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I have to be completely honest with you, I am blown away by the numbers I've received so far. Now, one note, I kept the rpms below 4000 for the first 1200 miles and have since opened it up. Also, when I have the "auto" mode on the climate control on, I always make sure the "a/c" button is off.
Anyway, i don't think you're alone, maybe they stuck the 2.5 in my 3.5 SE!
Of course, if you buy the base Aveo with NO options, you can get a cheap ride, and since there isn't anything other than the engine or transmission to break, most of these owners will really like the car. However. my view is that an $800 sunroof on a $14,000 car should be just as reliable as a $800 sunroof on a $25,000 car...but hey, that's just me....
Jim
Overall, it seems better than the '06 Altima 2.5S we traded in. I was skeptical of the CVT, but it's made me a believer. The manual mode works very well. Unlike a conventional automatic, where you can feel the torque converter lock and unlock, the CVT is directly connected with a similar feel to a manual transmission.
The passat is a great car, but the VW 2.0T and 3.6 V6 need premium fuel. Reliability for most VW's is well below average, and my only VW dealer is almost 2 hours away. You don't get much for $25k on a VW either.
Unfortunately, the one they found is a CA emissions.
So our option is to continue searching for a 50 state emissions vehicle (that still passes CA emissions believe it or not) or , taking delivery of this vehicle that gets 1 mpg LESS and 5 less hp!
We do ALOT of stop and go driving. 1 mile, traffic light...continue for 20 miles. Someone suggested the 6 cyl vs the 4 for actual better mileage in these conditions but the car dealer suggested against it if that would be our purpose for upgrading to a 6 cyl.
Suggestions?
So what is this breakin period and how long is it supposed to last? I've had it about a 1.5 month's and have put just over 900 miles on it. Also what kind what kind of mpg increase can I expect after this period?
We went yesterday to buy our Altima (pittsburgh also) and due to some small bumper scuffs we asked that they buff it for our approval or possibly to decline it if we are not happy. It's the only black with blond leather v4 out there really. So I started looking around again last night and came across the ...
HONDA ACCORD 08! EX-L.
At first, when we started this process - we looked at an 07 without leather and I believe the smaller less powerful 4 cyl. So, tonight we are going to look at the new 08 with the stronger engine.
The thing that is kiling me about the Altima is their soft paint. I own a new frontier and have so many little scuffs etc and baby this thing. It's like it was born to scratch easily. Very soft paint. But the cool key system is really keeping me eyeing up the Altima.
The Honda has LESS MPG. Rated at 21. The CVT transmission in your car 'should' keep you at the 23 mph. Pending you keep the rpms to about 2k. I didn't even look at what we were getting on our test drive. Yes we have MANY hills and traffic lights to deal with. I'm willing to lose a MPG to the Honda if I can assure I have better stopping power with the ESC and Brake Assist that comes standard on it vs the Altima that doesn't even offer it as an option. It's not for me so, it's important that it is safe and drives well in the snow.
I'm seeing alot of mixed reviews about the gas mileage of the Altima. On a mixed environment , 23 can be had but most are not seeing that. Then there are the lofty 26 mph avg for the 6 cyl owners. You have to take much of this with a grain of salt. My brother claims 17mph on his huge truck. But he drives on straight roads and only about 5 miles A DAY, probably never breaking 40 mph.
For us, it will come down to the drive. All things being equal it looks like we may opt for the Honda. I can get invoice pricing on both, what did you pay for your altima? The honda will be more by about 1200 if you include the nissan $1k rebate. Over the life of the loan it will be almost $2k exact more expensive for the Honda (due to nissans 3.9 vs honda's 5.0 % rate)
This isn't magic... the Altima 2.5L makes more power under about 6000RPM than the Hondas 2.4L. (look at the torque ratings) at 4000RPM, where you use it most, the Altima makes as much as 20 more HP than the Accord. More HP = more gas if both have similar overall effeciency. So if you drove both car side by side on the same road, you'll get better mileage with the Altima, but wthout realizing it, you're probably taking advantage of the extra power. The Accord would need to rev another 500RPM to match the Altima's power, an then another 300RPM to make up for the extra weight.
So... don't put you're foot into it, keep the engine under 2500RPM and you should see an improvement. The trick it to keep an eye on the tachometer, try and keep it from climbing as much as possible. If you're careful with the throttle, you'll find the car can climb like a goat at low RPM's. I've crawled up a 10% grade at about 10mph at only 1400RPM... with 1 passenger. I was expecting it to rev to 2500, but it locked up the torque converter and kept it in the lowest range on the CVT and muscled up it.
If there are other out there with a problem like this I would sure like to hear from you.
Personally, I would LOVE to see some class action lawsuits sent out against Honda and Nissan. At SEVERAL dealerships, I was quote WAY above the EPA ranges for City mileage.
Funny how, when you buy the car (IE: my truck) from a dealer, then call to complain about numbers below the EPA #'s, and they then suddenly remember the hilly terrain we live in and cheap tree hugger non effective gas we use - and use this as an excuse for the reason they flat out LIED to you about what to expect.
Why do they do this? Well because they all do.
The only solace is knowing that the Honda DOES get less MPG than the Altima.
We haven't even gotten ours yet, but I don't expect 23 honestly. Maybe 22. PA adopted the CA standards so we get less MPG. Funny, the website says to expect MORE MPG. Lies.
It's so funny how people believe this is about saving the trees or the purple nosed squirrels, when in reality it's about making constituents happy and making huge amounts of $$$$$.
I personally do not know what to do about buying this car either. We only have two choices. One has very light small scratches very low on the bumper about 1 cm in width , about 10 of them. The other, the nose ringed adorned car wash kid used sandpaper to wash the car they picked up on trade from another dealer and now it looks like what my truck did after a year of washing AND a winter.
I wish there was another option, but after driving the accord today and dealing with the dealers unwilling to do anything less than 3% ABOVE invoice, and after feeling the EXTREME lack of power the accord 4 cyl has to offer...it's a no brainer - Altima all the way.
Oh well. The lesser of two evils I suppose.
It doesn't sound like your 2 dealer prospects are very customer oriented...that may be a clue to how you will be treated after the sale.
I purchased a 2.5SL sedan in January 08, and fortunately, the dealership I dealt with was very accomodating....So much, in fact, that when I went to pick the car up, it was raining, and they provided me a demo to drive until the rain ended the next day. The sales manager said that a new car should be driven off the lot on a sunny day to truely be appreciated. It wasn't a big issue to me, but it sent a huge message as to how I would be treated later if a problem arose...
I just put 10 gallons in the tank, marked my point and yesterday when we were almost home, it was about at the same point (Just before the yel light turns on) and we were at 194 miles! I would NEVER have been at 194 miles prior to the light turning on. Usually about 145-165. TOPS. I have this down to a science as I compared it to a full tank.
I'm hoping this Altima gets OK gas mileage. At 23 that is a bit LOWWWWW for a 4 cyl. Keep in mind also that we have cars with two different emissions.
CA, PA and about 15 other states NOW HAVE CARS that are CA emissions. Which means that it will be rated at 22 mph although they legally don't have to put that up there for some reason, they only have to state 23. If they are going to screw us, at least be honest about the end result eh?
Funny, most people don't even REALIZE that their state only allows a dealer to sell CA emissions product.
AND, if they adopted this, they also force the fuel to not include as much sulfur in the gas which creates a very small amount of extra emissions. This raises the cost of fuel AND with all the other restrictions in the fuel - reduces your MPG further!
I thought the whole idea was to have a more efficient car that uses less fossil fuels, NOT to reduce the emissions only to have to create MORE emissions because we will have to use MORE fuel.
IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE!
So then I see this on the Nissan Site.
QR25DE — 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder
Horsepower — 175 hp3 @ 5,600 rpm
Torque — 180 lb-ft3 @ 3,900 rpm
Emissions — Tier 2, Bin 5 (LEV2-SULEV in CA)
VQ35DE — 3.5-liter DOHC 24-valve V6
Horsepower — 270 hp @ 6,000 rpm
Torque — 258 lb-ft @ 4,400 rpm
Emissions — Tier 2, Bin 5
(FYI SULEV stands for Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle) It rates at a Bin 3 and VERY close to ZERO emission output.
However, the 6 cyl does not seem to fall under this category?
CAN THIS BE TRUE? Maybe THIS is the reason why the 6cyl people are seeing such great MPG in contrast to the 4????? If that's the case, then I'm paying the extra few bucks up front and getting a 6. That actually pushes me toward a more gas guzzling care at that point lol.
I'm on a lease so a 1000.00 or so was relatively inconsequential for me. It was all about getting the most MPG's for the lowest payment without stepping into something that has no power.
So my cost/value situation was unique to say the least.
One persons driving like a granny is another persons driving like a bat out of you know where. This is a case in point. Accord 4 cyl by all means has never been criticised for lack of power. OTOH when I drove the 2.5 compared to my XT I thought it accelerated like molasses and didn't like the drive very much.
Thx!
Rating sare only ment ot be used on a caparitive bases. So if you have a Honda Accord 4cyl rated at 21/31... you can therefore expect about 9% better mileage in the city and the same on the highway over the Accord.
If you're trading in a Chevy Envoy rated at somthing like 12/17, you could expect to get roughly 47% better mileage in the city and 45% better mileage on the freeway.
More improtantly, in the city, heavier cars get worse mileage than lighter ones, and on the freway, better aerodynamics help the most.
Realistically comparing the Altima with other midsized cars, you could conclude that it's the lighter weight of the car that helps mileage the most, more than the CVT transmission.
On theo other hand, consider that the Altima has more horespower, so you can expext to get worse mileage than other midsized cars if you drive aggressively.
The above was done with moderate driving practices except for on ramps where the person in front has to stop, take a look and slowly accelerate onto the highway thus forcing me to go around if room and traffic allows. Normally I do not have a heavy foot and highway speeds are generally at or slightly above (5 mph) posted speeds. The I4 has all the power I need and with good MPG, this will be a great friendship.
As for the recalls, I know it makes you feel bad that you have to take your new car for a fix but I think every new model has a few quirks.
All in all, I am happy with mine and hope you would be too and soon
BTW, I am in Milwaukee.
My car has been in the shop for rattles, not recall issues. Does anyone else have tons of rattles in theirs? They fixed the one in the roof yesterday, but now I can hear one in the passenger door - unreal.
May be they have corrected the recalls for the 2008 model.
After 1 week of driving, about 400 miles 50% city 50% highway
24 mpg avg.
I gotta say I'm kinda happy about this.
1. We live on hills. EVERYWHERE you go, hills hills hills. Even our two lane roads go up and down big hills. And ever 1 mile - 1/4 mile is a stop light. Then there are the back roads. Go up a hill, stop at the top, go up some more stop and turn onto highway, go about 2500 feet at 50mph till a red light, go another 300 yards - red light.
So as you can see, our highway isn't really highway. I can almost say it would be many people's definition of ALL city driving. (which it really is)
I had it up to 25 mpg yesterday but my sweety brought it back down to 24 with her heavy foot. Not that I was being all that gentle either.
So far, she is happy with it - it's her car and she drives it. Since it blocks my truck, I take it to run errands a couple times and LOVE the smooooooooooooooooth as ice ride.
I don't like the seemingly cheap suspension that is in this car. Going over train tracks and the car feels like ...well....a kia that hit a pebble. (If you ever test drove a n optima...you will know what I mean)
Total miles on car <500. I will report back at 5k.
I personally think this is simple minded. I'm a stats pig and LOVE anything with stats.
I LOVE this car because I can watch my immediate MPG and long term MPG.
All I can tell you is, if you know Pittsburgh at all then you know what I drive on. 1000feet of open straight roads and 1 mile of up and down hills, stop and start in traffic jams or road construction. It's about the worst kind of driving you can imagine.
I'm probably on par with what your driving is. Although I don't know if you are looking for more power too. We wanted something that wasn't going to be ANNOYING to drive when it powers up. Do you have any idea how hard it is to drive a 6 cyl frontier in stop and start bumper to bumper traffic? This truck has NO slow start...touch the gas and BOOM it wants to mooooooooooooooove. MUCH more power than most 8 cyl American trucks, by far.
That said, we also wanted something that could pull out quickly, smoothly and have a decent ride.
The altima was the ULTIMATE to all of these.
Honda fanboys are kidding themselves if they find the Accord superior to the Altima. I went in this with no pre conceived notions of the two. I drove the honda, and looked at the real time gas mileage. I then did the same with the nissan. I repeated this process twice. (dealing with slimeballs in between). Everything on the Altima seemed better, but I must admit that suspension of BOTH vehicles leaves something to be desired. The Altima had a smoother overall ride, but hitting bumps (small sharp ones) revealed a cheaper feel that took you out of that almost luxury feel of the altima with leather.
The altima's 4 cyl engine completely blows away the honda's too. Between the two, the Honda will probably exceed the Nissan in 5 years with resale value within 1k. But to get the same things after you deal properly - you will pay far less than 1k for the nissan to match everything on the honda. So resale value is a moot point.
You need to test drive EVERY car you can get your hands on. Call a manager at a dealership, tell them what you are interested in and what you are looking at. Tell them you want to drive the car and if it feels right, and the research falls into place - you will buy that car from them or their salesperson of choice, but you do NOT want to be propositioned for a high pressure sales technique as you are in a preliminary step of a long process.
See they expect people to walk in off the street, drop the keys to their old car and hop into the next model they drove like you were swapping dvds at the movie store.
Only idiots do that, and only idiots talk about how much they want to pay per month. Everyone should have this number in their eyes long before shopping for a car, then target the interest rates and prices that can reach that target. If you let a dealer do that for you, you are liable to get roped into a very raw deal.
I can't tell you how many people I know, when I ask how much did you pay for your car, they say I don't know but are happy because they bought back their old car still on loan and now only pay about the same for a new car. DUH! (these people should only be leasing their cars honestly) So they paid monthly payments forever and are happy with their mid sized american car...when they could have been driving a luxury car for the same monthly payments on a lease.
Oh well. Anyway - sorry for going on at length about this. There are so many ill informed people out there I feel it necessary to illuminate some of the buying process when asked...especially when it comes to the NISSAN ALTIMA! We love this car so far (so far!!!!!!!), and hope it will prove to be the best decision that we believe it to be. But for anyone else thinking of buying one, all I can say is look at:
1.previous track record.
2.service group (Nissan's is great!)
3.price/mpg
4.the feel...
5.availability.
Good luck!
(P.S. We are now up to 26 mpg recently, on our 2nd tank now.)
Isn't that the truth?
So many folks only concerned with how much the monthly payment is going to be...
And, you can easily see just how well that philosophy worked out when it got translated and transferred to the housing arena!
From what I've read, they do no use radical engine technology.
The Aptera hybrid gets it's fuel advantage primarily from it's hyper streamlined body design.
www.aptera.com
The new Volkswagon coming out in 2010 also has a bullet-shape and a regular gas engine with a slightly more efficient fuel injector. It gets its 230 MPG from the shape of the body too.
Less air to push around.
So are there any kits out there to modify the Altima? I think tossing out the back seat and a lot of junk in the trunk and a streamlined hood can get that kind of mileage on an Altima.
Honestly, the reason I bought six over the four was because of the much quieter engine. It came down to this or an Acura TSX. If the Altima 4 was as quiet as the Acura, I would have bought the Altima with the 4 cylinder. Love the Bose upgraded sound system with a quiet engine.