But it’s not dead yet, as 2023 will mark the nameplate’s final model year. Nissan for the premium sedan once known as the “four-door sports car” last Friday — so quietly that we didn’t notice until now.
The changes are, unsurprisingly, minimal. — a good logo, I reckon, considering how some other automakers have taken to — now features on the grille, just in time for the Maxima no longer be a part of the brand’s future.
The range-topping Maxima Platinum has also received illuminated kick plates and seats upholstered in “semi-aniline leather.” I was not familiar with this leather, but fortunately there happens to be a domain on the World Wide Web titled that can tell you all about it:
In contrast to aniline leather, which is completely porous and very sensitive, semi-anilines have better protection. The protection is by no means as strong as for pigmented smooth leather, where the pigment layer acts as a barrier and the hair pores are no longer recognisable. Such leathers are mostly firmer and feel colder than semi-aniline leathers.
I’ve learned so much about leather in the last 15 minutes. Anyway, only the Platinum trim level gets these seats, and Nissan charges a fair bit more for the luxury: $1,100. In fact, the 2023 Maxima starts $300 higher than the 2022 version, jumping up to $38,140 before a $1,095 destination charge for the base SV model. The SR lifts that to $43,300, throwing in sportier suspension, paddle shifters and different leather seats that are not advertised as “semi-aniline.” So there.
No matter which Maxima you buy, you’re getting a 300-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6 driving the front wheels by way of a continuously variable transmission. You see how that sentence started really hopeful, but just got more and more disappointing as it went on? Such was the Maxima’s time on Earth.
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