Compare the2023 Honda AccordVS 2023 Nissan Maxima

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda Accord have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Nissan Maxima doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

Both the Accord and the Maxima have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors and rear cross-path warning.

Honda pays for scheduled maintenance on the Accord for 2 years and 24,000 miles. Honda will pay for oil changes, lubrication and any other required maintenance. Nissan doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the Maxima.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Honda vehicles are more reliable than Nissan vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Honda 10 places higher in reliability than Nissan.

On the EPA test cycle the Accord gets better mileage than the Maxima:

Regenerative brakes improve the Accord Hybrid’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Maxima doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

In heavy traffic or at stoplights the Accord’s engine automatically turns off when the vehicle is stopped, saving fuel and reducing pollution. The engine is automatically restarted when the driver gets ready to move again. The Maxima doesn’t offer an automatic engine start/stop system.

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Honda Accord uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Maxima requires premium, which can cost 20 to 55 cents more per gallon.

The Accord has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Maxima doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Accord’s wheelbase is 2.1 inches longer than on the Maxima (111.4 inches vs. 109.3 inches).

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the Accord is .4 inches wider in the front and 1.3 inches wider in the rear than the track on the Maxima.

The Honda Accord may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 200 to 350 pounds less than the Nissan Maxima.

The front grille of the Accord uses electronically controlled shutters to close off airflow and reduce drag when less engine cooling is needed. This helps improve highway fuel economy. The Maxima doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

Because it has more passenger and cargo room, the EPA rates the Accord a Large car, while the Maxima is rated a Mid-size.

The Accord has 7.2 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Maxima (105.7 vs. 98.5).

The Accord has .1 inches more front headroom, 1.2 inches more front hip room, 1.2 inches more front shoulder room, .6 inches more rear headroom, 6.6 inches more rear legroom, 1.9 inches more rear hip room and .8 inches more rear shoulder room than the Maxima.

The Accord has a much larger trunk than the Maxima (16.7 vs. 14.3 cubic feet).

The Accord Touring has a standard heads-up display that projects speed and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Maxima doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The Accord’s power parking brake sets with one touch and releases with one touch or automatically. The Maxima’s parking brake has to be released manually.

The power windows standard on both the Accord and the Maxima have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the Accord is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Maxima prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Honda Accord Touring has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. The Maxima doesn’t offer wireless personal charging.

The Honda Accord outsold the Nissan Maxima by almost 22 to one during 2022.