Nissan calls the 2013 Nissan Maxima the ‘4 Door Sports Car’. It says so on the Monroney window sticker and you can find the 4DSC labels on the side rear windows. This is a bold statement to make. Does the Maxima live up to this moniker and how does it compare to the competition? This sedan has a surprise that does not show up on the specifications sheet.
A sports car needs to have the look to match the name. It should be aggressive, loud, and it must stand out. The Maxima does have a low and aggressive looking front end that looks angry from some angles. This is a good thing. In the rear, you will find exaggerated wide fenders or “hips” and design cues that show its lineage to the Nissan Z, as if the Maxima is Z’s sophisticated uncle. However, the overall presence of the Maxima is restrained. You won’t find a sporty rear diffuser, aggressive creases, gills, or hood vents. My test car did not have a rear spoiler, but Maxima with the optional Sport Package does offer one.
The same theme continues with the interior. Nissan spent the time to make the inside of the Maxima a comfortable and usable space. The interior feels sophisticated and the seats have good lateral support, but there is not enough aggression in the design to bring out the sporty character. Also, there are many luxurious touches throughout and this car does share some switches and the Navigation system controls with sister cars from Infiniti. I found the back seat of the Maxima on the smaller side. When I sat behind the driver’s seat, with my 6’2” frame, I was short on knee and head room. Although, my kids had no issues fitting in the back. The Maxima has old school child seat LATCH anchors which are a little difficult to find between the cushions.
The gauges and the driver information screen are very clear and easy to read, but once again fall a little short of conveying the sporty feeling. The tachometer is not in the center, although it is large and clearly visible. Also, I wanted some other sporty bells and whistles, such as a redundant digital speed readout, maybe a lateral acceleration display, or a stop watch feature. I felt like the extra sporty character was missing from the gauge cluster.
Okay, enough about the looks, lets discuss the powertrain and the handling. The Maxima uses Nissan’s very familiar 3.5 liter V6, which makes 290 horses and 261 ft-lbs of torque in this tune. All this power goes to the front wheels via a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Unfortunately, there are no All Wheel Drive or Manual transmission options. The motor has the power, but the rest of the specifications do not read very sporty. Surely, a proper sports car would have rear or all wheel drive and offer a manual transmission, but I have to say that the Maxima has a couple tricks up its sleeve.
This is by far the best CVT application that I have driven. At first, it didn’t even feel like a CVT when running around town. There is plenty of torque and power from the get go and exhaust has a deep tone to it. The exhaust note is not as aggressive as in the Infiniti G-coupe, but it helps to make driving the Maxima enjoyable. You can only tell the CVT is there when accelerating to highway speeds via the on-ramp. This transmission also has a Sport and manual shift modes. In ‘DS’ sport mode, the transmission emulates shift points and it also lets you manually go up and down in “gears”. I enjoyed the DS mode more than the regular D mode. My test car did not have the paddles, although this is an option you can get.
And now, here comes the main attraction. The Maxima’s surprise, that you cannot glean from reading the specs, is the way it rides and handles corners. It has no fancy adjustable suspension settings, but it really is a pleasure to drive in the twisties. This is not a small car, but it seems to shrink around you on a nice winding mountain road. The ride is not too harsh, but it is very communicative. The steering is precise and not too quick. The Maxima has very minimal body roll in fast corners and it behaves very predictably. There may be a hint of understeer if you push it hard, but the handling is the strongest asset of this car. I think this is what Nissan was talking about, when they called it the 4 Door Sports Car.
This generation of the Maxima has been around since 2009, so it’s getting up there in years. Of course, the competition is not standing still. Yet, it’s difficult to pin point Maxima’s main competitors. Nissan’s top of the line sedan has some luxurious features, some sporty features, and volume and footprint of a 2013 BMW 3-series. That’s right a 3-series.
| Starting Retail Price | City/Hwy MPG | HP / Lb-Ft | Curb Weight Lbs | |
| 2013 Nissan Maxima SV | $35,080 | 19/26 | 290/261 | 3,568 |
| 2013 Acura TL | $35,905 | 20/29 | 280/254 | 3,726 |
| 2013 BMW 328i | $36,500 | 23/33 | 240/255 | 3,461 |
| 2013 Buick Regal GS | $39,095 | 18/27 | 270/223 | 3,860 |
| 2013 Dodge Charger | $28,795 | 19/31 | 292/260 | 3,996 |
| 2013 Ford Taurus SEL | $28,800 | 19/29 | 288/254 | 4,015 |
| 2013 Infiniti G37 | $37,250 | 19/27 | 328/269 | 3,618 |
| 2013 Mazda Mazda6 | $29,990 | 18/27 | 272/269 | 3,597 |
| 2013 Toyota Avalon | $35,500 | 21/31 | 268/248 | 3,461 |
| 2013 Volkswagen Passat 3.6 | $29,235 | 20/28 | 280/258 | 3,446 |
| 2013 Volvo S80 3.2 | $40,300 | 19/28 | 240/236 | 3,825 |
The Maxima is the only sedan to use the CVT in the list above, all others use Automatics. It’s price is about average, and so are the EPA efficiency ratings. I averaged 22.4 MPG after a week of mixed city/highway driving. It’s interior passenger and cargo volumes are on the smaller end of the scale. Although, Maxima’s curb weight is lighter than most, which helps with sporty handling characteristics.
On the TFLcar scale of:
- Buy it!
- Lease it!
- Rent it!
- … or Forget it!
I give the Maxima SV a Least It! I truly enjoyed driving the Maxima on a twisty road and it was great around town. My test car stickered at $40,005, which included HID headlights, rear view camera, Bose stereo system, Technology Package with Navigation system, and more. I feel that the lack of an optional AWD system hurts it, when most competitors offer it. There are a lot of sporty sedans to choose from at the $40K price point. Maxima’s handling makes it shine, but it’s average in other areas. I would recommend to lease a Maxima with the Sport Package and then consider the redesigned Maxima when it comes out in a couple of years.
Please enjoy this TFLcar Mashup video where Roman and Nathan try to find out, which is faster and better: 2013 Altima or Maxima?
Andre Smirnov is a life-long automotive enthusiast, writer, and software engineer. On the weekends – you may find him at a car show, an auction, watching a race, or tinkering with a car in the garage. When not working or spending time with the family – he often scours the internet and other media for various automotive, mechanical, and computer related information.
