Nissan Maxima 3.5 SV

The Maxima was very rock solid in terms of build quality. The door handles look nice and felt good. The steering wheel felt thick and sturdy and the car seats were extremely snug. The quality of the interior was Infiniti-level and looked and felt expensive.

The instrument panel was pretty straight forward and functional. I like the white backlighting at night, and the dials have white lines that work well during the day. Nissan provides a place to insert the keyless fob just to the left of the steering column if you don’t have a convenient pocket. The stereo controls were fairly easy to learn and use. The seats were extremely snug and comfortable.

The driver’s seat kept me in place on turns and I was really surprised at how sturdy it felt. There’s also plenty of head room and rear leg room for tall people. There are too many buttons on the steering wheel! The controls on the old G35 steering wheel were better designed. GM also has good steering wheel controls on the backside, they work well when driving. I kept hitting the left lever for volume and it keeps changing the navi options on screen.

I also fail to understand the rationale behind the ugly Compact Flash jack on the center console. The Maxima has the iPod connect option with a cable in the armrest and supposedly iPod controls through the stereo and touch screen. Then I connected my wife’s iPod Touch since a lot of accessories don’t work with iPhones. However, the Maxima could not read the songs on the iPod Touch either! We listened to “80s 0n 8″ channel in Sirius all weekend.