Hardy Mutschler Nissan Maxima 3.0 V6 driving report
01.05.2015
Like a shrunk Cadillac Seville
N , it wasn't just the price that charmed me. For 500 euros I could have bought a Ford Probe GT or an Opel Vectra CD. Both too small, too four-cylinder, too few travel cars. I've always liked the Nissan Maxima, it's a long-forgotten exotic love from the nineties - out of sight, out of mind. But when the stately car in seductive ice blue metallic happens to cross my path on the laptop in the evening, everything is suddenly back.
Maxima is a quiet star, one who can last for 25 years without making a fuss . My Nissan Maxima looks like a shrunk Cadillac Seville STS, you would never believe its drag coefficient of 0.32. It is rare, it promises Japanese perfection even in old age. It is said that the old Japanese could weld the bonnet, double the oil change intervals and triple those for the timing belt. Without anything happening.
Three-liter V6 with 170 HP and less than 130,000 km on the clock
Maxima is not beautiful. Not as beautiful as Holland's queen at her dream wedding, but his figure is impressive, the proportions are right. It's a full-fledged middle class, like a five-car BMW. The data of the Nissan Maxima convinced me, three-liter V6, 170 hp, only run 127,168 km, third hand, you can buy something like that blindly. The purchase was only a formality, the dealer was friendly and honest, a lap on the gravel yard, a cursory glance at the temperature display, oil level and indicator lights. No warning signs, everything is fine. The beautiful day in the new car can begin.
Maxima doesn't bumble around, drives smoothly after a warm-up phase and reactivated oil circuit, as befits a six-cylinder. The brakes of the Nissan Maxima lose the unpleasant grinding noise, and the cheap, nasty CTC Clatronic radio donates background music from a leisurely Swiss station.
Little rust on the body
Jon and Vangelis sing' I'll Find My Way Home '. The pathetic song gets lost in the vague infinity of diffuse synthesizer sounds and for me is the quiet invitation, in a detour from singing along the shores of Lake Constanceto drive via Friedrichshafen to Ulm. On the way, I treat the Nissan Maxima to a 'platinum wash full program' - then it shines with the sun breaking out of the high fog for a moment.
At least now it becomes clear: Maxima is not a used car. The sparkling clean interior with no wear and tear on the seat and the leather-covered steering wheel that feels like new is pleasant. There are only a few rust spots all around, a few bubbles on the wheel arch and a spot on the fuel filler cap. Only the rear sill ends of the Nissan Maxima demand immediate action, the underbody protection has already been replaced by rust.
Nobody wants Maxima
I don't understand why the car that still has three months MOT is so cheap. 'Hardly anyone wants a Nissan Maxima,' said the dealer, Libya broke away because of the chaos of the civil war. Most African countries want air conditioning, even if it is broken. My Maxima doesn't have any, but it does have an electric sliding glass roof that I open in high spirits. At 120 km /h in fifth it goes over the B 31, Maxima remains quiet, the speed level is low, just 2,400 tours are pending.
The instruments greet friendly, white on black, as it should be. Functional objectivity defines the Nissan Maxima, inside and out, the time of the bombastic Japanese baroque is over. I'd rather have automatic than five-speed, but the gearbox can be shifted easily and precisely despite the angled transverse engine kinematics, only the shift lever looks skinny and awkward.
The not overly modern designed square bucket tappet V6 delivers you unexpectedly full draft from the speed cellar. No wonder, since it has half a liter more displacement than my everyday BMW. The front-wheel drive tries to hide as well as possible in the Nissan Maxima. But I always feel a trace of stiffness in the drive train, some kind of friction from the steering wheel that doesn't belong there. I know that from my Alfa Romeo 164 and also from the Audi 100.
Maxima makes you lonely
What does Maxima now? A colleague shook her head when I told her about my latest purchase: 'At least it used to be a Mercedes.' Others do not understand the car in its undramatic servitude, no one trusts it a top of 220 km /h or a deeply relaxed tour from Lake Como to Munich. Nobody takes away its complex rear axle with double wishbones and trailing arms. It's a shame.
It's enough for me if I like Maxima. Nobody really wants to ride anyway. Nobody understands him, where is his lobby? Look outside the box at Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Then in the end you will also find the Nissan Maxima beautiful. Does anyone still have an original Nissan cassette radio lying around? Exchange for three 'Neue Post' issues with QueenMaxima on the cover.
Nissan trucks: the other side of the brand. Like Mercedes-Benz, Nissan is a major manufacturer of heavy trucks. Nissan Diesel is the name of the truck division. It is not part of the joint venture with Renault.
