Mom's view
Except for the shifter, I found this Maxima a quality vehicle. You get antilock 4-wheel disc brakes, head-protecting curtain side airbags, and front torso side airbags, child safety seat anchors, door locks, engine immobilizer, car alarm, and excellent lighting when the turn signals are activated.
The ride is neither first nor fowl in the SE model. You are fairly isolated from the road, but you can feel what the chassis is doing. On the other hand, cornering is just average despite the sporty nature of its appearance. You need to use first gear with just a hint of throttle as you accelerate otherwise the front tires easily spin and the torque steer becomes excessive. The last car that had this much of a problem going straight off the line was the Saab Viggen and that car could literally turn a sharp right corner if your wrists were not strong enough. I urge you to consider the automatic transmission although you clearly are going to lose a lot of the fun element of this handsome vehicle. That option would also eliminate the frustration I had with the shifter that simple would not be rushed and it took two hands to pull up on the gearshifts reverse release ring.
I was impressed with the interior from a design standpoint. The aluminum type trim pieces offset the plastic trim well. However, I found it extremely difficult to read the numerous driver computer control buttons that offered information such as miles per gallon, time of drive, service needs, and stereo settings on the dash mounted monitor.
Storage-wise I found the fold down rear seats for useful, but having to bend over and lean into the trunk to pull the two release cords is not an attractive proposition. The trunk itself is adequate with storage nets that are the most useful I have ever seen as the three nets cover both the back and side of the trunk. The glovebox isn't very large, but the door pockets are useful.
In safety terms the Nissan offers the a standard offering of seat belt pretensioners, built-in crumple zones, front side-impact airbags and a full-length set of side-airbags. With its acceleration and braking abilities, the Maxima is also quite capable of avoiding dangerous situations, too.
I would recommend the Maxima to those who enjoy a feisty vehicle and need enough room to hold a family. It has a certain look that appears to appeals to masculine types, but in the right color in can be attractive to the distaff side.