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Nissan Altima
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Comments
I mean, if you want the plush, buy VW or Audi for that price range... Duh
(Sorry, im having a bad weekend, A's and Kings are on a loosing streak)
The moral of the story is that engine design can have a big influence on gas mileage. I hope Nissan understands this because I will not buy a Nissan that gets bad gas mileage again. It seems the Americans may have surpassed the Japanese in some areas. GM engines get very good gas mileage for the power and weight of the car or truck. My father normally gets 26 mpg highway and 19 mpg local from a 275 hp V-8 Cadillac. I would hope Nissan could do better than that because the Altima is a very nice car.
The current altima with the 2.4 4-cyl gets EPA 29 with auto and 31 with manual on the highway. The 2.4 (ka24de) motor is an old design. While it is quite efficient considering its impressive torque capabilities, it is also heavy and outdated. Nissans new 2.5 4 cyl is supposedly in the same family as the 3.0 maxima engine, meaning it will probably be all-alloy, very light and very clean and efficient. I would expect fuel economy with the 4 cyl at least equal to the current 4 cyl and with the V6- at least equal to the maximas economy.
Well the MPG listed on my 99 alty is 24MPG City and I've NEVER gotten it.. most folks over at altimas.net don't get anywhere near the EPA so I'd wager the mileage will be low..
But as Nissan said, this car is aimed at households with SUVs and want a smaller car..
Here's their new slogan..
SUV gas mileage you are used to, with sporty performance you've always wanted!!!
Otherwise the car is very nice! I like the front end alot and the side profile is nice. The ALtima's C-pillar, derived from the Passat, looks good on the car.
Although I didn't get to see the interior really well, it does look nicely styled but with kinda cheap materials. But I'll have to hold off judgement until I see a Altima up close.
Overall, I think it will cause heads to roll at Toyota & Honda.
And again, HWY mileage on either the 4cylinder or V6 is NOT going to be anywhere near 20MPG! Think high 20s for both.
It's a shame, I was really looking forward to this car; holding off any purchase until it was presented. Nissan, give us the numbers!
Subs = SUVs
20 mpg highway would be really bad for a 4 cylinder.
This is supposed to be a very high volume vehicle, so if the mileage is that bad, it would throw off their CAFE ratings. Or are foreign manufacturers exempt from CAFE standards?
Don't get me wrong, I loved the power on the Maxima. I thought that the new Altima might be a good compromise, offering some of the fun of driving a Maxima (at least the engine; I'm not fond of the steering), while being more economical. I live in northern California where premium can cost over $2.25 pg. I also like using fewer resources. I'm looking at automatics only, so the figures are lower for the Maxima V6: 19/26. A big reason why I was waiting for the new Altima was that it would have a V4 as well. The figures for a Honda V4 are 23/30. What are they for the 2002 Altima V4? It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I would hope that a newer car designed to compete in its own fashion with CamCords would have equal or better mpg, even it it has more power. It's all about what is figuring out the best compromise for yourself.
Regards.
Judging by the specs at www.nissannews.com, it's pretty big too. Makes you wonder why this isn't the new Max. I mean, Maxima has much more consumer recognition than does Altima. If they intend to upgrade the Maxima to compete with the Avalon, doesn't that just step on the I-35 market?
It seems to me that they may be crowding too much product into a narrow range of segments. That was always the problem with the previous Sentra-Altima-Maxima lineup intended to compete against Civic-Accord and Corolla-Camry. Seems like a very GM like move.
Also, I was able to view the intro press conference on the Nissan website in Realplayer format. Its fun just to listen to Carlos Goshen say "Alt-ema". However, it seems to be only the first 15 minutes of the event.
Sentra - Civic, Corolla, Protege, Focus etc.
Altima - Camry, Accord, lower end Passat
Maxima - 300M, Bonneville or perhaps something more???
You just choose the model that has the equipment you want standard (DX/HX/LX/EX/SI).
Basically it states that Mazda (who would of thought it) is putting a Kenwood MP3 player in some of their cars. My current car and my last 2 cars were Mazda 626's. I was hoping to get something different, but then again Mazda is innovation faster than Nissin in the audio area.
you can go to www.mazdausa.com to see it.. look either under Protege or New models on the left side of their website.. Comes out in/about May and they have a 5-door hatchback/wagon that has 16" rims too in june/july
Sony I think came out and someone else, plus Kenwood, Aiwa, and Rockford Fosgate who also has a MP3 changer for the trunk.. it accepts up to 6 memory sticks for 180 hours of music I think..
I don't remember if nissannews.com had this or I read it earlier in the thread.
They'll have to push the Max price up otherwise, why buy it. Actually, why buy the current model against the new Altima? (except for the steep discounts that will be available)/
Also it might just be me, but I am still rather fond of the current Maxima's styling.. including the nose and the tale.
http://www.freshalloy.com/cars/nissan/altima/2002.firstreport01.html
A 20 gallon fuel tank provides a long range between fill ups - 400 miles for the 4-cylinder and 360 miles for the V6 model (EPA highway mileage).
That tells me the V6 is going to get 18 mpg on the highway, and the 4-cylinder will get 20 mpg on the highway. Am I misreading something?
Read my post, #44 for the details.
http://nissannews.com/nissan/pr_events/2001/newyork/altima/index.html
There is some question as to whether those mileage figures were a typo or misprint. It might have meant city and not highway mileage.
In a few months official EPA listings will be available.
At that time, with gas prices rising this summer, if the numbers are as bad as the Nissan informational web site currently lists, the 2002 Altima will be a sales disaster that will put Nissan's future in jeopardy. There will not be a cash rebate high enough to keep these vehicles selling no matter how nice they look.
It won't be just because of the gas mileage, but people will begin to question the intelligence of the management and the engineering ability of a company that would produce a new 2002 compact, 4-cylinder sedan that uses more fuel than some V-8 luxury sedans.
We will have to wait and see what the actual EPA numbers are this summer before passing judgement.
I was excited about the new Altima, but now Im wondering...
Also I doubt they could be held responsible for giving false MPG numbers. After all, they are not embellishing it.
As someone posted the price would be at 25k for a loaded V6 Altima, that would be way to high, and crazy for nissan to increase the price to the altima that high. Remember this is still a Altima, not a Infinity.
The current altima is a small, 4 banger equipped car with no cache among the public. The next generation vehicle will be larger than the current Maxima and offer a 240 HP V6 in top trim, plus three Audi-esque ambiences. Nissan is playing a totally different game with the next gen Altima. It's no longer going to be the budget-minded persons consulation prize. They're going after Honda and toyota's bread and butter - something the 2001-down Altima could never compete with.
The Accords are actually available for about $23,000 after discounting.