Thanks for the pic, but it looks disproportionate, like the picture is squeezed or something. Can't really get a good feel for it.

 

This will be fine, dauntless. Cameras are almost always misleading. As seen directly from the side, the 8th gen Maxima will have almost exactly the same overhang in front as it does in the rear, just as the Nissan concept sedan. The front overhang is about half as much as this photo would indicate, while the rear overhang is actually longer than it seems in this photo. This photo is also squeezed vertically, which further distorts things a tad.

I find the blacked out wheels interesting. I would think that might be an option on the sport version, but then this car doesn't appear to have a spoiler (unless a very small one), so probably is not a sport version. There is still a lot we don't know about this 8th gen. I appreciate seeing the Bordeaux Black body color in daylight. It still looks a little purple to me.

 

Hopefully so. You have a trained eye in photography it seems!

With every generation of this car and the G/Q50 (especially the last two), Nissan always makes it hard for me to compare the sporty aesthetics of both cars. The maxima has larger overhangs, but also has the raked roof/fastback and more dramatic styling. The Q50 has an aggressive front end, but sticks to traditional RWD proportions and doesn't really take a chance with styling. I am more biased towards the Q50, but if the Maxima kept its look and had RWD proportions, it'd win in my book every time.

 

I can understand that some folks simply prefer RWD and/or RWD dimension front overhangs. The long front overhang in the FWD 1966 Olds Toranado was the classic example of FWD overhang. Fortunately, the movement these days is toward placing the wheels at the outer corners of the vehicle for better driving control. The 8th gen Maxima will be FWD, but will not have an overly long front overhang, despite the appearance in that photo.

Speaking of RWD, I was a RWD fan from the mid-1940s until around 1984. I finally found through experience (not all good) that FWD gives better traction on wet surfaces, snowy surfaces, icy surfaces, slushy surfaces, oily surfaces, grass surfaces, sand surfaces, gravel surfaces, mud surfaces, or plain old soil surfaces. Those folks heavy into nostalgia or who grew up with RWD or are into drifting competition or track competition will be better with RWD.

The distortion in that photo was caused by the camera being too close to the car, probably using a wide angle lens. That is a common fault with amateur photographers; they never majored in physics. Wide angle lenses are great for flowers, gardens, etc, but distort foreground objects rather badly. A midrange lens is usually best. A telephoto lens also usually keeps things in decent perspective, except for architectural objects, where parallesism become a problem and a midrange lens works best.

p.s. - I was a fine photographer sixty-five years ago with my 1947 Kodak Brownie box camera, but am a novice these days. My very limited knowledge in this area comes from minoring in Astronomy, grinding telescope lenses, working in a planetarium, etc.

 

Just as info for any here who (like me) are interested in the Coulis Red (color code NAW), coulis is a French word which is the name of a red vegetable-based sauce generally used on meats, but which can be used on sorbets or ice cream. It is pronounced:

'COO LEASE'

I have never owned a red car, and never thought I would. But I find this Coulis red very striking. It is not quite 'fire engine red', but is totally different than reds which tend to lean toward maroon. But, truth be known, my wife will probably talk some sense into me before I buy, and I will end up with either white, silver, bronze or gray.

 

Never mind -- someone pulled the video just as I posted it.

 

I went to the Rochester Auto Show this weekend... no 8th Gen to be found (and none expected, really). It seems Nissan and Toyota were competing for the most boring stable of cars in the building. Nissan didn't even bother to bring a GTR.

(sigh)

If I were forced to select a mid-$40's sedan from the lot, the Lincoln MKZ would have easily won that contest. Even over the new Merc CLA, which was positively awful, IMO. Even over the BMW 3-series, which just looks old and boring now.

Lots of cars, but nothing spectacular. Actually, the BMW i3 made quite an impression. Not sure exactly why, but it did.

 

The resemblance between this big car and the Optima is clearly there from the rear door back, Nissan clearly copied that rear door distinct upward slope toward the rear of the back door......

 

No 3.5L Altima...rumor has it that the next Altima won't offer a V6. Nissan is targeting 2 or 3 different small displacement Inline-4 engines.

 

Well, it seems the days of the Altima nipping at the heels of the Maxima may be coming to an end. Probably 90% of Altimas I see are already the 2.5 litre engines. The Altima will be fine with a 4 cylinder. There are quite a few 4 cylinder engines out there now that have surprising power. Not on the V6 level, but near enough to power the car just fine.

And if Nissan supercharges the 4 cylinder for an upscale version Altima, it will have very good acceleration and good torque, but get very good fuel efficiency when the supercharger is not needed, which should be most of the time.

Very interesting info. Makes a lot of sense when we consider the increasing fuel efficiency requirements, and the impact this move could have on Nissan's 'fleet fuel efficiency', since the Altima is a huge seller. This could possibly give Nissan a little leeway to keep a strong V6 in the Maxima, which, being a low volume seller, will not hurt Nissan's fleet fuel efficiency very much.

 

It would seem that, having unveiled the 8th gen Maxima during the Super Bowl, Nissan would have slipped the new Maxima into all the auto shows leading up to the official intro at the NY Auto Show, but save the hype and chatter for the official intro. But then they knew the photographers would have a thousand pics up the very day they saw the new Max, no matter how obscure the auto show might have been. So we all wait until April 1st. And as a result, I will be skipping the Atlanta Auto Show coming up later this month.

The Lincoln MKZ is getting good reviews from Consumer Reports. But that should be expected, because the MKZ rides on the Fusion platform, and CU has liked the Fusion from day one. I have always sort of liked Ford/Lincoln, probably because of disappointments with the way GM was operated back in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. But that is not a story for here. My wife has owned nothing but Ford trucks for over thirty years, and they have done well.

 

Light,

A very astute observation and a welcome sign for Maxima. I drive a 2.5S 2011 Silver with black interior. At 175HP/180lb-ft torque is more than sufficient for good acceleration on an off ramp to highway. Anything above 240 HP with a turbo-charged 4-cylinder for that model will be overkill due to price and wheel-spin, especially with FWD. That car doesn't need AWD, I can get around okay in snow on hilly terrain with that car, live in a mountainous part of NJ, snow here can be hectic at times. Also with fuel-economy being a major driver factor for those looking to purchase Altima versus Maxima straight-up, V6 sales have not been all that good for Altima for several years running. At that stage, for $4K more, might as well go with Maxima if fuel-economy isn't that important to you, with the extra hip and headroom. Both figure to increase, with more legroom and cargo capacity with 2016 version coming out soon.

 

I see a lot of cars in this new design. I've owned 3 Maximas, a 92, still have an 03 and own a 12. Skipped the 4th Gen & the 6th Gen. Just didn't like them.
This new model is looking very main stream and has styling cues from quite a few different model cars. Will need to see it in person. But still liking my 12 so far.
I think this is the nicest photo I've seen of the 8th Gen. though.

 

A shame your pic isn't the real 8th gen. That pic looks like a stretched GTR. I like it more than the real photos.

 

Good observations. I personally think the Altima easily passes the 'style' test. Even though there are hundreds of thousands of each model year of the Altima on the road, I still find myself 'noticing' them. I agree with you on AWD. Somewhere on maxima.org recently I posted a list of drawbacks of AWD, and the list was surprisingly long. I would never buy AWD unless I knew I would be driving off-road on a regular basis. And the 2.5 version of the Altima has plenty of power for what is actually a fairly large sedan.

 

The Altima is a fine car in its class... I've always thought so, and still do. The only real problem with the Altima (aside from not being a good platform for a Sport Sedan), is that there are freaking millions of them. They're about as unique as pine trees.

 

Ouch! You mentioned pine trees. I spend hundreds of hours each year thinning out the pines on our property that will grow one per every few square feet and choke each other to death if left untended. The few that survive the choking do so by reaching up to fifty to eighty feet with no limbs except at the top.

I got in this mess by trying to reduce my lawn from seven acres to three acres so as to reduce the mowing time several hours per week. I am gradually getting several very nice woods established, but keeping them completely clear of undergrowth requires constant effort.

I see pine trees in my sleep. I would much rather be seeing the 8th gen Maxima, which will be officially presented to the public in just 27 days. I am really getting rather excited. I am very interested in all the mechanical details and options.

 

If it has AWD 6 cylinder model vs the FWD MAXIMA, who the monkeys going to buy the more expensive FWD Maxima?

 

Has the Altima already released an AWD model, or is that planned for a year or two from now? I understood the AWD option was being implemented around the same time as the elimination of the 6 cylinder 3.5 Altima, which will happen soon. Not that AWD would appeal to most Maxima drivers. AWD may be the most overrated option available. I would never buy an AWD sedan. SUV maybe.

The Altima is a very good transportation vehicle, but is very clearly a 'middle price range' sort of car that competes with the Camry and Accord, both solid cars. When loaded to 'Maxima level' with options, it is also approaching 'Maxima level' in price. We usually get something fairly near what we pay for.

The Altima is fine for most folks, but there are some who want a little more. Something a little nearer the luxury level. More styling. More options as standard. More quality in interior appointments. Something that stands out at least a little bit from the millions of other cars out there. The Maxima fills that niche very nicely.

Yes, there have been times and reasons in the past to compare the Altima and the Maxima, but, with the intro of the 8th gen Maxima, I don't think many folks will be weighing the Altima against the Maxima as we move forward. Just two growingly different vehicles aimed at two increasingly divergent target audiences.

 

Having owned 3 Maximas in my lifetime (well, two of which my parents owned), this is the first one since the 3rd Gen that's caught my attention. (I currently own 2, a black '90 SE and a cream '93 VE 5-spd, both of which are damn-near impossible to find in the Bay Area) My parents briefly owned a 5th Gen SE, but we didn't like the quality of the car since it felt like a downgrade from the 3rd gens. It was even noticable to a six-year old. When I first saw the SSC online, it was drop-dead gorgeous IMO.

I think the deal breaker for me will be the powertrain. Even if it's not a 6MT, a good automatic would be nice. I went to look at a 2013 and I just didn't like it. It felt nothing like what I was accustomed to. Too bad that Strad Amber prly won't be available on the actual production car.

Also, I do hope that it stays within the price range of the current Max. If it's any higher, I might just get a Z.

 

It would be nice if AWD was at least an available option. I can appreciate that it may not be of much value to drivers in the relatively flat, featureless, fair weather regions of the country such as the South/Southeast and mid-Atlantic areas, but for those of us who live and drive in regions that see significant snowfall, especially in truly mountainous areas, AWD is a Godsend. Subarus have long been popular in these areas for a reason.

 

Me, for one.

 

I hope the Altima refresh doesn't take too many styling cues from the 16 Maxima. I want the Max to be a standout vehicle, and not just look like a larger Altima...like the last couple generations.

 

Uh - the Altima is about an inch longer than the current Max, and the Max is about an inch wider than the Altima - so not sure where this is coming from.

 

Compare last gen altima to 7th gen Maxima

 

Well, here we are, comparing the Altima to the Maxima again for the 3,836,829,674 time in the last fifteen years.

Why we continue to compare a $22K to $32K mid-price vehicle with a $32K to $42K near-luxury vehicle somehow escapes me. I could give my usual spiel about these vehicles being in different price ranges and aimed for totally different customers. And those who feel these vehicles are equivalent mechanically are not bothering to read about the extra steps used in constructing the Maxima, such as suspension parts from the Infiniti 'M'. But clearly nobody is listening, so I give up.

 

Agreed. Don't give up, LOTH, fight the good fight!!!

 

Don't give up, LOTH! All I'm saying is I'm hoping that the 16 Alt refresh separates itself (stylewise) from the 16 Max. I want the Max to have its own unique look, and not have people constantly mistake it for an Altima. Many of us already know that the build quality, and materials on the Max, is on another level of the Altima.

Looks-wise, I just want this 2016 Maxima to be unmistakably...a Maxima.

 

i like it mostly, gonna take a while to get used to those enlarged fenders though... they are so bulky!

 

Thanks. I fully expected to be swamped with photos of Altima and Maxima window stickers, arguments about power trains, etc, etc. It may be that posters here are beginning to understand that over 90% of folks considering purchasing the Altima are comparing it with the Accord, Camry, and other sedans in the $22 to $32K price range. In fact, when we consider that over 90% of Altimas on the road are the 2.5, I think purchasers are comparing the Altima, available at prices as low as $16,990 at many Atlanta Nissan dealers, with other sedans currently available for under $20K.

 

I totally agree that the Altima should be clearly distinguishable from the Maxima. I think the 2016 Maxima may give us that separation. Should Nissan leave a clear resemblance to the new Maxima with its Altima tweak, they will probably live to regret making that mistake. The extravagant sculpting on the sides of the 2016 Maxima would simply not look right on a car in the Altima's class.

Of course Nissan's determination to have the grilles of their products all show the Nissan heritage means the front of most Nissan vehicles may bear somewhat of a a resemblance to each other. I was glad the 7th gen had a totally different grille, but the 2016 Maxima is right in keeping with the Nissan motif grille.

 

Yup. Acura is doing the same thing. Even the new 2016 155k NSX will share grill similarities with the rest of the Acura lineup.

 

I think those may be part of Nissan's plan to have clear separation between the Altima and Maxima. They would not look right on the Altima, but I think they fit the new Maxima's image well. I love those highly sculpted fenders, which we first saw on the Infiniti M a few years back. To me, they convey strength and power. I always liked their look on the M, and once I see the 8th gen in person, I suspect I will love that look again.


EDIT - With fenders and sculpting such as this, wimpy or spindly wheels will not look good on this car. I think the OEM wheels may work, but some will opt for a stronger-looking wheel.

 

Acura is trying very hard to gradually ease away from the giant tooth that hurt their TL sales. I suppose they feel that, if they move away from the tooth very gradually, it will not appear that they are admitting that the tooth was a sales-killer. They are now almost completely away from the tooth-like look, but still do not have a particularly attractive grille.

 

Agreed. Over on the NSX forum, we all complain about the hideous beak like grill on the upcoming NSX. It was worse in prototype forum...at least they tamed it back some.

Every time I see the 2015 Nissan Rogue in the corner of my eye while driving, I think it's the new Maxima already because of the similiar grilling...

 

Hello everyone,my guy at the nissan dealership just informed me they are gonna have a 2016 maxima next Wednesday for just one day,hopefully I can snap some pics for your viewing pleasure lol...

 

Just 9 more days! You will be the org's Man of the Month if you can make that happen. LOL

 

It certainly looks as if Nissan is serious about this 'family appearance' thing. I was hopeful they would 'exempt' the Maxima (as they did with the generation 7), but I suppose, being the company 'flagship', they felt strong about holding the theme across the line.

Except when seen at a glance, the confusion between the Rogue and Maxima will not be a problem in the long run, because the Rogue is clearly taller, has higher ground clearance, and has a large piece of the body across the front between the upper grille and lower grill, while the Maxima grille is essentially one unit with the truncated 'V' taking up the upper half. But if Nissan has this grille on their other sedans, then it won't be as easy to know the vehicle approaching us is a Maxima.

 

Check out this thread and the video CS_AR posted about the new upcoming Nissan Sway being released in Europe. The same front end theme/grilling as the new Maxima and Rogue. In the video, they even talk about the front end/grilling

https://maxima.org/forums/other-cars...ssan-sway.html

 

This could be a really big opportunity! Be sure and get a good photo of the rear that clearly shows the letters/numbers, especially if there is anything other than 'PLATINUM' on the back. And please try to get a photo from the side standing well back from the car, so we can get a better perspective of whether this car is as 'bulky' as one of the two clear photos we have seen here tends to indicate.

I bet there will be several posters on here next Wednesday evening awaiting your posting! I kmow I am excited.