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Nissan Altima
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Comments
Infiniti, on the other hand, really won't, especially for the G35.
I wonder if the seats are the same as the Maxima's though? I rented a 2002 Maxima SE for one day, and could not get comfortable after messing with the seat controls for about 20 minutes...
Funny how it is more upscale than the Altima but it still gets panned for the interior which isn't up the level of the competition (which, to be fair, generally cost quite a bit more).
Your points about better dealer treatment are valid, but can't overcome the lack of choice in the drivetrain (for me).
Not that I could really afford one without breaking the bank, but next year when Infiniti brings out the manual 6 speed I might be interested.
What's the deal with these automatics anyway? Lexus's IS300 is a nice car, but the biggest gripe against it was the lack of a manual. They fixed that now. Didn't Infiniti learn from that?
As for the IS300, the gripe about the lack of a manual hurt it somewhat with it's target audience but I don't think that is a killer. The market it plays in is dominated by cars sold mostly with automatics, including BMW. I, too, am a big fan of rowing my own gears. But, I must say the IS300 with the steering wheel mounted shift buttons was a fairly engaging experience once I started to get the hang of them.
R&T said that the design was generally liked by all the editors, but that there were some concerns about the long-term durability of the materials.
MT didn't say much at all.
Dang.
I was rethinking my decision the other night when I was driving to a friend's place. I came to a stoplight, looked around, and spotted 2 other silver '02 Altimas at the same light! At that point, I concluded that this color may be a bit too popular.
Have you seen the new blue and red colors? I think they look good. Pewter also looks good to me.
My wife likes silver, but I really don't.
BTW, is it me or has something changed in the last few years to make silver a more popular color?
Is the new blue closer to a darker navy blue? It seems a lot of its colors are more pastel, instead of bold and defining.
I actually liked last year's ruby and opal blue colors as well. I don't know why Nissan got rid of them.
Let me see if I can include a picture of the blue:
The thought of buying a new car and having bubbling clearcoat ??!!, well .... let's say a cheesy interior is do-able with the 2003 fixes, but Bad Paint on New Car, Scarey !
I might add that the 9 year old Honda we own is still fun to handwash, (well - twice a year) as the paint still looks & feels brand new !
2) Regarding the 2003s, are we back to looking at near-sticker prices, the way the 2002s were priced when they rolled out ? Or was that just because of the new model change ? I think the 2002s are now priced around $200 over invoice, ($ 1, 800 under Sticker).
Thanks
I talked to the salesperson a couple of weeks ago and I asked about the '03s. He didn't mention anything about the pricing being anything unusual. He was offering me $600 over invoice on a 2002 and I would think he'd have mentioned what a good deal it was if they were sticking to MSRP on the 03...
It doesn't look that different from the old ruby color, IMO.
It obviously takes some time but if you do some home work and shop online with their internet managers, there are good deals out there !
Hope this helps with the pricing questions.....
I saw an Altima in the parkling lot and work and thought it was a Q45. I walked beside it and when I saw Altima I about passed out. I went inside and started pulling up stats on it. Up until that point I was mainly interested in the RSX-S.
While on a trip I went to Nissan dealer across the street from the Hotel. After reading the reviews and seeing the internet prices I was shocked when I saw the window sticker on the 3.5s. $29k. "I can get a maxima for that."
Start comparing the Maxima as I had always liked the Maxima, but had considered it above my price range. Configuring a nice SE, "I can get a TL for about that price..."
"But why get the TL when I can get a IS300 for a little more?"
after a while I was looking at A4 Avants, and Passat wagons. Finally I started calculating monthly payments and shook myself out of the sell up cycle.
I'm still interested in the Altima SE, but the assinine way they have configured the options is starting to turn me off. Why can't I get any decent features without the sunroof and all the other crap?
It's like they think that if you want the 3.5 then you must automatically want all the other crap, otherwise you'd be looking at the 2.5s.
I am also ticked off that in the SL level trim which they said they upgraded the leather for 2003, you can not get it in a Manual transmission anymore (according to build your own on the Nissan site)... ARggh....
It's the pacakaging BS that has pissed me off, cause I can't get the options I want, or powertrain without getting a bunch of crap I have no use for...
Side note, every Nissan dealer I have been to in the Northern VA area are jerks, and every VW dealership I've been to has been quite cordial. However, I've been hearing alot of bad things about VW's service departments in this area..
Sigh.. the madness continues..
I have the Ruby Red on our 02 Altima and I had to buy a paint touch up bottle within the first month (hmmm they used to give those away at dealers, cost 6 bucks now!) Plenty of paint chipping problems in bumper area, and one or two on the door. Seemed to be more of a problem the first few months, haven't seen any chipping for a while (have had the car 11 months). Some paint chipping happened when the dealer washed it after an oil change, other chips just appeared from gravel or whatever. Not a great paint job!
My parents owned an 86 Jetta diesel and that thing was a tank. We drove that dam thing for 14 years and a lot of that time I was using the vehicle and driving it into the ground. It would not die! The problems that I do seem to notice and I can relate with VW's, is they have electrical annoyances. We had several such as the radio dying and stupid lights on our dash going on all the time or just never turing off. We also had these crappy door handles.
But never anything engine major, or serious $$ for repairs never..
I am actually quite stunned by the Passat, I was in need of a change and hooked on to the Altima except the interior sucks, and at the time the 2002 SL had really crappy leather compared to the Passat which is a NIiiiiiiiice...
One thing that really stuck with me though, was I of course see many Passats in my area and I talked to a couple owners about some of their purchases. They said they had great dealings but didn't like the service department. One person showed me her car and when they prepped it, the idiots got wax all over the window edges!! She told me she was furious, and she took the thing home and stuck Q-tips in there to try and get all the gunk out. She didnt get all of it and I could still see the residue when she showed me the vehicle. Talk about idiots..
Enjoy
Speed
I can't believe some of these posts about the prices bewteen $25-$30K. I like the Altima, but this is WAY too high for the Altima. For that kind of money you can get an Infiniti G35.
BTW, an advantage of the Altima is that the engine has a timing CHAIN, as opposed to a BELT, at least on the 2.5 model. This is an expensive maintenance item to change, which does not have to be done on the Altima.
I found the bright orange lighting on the instrument panel to be distracting. I'm afraid that during night driving the distraction will increase.
The shoulder strap of the seat belt would slip down when I turned my body while backing up. I had to manually move it back up. The salesman made all possible adjustments to the seat position and to the shoulder strap height. I had the same problem in multiple Altimas. My size is average, so this should not be part of the problem.
Has anyone had problems with the instrument lighting and the seat belts?
The dash lights can be adjusted for brightness - from very dim to very bright. There is a reostat wheel switch on the left side of the dash to turn the brightness down. I agree, on the brightest setting it is very bright & might be distracting.
Also, I had a chance to stop by a dealer and check out the new Crystal Blue color. It is brighter than it appears in that picture I posted. Frankly, I like the old Opal Blue better.
Nissan should sell a dark blue on this car. I think it would look great.
Other than that , LOVE the 2003 Alitma 3.5. Interior is not fancy, but will do just fine.
Traded in an `01 Maxima GLE, wife didn't like the hard leather seats, plus a/c/heater fan was very noisy.
So far, really like the Altima, enjoying the power and the ride!
Re: colors, I don't like the new blue at all. Too bright. Also, the old Nouveau Ruby was much nicer than the new Sonoma Sunset (?). It's also too bright. I think dropping the opal blue and nouveau ruby was a mistake. We considered both colors, and bought the opal blue. We wouldn't even consider either of the new colors - too gaudy. Each to his own, I guess. Some people like statues of pink flamingoes in their yard, so I guess that says something.
The Lustre is from the Maxima, right?
There are many to chose from.
However most of them don't have ABS.
Do you know why?
To us ABS is must.
Also, any known problem with this model?
Thanks.
The gas mileage is not great, rather unhappy with that part, and the oem Generals were garbage, lasted only 17k miles.
Besides that, the car is good and you can't go wrong. Her idler pulley went bad but was fixed under warranty last month. She chose the titanium frost color and it looks real sharp and hides dirt real well.
Good luck and let us know what you finally get!
The Sandman :-)
While I was at the dealership I bought a set of wheel locks (Nissan brand but made by McGard). This gives some peace of mind against theft of these nice alloy wheels.
When I got home I also removed each wheel and lubricated each wheel lug. I highly recommend this procedure because nearly every new car I've purchased shows evidence of some sort of corrosion on the threads. This can be permanently cured by taking an old toothbrush and putting some Never Seize copper-based anti-seize compound on the brush and putting a LIGHT coat on the threads of each wheel lug. This will prevent seizing/binding/rusting of the threads and makes lug nut removal and replacement much easier (also true for spark plugs - try it!). I learned this trick from a mechanic friend and have done it to every car I've purchased - it's a cheap and easy improvement.
Also, if you've purchased an Altima recently and haven't checked the tire pressure I suggest you do so. Max pressure is 44 psi on the factory Continentals, but they ranged from 31-38. I set them all at 40, at least for now.
So far, the car has been great and the wife is extremely pleased (which is very important - if the wife ain't happy, ain't nobody happy).