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Ugh. It’s a Kia Optima on acid. Where are the dancing sharks?
Revealing the production Maxima in the Superbowl was the smartest investment Nissan could make. Showing the car there most likely got way more attention from non-enthusiasts than it would have had they gone the typical auto show/auto press article route.
The 4DSC pitch they used was icing and well done. I’m glad they stayed true to the concept.
I liked the commercial, and was frankly shocked that they spent Superbowl money on the Maxima given its unenviable spot in Nissan’s lineup (it’s too damn small in back to sit above the Altima). That being said, the whole 4DSC thing is incredibly lame given the CVT/FWD combo. If you actually have to put a freaking window sticker on a vehicle which used to be great that says “4 Door Sports Car” you’ve lost the plot. The buying public would be better served by them giving up the 4DSC charade and giving this thing an Avalon sized back seat.
That 4DSC sticker started showing up in the late 80’s, if memory serves.
That is one ugly a$$ car.
Stated more maturely, Nissan finds new & innovative ways to offend most peoples’ aesthetic sensibilities.
@DeadWeight,
Whilst I do find your constant attacks on Caddy a worthwhile hobby (if that is what it is) as I don’t like the Cadillac Silverado Station Wagons or their Andy Warhol/Kinks/Soho style of management, just because Detroit City has gone to sh!t and they wanted to move out to somewhere they consider hipper and trendier.
This car is quite a good looking vehicle.
If there were 2 car companies left globally, Caddy and Nissan(Renault) which one would you buy? Or would you walk?
The Nissan Titan XD would sure beat walking.
“Andy Warhol/Kinks/Soho style of management”
“In the future all cars will be Cadillacs for fifteen minutes”
Al, you caught me on a good night for a response since it’s 3:26 am and I’m still up as we have over 14″ of snow with 2″ to 4″ more on the way (so work is closed tomorrow).
I don’t know how this new Maxima drives, obviously, so I was commenting solely on its outward design, which I find really awful.
But beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the eye of the beholder.
Overall, I’m not impressed with the interior or exterior design of MOST Nissans, nor their driving dynamics. And I’ve owned two.
I think of Nissan as the red headed sibling of either Honda or Toyota, as Nissan in general (at least here in the U.S.) possesses neither the reliability nor refinement of either.
The last good Nissan I drove, which was actually better than the Honda/Toyota competition, was a 1990 Maxima (uncle’s new car; I had just gotten my driver’s license).
So I’ll reserve judgment on the driving characteristics of this Maxima nor the Titan.
As far as trucks (or truck & based vehicles) and Nissan are concerned, I’ve been very unimpressed with the Armada and its Infinity counterpart, but there have been past generations of the Pathfinder that I’ve really liked.
The 350Z & 370Z are horrid, IMO, truly being Japanese Camaros, and the Altima is dreadful, again IMO (but what do I know since the Altima is one of the best selling midsized cars in the competitive midsize segment, year after year).
The Leaf, the Sentra and the Versa seem to be class competitive, though.
I used to love Datsun. They made fantastic engines, drivetrains and suspension/chassis’s. The original 240Z, which became an “Americanised” boulevard cruiser. The Datsun 1600, which became the 200B. It went from independent suspension all round to a live axle rear end. What a backwards step.
The 1600 was a superior vehicle compared to the BMW 2002.
You could see the gradual evapouration of the Datsun/Nissan product when Nissan took over. They still produced some good vehicles.
Since Renault has had it’s finger in the pie Nissan has really taken a backward step.
I do hope this is a turn around for Nissan and they look back at the achievements of Datsun and emulate the good work of the past.
I do think the Titan, next Navara/Frontier and lineup of motor vehicles change this.
Just look at the new Pathfinder. What a joke.
But, I will say Nissan has done some great work in endurance racing, here in Australia they made a mean RWD V8 Altima (yes) and Datsun made some very good rally cars.
Datsun and Nissan did build some of the finest ever in line 6s. Better than any US in line 6 and possibly on par with BMW in line 6’s
http://www.bmw2002faq.com/uploads/monthly_03_2013/post-20060-13667669898274.jpg
Totally agree. The only front ends on vehicles that are uglier than an Edsel are Nissans. The present Maxima looks beautiful, what were they thinking. Hitching their wagon to the wrong corporate styling is all I can imagine.
Looks French. Rebadged Renault?
I dare Renault to bring over the old Vel Satis as the next Maxima.
Just exactly what I was thinking. It’s like a fat Renault Latitude. With Avalon bits at the back. And racecar drivers shouldn’t have purple cars.
Dislike.
I like that it doesn’t look like an Altima. And I want one. Although my taste cannot be trusted, as I also have a Juke.
I totally get it, because if you squint a little this Maxima looks a bit like a Juke on steroids
So have manufacturers officially flipped from developing car platforms and building crossovers off of them to building crossover platforms to build cars off of? This looks like the Taurus: built on a platform primarily designed for CUVs, and tall and slab-sided with a ridiculously high beltline because of it.
I thought the same thing! That thing is too tall for a sedan, it looks like a low-slung CUV with the hatch chopped off. Or a Subaru.
Never mind that pretty much all cars, sedans or otherwise, up to 1956 or so were as tall as today’s CUVs. The “long and low” aesthetic is something that I’m happy to see go.
The high belt line and gun slit windows are not due to SUV influence, but rather for safety & aesthetics. Just like how they’ve discovered ‘mean’ faces sell more cars, a higher slab-to-window ratio also boosts sales.
How is not being able to see out gun slit windows safe?
It’s the other way around. Automakers want to make a car that’s safer in side impact (good), and the easiest way to do that is increase the size of the doors (not good, but okay), which naturally decreases the size of the side windows (bad).
Maybe if I could see what was coming I wouldn’t get hit ;-)
I’ve always thought the previous Maxima looked like the Charger. Sure enough, the new Maxima looks like the updated Charger.
Not a bad thing in either case, they are both good looking cars, so much better than the 2000′ era snoremobile.
From the back, it looks fine. Kind of like an Infiniti almost. For some reason, the car looks way too tall. I think if they lowered the height of the side doors and made the windows a little taller, the design would be a lot more attractive.
The commercial itself was very good though.
Avalon at the back! But I agree it’s very bulky.
Looks like someone stepped on a Murano and called it a Maxima.
Couldn’t get a good look at it (hey, I live in Chicago .. not only do we not have a team in the SB, but it’s a mean as a junkyard dog snowstorm here, so I didn’t have time to watch) but it looks better than the latest Altima mistake. Well, February’s here, Auto Show time comin’ .. so I’ll see then.
The ad was a fantastic piece of art, marketing and drew you into the story. The song was a classic to use with the storyline of the ad.
Great work by the advertisers.
Very nice looking car from the angle they shot.
One of the best car ads in my memory was the original 4DSC Maxima dream ad where the guy is driving what appears to be a sports car and suddenly he’s stopped by three men in business suits that tell him that they need a ride to the “board meeting” The young man’s sports car morphs into a 4DSC Maxima, they all get in and take off down a winding road. At the end of the commercial he realizes it was no dream, it was the new 3rd gen Maxima
I was so impressed by that commercial that I bought one. The 2nd best car I ever had. The first being the E39 530i that replaced it
The Nissan ad I remember best was the one where the Ken doll thing was driving around in the 300ZX!
GI Joe picked up Barbie for a hot date in his Z. Ken was left behind to trim the hedges.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH53O0yJjvI
+1
I guess everyone here agrees with me.
It’s so UGLY it’s Oooooooogly.
Yeah, we all had a meeting and decided to agree with you, big guy
More importantly they revealed their new Le Mans prototype entry: a front engined design in a world of mid-engined cars (Porsche, Audi, Toyota, Oreca). Is it a bold new concept or is it madness?
Not only front-engined, but front wheel drive!
It irks me that they wrecked a couple of GT-Rs for this…but we do get a better look at Nissan’s LeMans car…but then I see that Seattle chooses to pass instead of handing the ball to Lynch and I am irked again.
At least there’s a few chances for Seattle to avenge the Seahawks this year, from the Sounders FC home opener March 8 against the Revs, and the Mariners playing a four-game home stand May 14-17 against the Red Sox, to the Storm taking it to the Connecticut Sun at home in June. And if the UW Huskies go up against the U-Conn Huskies during the Final Four tourney (both of them), that’ll help, too. Can’t wait to see it all go down in person!
The biggest questions are, How does it compare dimensionally to the Alitma and how much horsepower? Nail those things well enough to differentiate it from the Altima and the Maxima would be relevant again.
I’ve read the same old 3.5 v6 and the supercharged hybrid 4cyl from the pathfinder.
Maxima wouldn’t be in as bad a slump as it’s in now had Nissan done more to distinguish it. This goes back almost 10 years.
Putting it in the position where customer thinks, “well I can spend a few grand less and get a V6 Altima” or “I can spend a few grand more and get an M35” wasn’t a good strategy.
If the top engine is the same as the Maxima top engine then we’re back to an argument I made long ago that the Maxima should be a top of the line Nissmo package for the Altima. Make it a manual transmission supercharged V6 upgrade for the Altima.
This was a well put together ad. It’s a good, but not great one. This Super Bowl may go down as the rare one in which the game was better than the commercials, so this one sticks out a bit. Too bad all the press will be about a non-car ad, the “First Draft” one for Mexican avocados. Brazil won’t be happy about it.
That Maxima does look like a smooshed crossover, doesn’t it? I think it’s the big slabs of metal on the sides meeting with the low, chop-top-esque roofline that does it.
And at least the end of that ad turned out better than the song underneath, because the song’s story doesn’t end so well. Ugly Kid Joe’s cover was pretty good, though.
As a dad who was just old enough to enjoy the Ugly Kid Joe version of the song, using that song is cheating.
On the other hand, has no one commented on the Panther Taxi (airport transfer) showing up twice?, once when the kid was about 5, and then when he was a teenager, meaning that car was in servce for about 10 years. Thanks Nissan for telling us how durable those old Fords were :)
I hope they fixed the small interior the old car looked like a Versa with hips.
Don’t like the Maxima’s styling.
Don’t like the Maxima’s commercial.
Do want a GTR, very much so.
I thought the choice of music made for a poignant and sad story. Where’s my dad??
Who cares about the car – it was a great commercial!
I think you forgot where you are. :P
Great commercial BUT wrong car at the end… this should have ended with the kid getting a Z and we all know it. The GT-R is too far into super-car territory to resonant with average viewers but people know a Z when they see it. However people have completely forgot Nissan even sells them, so this was the perfect opportunity to draw people back to the brand.
If you don’t have kids, don’t like racing, and/or have no empathy, I imagine you wouldn’t like this ad very much.
For some reason when I saw this ad, I thought first of Marco and Michael Andretti, each of whom grew up with a world-famous racing dad, and what a double-edged sword that is. Your dad has the coolest job around…but he’s got races and tire tests and press conferences and media events to attend when you really wish he could be home, just being your dad.
Then I thought of Dan Wheldon’s little boys. ‘Nuff said.
I took this ad as a subtle tip of the hat from Nissan to the dads who drive or crew for them. Hemingway was right about motor racing.
What’s amazed me about the last two Maximas is that a) Nissan’s managed to push the design envelope every time and b) it actually ages reasonably well (though the A34 took a little time to digest, I admit).
They didn’t do a bad job, here. I mean, yes, it’s overstyled, but that’s par for the course these days. I prefer it to the YF Sonata, that’s for sure.
An increasingly irrelevant car with fwd and CVT in a world where rwd and multigear transmission cars outclass it in every way and play in the same price range.
Yes, please go on about how the average sedan buyer appreciates the differences in everyday driving dynamics that RWD and traditional transmissions provide more than the MPG savings of FWD and a CVT.
Average sedan buyers don’t but Maximas. This is competing with Chrysler 300 v6 and Hyundai Genesis v6, which stomp it.
The Genesis targets the midsize Germans/Lexus GS/CTS (or at least it tries to). The Azera is the Hyundai this is squared against.
The 300 does compete with the Max, but it’s rumored the next 300 will go FWD. I see the Maxima’s true competitors as the Impala and Avalon, despite the “performance” advertising.
That car looks terrible, I think it needs to go on a diet and hit the gym it’s so ill proportioned. Did the genius designers who took away visibility also think “America is so fat, let’s make the cars look overweight to match them and thus our customers feel comfortable”.
I said the same thing about the new Murano, thought it looked like crap. But, it looks way better in person. This maybe the same case with the new Maxima.
Time will tell I suppose.
Everyone I was with last night thought it looked really nice. It’s not a standout for me, but not offensive either. The Maxima is pretty well an invisible car, so it’s not like I’ll ever see one on the street anyway. The local dealer here doesn’t ever stock any.
One seriously depressing commercial about a dad who was never home. But when the kid was old enough to drive, he finally decided to retire, and buy a Nissan.
One of many commercials from this Super Bowl whose content had NOTHING to do with the actual product being advertised.
Hey man, we all know if you drive racecar then you drive Maxima at home.
“Gee, dad, if you where so busy racing that you missed my childhood the least you could have done is shown up in a GT-R”
Really he kinda had a crap father. That’s what I took away from this.
You know, the front has fangs. It almost looks like a rattlesnake. And would do in the right color.
I’m not impressed with the new style. The side creases look overdone. I find them ugly and I think the design will age very quickly. I hope they improve the safety – the 2009+ model has really poor ratings based on IIHS/NHTSA (forget which exactly). You can get an existing model in Canada for about 13k off.
I applaud Nissan for having the cojones, like Dodge in 1994 and Pontiac in 2001, to make a polarizing, “ugly” vehicle. Truly, I do. We will remember this car as representative of the 2015 model year just as much as we remember the Aztek, Avalanche, and other plastic-clad “abominations” as representative of the early 2000s, or a Brougham-ed out K-car as representative of the transistory early ’80s. _That’s_ automotive immortality.
Seriously this is not a horrible looking car. Pretty I would say better looking than any car in Hyundai’s line up. A lot of these comments are over the top. I just don’t see how of all cars this one can be the worst.
Drove my 01′ 20th anniversary edition V6, 6 speed manual across Canada and back (woman). Loved that drive though…
MAXIMA:(def.) Car for Big Mamas!
I liked the 2004 A34 Maxima with the semi-vista-cruiser moonroof. That had style where you would not expect it.
Originally badged as the Datsun 810, the Maxima was outpaced by the Cressida in the late 1970s. The Cressida then faded away (becoming the Lexus ES 250) until it was reintroduced as the Toyota Avalon, just another piece of vanilla flab.
Whereas 510 became Stanza became Altima, B210 became 210 became Sentra, it seems the Maxima was due for a more relevant brand name in the early 1990s. It just does not cut it in today’s market.
I’d rather have a LeSabre!
Now here’s the thing. I loved this commercial and tweeted so when it aired, but the car is very “French” looking, Citroen-like, to me. That’s not a bad thing necessarily but certainly will affect sales in the US, negatively, I think. Much will depend on the car itself though. If Nissan insists on sticking with the CVT transmission, I don’t think this will bode well for the car. I remember when the Maxima was the real “4DR Sports Car” and rivaled BMW to some degree. That needs to come back. This car also looks bloated to me, somewhat over-styled but seeing it the real world will tell the tale.
On another note, as soon as I tweeted my like for the ad, Consumer Union (Consumer Reports) tweeted that they would like to see “more responsible cars” advertised! I responded with “Poot on you. Haven’t you noticed all the Altima ads on TV” or that the Altima is Nissan’s top seller? Oh, I forgot, the current ads show the Altima with race car camo!
Too me it looks like a bloated and less sexy Mazda6. Might be worth the trade-off though if you can still have it with 3.5L goodness, just to spite the STUPID-ONLY-ONE-ENGINE-OPTION(!!!) Mazda6.
As a dad, that song never fails to makes me feel guilty.
The car is decidedly ho-hum, but I find the mom in the ad exceptionally beautiful.
Harry Chapin died in a car accident. Using one of his songs in a car commercial seems a little strange.
Harry Chapin hit me in the head with a ping-pong ball once in the game room of a resort we were both at, so yeah kind of weird
Woooooowww. That’s gotta be on the same level as, like, being in the bathroom stall next to Carol Burnett. (That may sound sarcastic, but I am seriously in awe.)
There certainly would be a story to tell if you were in a bathroom stall next to Carol Burnett, especially if she hit you with a ping-pong ball
You know how some people hear Springsteen’s Born in the USA and they’re all singing along, as loud as they can, in patriotic fervor? It’s because they don’t understand the real meaning of the song. It is not a celebration of America, it is a condemnation of its past and present policies.
Likewise, Chapin’s Cat’s in the Cradle, used in the context of a commercial – consumerism – also is a case of “not getting it.”
The song is a lamentation of a child’s lost relationship with his father — who is off working, being busy, not being “present” even when he is home. And in the end, the son ends up being “just like you, Dad,” uninvolved and distant in his own children’s lives.
So in the Nissan spot, we have a race car driver who is always away from his son and wife, racing while his son watches from afar, wanting to be “just like you, Dad.” And by the end of the spot, Chapin’s lament is cured with – tada – a new car!
As pointed out above, it’s already tone-deaf to use this song by an artist who died in a car crash for a car ad. But it’s equally tone-deaf to use a song about absentee fatherhood to promote absentee fatherhood salved by a car. Just fail on so many levels.
Almost as bad as the Cadillac Escalade commercial using David Bowie’s song Fame. Uh, guys, Bowie’s interpretation of fame isn’t what you think it is. It’s not a celebration of fame, but a condemnation of the artificiality associated with it. Like the Nissan spot, just plain dumb choice.
But hey, if most Americans wanna sing Born in the USA as loud as they can while waving the flag, ad agencies who assume consumer ignorance can’t be all wrong.
No, you missed the whole point of the ad. What’s the next verse of the song that’s not played in the commercial?
“Well, he came from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
“Son, I’m proud of you, can you sit for a while?”
He shook his head and he said with a smile
“What I’d really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later
Can I have them please?”
This father rides off with his his son instead of giving him the keys and standing by as his son drives out of his life forevermore.
He has found a rough balance and quite frankly that’s better than a lot of parents.
No matter how nice the car is, I just don’t know where the Maxima fits in Nissan’s lineup. It’s basically squeezed in between the Altima and the Infiniti G series…