I think the 6th gen. is a hit!!! Think about the alternatives: pedestrian Acura TL base, less posh Accord, elegant but outclassed Camry, and the undersized German competition! The new Max will have the long-term reliability of the Camry, well-balanced virtues of Accord, and driving pleasure of German entries.

The only way I think Nissan could've done better is to make this 6th gen. a smaller (185" length) more razor-edged FWD sports sedan. Keep interior room comparable the 5th gen. Maxima but make the trunk smallish. Problem with this is it will definately sell lower volumes, possibly be in a class of cars driven by hype that is surely to die down in 18 months, plus even if FWD may conflict with the lean G35.

 

I 100% agree with you. I've also noticed that they've done some Z-like designes with the Nissan Murano, as a "z-suv" and the maxima as the 4 door "Z." It's true, look at the competition and I would take the maxima over any camery, accord, avalon, etc. However, the only downfall I see is where nissan priced this vehicle at. It's priced higher than an avalon, so I guess it would compete in the class of the g35, but could be nissan's fwd, and infiniti competes with the rwd. I really dont know. I say if nissan drops the price on this baby, they've definitly got themselves a winner. If the maxima is filling the i35 niche, I personally would have prefered it to be under infiniti since you get better service, etc.