SPORTING AMBITIONS; New Maxima is more sedan than sports car.

Byline: ROGER HART

Car companies are very good at telling people what they want their cars to be. Call it advertising or marketing; it's mostly hyperbole. Case in point: Nissan is touting its flagship 2009 Nissan Maxima as the return of the "four-door sports car.'' Even though almost everything about the new car trumps the previous edition-from exterior styling to the radio preset buttons-the Maxima is not a sports car.

As the company that builds the GT-R and the 350Z, Nissan clearly knows sports cars. Wearing a fresh design highlighted by an hourglass shape, with a rounded hood bracketed by sharply creased fenders, the '09 Maxima feels more performance-oriented just sitting still.

At the heart of our disappointment is Nissan's decision to offer the Maxima solely with its three-mode Xtronic continuously variable transmission. The CVT helps the Maxima obtain 22 mpg, but it does not give the car a sporting feel-even when "shifting'' manually through the six preprogrammed steps.

Some will argue that this is the best CVT yet to reach production-faint praise, considering what's gone before-and opting for the manual shift does eliminate the high-pitched whine that CVT-equipped cars are known for.

And there's a lot that's screaming, as power has increased over the previous- generation car, with the 3.5-liter V6-the only engine choice-now pumping out 290 hp and 261 lb-ft of torque, 35 hp and 9 lb-ft more than the '08 Maxima. Despite the company's best efforts, torque steer is still an issue when trying to push 290 hp through the front wheels.

On a positive note, the design work inside and out is strong, making the car seem much more substantial than the last Maxima and giving it a more dominating presence. The wheelbase shrinks 1.9 inches from the outgoing Maxima, to 109.3, while width grows 1.5 inches, to 73.2. The new look further differentiates it from the lesser Altima, which is a good thing.