Introduction: The original Nissan Altima was a replacement of the old Stanza, it didn't look all that different from the current Nissan Bluebird being sold worldwide. The second generation of Altima become a North American market only vehicle and designed by Nissan's design center in America but it did lose the original's unique head up display. The third generation Altima was significantly different as it was grown into a mid-size car with the Sentra taking over its original role as a compact. Today my review will focus on the 4th generation Altima its done yet a bit more to push Nissan's standards for equipment much like Altimas from the past with exception to the second gen.
When I was shown the Altima I was first amazed at the size of it, next was the key as it looked like no other key I've ever seen. Interestingly enough it was also the first Nissan I ever driven which is why I looked down on that 2006 Sentra.
Performance: The vehicle I have driven only has the 2.5L 4-cylinder engine. This particular engine produces 175 hp and 180 lb.ft of torque. The closest thing I've reviewed is the Chevrolet Malibu which had less power but accelerated in 9.6 seconds, but the Malibu is smaller than the Altima. The Altima comes in with a CVT and the last cars I reviewed that had this transmission are the slow Caliber and the Caliber related Jeeps. Sounds like this Altima will be just as slow around the 10 second region maybe 9. If you thought that...you'd be wrong. The Altima with its CVT accelerates from 0-100 km/h with its 4-cylinder in 7.2 seconds. This is the quickest 4-cylinder car I've driven that doesn't have a turbo. When its pushed very hard the noise the engine makes isn't all that pleasant. Yet despite its ferocious acceleration when driven smoothly its actually a very quiet car. The only time you will notice the 175 hp is when you try to approach the car's max speed, eventually it will slow down a lot. I have to say, this CVT if it can push a big car like this that quickly with that small engine and still make them fuel efficient...an automatic gearbox is obsolete.
My Score: 10/10 - Proof of a CVT done properly, the engine drones when pushed but a small price to pay for excellent performance from a small unimpressive engine.
Handling: Normally when you drive a car this big and family oriented the handling isn't as exciting as one would find on a sports car. With the Altima...its actually not bad on this front. When you push an Altima in a corner you will feel the weight of the car but you will also notice that it can corner well despite being front wheel drive. That said its very difficult to find the limits in the Altima because it rolls rather badly and without a anti-roll bar you're more likely to roll the car or roll out of your seat. It lacks the anti-roll bar because Nissan wanted the Altima to provide a good ride and adding one would spoil that. The steering on the Altima is very light and normally this produces a lack of feel I find, in the Altima's case its somewhat true. In very short turns you will get the feel of precision you get from heavier wheels, its when you make bigger turns that the wheel feels correct and accurate to your brain. All in all, the Altima does a reasonable job at cornering but it needs to be modified to get to its limits.
My Score: 7/10 - Good ability to corner but suffers from bad body roll and the wheel is a bit too light for precise feel, you feel that it could have been better.
Interior: While CVT provided changes for how the car moved, the interior got some changes of its own. Nissan proudly advertise that this car has a push button start, and they're right its standard for all Altimas. There are ups and downs to this arrangement, the good thing is Nissan has designed a slot for the key fob meaning you won't misplace it while driving. The novelty of this however does wear off. The rest of the interior is mostly plastic, the dash made out of decent quality plastic while items like the cup holders...weren't made out of good plastic. I found the seats to be comfortable...but not everyone did. I've only seen two colours for the interior the common one being black and the other is beige. The beige interior doesn't look very good at all. The Altima is very spacious with lots of interior room and trunk space. Also despite being a base model its extremely well equipped with conventional standard features like air conditioning, power windows/locks, etc. Lastly the build quality, now on the Mexican made Sentra I blasted that car for its awful build quality with trim pieces loose or falling off. I'm glad to say the Altima which is made in the United States has none of this. I've driven some aged Altimas and none have actually had issues due to normal usage, I've only seen once case where one cubbyhole won't close...because the last person in the car purposely damaged it. These are built in both Smyrna Tennessee and Canton Mississippi.
My Score: 8/10 - Reasonably well equipped, very spacious, very well built, and a start button, however the seats may not be comfortable for some and interior colour is very lacking.
Styling: The Altima went with a more rounded shape than the previous version. Much of the front styling is a downscaled Infiniti G and with a rather different rear lighting arrangement. As a result I found it worked quite well, the Altima is clearly different from the typical Accords and Camrys, and at the same time looks great. I actually prefer the sedan form over the coupe, the profile flows more nicer in the sedan than the coupe. Yet it isn't on the level of extremely beautiful which is its only flaw.
My Score: 8/10 - Overall a good looking car with a very rounded shape
Value for money: This segment is incredibly competitive and the cars here need to stand out. The Galant and Mazda6 did their best in driving dynamics. I do not believe the Altima stood out there on that level. Performance however and mildly neat features like CVT and the push button start do make it stand out. None of the 4-cylinder cars in this segment match the Altima's acceleration, there are powerful V6 cars that size which couldn't match that. The Altima is as a result a good choice for one who wants an all around good car but needs to satisfy their lead foot. It would be great if it could satisfy all levels of driving dynamics since its well equipped and had the lowest price.
My Score: 8/10 - The CVT and the engine really make the Altima stand out when one experiences the power a transmission can do to a run of the mill engine.
Overall: 41/50 - A very fast family car that overall is pretty good, just some small touches would have made it truly outstanding.
