I just traded in a Nissan LEAF for the new Maxima. I'm trying to get reoriented to driving an ICE vehicle. Granted, the LEAF had a one speed transmission and performed as smooth as butter.

The CVT is not performing up to my expectations, especially at low speeds. There seems to be quite a bit of downshifting when slowing down or coasting to a stop. Is this normal?

 

I think your talking about engine braking... where the rear brakes are applied..... Yea I dislike it too. Maybe the dealer can disable it for you. It's a cheap way to make the car feel sportier in my opinion:

nissanusa.com/cars/maxima/features/


"Active Engine Braking Active Engine Braking automatically downshifts the CVT when under braking, slowing your Maxima with less effort while readying the gears to power you out of an apex.
"

 

Thank you. That explains it.

 

Do you think that engine braking consists of the rear brakes automatically applied as the car slows down?

 

I take that back active engine braking has nothing to do with the brakes. I remember I saw some advertising that mentioned "Active Ride Control". This feature applied the rear brakes so that bumps are noticed less. I dont think this is what Rick Green(OP) is referring to. Basically you can't coast like you can in normal cars. It would make sense to have engine braking enabled only for the sport mode but it's on all the time. You can see the three features at the link above. Just search for "Integrated Dynamics-Control Module" on that page.