Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Nissan
Nissan Maxima to go back to its four-door sports car roots
Like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, the Nissan Maxima was once a scrappy fighter that "coulda been a contenda." In the 80s it was the car that talked to you -- the one Eddie Murphy made fun of, wishing that instead of saying things like "Your door is ajar," it would say something useful like "Hey man, someone stole your battery." Then it really found form as the 4DSC (4-Door Sports Car) that looked good and went good. That was when it had the brand new 300Z for a sibling, back when Super Bowl commercials were worth watching. But that was the early 90s. Now the Maxima is, as they say in middle America, a lost ball in high weeds.
Nissan has decided to change that. Come 2009, Nissan has promised a Maxima "unlike anything we've ever done." It will be based on the VQ engine family, but will be FWD so as not to ruffle Infiniti feathers. With next year being Nissan's 50th anniversary, expect a concept to join the parade circuit along with the ready-for-sale GT-R and new Z.
[Source: Automobile Magazine]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
dave 5:07PM (5/01/2007)
I've owned a 91 and '00 Maxima, and can say that the 3rd generation (89-94) was a fabulous vehicle with excellent pickup, good handling, and a ton of practical space. Reliable like the sunrise, too. I'll be watching with great anticipation for the new one!
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Adam 5:12PM (5/01/2007)
This is great news! My daily driver is a 1998 Maxima SE and would love to see the sporty car come back. The Maxima has been lost in the line up for a few years now, I'm glad to see they are not going to kill it off.
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Ligor 5:13PM (5/01/2007)
so, it'll be an Acura TL contender
that's just great by my count, but i am baised, since I am a Nissan/Infiniti fan
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jgp 5:14PM (5/01/2007)
My dad used to own a 1990 Maxima GXE when I was a kid. It was a fun car to be in. I miss it...too bad my dad has horrible driving skills and totalled it in the late 90s (replacing it with a 1997-ish Ford Taurus, of all things).
Too bad that Nissan ruined the Maxima with the A32 (1995-1999), too. It's never really recovered from that...
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geo.stewart 5:17PM (5/01/2007)
I would not go expecting a sports car sedan. The current Altima is as big (slightly bigger in fact) than the last gen Maxima. The Altima with the 3.5 is as sporty a sedan as you are going to get out of Nissan. the Nissan cant go smaller than it is now or it will steal from the Altima. Maxima must be going grand tourer style and compete with that segment.
Not sure I buy it though if it is going to be FWD. and AWD would kind of trump Infiniti's RWD. Do I smell a DTS competitor? AAARRRGGHHHH!
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papercliprebel 5:08PM (8/14/2007)
i don't see how the maxima going awd would trump the g35 w/rwd seeing as how awd in general is considered inferior in a sports sedan and even more so when it is applied to front wheel drive platform.
Juan 5:20PM (5/01/2007)
Whatever they do, hopefully they'll give people a solid reason to buy a Maxima over an Altima.
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Gavin S. 5:28PM (5/01/2007)
FWD. Nuff said.
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Tool 5:30PM (5/01/2007)
Nissan really blew it with the current generation Maxima. In its desire to move Altima up-market, it completely obscured what Maxima stood for--the 4DSC.
It's good to hear that Nissan is going back to its roots. They should be getting 150,000 units instead of the 75,000 they sold last year.
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Mike 5:50PM (5/01/2007)
It will be interesting to see which direction Nissan goes with the Maxima. #3 states that it may be an Acura TL contender. If that's the case, and Nissan does stick with FWD only for the Maxima, they may be in a little trouble if the rumors are true that the TL will get SH-AWD. If Nissan counters by offering the Maxima with AWD, it could hurt G35 sales.
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Matt W. 5:53PM (5/01/2007)
Why don't they euthanize the Maxima? The model made sense in the days when the Altima/Stanza were smaller and Infiniti didn't exist. However, Infiniti basically has made the Maxima unnecessary. May be killing the Maxima would improve Nissan's U.S. operations, which has witnessed slumping sales.
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jgp 5:56PM (5/01/2007)
Make it a Mazdaspeed6 competitor.
Make it smaller, about Altima-sized (but give it completely unique styling). Then, heavily tune the suspension and add a turbocharged (maybe even twin-turbo) version of the VQ37.
Oh, and ATTESA AWD would be nice too.
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Ethan84ae 5:58PM (5/01/2007)
Nissan celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1984...
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Jim 6:06PM (5/01/2007)
"to go back to its four-door sports car roots"
"unlike anything we've ever done."
Huh?
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LyonKing 6:08PM (5/01/2007)
Your comments: you mean 300ZX!! I hate it when people call it the 300z...especially
since it was so much better than the current 350Z
this might seem anal...but seeing that i owned one for my first car..in my mind that
makes it ok to be anal about it
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tim d 6:17PM (5/01/2007)
jgp: Congratulations, you've just invented the GT-R!
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theo 6:18PM (5/01/2007)
Y'all missed the most important part of the article, which stated the reference point for the next Maxima will be the Mercedes CLS. Another "four door coupe." And I'd fully expect it to spawn an Infiniti variant which could be an actual competitor to the CLS.
Nissan's mostly hit-or-miss these days, with spectacular successes (Altima) or disasters (Quest). I'll wait for the concept to decide...
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Aki 6:30PM (5/01/2007)
"jgp: Congratulations, you've just invented the GT-R!"
Attesa existed before the Skyline GT-R as the SSS Attesa on the Nissan Bluebird (Japanese version of the Stanza). GT-R's Attesa ET-S is known not for just being AWD, but also acting as a RWD car until the computer detects the car is losing traction.
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Chet 6:34PM (5/01/2007)
Bah. Nostalgia. The Altima V6 is today what the Maxima was back then -- zoomy motor, zooty skin, practical space. And the Infiniti G35 is what the Maxima should have become -- midsize rear-drive, a true 4DSC.
There's no room for Maxima to go back to its roots.
Maxima is Nissan's Avalon. Nothing wrong with that. Keep it big and Buick it up. Or kill it. But this "4DSC" announcement is a paper-thin promise that has no room to come to fruition in reality.
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plim 6:48PM (5/01/2007)
i currently drive a 97 Maxima and love it. But ever since the latest gen Altima arrived, i've considered that the maxima successor. the current 6gen maxima is not a maxima in my book. it's an overbloated, ugly avalon/crown vic (large sedan) competitor. that said, i don't know what nissan can do to revive the 4dsc image. all i hope is that it's not fugly =P
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