Nissan makes two sedans with spacious interiors: the Sentra and Versa compact economy cars. Their stumpy, upright rooflines won’t win them any styling awards, but they keep the headliner comfortably above the heads of rear passengers. This also allows the rear seats to be mounted far enough from the floor to avoid a knees-up riding position, and lets the front seats go up high enough for rear-seat occupants to comfortably slide their feet underneath them.
Nissan also makes two larger, more expensive cars: the midsize Altima and the redesigned-for-2009 Maxima reviewed today. They certainly look sleeker than Nissan’s economy cars, but although they’re bigger, they cost more, and they use much more fuel, darned if they don’t have less usable passenger space inside.
This isn’t just because economy cars have gotten more space efficient recently, though they have. Sit in three generations of older Maximas from the last decade, and they all too offer friendlier accommodations than the new 2009 car. (The Altima, too, has lost rear seat comfort in its most recent redesign.) The way the roof on the new Maxima slopes smoothly into the trunklid cuts out rear seat headroom and forces the seat lower to the floor to make the most of what little remains.
Of course, if you’re signing the check for your new car, you’re probably not riding in the back. Drivers and front seat passengers would be unlikely to object to some extra head space, but they’re otherwise fine for space and comfort.
Drivers also get to enjoy a potent 3.5-liter V6, which offers smooth and effortless power and stays quiet when it should. This V6 also gets respectable fuel economy ratings for a heavy, powerful car: 19 city and 26 highway according to the EPA. Drivers also get firm, responsive steering and nimble handling, but again by the standard of a large car. Nissan markets the Maxima as a driver’s car, a “four-door sports car,” but it’s only sporty in comparison to other big family cars like the Ford Taurus or Toyota Avalon, and several other big family cars come close.
And therein is the inherent problem with the Maxima: it does these things well for its size, but it doesn’t offer the benefit to its size of a spacious interior. Maybe as the driver, you don’t particularly care whether your rear passengers have stretch-out space, as long as they don’t complain too loudly. And they won’t in the Maxima; though the car’s accommodations are far from class-competitive, you could certainly do worse.
But if rear seat space isn’t an issue to you, you should consider looking at another class of car entirely. The Maxima may offer agile handling and good gas mileage for a big car, but if all you need is the interior space of a smaller one, one of those would likely suit you better.
And the Maxima isn’t cheap. A base model approaches $30,000. The car driven for this report stickered at over $35,000, without even the $2,250 package that includes a navigation system. And a lot of what you’re paying for is exterior size, not luxury. The Maxima feels more pleasant than luxurious in its drive: quiet and nicely finished, but unremarkable, more like a Camry than a Lexus.
For your $35,000, if you’re really looking for a four-door sports car and aren’t too concerned about your rear-seat passengers, you might want to look at lightly-optioned BMW 328is or Audi A4s, or go for the route toward extra power over finesse with Nissan’s own rear-wheel-drive Infiniti G37. If you want both sport and space, look at Pontiac’s G8 GT.
But if you really like the way the Maxima drives, and like its exterior size with or without the expected roomy rear seat, you’ll find the closest alternative in the Hyundai Genesis
reviewed here last week. It’s even quieter, has a nicer interior, has more available luxury features, has near-identical power and gas mileage, and has a much more spacious interior. And like the Maxima, it’s agile for its size, but more planted than sporty.
But thanks to its combination of big-car driving dynamics and price with small-car interior space, the Maxima is not a strong choice. As with several other promising new midsize cars from recent years – such as the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu and Nissan’s own 2007 Altima – the Maxima offers prospective buyers style over substance at a price point at which you can demand both.
Vehicle tested: 2009 Nissan Maxima SV
Vehicle base price: $29,290
Vehicle prices as tested: $35,165
Photos by Brady Holt.
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