If you're a long time FreshAlloy.com reader, you'll know that we have been anxiously awaiting the new Altima's arrival. You'll may recall that well-known artist Steve Eastwood drew some sketches for us based on top-secret information from deep within Nissan. From its low-cowl hood to its swoopy C-pillar and jewel-like tail lights, the Altima is quite a looker.
Just over a year later, the Altima is finally here and Nissan undoubtedly has a blockbuster on its hands! At least in Southern California, there's an Altima on almost every other block. Now that we've had some seat time in one, we'll share some of the details with you.
Our car de jour was a sheer silver Altima 3.5L V-6 SE model sporting a four-speed automatic overdrive
transmission and leather seating package. Our particular car had already racked up 18,000 miles on the clock. As soon as we sat inside, we immediately noticed the low cowl of the lightweight aluminum hood, making it virtually invisible from inside the cabin. Being used to older Altimas, this took some adjusting, but after a few hairpin turns, we quickly got used to the added visibility. We really like the backlit, three-pod instrument cluster which tilts to accommodate the angle of the adjustable steering wheel. The seats are roomy and well bolstered (not aggressively enough for our
taste but noticeably better than previous Nissan sedans) as is the car's overall interior - the sheer amount of space is amazing at over a hundred cubic feet! It feels almost like a limo! From an ergonomic perspective, everything is user friendly and well thought out. We especially like the short reach to the stereo and easy-to-use climate control. The only flaw we can point out is that the
radio and automatic climate control displays got easily washed out when in direct sunlight.
We also enjoyed the crisp sounding audio system with an in-dash 6 disc
changer and an eight speaker Bose speaker set up. While hardcore mobile audio geeks
shun factory premium systems, the Bose will satisfy most enthusiasts who
aren't willing to rip apart their center consoles.
The real fun began when we fired up the engine as the twin mufflers rumbled to life. Sounds yummy doesn't it? The first thing we did was find a long piece of empty highway and floor it. As the Altima's engine and transmission smoothly brought us towards the century mark, we couldn't help but grin. No doubt, we're big fans of the VQ series engines and this engine felt even better than those found in our
3.0 liter VQ engine Maximas.
Even though it has "only" 240 horses (compared to big brother Maxima's 255 and cousin G35's 260 horses), the engine here has been tuned for smooth low-end torque and is much quieter than the G35's throaty exhaust. The gated gear knob makes it easy to downshift by snicking it to the left or upshifting by snicking it to the right. While it's not really a "tiptronics" shifter or as easy to use as the G35's up and down motion, it does provide some manual control to make the driving experience that much more fun. From a full stop, it's quite easy to make the tires chirp, and it surprised us to see how much juice the car had between third and fourth gear. Unfortunately, torque steer rears its ugly head if you plan on throttling the car from a stand still. A direct result of the added power, the car is thirstier for fuel than our older Maximas.
While a superb engine gives a car much of its performance personality, Nissan fortunately didn't stop there! They wisely invested in a true multi-link, independent rear suspension adapted from the Japanese market Skyline GT-R supercar. The front strut suspension also offers high tech bragging rights due to it's use of multiple aluminum components - thus reducing un-sprung weight on the front end of the car.
Bragging rights will only go so far until the car is driven - and we can say our test Altima was driven hard! We took the car at near full throttle around sharp corners and the car stuck to the pavement like glue. The rear end did swing out a bit, but the traction control quickly brought the car back in line. The steering is neatly balanced and doesn't seem overly boosted unlike other family sedans. We were also impressed with the Altima's beefy 4-wheel disc brake system, featuring electronic brake force distribution (when optioned with ABS) and ensuring short well-controlled stops.
Being more of a front wheel drive family sedan than a true sports sedan (a la BMW M5), the Altima also performed admirably on pot hole ridden surface streets, even with low profile 215/55R17 tires and wheels. There's no jarring harshness when running over bumps and ruts; rather, the car emits a well-controlled thump over harsh surfaces. There's a bit of wind noise but it can be easily forgiven when you easily pass up that Mustang on a two-line highway.
What's not to like about the car? The driving dynamics are a notch above, but like everyone else…we agree the interior is not up to previous Nissan efforts. The plastics on the A-pillars and interior doors are hard as concrete. There's a noticeable gap between the dash and A-pillars. The faux wood looks quite realistic and passable to the untrained eye. And our take is that if the interior door handles aren't real metal, don't bother painting it a metallic looking color. Keep in mind that Nissan has announced some interior upgrades for 2003 that we feel should have been included in the first year. As soon as we get our mitts on one, we'll let you know our impressions!
The Altima may not be the killer family sedan now that it faces a re-designed Accord, Camry, and re-vitalized Mazda 6 but its unique exterior design, performance, and engineering make it a true contender. If you're in the market for a fast four-door, then the Altima needs to be on your test drive list.
Configuration:
Four door mid-size sedan
Front wheel drive
Models:
2.5, 2.5 S, 2.5 SL, 3.5 SE
Engines:
Inline 4 2.5L: 175 bhp
V-6 3.5L: 240 bhp
Base pricing:
$16,649 - $23,149
Changes for 2003
·
New charcoal seat fabric (late availability), padded cloth front center armrest cover (genuine leather on leather-equipped vehicles), bright titanium interior accent colors for all models
·
Two new exterior colors - Sonoma Sunset and Crystal Blue
·
Standard automatic transmission, heated front seats, heated outside mirrors and simulated wood trim for 2.5 SL
·
Sport and Leather packages have been upgraded with additional equipment
