Fuel efficiency in the 2010 Nissan Maxima is average for a vehicle with 6-cylinder engine. It is rated at 19 mpg for the city and 26 mpg for the highway. The Maxima comes standard with a 3.5-liter DOHC 24-valve V6 engine, which is powerful in comparison to its competitors. There is no option for a 4-cylinder engine or a manual transmission, both of which are commonly thought to get better gas mileage.

For fuel efficiency, the Maxima comes with a CVT (continuously variable transmission) rather than a traditional automatic transmission with a set amount of gears. An uncommon 3-speed, or more common 4 or 5-speed transmission, shifts through its gears by raising RPMs, thus reducing gas mileage. The CVT is based on a pulley system for even ratio adjustment and is lighter than the conventionally geared transmission. A lighter vehicle is more fuel efficient simply because there is not as much weight to carry.

The CVT improves fuel economy by 9-11% on average as compared to a non CVT version. It is common to see manual transmission vehicles and those equipped with the CVT to equal out in gas mileage ratings. Additionally, the Nissan Maxima is a FWD (front wheel drive) vehicle which gets betting gas mileage than a vehicle or truck with 4X4 or AWD (all wheel drive). Both 4X4 and AWD options (not available on the Maxima) use all four wheels at the same time at least periodically, resulting in a need for more engine output to power them.

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