2016 Nissan Maxima SR

A true descendant of the Datsun 510, even with front-wheel drive

- Todd Lassa

BMW’s 3 Series infamously lost the sport sedan plot a couple of generations ago by coddling the premium car crowd, leaving the tiny enthusiast segment with an opening big enough to accommodate everything from the Cadillac ATS to the Jaguar XE to the Alfa Romeo Giulia. There was even room for a front-wheeldrive sedan whose nickname, Four-Door Sports Car, has for decades been more of a marketing ploy than canyon-road reality.

Fortunately, Nissan took the 4DSC trope well beyond image for the Maxima’s eighth generation. The 3 Series—which we compared with the Maxima SR in the March issue after no less a driver than pro racer Andy Pilgrim praised the Nissan during last year’s All-Stars evaluations—came about its sport sedan status as a replacement for the BMW 2002, which defined the genre in the late ’60s. With the Maxima of the ’90s and later, Nissan tried to inject into an upgraded front-drive midsize chassis the sort of dynamics that once made the rear-drive Datsun 510 a poor man’s 2002.

Nissan calls the Maxima its luxury sedan, and road test editor Eric Weiner believes its interior would do an Acura or Lincoln proud. Only the Maxima SR, with its stiffened suspension, is worthy of the sport sedan description.