Been reading a lot of "expert reviews" before and after getting my 18 Max SV, and one of the most common complaints by far is the infamous torque steering.

I have 1200 miles on my new Max, and my 2005 Maxima SL had 137k miles on it when we parted ways, yet I have never experienced torque steering. Can anyone tell me if the complaint is legit? I have gunned my new Max several times already, never experienced what they are describing.

 

 

One of the improvements to the Gen 8 Max was to significantly reduce torque steer. I have not noticed a problem with it. I believe there were refinements to engine mounting points (lower) and other front-end chassis components to help negate this problem with a high-power, front-wheel drive platform such as ours.

 

 

It has torque steer. Especially if the front wheels are turned at all when accelerating. More hp = more torque steer. My anemic Passat even had a little.

 

If that's what it takes to experience it I am not interested at all - seems like a big non-issue to me.

 

I never turn off Traction Control and occasionally experience TS when accelerating heavily. For me, mostly when not proceeding straight.

 

 

Fatties,

Please do enlighten me - what happens when you turn TC off? I never have, and I don't intend to unless I need to get out of snow ...

 

 

Based on my understanding of torque steer and traction control, I was reading this and thinking that traction control would not have much effect on torque steer. So I did an experiment

TC on, wheels straight, sport mode on- floor it and there was barely any perceptible torque steer, but I did feel the abs activate which is the traction control being active.

TC off, wheels straight, sport mode on- floor it and there was no perceptible torque steer; however, the front wheels spun like crazy. That was fun!

I repeated both experiments, but with the wheels turned to make a turn at an intersection. Same result except this time torque steer was clearly evident.

Torque steer does not appear to be a factor of the status of traction control.

**disclaimer** experiments were conducted in an industrial area with clear sight lines and no traffic.

 

 

This current Maxima has monster torque steer. Power motor, open diff on a FWD and that's what you get. A real AWD system would be a game changer and could propel sales significantly once the word got out. Certainly installing thinner winter tires on this vehicle in an attempt to save money is a major NO NO.

 

With traction control ON as it should be 99% of the time, and while gunning my 2018 Max SV from a dead stop several times while trying to get a feel for how it responds, I have experienced zero torque steer.

I have really no idea what all the fuss is about. However I agree that introducing AWD as standard or even optional would be a game changer, but I think it's unrelated to the torque steer issue.

 

 

Car purest know that a front wheel drive car will have torque steer, so that's what they report. If they didn't, the other purists would make fun of them for not reporting it. In normal driving and even aggressive driving with the Max your unlikely to notice it. Its the same reason they pan the CVT, it's not a stick shift and it doesn't shift, so therefore is no good. They just can't stoop to admitting it's a really nice transmission, and much better than one that shifts! I think they can't admit that the computer is better than they are.

 

The CVT will never get love or respect in the Maxima. Even though it is the best CVT out there imo on the Maxima. 2 major things why it gets no love or respect. 4DSC and most of all. Nissan's horrible CVT reliability. BUT, I do believe the Maxima has a top notch CVT in it for the Maxima. I will give Nissan a benefit of the doubt as its their flagship sedan.

 

It's not terrible, but something I notice with the car is a bit of a twitch when it "shifts" under hard acceleration, anybody else experience that? This is a little bit annoying and further highlights the shortcomings of creating fake shifts with a CVT. It would be faster if it just pegged the tach at redline, and the twitch wouldn't be there.