Not Bad... Toyota and Honda watch out

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I love to see new and bold design statements by auto makers. I think the new Nissan Maxima has stepped up to the plate with this:









I think it is really cool...



Your thoughts?



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Nissan/Inifniti got quite an infusion of boldness after Renault got a stake in them. I really dig the G35 sedan and coupe, and the Z is growing on me. The new Inifniti SUV is the ugliest thing ever though.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Considering that all 3 companies have most of their design subcontracted to the same handful of Californian design companies. . .



    Anyway, Nissans are torquier, and tend to have bigger engines. That's enough to sell me, if I had to pick among them. I don't really like any of the designs to come from Japan (a la California) lately, though, so take my input with a grain of salt.



    And no, I don't really like the Rx-8 design either, though it does look a lot better with an Autoexe front end. The G35 may be the nicest looking of the bunch, though.
  • Reply 3 of 20
    kelibkelib Posts: 740member
    Lots off nice looking cars coming out these days.



    This is the new Toyota Avensis (Euro Model):





    Peugeot 307 with optional styling Kit:







    Peugeot 307 SW:







    The new Renault Mégane:





  • Reply 4 of 20
    drewpropsdrewprops Posts: 2,321member
    The exterior of the Nissan looks great, the interior is different but a bit too hard-edged for my liking. The planar aspects that GM started to pull back into auto design are best exemplified by the Cadillac line, the CTS sedan being the poster child sedan of that design aesthetic. Some of the other designboyz have picked up on that thread and slyly introduced it into their own cars....even the conservative "let's don't screw up a good thing" folks at Honda have put an ever-so-subtle hard edge along the upper portion of the sides of the new Accord Coupe.



    I went to a Caddy dealership about a week ago and sat in a CTS to see if it suited me. The exterior is nifty, the interior is too imposing. The center instrument cluster isn't a "cluster", it's a honking huge rack full of buttons. Too much stuff, presented to the driver like a huge stereo system....buttons everywhere. It dominates your attention. Perhaps they're all starting to do this, but the Caddy CTS does it more than anyone else.



    And the interior of that Nissan looks to emulate it. I expect that I'll get the Accord Coupe, which has a passel of central instrumentation as well, but it's somehow less visually assaulting.



    Torque in the Accord? Don't expect it to be torquey, but that's good...I'd just walk into ticket after ticket if I had anything hotter.
  • Reply 5 of 20
    kelibkelib Posts: 740member
    Actuallt the facia in the Nissan reminds me of the one in Toyota Matrix.
  • Reply 6 of 20
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Looks nice, although the maxima exterior looks like a piggy bank now.
  • Reply 7 of 20
    fred_ljfred_lj Posts: 607member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kelib

    Lots of nice looking cars coming out these days.



    This is the new Toyota Avensis (Euro Model):









    Wow -- too bad things like this don't ever hit the American stage. I'm sick of the P-O-S boring Avalon design - looks too frumpy. This, on the other hand is gorgeous!
  • Reply 8 of 20
    kelibkelib Posts: 740member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by fred_lj

    Wow -- too bad things like this don't ever hit the American stage. I'm sick of the P-O-S boring Avalon design - looks too frumpy. This, on the other hand is gorgeous!



    It will probably make it to the US in just over a year from now. I read that somewhere, don't remember where, sorry
  • Reply 9 of 20
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    My 1984 Nissan Maxima Station Wagon was the greatest car ever made.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    Datsun! NO!!!!!!



    It doesn't matter what Nissan does or what the reviews say, I'm never going near one of those horrible cars again. I've seen their 'quality' and 'customer service' first hand. It's non-existant.



    A name change isn't enough to ever make me change my mind.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    kraig911kraig911 Posts: 912member
    my 1992 nissan pickup has 227,000 miles on it I like nissan
  • Reply 12 of 20
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Fran441

    Datsun! NO!!!!!!



    It doesn't matter what Nissan does or what the reviews say, I'm never going near one of those horrible cars again. I've seen their 'quality' and 'customer service' first hand. It's non-existant.



    A name change isn't enough to ever make me change my mind.






    Seriously? I have had two...and they are great. My Maxima is nearly perfect. They are more powerful and less bland than the Toyotas and Hondas, too.
  • Reply 13 of 20
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Renault ownership seems to have improved Nissan's styling immeasurably in the last two years. The 350z looks decent, if not terribly interesting, and the Murano, and new Infinity sport utes look far better than sport utes have any right to look.
  • Reply 14 of 20
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    I won't go near a Nissan. The Datsun we had was a lemon from day one and there was nothing to be done about. The transmission was basically DOA and the car always needed maintinence. They would do nothing to help us either (no real lemon laws). In fact, I won't buy anything other than an American car (hard as they are to find these days).
  • Reply 15 of 20
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Nissan doesn't have the reliability record of Honda or Toyota, but they do have a better racing record. Mazdas are also not known for reliability, (hell Mazda's are known for being unreliable) and they have an even better track record. . . Believe it or not, in most classes these two do far better than the hoity-toity european manufacturers.



    Same thing pretty much everywhere, though. Companies that focus on pushing performance don't get the experience in pushing reliability. The cars Mazda and Nissan have traditionally sold in order to make revenues so that they can race other models tend to be chintsey. They are both getting a lot better about this, but that's how they companies are still known.



    I guess it wouldn't be inappropriate to say that BMW's are pretty damn unreliable in general. . . Look at the numbers, not the hearsay.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    kelibkelib Posts: 740member
    And the brand new Euro version off the Accord. Not as good looking on the outside as the Toyota Avensis but much nicer interiour and far better handling







  • Reply 17 of 20
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    A slightly more upscale version of the Euro Accord is available in on these shores as the Acura TSX. It looks pretty nice to me.
  • Reply 18 of 20
    gycgyc Posts: 90member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kelib

    Lots off nice looking cars coming out these days.



    This is the new Toyota Avensis (Euro Model):









    Looks like the VW Passat



  • Reply 19 of 20
    gamblorgamblor Posts: 446member
    Did someone say Renault?



    Hopefully, Renault's reliability has improved since they sold the train wreck that was Le Car...



    From the pictures above, I'd say the Honda Accord has a more appealing interior than the Maxima.
  • Reply 20 of 20
    mattyjmattyj Posts: 898member
    No this is a car:



    Better design than anything else here, but it reallys needs to be an M3 rival, should do when the proper areo version comes out.



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