There's nothing like a first glance to grab shoppers' interest, but the Maxima's looks are a bit strange. It has elegant curves all over, especially in the rear, that remind me of the most recent models from Infiniti, Nissan's premium brand. Then there's the grille.

It looks like the company took an ax to a stylish front end, affixed a chrome grille to the resulting vertical edge and moved on. It's an unfortunate look, but it's large and at least it stands out.