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Midsize Sedans Comparison Thread
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Glad you like your Altima. I looked at all the similar priced Marques, gave all of them a very thorough test drive, and didn't choose the Altima. It wasn't even on the short list! My final choice was another Asian make. It was far more refined and better all round than the Altima. Besides, Nissan is still on the rebound from a near death experience and their future is still not assured.
A few disappointments with the Altima besides Nissan's fiscal health. Resale didn't compare with my final choice. Reliability wasn't up there either. Three speed auto with OD is passe these days. yet another was recommended use of premium fuel. At today's prices, this is a bummer.
The Altima 3.5 has a 5 speed auto and runs on regular unleaded.
To be honest, I hadn't even considered the Altima until after I drove an Infiniti G35 and M35 and decided that the Altima was that close without the price tag.
I was looking at Infiniti, Honda and Acura. After 10 miserable months with a problematic 2005 Avalon, Toyota and Lexus were off my list.
While Nissan's market cap is nothing near that of Toyota's, Nissan now has bucketloads of cash and are bailing out Renault! The brand I am concerned about as far as survival goes is Mitsubishi, but that is another story.
I almost bought a 2006 Avalon XL in the Bliz. White Pearl. Got a pretty good discount off of it, but scared by the posts on that thread made me reconsider (including yours). I have heard tons of complaints on under Toyotas - most of them dealing with poor customer service/poor dealerships/inability to fix problems, etc. (I'm not sayinng that the Hondas are better - but in my experience they have gone the extra mile to fix my problems, and do extra services, such as detailing the vehicle, free oil change, etc). I think I'll go with the Pilot EX AWD in silver or beige (sorry its off topic). They are discounting those as well. I would like to stay with the Honda family. I'm coming from an Accord.
As far as the Accord its engine is maybe slightly more noiser than a Camry's, but in not really that noticeable. I like the pep of my 4, in combination with its auto tranny. Honda has come a long way compared to the previous generation Accords. Its arguably the best powertrain among its competitors. (Its six is probably sufficient-but it could you a bit of a boost).
Altho' I didn't consider one in my search, the Av is a superb automobile.
Best to you re the Altima. Unfortunately it's not my choice.
PS. Nissan isn't out of the woods yet. Bucketloads of cash?? Not true!! You must be an optomist!!
I wish I could believe that my Avalon experience was atypical, but there are many similar accounts of the problems Avalons are experiencing - not just on Edmunds but on Toyotanation and other forums too. When there is smoke there is fire. Camry's new 6-speed problems are further testimony that Toyota is going through a less than stellar period. Tough to accept - it was tough for me too. Maybe you'll get lucky and get a good one, maybe you won't and you'll get stuck with a bad one. Do you want to take that increased chance when you spend around $30K or more, on a new car?
I have been called many different names while reporting my Avalon experience, but take into account that I had many Toyotas previously and was a very loyal Toyota owner until the Avalon set new lows in quality. We used to turn in Toyotas at the end of their leases and lease new ones without even looking at the competition, but our last Sienna also started showing some chinks in Toyota's armor.
I'm not going to belabor the point but when a lower-cost car like the Altima is better built and has better engineered electromechanical systems than the Avalon, one has to question... The Altima and Accord certainly don't have the proliferation of similar problems reported by multiple owners littering these forums as the Avalon does.
I am not going to make further posts on the Avalon. This is not the forum for it and I'm pretty tired of the subject anyway. If you think I'm nuts for singing the praises of the very worthy Altima, you are entitled to your opinion!
Check Nissan financial statements and you will see what I mean about Nissan's current financial position.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take the Altima out for a run!
Maybe I don't understand the residual value. But, the dealer I bought my '05 Sonata from last April is retailing used Sonata's equipted exactly as mine, with 20,000 miles for only $1,000 less than I paid for mine. If I understand residual value, I don't see the Azera losing over 50% of value in two years.
The leasing companies estimate the value of the vehicle at the end of a lease period (residual) and these values are revised monthly to be as close to actual market value as possible. The lessee pays for the depreciation over the term of the lease, but that is not the purpose of this discussion.
When a new vehicle like the Azera hits the market, it is tough to estimate the future value, so the previous model is used as a basis until real-life market values can be progressively used over time.
In the case of the Azera and the Sonata, their projected market values are being based on the old models. My personal opinion is that these new Hyundais are so much better than their predecessors and will in fact have higher resale values than the finance companies are forecasting, but at this point in time, from an estimated total-cost-of-ownership perspective, the Hyundais are higher than the competition.
Right now it is a bit of a gamble as to how the market will accept the new generation of Hyundais, but if they turn out to be reliable and give the competitors the spanking I think they will, these cars are going to be in demand in a few years and worth quite a bit more at resale time than currently forecasted.
1. Camry
2. Accord
3. Impala
4. Altima
Impala just pushed Altima out from 3rd place.
The new altima though looks great, and makes the maxima look sort of redundant.
I like its style alot, should be sporty, handles well, cheapers than camcord(i mean which mid size car aint) and its basically an opel which is quite reliable.
I think you are expecting a lot from one generation of a car. Especially when some people (who are going to buy a car in a few years) don't even know the Hyundai Sonata exists. The average Joe test drives maybe two cars, and the chances of one of them being a Sonata are not that great. Not saying it's fair, just the way I see it. That's what a reputation will get you, in the car business. People who know "next to nothing" about cars, have heard of the Camry and Accord.
The 5 speed Avalon V6's have performance issues which while annoying are not safety issues. They do need to be addressed in order to improve the quality of the driving experience but that's it.
Other than that, it's a matter of fragile paint if a stone hits the front and occassional rattle's which both of which are only annoying.
I personally do dislike the Avy's Navi interface but that's a subjective issue not a qualitative issue. It's like disliking a color.
BTW.. The current Altima is a poor 4th to the Camry, Accord, and Sonata and probably the Fulans. It will never be in the class of the Avalon or the Azera or the new XLE V6 Camry.
The new '07 is yet to be seen in person. Nissan's recent performance ( Canton ) is not encouraging though.
YTD sales
Camry
Corolla
Civic
Accord
Malibu/G6
Impala
Altima
Taurus
Fu-lans
GM 'sells' a lot of midsized vehicles
If demand is high and supply is low, the price goes up.
If demand is high and supply is high, the price goes down.
If demand is low and supply is low, price goes - well nowhere really.
If demand is low and supply is high, price goes down the toilet.
Take the Camry for example. Everyone thinks that the Camry has a high resale value, but it is a victim of its own success. Everyone wants a good used Camry but try to get a reasonable trade-in or decent dollars selling privately when there are thousands of similar cars available - you can't. Accord sells in lower volumes and is also in demand as a used car - but has a higher value.
No doubt in my mind your Av had problems which were exraordinary, but way beyond the norm. (I also felt your condemnation of that marque also went beyond the norm!!)
BTW, I didn't purchase an Avalon because it wasn't in the price range I was into in my research, but if it had been, the Av would have been a serious contender for sure!
I also question your blanket statement about the fiscal health of Nissan. A recent(April)article to the contrary in Financial Post says you're way off base in claiming they're in good shape. Add to this an announcement(just today) that Nissan sales in Japan are down 34 percent and sinking fast!! A pretty picture this isn't!!
The owner's manual recommends premium fuel BTW, and in the past, these products weren't noted for the best quality--I hope this changes in future.
All said, I wish you continued satisfaction with your new Altima.
This is silly. You can't get a reasonable trade-in on a Camry? Maybe you can't. I did last summer on 2000 LE with 86000 miles in 'good' condition. Dealer said they'd sell my trade on their lot within a few days after the car was detailed and prepped for resale.
The Camry resale value is one of it's main selling points today, and for good reason - its true.
...off topic.
Nice down payment on the next one.
That seems awfully low. I just got 3K for a 95 Mazda626. It was very clean and well maintained. I suspect I can get 4-5K for my 06 Sonata (in today's dollars)when it's 10 years old.
Are you saying that a prospective used Sonata buyer is going to go to a new car dealer and go through price negotiations before going to the used car lot? I don't think that will happen very often!
So, I have no idea what that spec sheet was, why he showed it to me, or if it was the actual 2007 spec sheet. I also have no idea whether the guy had any idea what he was talking about. He was a strange guy, and hardly impressive--we were turned off when he lit up a cigarette as he showed us the cars, but I think he really lost us when he ridiculed the wheel covers on the old car we were going to trade in. He had an interesting sales technique, to say the least. So certainly don't take what he told me as gospel. But I do know what he said and thought it was interesting and worth mentioning here. Maybe the specs he showed me were only for the 4-cylinder GLS, which is the one I was looking at.
I think that "down the road" in 3 to 4 years time, providing their quality holds up, used Hyundais will be in demand which will drive up their resales values to higher than currently projected. This is just my opinion - not based on any statistical fact.
However, going back to my original post on the subject, right now, a Hyundai depreciates far quicker than competing models, and of course steep discounting doesn't help.
BTW, Private Party "blue book" value on a Camry LE 2.2L I-4 Automatic with 112000 miles, no additional options, and in only fair condition (assuming a couple of mechanical problems, iffy paint quality and stained interior, is currently $4960 in my area, so you really weren't too far off, but if you didn't have nay mechanical problems, I'd still think you could've gotten $6k without too much of a problem. As long as you are happy and driving what you want, you didn't do anything wrong!
The only way to tell for sure where you stand on a trade-in is to bargain hard for the new vehicle without a trade-in and reach a bottom line price, then introduce the potential trade in and bargain some more. The difference is what the real trade in value that the dealer is going to give you, and it will be much less than he is going to turn around and resell your used car for.
Just based on exterior styling alone, I would rank it last behind Fusion, Altima, Accord, and Sonata in that order and maybe just ahead of Malibu.
Hyundai has a new philosophy from their chairman(or indicted) and that is mistakes are intolerable. Not sure if toyota is following up with that these days
I don't care what kind of track record you have, this is real bad.(3 major recalls affecting millions of cars)
Initial quality to me counts quite a bit in comparison to the long run, i mean who wants to buy a brand new car that has safety hazards here and there
Honda to me has the edge in the japanese auto war currently
An alternate view is that this is the best looking and most definitive Camry ever. It is not for everyone for sure but rather than blend in as in the past it just states..
'This is the new Camry, the best selling auto in the US. The time for bland is in the past.'
It's got the best V6 powertrain in the class.
It's got the best overall fuel economy in the class ( Incl TCH ).
It's got the latest most desired safety and convenience features.
It has a distinctive look.
It has the best perception from the press and the largest part of the buying public.
It is a very good vehicle maker here.
Honda is a GREAT vehicle maker here, not just very good. C'mon bro! Their engines dominate racing cicuits. Their interiors have an aircraft feel. You can't go wrong buying a Honda.