's steering is gone, it's still too heavy on assist and light on feel to bring back any speed racer feeling. This car has also become a bit of a giant with its 40-foot turning circle; there are certain U-turns where you swear you're not gonna make it. Call it the 111-inch-wheelbase-and-245-mm-wide-tire blues. These days, a new Nissan prompts the question "which of the pedals has been over-tuned?" In the Maxima, the answer is "all of the above." The throttle's touchy - tap into it and you lunge forward - and the brakes are a little grabby. Suddenness has also crept into the steering, which is a little too quick just off-center - a trait shared with the Altima and G35. I'm guessing these tricks were taken to make the Maxima feel sportier. They don't work. What will make you want to drive like they do in Nissan's commercials is the engine. Remember the award-winning "VQ30DE" V6 that debuted with the 1995 Maxima? Now on duty in ten other Nissans, it's still the heart of this one as well. Its 190 horses may have been lightning back then, but the power war of recent years (which Nissan started, by the way) inspired a displacement increase, variable valve timing and a variable induction system that collectively raised the ante to 265. That's 120% more the original Maxima and enough to make it king when it came out in 2004. A year later, Toyota's 280-horsepower Avalon stole the crown, but boy is this thing ever fast. With that many horses, flying by other cars is effortless. It becomes kind of addicting, actually. As far as straight-line acceleration goes, nothing feels like work for the Maxima - well, except for getting all that power through the front tires. On this automatic model, the problem isn't so much torque steer (as I'd heard), but flooring the pedal smokes the front tires altogether. Not even low-profile 18-inch rubber can totally handle 255 pounds-feet of twist. Honestly, I liked this engine better back when it was 3.0 liters large. It sounded sportier when revved and the ample 222 horses that stormed away in the 2000 Maxima seemed like all a front-drive sedan can handle. I also have a question for Nissan: doesn't a super-powered Maxima make the 350Z and G35 less special? It also got a couple more MPG, though our low-20s average wasn't bad. The fuel meter was paranoid, though, setting off the warning light with over five gallons remaining, prompting a refill at 330 miles. Perhaps Nissan is protecting itself from the type of customer who measures gas mileage by "how much does it cost to fill the tank?" Ignoring the warning could surely help you realize the range promised by the Maxima's, which 20 gallons large. This car could do 400 miles in its sleep. The transmission shifts through its five gears (the 4-speed was dropped midway through 2004) smartly almost all the time and offers a manumatic mode that's pleasantly free of computer meddling. Fun fact: the top gear has a ratio of 1.018 to 1, meaning this car has no overdrive gear! It sure has been a long time since we've seen a non-overdrive automatic transmission, eh? But thanks to a low 2.44 final-drive ratio, the engine spins at a quite-normal 2,500 RPM at 70 MPH on the freeway, helping to uphold the Maxima tradition of a quiet atmosphere. This can't be called a revival of the 4-Door Sports Car, but it can be called another competent, comfortable, well-engineered sedan built to get you from point A to B. It just gets there a lot faster. |
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