Over the years I've been a honda/Acura guy thru and thru. However, the 2016 Maxima has caught my eye and I'm really considering trading for an 8th gen if I can get the right price.
My question has been asked on this forum, but not recently that I've noticed. I am aware that car companies almost never make many changes in the second year after a full model change. I've also seen it mentioned that Nissan "may" put awd in the maxima. Is there any reason to believe that Nissan would put awd in the Maxima before another FMC? Or better yet, in the 2017 or 2018 Maxima? I know this is highly unlikely, but I though I'd ask.

Please don't hate on my question too much. I'm just trying to decide if I want to plan to buy a 2017 Maxima (presumably) at the end of this year, or if there's a snowballs chance that the 2018 might have awd as an option. I don't want to start the debate about whether an awd maxima would take away sales from infiniti's Q50, but trying to gain some reliable insight because I love what Nissan has done with the latest Maxima. Thanks for your input.

 

Not a bad question at all. In my opinion, I just don't see Nissan incorporating an AWD system into the 8th Gen Maxima. Either in 2017, 2018 and so on.

 

Probably not. It would put the Maxima in direct competition with the Q50 at a better value.

 

Does anybody see the possibility of awd on the maxima? If it's not going to happen, it wouldn't stop me from getting one. However, I really don't want to take a bath on trading my current car for a 2016 or 2017 maxima only to see the 2018 have the awd option. Then I'd be kicking myself...kindof how I am now. I wish I would have waited and not pulled the trigger last year. I'd be a lot further a head at this point if I had waited.
If I buy a 16 or 17, then the 18 is offered with awd, I'd be tempted to trade again, and that's not financially smart or something I'd want to do.

 

There has not been an AWD in the first thirty-plus years of the Maxima....I don't anticipate one coming any time soon.

 

I highly doubt Nissan will ever put AWD in their passenger cars, that's why Nissan has Crossover in their line up such as Rouge, Juke, Pathfinder, Murano. Good luck with the outcome of your decision.

 

They won't, but they definitely should! You'd think it would be very easy for Nissan to adapt the Murano's AWD system to the Maxima to make a "Maxima SH-AWD" (to steal nomenclature from Acura), since both vehicles share the same chassis and engine. I know the conventional wisdom is that Nissan would never do this, because they don't want the Maxima to start cannabilizing Infiniti sales, but I really wish Nissan would take a page from Ford's playbook for the Fusion. They're releasing an AWD twin-turbo V6 version of that car next year and no one is wringing their hands over how it's going to steal sales away from Lincoln.

 

From the market perspective, it is highly unlikely that Maxima will ever get AWD in any future model. With Nissan being in the same class with Toyota and Honda (rather than being a luxury brand like Infiniti & Lexus & Acura & BMW & Audi), Maxima is marketed as a family sedan just like the Avalon, the Camry, the Altima, and the Accord. These are not performance vehicle and AWD is not inline with the value proposition, despite Nissan's effort to see the Maxima as a 4DSC. To compete in the family sedan segment, keeping the cost down is still the key and an AWD system just bumps the price too high.

In stead of AWD, I personally think it's more likely that eventually Maxima may get a hybrid system to compete with all the other cars I named in the segment which have already been offered in hybrid trim.

 

I came to the same conclusion, since the maxima & murano share platforms. It would be fairly easy (although costly) to add awd.
A fwd maxima doesn't discourage me from purchasing, but I'd certainly wait to purchase if awd was coming to the Maxima in the near-future. If Nissan added awd to the maxima, it would seal the deal for me. I'd buy it immediately. Having awd isn't as much of a performance upgrade for me as it would be an all-season advantage. Living in western PA, we usually get a decent dose of snow in the winter months; plus I travel all back roads to work. Having awd would be ideal.


I would probably still trade if I could get the right trade value for my current ride. That's the hard part. I may just have to wait a little longer until depreciation levels off.

 

We are getting a lot of good responses in this thread. Nissan currently has no plans to release an AWD version of the Maxima. There are many reasons for that decision. One big reason is that AWD would move the Maxima price range into an area where it loses some of the current advantage over competition. Another big reason is that having an AWD version would further complicate dealer efforts to have as many versions/options of the Maxima as possible on dealer lots, which are currently packed with variations of the the almost twenty different vehicles Nissan builds.

Another reason is that an AWD version would have a lower fuel efficiency rating than FWD, hence lower the all-important government fleet fuel efficiency rating. Another reason is that Nissan has a denser concentration of dealers in the southern half of the country, and AWD is not a big seller on family sedans in the deep south. AWD does not give measurable handling improvement on pavement unless there is ice or snow involved, and the Maxima, with its miniscule 4.5 inch ground clearance, is certainly not an off-road or deep snow vehicle. I almost never find myself driving in icy conditions, and would never consider buying an AWD sedan. If I am going off-road or doing winter driving regularly, I would go with a truck or SUV or crossover.

Nissan intended that the generation 8 release would be with the 2014 model, but the recession of 2008 slowed sales down, then the redesign of the CVT had problems when released in the 3.5 Altima, so the 8th gen was held off until the 2016 model year. But around 2011, Nissan began rethinking their habit of releasing a new generation every four or five years, and decided to extend that time to around seven years. So we will not see the 9th gen before 2022 at the earliest, and maybe 2023. I don't expect to see any significant changes with the 2017 model, which should reach dealer lots in August. There should be good deals on the 2016 in July and August. The deals on the 2016 will be even better in September and October, but the selection will be very spotty by then.

One poster here who has kept up with what Nissan is doing is MONTE. There are also a few Nissan employees who post here. We will get plenty of warning before Nissan releases something as significant as AWD on the Maxima. I personally do not expect AWD on the Maxima in my lifetime. Of course, with my being an octogenarian, that is not saying much.

 

They would probably loose all Maxima buyers to the AWD Infinity. They don't want to compete with themselves.

 

Current chassis is not compatible with AWD.