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Nissan Altima
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Comments
I still love this car and have nearly no complaints. The handling and power are awesome. I was traveling for a week and missed driving my car.
The only complaint I've had is that my shifter sometimes hangs up going from 1st to 2nd. That problem seems to be fixing itself. Do trannies break-in? It has only happened once in the last two days and is much less noticeable when it does happen. I'll give it a few more weeks to go away on its own before I bring it to the dealer. Everything else is excellent.
I have no complaints about the interior. I happen to like it. Maybe the Camcords have better material, but I am 29 and single and have no desire to own soulless family sedan even if the interior was hand stitched Italian leather. It was a stretch to buy any sedan, but I love this car.
For background - I shopped around for over a year looking at camcords, S40's, Passats, Maximas etc. (626's are too ugly for me to consider) Camcords have no soul they rival Buicks in the "fun to drive" category. Max's are more cash than I wanted to spend. The S40 is a lousy deal (tiny car) Supposedly Passat's can be had in the low $20k range, but they are hard to find, the ones I saw were more than I wanted to spend. And 150hp from a turbo to haul 5 people on the highway? I like 5spds but I don't like to downshift that often.
I also briefly looked at the Grand Prix, but I couldn't buy another GM. I left $3500 on my GM card to buy my Nissan.
IMO - people with $25 to $30k to drop should probably look elsewhere, but I spent $18K ($19K sticker). What else compares at that price? An Accord LX 5spd - no way! A civic EX - get serious. For 18-22k no car compares to the Altima for the combination of room, power, handling, and quality.
ROFL. A M3 or AMG 55 is far safer than about 99% of the cars on the road...better stopping, better handling, better crash protection than most vehicles. Yet oddly its insurance premiums will be infinitely higher for the M or AMG than say an 02 Camry with an inline 4. As stated before a billion mitigating factors play into a vehicle's insurance cost not the least of which are the age, occupation, ticket-history, accident-history, miles driven, typical number of thefts/accidents/tickets for that vehicle's class or particular make.
Potamkin is a RIP-OFF. I advise you to avoid them at all costs. They're more a leasing company for every kind of make and model, and disavow ANY warranty responsibility. When you have something wrong with your car, all they'll do for you is point you to a real dealer, and since you didn't buy from that dealer, you'll get sub-par service.
I've heard Autotech is pretty bad too when it comes to customer service. Better watch your wallet there.
How did you like the spaceship look of the Altima?
For me, there are two worries: one is that they will turn it into the kind of Japanese hot rod that Toyota chose to do with the IS300 - rocky ride, short gearing, super-low profile z tires all in the interest of impressing journalists and the "younger crowd" [they are already beginning to notice what a small part of the market the younger crowd makes, and journalists borrow cars, they don't buy them]...a sports sedan is supposed to be, first and foremost, a comfortable touring car over all kinds of surfaces in all kinds of weather [which is what distinguishes the German competitors]. The second concern is the obvious: price.
Assuming it can actually be had in the real world for $30k, and doesn't rattle your teeth on wavy SoCal concrete freeways, THEN they will have a winner for sure.
To each his own but Nissan needs to rework this interior asap and I for one really hope they do because style wise outside, it's a grand slam!
Just my humble opinion.
Room and Comfort- A-
truly commdious. Seats are okay, not sure how they'd be over the long trip.
Power- A-
excellent for a 4 cylinder and a car this big. Yet, the tranny was slow to downshift at times. Motor is pretty quiet at 80mph.
Handling/Ride not sure
Didnt flog it, but on the freeway the ride was fine and the steering felt good.
Ext. style- A
no explanation needed.
Interior style and quality- D+
the design intent is fine, but the whole execution is cheap. Enough to the point where I probably wouldn't buy the car. The plastic is worse than a GM car. Now I have seen some new Altimas with a tan interior and it looks better, but this dark gray I drove today was bad. Cheap, cheap, cheap. The tilt and telescope wheel is nice tho.
Overall- B
Solid in all areas except interior which drags it down from A to B. Still, for those who can overlook the interior and even like it....then you would have to consider this car a home run. A steal at anything under 20k. The loaded 6's in the 28 range are truly a rip off though.
One last tip, I saw one of the Altimas with aftermarket gray leather. HUGE improvement over the crap Nissan puts in there. If you want leather in your Altima, DO NOT go factory. Make sure you get it aftermarket.
These sort of misses, combined with junky interior, torque steer, and rotten residual values, means that Nissan has a lot of homework to do.
Expect to see the '02 Altima at a rental car company near you.
ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL. I'll repeat that again. ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL. You quoted the relevant piece from my post above, and you still don't get it, do you? Perhaps it needs to be better explained to you. In simple terms, this means that two identically performing cars driven by an indentical driver under identical circumstances. This is absolutely true. As I said before, any insurance industry actuary will verify this.
You said:
"ROFL. A M3 or AMG 55 is far safer than about 99% of the cars on the road...better stopping, better handling, better crash protection than most vehicles."
Talk about ROFL. These may be the best performing cars on the road. Better crash protection? That is completely your opinion, and the insurance industry doesn't care about that when the guy in the F-150 moves into your lane during rush hour, because it isn't relevant. Simple physics means your M3 is going to be crushed more than the guy in the 1988 Sedan DeVille or the guy in the Suburban.
Then you said:
"Yet oddly its insurance premiums will be infinitely higher for the M or AMG than say an 02 Camry with an inline 4. As stated before a billion mitigating factors play into a vehicle's insurance cost not the least of which are the age, occupation, ticket-history, accident-history, miles driven, typical number of thefts/accidents/tickets for that vehicle's class or particular make."
You just restated my point for me. ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL. The billion mitigating factors you mention, such as age, occupation, ticket-history, accident-history, miles driven, typical number of thefts/accidents/tickets for that vehicle's class or particular make. Please read more thoroughly before you go harping on a post and then restate what was said in the post you were bashing. Go ahead, it's there up above. Towards the end of Paragraph #3 in Post #2052.
Have a nice day
Crapgame
The fuel door release handle is horrible, I can see it snapping off very easily. And how are you going to fill up then?
The carpet cutout with its cute curling flap is horrible too.
And the plastic used in the lower inside door panels and pockets is very flimsy.
The Lexus LS's steering wheel you are talking about automatically tilts away. This has nothing to do with the telescoping feature.
ruski:
the hood prop rod also surprised me. the only consolation i took from that was that it saved a few pounds (not having the struts) and the hood is made of aluminum so its very light. I agree that they should not have cut cost here.
also, the 2001 Altima has a bland, boring interior that's not impressive at all. The 2002 Altima may have the hard plastic but it's still way better than the 2001 in almost all aspects. The seats are bigger and more comfortable for one.
a) has never owned a car with hood/hatchback struts for more then the life of a typical lease period
and
b) dosen't live where the temperature drops below freeezing very often.
Over the years, I've had several cars (foreign and domestic) with various hood/tailgate/rear window struts and without exception they have ALL eventually failed and needed replacement, especially during cold weather. So, I guess I see a prop rod on the Altima's hood as an advantage.
I agree that the gooseneck hinges have got to go.
Nissan should offer a 5 door hatch or a wagon to compete with the Mazda 6s rumored to arrive soon. Hinge problem solved. SUV substitute problem also solved, because you'll have lots of cargo capacity.
C'mon Nissan, 5 doors, please.
-juice
I think they should let Mazda have their day in the sun. We'll see how good the Mazda 6 is. You never know how good it is until you see it. A lot of the people in this forum said that the Altima was going to be their next car, jumping up and down, until they saw the interior. Then the Maxima, a car that was crucified became the savior and a better buy.
We'll see how many of the Mazda 'converts' actually buy the Mazda 6. It could be "Did you see the new Honda Accord?!!!" "That's my next car!!!"
The Mazda 6 interior has already been shown, and doesn't look all that special. That just isn't that high on my priority list, though.
-juice
A guy I work with thinks it's just a short, and I hope he's right because it's annoying.
Has anyone else had this problem with their Altimas, and does anyone have any suggestions?
http://www.chevrolet.com/monte_carlo/images/gallery/gallery_major04.jpg
-juice
Pretty bizarre! Good thing I have a Maxima....BUT WAIT! The Altima has a prop rod and IRS but the Maxima has a hood hinge and a solid rear axle?
Nissan, what ARE you thinking? Sometimes I wonder!
Obi
regfootball - The interior plastic is cheaper than GM material? Get real. I've driven GMs all my life and the Altima interior is head and shoulders above anything offerd by GM (although I haven't been in any caddies lately). I'm not arguing that the Accord may have a higher quality "feel" to a lot of people, but let's not get carried away.
a grand am has a nicer interior than an altima.
I think my nephews fisher price play car has a nicer interior than both.
all joking aside, seriously, the altima interior is poor. Not as bad as the interior of a 94 Lumina (that would be tough to match) but probably ranks up there with a Camaro in terms of plastic quality and assembly quality.
What in the world makes the Grand Am's interior better than the Altimas? I've got to know!!!!
I normally yack at the site of a GM car, but after my recent test drive in the Altima it bothered me to the point that I most likely won't buy the car.
Nissan CAN DO BETTER. The rest of the car is top notch. Should use struts on the hood by the way. I've had several cars in many degrees below zero weather and I've never had a problem with gas struts on the hood. The only struts I had difficulties with was on an old Omni. But hey that's a Chrysler, so I just assume that.
The trunk gooseneck hinges have to go. Cheesy.
The Kia Optima and Hyundai Sonata interiors are better than the Altima. Should I go on. The Inrigue is nicer, the ALero is nicer, the Galant....well, Galant is maybe equal. The Sebring and Stratus are yecky on the interior but still better than Altima. The Intrepid, which I thought was the king of cheap plastic is still better executed than Altima.
The bland Accord looks positively luxury on the interior in camparison.
I took the Altima over some rough roads and noticed some squeaks and rattles coming from the interior trim. The Altima did not seem to be as tight and solid feeling over these roads compared to the Accord or Camry. I disappoints me do hear these kind of noises coming from a brand new car and makes me wonder how bad it would become over time.
I guess what it comes down to is that the Altima is a more fun to drive package than either the Accord or Camry but Nissan need to resolve some fit and finish problems before it can match the high quality standards of its two competitors.
maybe we can simply reduce or filter the whole argument to simple lingos:
if you want driving excitement ---> buy the '02 Alty
if you want quality overall ---> buy the CamCords
if you want all of the above ---> buy the Maxima
that is one way of summarizing succintly what we have spent 6+ months debating on this forum ....
The one difference is the Grand Prix isn't offered in stick shift. But hey, good luck finding an Altima SE in 5 speed. There just aren't very many out there.
"Have you ever dated a drop-dead gorgeous knockout who was the object of your desire...until
he or she opened their mouth and tried to speak intelligently? Ruined the whole fantasy, didn't
it? And if you stopped by this stunner's home for a visit, hoping a controlled substance had
simply slurred their speech the first time you met, you found an unkempt shack with a
flame-blackened Pinto on blocks in the yard and an unspeakable odor 5 feet from the front
door. For many of us, thick, pouty lips and a taut body could not overcome the lack of, umm,
refinement displayed by this potential partner.
The Pontiac Grand Prix is the automotive equivalent of a trailer-park beauty queen, or king. It
exhibits strong sex appeal and has moves that can lull you into submission, but is otherwise
harsh on most of the senses most of the time."
Kia and Hyundai still have exposed screw heads and exposed stitching on the shiny vinyl portions of the seats. IMHO they do not match the Altima's plain but functional interior.
A manual transmission is a pre-requisite for a sports sedan. The dealer I visited had 2 SE 5 speeds ready to test, and one stickered at $25k, not $30k, not even $28k.
Grand Prix? I really don't think someone shopping for a sporty imported sedan will cross shop a Pontiac. Besides, if wider is indeed better, the Intrigue is about an inch wider than the Grand Prix and comes with a longer warranty.
-juice
Back to the interior, opinions seem to vary. Kelley Blue Book like the "beautifully sculpted dash".
Edmunds said the "affordable luxury car" tag line was never more true than it is today. Their review's only gripe was some displays being hard to read in sunlight. It's their top pick.
Motorweek just said the interior was roomy and comfortable, but who cares when it reached 60mph in 5.9 seconds?
Hmm, aluminum hood and trunk, too. If the hood is too heavy to lift and prop up with a rod, you probably have only been doing 12 ounce curls lately. ;-)
Rear suspension adapted from the Skyline. Cool stuff.
-juice
It's a good reference to see where some people are coming from and their viewpoints.
I traded in my Infiniti J30t for the 2002 Altima 3.5 SE Automatic.
Would have possibly bought the Camry, if I bought the 4-cyl. Don't like the Camry's rear drum brakes on the LE model, though.
mis 2 centavos!
Speed
The 3.5SE would be on our short list. We'd look at several other sporty sedans under $30k before buying. I'd rather wait as long as possible, to see the new Mazda 6 and Accord, plus a few non-sedans.
-juice
Other vehicles in my household are 2001 Toyota Highlander V6 AWD and 2000 Ford Contour SE Sport with V6 and automatic.