Everybody has their wants and needs. The mere fact you chose a "luxury", or if you want to call it this, a "near-luxury" vehicle, means you're driving around with stuff you probably don't need. Hell, why not just get a Kia. Or an Accord.

As for most of the stuff you mentioned in the initial post, I'd agree with you. But for me, I would rather have cruise control with the long trips I take. I'll be happy when I can just jump in a car and have it drive me from Dallas to Houston while I take a nap, and we're getting there with all the autonomous vehicle articles I'm starting to see pop up.

 

Honestly, they'd save a boatload of tech and R&D if they'd just let you hook a smartphone to the screen and display it.

If you could turn the iphone/droid into an 8" touchscreen on the dash, you've got all the audio/navigation/toys/phone you need.

I noticed on the new maxima, it has video/audio in for the screen inside the console - this would be nice for some folks, but I'm not sure you can show video on the screen while moving.

The adaptive cruise control I would use - because I like to set the cruise, however no-one else seems to understand how to maintain a speed when travelling the interstate...grrr.

I'd trade the XM radio/weather/traffic and memory seats for heated/cooled seats and a heated/power telescoping steering wheel.

 

with regards to your question, I'd recommend the tech package. you won't feel much difference between base and sh-awd during daily commuting unless you intentionally corner at a speed you would not otherwise go for. the tech adds lots of fun features. i actually don't know how much better the sh-awd would beat base on snowy roads, the test only suggests improvement on dry road conditions and didn't mention slippery conditions at all.