The third-largest Japanese automaker competes with Toyota and Honda by building a bit more excitement into its offerings, and the Maxima is a roomy family sedan that fulfills the formula with sporty handling and a brisk V-6 engine. A redesigned model that arrived last year has helped goose sales by about 5 percent in 2009, making the Maxima one of only three large sedans to see a year-over-year sales increase.