2007-2009 Nissan Altima 2.5

The first review of 2010 and the 50th review I've submitted. This is a car that I still drive and there are still quite a lot of cars to get through many of which are Korean and American. Still I wanted to finish off the 50th review and the first of 2010 with a rather common sight on today's roads.


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push a big car like this that quickly with that small engine and still make them fuel efficient...an automatic gearbox is obsolete.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.

2006-2009 Honda Civic

Despite being Christmas holiday I seemed to have found not nearly enough time to write a review and do all the things I wanted to do on this holiday. Here goes a common car...


Introduction: The Honda Civic was introduced in 1973 as Honda's first true attempt at making cars. Before the Civic, Honda was only known for making motorcycles and little did anyone know that the Civic would become one of the most important car names several years later. The timing of the Civic couldn't have been better due to the 1973 oil crisis where demand for small and light cars were in higher demand in North America. The Civic now in its 8th generation is often a sales leader in its segment in many markets.

The Civic is one of the most well known cars on the planet along with the Toyota Corolla. There isn't a continent that doesn't have a modest presence of Honda Civics, more often than not there is a pretty large presence of this car. When I got the chance to drive these cars I always wondered what the hype was about, since at least around here this car is the choice of many young drivers.


Performance: The standard Civic has a 1.8L engine that produces 140 hp and 128 lb.ft of torque, this is actually quite impressive for an engine this size and despite being close to 4 years old is still more powerful than the 2009 Toyota Corolla. However this engine despite the power has disappointing acceleration partly down to the lower torque number. To accelerate from 0-100 km/h it takes about 9.2 seconds meaning this is not the quickest car in the segment, it actually loses to the old Mazda3 and the Mitsubishi Lancer. You notice the lack of torque the moment you need to go to highway speeds, it goes slower...eerily similar to how a Toyota Prius starts to slows down, the exception however is the Civic makes a lot more noise and its not very pleasant. The good news though is the fuel economy is quite good.

My Score: 6/10 - Lacking torque causing disappointing acceleration , noisy at the top end, however its still a decent engine with good fuel economy...its just not very exciting.

Handling: This is where I usually hear of the Civic's party piece over the likes of the Toyota Corolla and pretty much everything else. My impressions of this car...is not the same, I actually disagree with most auto reviewers about this car. I found this car when it came to corners to be pretty...boring. The steering is quite light and unfortunately it really lacks the feel that I get from a Mitsubishi or a Mazda. The cornering itself is actually quite alright, you will notice some of the roll when you push it but its not nearly up to that level. This is one of the more comfortable Hondas I had a ride in which is a plus, I remember my ride in a RSX and my bottom was very sore. If Honda actually made this car feel like the old Fit, I'd have a much more different feeling about its handling but I actually feel pleased to say Honda has sacrificed fun in favour of comfort.

My Score: 6/10 - Its got alright handling, but its not an exciting car to take to a corner if this is what you want in a car...buy a Mitsubishi or a Mazda.


Interior: Features with the interior will depend entirely on which of the trim levels you bought the Civic in. The base DX for instance will have no power locks, in all honesty Honda intended you to buy power locks because the Civic is one of the least manual lock friendly vehicles out there. The LX is fitted with a few more options while the EX has all the interior toys. The interior itself has been styled...quite well, Honda clearly went with a more futuristic theme with the way all the plastics are styled to look. I really like the addition of the digital dash, most of the important information from the dash is located above the wheel where its most effective to be viewed. The stereo despite its size is disappointing, its not as intuitive as the rest of the interior. The most worrying thing for me however is the plastic quality most noticeable with the doors, its very thin and flimsy. The Civic is not the cheapest car and seeing such flimsy plastic is not something I like when cheaper and frankly worse cars use thicker materials. Build quality however is very good, I haven't seen one issue with trim from any Civic. Canadian Civics are all made in Alliston, Ontario, Canada.

My Score: 7/10 - Kudos to Honda for the digital dash for trying something Toyota and Nissan used to do but chickened out, good styling theme, well built, but disappointing materials.

Styling: Honda went through a bit of a compromise with the styling. Its clear Honda wanted to go with the futuristic theme, but for all markets except Europe they held back and decided to go with a mix of future styling and conventional styling. Europe on the other hand truly went beyond to make the Civic like no other car. The Civic those of us who aren't from Europe is not a bad looking car...but if really fails to distinguish itself from newer cars. Its sad they held back because if this was the Euro Civic I'd easily give it a 10. Everything is different on the Euro Civic, from the door handles to the exhausts(triangle shaped), nothing is all that different with the one we have. Add that the LX gets some terrible rims.

My Score: 6/10 - Honda held back, compared to the Euro Civic we got the less interesting and therefore less attractive version.

Value for money: The Civic has some very fierce competition, this segment is by far the largest and has the most competitors. In terms of pricing its defeated by the American and Korean entrees. In performance and fun its defeated by the Suzuki, Mitsubishi and Mazda. Its extremely conventional unlike the Sentra which opted for CVT. Its not as fuel efficient as Toyota's Corolla, and its quality and reputation are very closely equaled by the Toyota. Considering the Civic started at $17,000 initially it was the second most expensive vehicle in the segment. If it had the Euro styling I can see why one would pay more, but it doesn't. As a result its not a particularly great value down to the fact it just doesn't do anything better than anyone, someone has beaten it somewhere.

My Score: 5/10 - Fair value overall due to being average or good in most fields, not a great value however as it doesn't push far enough in any category to be great at something.

Overall: 30/50 - Its an average car, its a pity it doesn't do anything particularly well in its own segment. I wonder if I scored the Civic the worst on the internet who isn't a anti-Honda lunatic? That said I feel the Lancer and Mazda3 are much better cars overall, I may love the digital dash but that just isn't enough to make it a good car.

2008, 2009 Buick Allure/LaCrosse CX

This week I can manage to do another review this week, amazing considering how I sometimes forgotten or was too tired to make an entry a week.


Introduction: The Buick Allure(since I'm Canadian) was introduced in late 2004 as GM's replacement for both the Buick Century and the Buick Regal. Strangely both the Century and the Regal are W-body vehicles with fairly minor differences, the Allure doesn't change this at all only eliminate a redundant model. In essence the Regal was succeeded while the Century was dropped.

Due to Buick's reliance on elderly customers I actually never knew the Century or the Regal were eliminated. This car was so poorly marketed to anybody other than senior citizens that I actually never knew it ever existed until I saw the name on the key tag. I didn't really know what to expect other than an old person's cruiser thanks to them being Buick's primary demo market.


Performance: The Allure uses the Series III 3800 V6 engine used on most of GM's large cars. The same engine used on the bigger Lucerne and the same one used on the Grand Prix. The Allure is also given the choice of a 3.6L V6 for the CXL model and for the "super" trim a 5.3L V8. For this review I only drove the CX meaning its the 3.8L Series III V8 that produces 200 hp and 230 lb.ft of torque. As a result the acceleration is 8.5 seconds from 0-100 km/h. The feel of this engine is extremely similar to the Buick Lucerne, it doesn't have the savagery of the Grand Prix but it does manage to seem quiet and relaxing.

My Score: 9/10 - The same score as the Lucerne because the engine acts exactly the same.

Handling: I totally criticize the Grand Prix's handling and thought it did a pretty poor job. The Allure uses the same platform as the Grand Prix which sounds like it should be pretty much the same. Yet I actually think the Allure has a better suspension, somehow when they made the Allure softer it responded better with the steering input. By no means does this car corner very well but due to how much more focused it was it actually felt like it handled rather normally despite the cushy comfy ride. As a result I actually found these to be easy to drive.

My Score: 6/10 - A more focused suspension than the Grand Prix, marginally better cornering ability than the Lucerne.


Interior: Much like the Lucerne CX, the Allure really doesn't offer a whole lot. The seats have comfortable back rests...but I was actually uncomfortable due to Buick making the seat cushion very long. My legs were not long enough so I always felt a bit uncomfortable in these seats. The layout of the Allure is extremely similar to the Lucerne with only a few Grand Prix switches. Not exactly a cabin of luxury due to the huge amount of faux wood but certainly an economical and one most people can ride with comfort. Its a pretty spacious car which makes me wonder about whether the Lucerne is even necessary since its not all that different inside.

My Score: 6/10 - Very simple but the seat cushions are too long for shorter passengers and too much faux wood.

Styling: From the rear the Allure is pretty discrete, rather modern and simple. The front is a bit different with the quad headlights and Velite concept grille for the 2008 and 2009 models. Despite its slightly different front, the grille is still very much like old Buicks and due to the rather generic profile and rear end the car isn't all that interesting to look at. Other than the quad headlights its not a whole lot different styling-wise to the Lucerne.

My Score: 5/10 - Pretty conservative styling, the quad headlights didn't add much to change the car's appeal.

Value for money: Unlike the Lucerne, the Allure is a less expensive vehicle and one that's slightly easier to justify the price since it actually competes against more mainstream brands. Sadly the lack of luxuries in a CX version and its lack of appeal means its not likely to be taken seriously. Once again the Chevrolet Impala is a bit problem since that is an inexpensive large car, while the Allure is an inexpensive very large midsized car. GM's confusing often redundant lineup does mean a lot of cars have to compete against themselves and I just don't really see a big reason to go for the Allure...when the Impala does practically everything the same. The only good news for the Allure is due to how people bought one, its actually fantastic value on the used market...which is a horrible sign for any car wanting to do well in the future.

My Score: 4/10 - Better value than the Lucerne, but GM infighting means its still not a good value but due to poor sales its used price is very good.

Overall: 30/50 - The Allure isn't a bad car, but its lack of appeal and charm along with redundant GM siblings which it help start eliminating has hurt the car.

2008-2009 Chevrolet HHR LS

This is an attempt to update more often, I just realized there are some cars I haven't driven in a while.


Introduction: The Chevrolet HHR was designed by GM as one of its retro vehicles. While the Chrysler PT Cruiser is a more familiar vehicle using the same idea, GM decided to hire the PT's lead stylist Bryan Nesbitt to design the HHR. The styling is apparently a modern interpretation of Chevrolet's Suburban from the 1940s. GM developed the HHR using the Delta platform used for the Cobalt and G5.

I never was a fan of the PT Cruiser, in fact I rather hated the way it looked. When I saw the HHR come into the spotlight, I actually thought it was even worse because of the idea of copying something I thought looked dreadful was worse than the original idea.


Performance: The HHR LS uses the Chevrolet Cobalt's Ecotec engines both the 2.2 and the 2.4L. If you have the SS version you get the same turbocharged engine found in the Cobalt SS. The engines I've driven the HHR with is the 2.2L which produce 149 hp and 152 lb.ft of torque. The engine's mannerism is pretty much identical to the Cobalt's which isn't all that refined but it does produce power at the very high end of the power band, the noise at higher rpm is also much nicer. Due to the extra weight the HHR carries its not that quick, its acceleration time from 0-100 km/h if roughly 9.4 seconds. Still the engine is willing to react if not a bit late and the fuel economy is not that bad.

My Score: 5/10 - A reasonable engine with a very willing attitude but not very quick.

Handling: There are a bit more differences in the handling of the HHR over the Cobalt. The first thing I noticed was how boosted the power steering is on the HHR. Its boosted to the extent that there is very little effort required to turn the wheel even at very low speeds, its one of the least engaging steering system I've felt which is a contrast to the engine which is. While it corners alright the big body the car has to haul does produce roll and the ride is just mediocre. The HHR is not a particularly good car to take to the track and its also where its Cobalt/G5 siblings are better suited.

My Score: 3/10 - Steering too boosted, lacking in feel and a disappointing ride quality.


Interior: This is where the HHR's concept focused much of its effort on. The main area of concern is the hatch where its very spacious particularly when the rear seats are folded. The interior materials are less impressive, the plastic isn't very much different from the plastic used in the Cobalt but as they age...for some reason they start to smell. Much like the PT Cruiser, the HHR has decided to make some buttons placed on the dash instead of the door trim like everybody else. Unfortunately not all of the locations they placed the buttons are that conveniently located. Visibility in the HHR compared to the PT Cruiser however is pretty poor. Due to the small windows and the very small rear windscreen the C and D pillars are quite large creating bigger blindspots. The build quality...interestingly enough its better assembled than any Cobalt or G5, these cars are assembled in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

My Score: 6/10 - Good hatch space, pretty well built but poor visibility and the plastics eventually start to smell.

Styling: The idea of the car is clearly ripped off from the PT Cruiser, GM even went to the extent of hiring the same man responsible for the PT Cruiser's styling to style this car. While there are some differences mainly the windows and the overall shape, there are some unattractive items. The grille for instance uses painted plastic which is disturbingly unattractive when you discover what should have been chrome...was something really cheap. It has the same ability to offend some people like the PT Cruiser and it as a result does make it a tad bit unique.

My Score: 4/10 - A PT Cruiser copy with a bad grille, as a result its a love or hate look.

Value for money: The HHR does have something rather interesting, it can be built like a panel van. Instead of spending money on a cargo van, GM would use a solid panel that would have been the rear doors and essentially create a panel car. This makes an HHR an inexpensive alternative to a panel van for businesses that want a more economical vehicle to run and are unable to fill the space used for a panel van. As a regular car its a little bit less ideal, while the cargo space is good the PT Cruiser does much of the same but is easier to drive aside from the turning radius. These days there are more hatchback cars out there including the Mazda3, the Toyota Matrix, the Elantra Touring, etc. For regular drivers, it really comes down to whether you want to buy to the car for its looks much like the Hummer H3 I reviewed.

My Score: 8/10 - Excellent for small businesses due to a panel van variant, not as great value for those who do not want the panel van version due to lots of competition.

Overall: 26/50 - Some clever ideas but in the end its a niche vehicle for most, but a great idea for small business owners.

2007-2008 Suzuki Swift+

Sometimes you can tell how good or bad a car is just from the way it looks. Here's one that shouldn't be that difficult to guess.


Introduction: This car started out in 2004 and is known in South Korea as the Daewoo Kalos. GM decided it wanted this car and placed a Chevrolet badge for the international market and a Pontiac badge for the American market. For the Canadian market, GM still had control over Suzuki and decided to bring this along and put a Suzuki badge as well while bringing the other two rebadges. This resulted in the Chevrolet Aveo, the Pontaic G3 Wave and the Suzuki Swift+. All three of these cars are practically identical, only the grille had the biggest change aside from the badges. This would be GM's answer to the Toyota Echo, the Hyundai Accent and the Kia Rio.

Now when I first got news that I was going to have to drive this car, I didn't really know what it was. I never knew Suzuki actually had this car as a rebadge or even knew of its existence. I knew about the Aveo, but not the G3 Wave or this. I do remember the old Suzuki Swift that had the 3-cylinder, this seemed nothing like that. Most of these are sold as hatchbacks and this is what this review will focus on.


Performance: The Swift+ featured a 1.6L 4-cylinder engine for the North American market. This engine produced 103 hp and 107 lb.ft of torque making it the lowest hp producing engine since the demise of the Golf Mk IV with its 1.6L. The acceleration this engine can manage for this car is going from 0-100 km/h in 10.8 seconds. Not the worst accelerating car I've driven. As for the engine its not a very good one, its very noisy and irritating. You can tell Daewoo was new to making cars due to how rough this engine puts out power with the noise and the fact you can feel the vibrations in the interior. The worst thing about this engine however is its not even efficient, the Chevrolet Cobalt with its bigger 2.2L engine manages slightly less fuel economy in the city but beats this Daewoo on the highway. What is GM thinking? What was Suzuki thinking? The old Swift at least was very fuel efficient, this Daewoo is inefficient yet still nowhere near exciting.

My Score: 2/10 - Unrefined, noisy and not fuel efficient...what good is it?

Handling: This is usually where small cars manage to get back some points if they failed on performance. This Daewoo...doesn't really get there sadly. The steering wheel is not as light as it is on a Toyota or Chrysler but crucially it doesn't produce a natural feel to the steering...it feels artificial and doesn't produce confidence when you try and corner for a small thrill. The body roll is very poor and with its very small wheels its less agile than its competitors.

My Score: 3/10 - They tried but failed, puny tires and the articificially inserted feel do not make this car any fun


Interior: This is where you start seeing why Daewoo failed in North America in the first place. Inside its just all black aside from some tin foil plastic which is as always pretty nasty to look at. The cup holder is very flimsy and very cheaply made, the door handles are also made of this flimsy cheap plastic, the seats use budget proportioned cloth and so on. I mentioned in the performance section that the engine's vibrations can be felt inside, the steering wheel is often the piece that shakes as the car idles, showing how cheaply designed the engine is and how cheaply trimmed this interior is. Due to how black and unattractive the plastic is...its actually a pretty depressing place to be inside. While Daewoo managed to have interior space for moderate sized passengers they sacrificed the tailgate space. Last thing to mention, Daewoo mostly fit these with no power locks...there is no way for the driver to manual lock their door since the inside lock itself refuses to move and must use the key from outside the car. This may not seem like a problem at all but I've seen these cars where the key hole actually collapsed and getting inside this car required entering from the passenger side and exiting the same way. I mentioned a key hole failing and this is another problem in this Daewoo because its not built very well. All these cars come shipped from GM's Daewoo factory in South Korea, so if you're not too knowledgeable about cars the salesman might con you into thinking this is American or Japanese.

My Score: 1/10 - Unattractive, very poor quality materials, flawed engineering, poor cargo room and not built very well.

Styling: This is normally where Chrysler regains some points...this Daewoo just doesn't. When you look at this car with its strange side profile, its dinky wheels and its not very attractive front end you can tell this car isn't going to be any good to begin with. With the surprisingly poor fuel economy I looked around to see how much drag it creates...well it produces a drag coefficient of 0.35 which is what luxury Japanese SUVs can manage. So basically you have this weird shape for no good reason.

My Score: 1/10 - Its bad when you can tell just from looking at the car that it will be bad, add for most people this will be a clown car.

Value for money: This is normally where Korean cars start to look good due to being very well equipped and fantastic value for your money. This Daewoo...doesn't, it may have the lowest MSRP of its time but when running costs are added its more expensive than its Korean rivals and clearly more expensive than the Toyota. Its more expensive due to how fuel inefficient it is but also due to the parts being sourced purely from South Korea it takes a long time for them to arrive. Accident damage or an out of stock part puts this car out of commission longer than cars made in Japan or Germany. Its not very well equipped either, unlike the Kia or Hyundai it has nothing as a standard feature. More importantly, its not very safe either it did spectacularly badly during its earlier crash tests, today its just scores just average which for a small car is worrisome.

My Score: 2/10 - Its got a low MSRP, unfortunately its burdened with no standard equipment, expensive running costs due to bad fuel economy, difficult to source parts and worst of all disappointing safety scores.

Overall: 9/50 - Its a very bad car, I'm still perplexed at why GM even bothered when they clearly could do much better with a smaller Cobalt. This is part of the reason why GM had to declare bankruptcy, stupid decisions like selling this car outside of its home country.