For a sport-forward family or a dazzling commuter, this car makes driving fun!
People can get so used to complaining they’re often unable to see the solution to their problem right in front of them.
Take for instance, the so-called boring midsize car segment. Yes, you want a decent ride at a price lower than what your parent’s paid for their first house. You want it to get decent mileage, be comfortable and more than passable performance. But does it have to be so boring?
That’s the litany many recite before they sign on the dotted line to drive home a car that can feel like a middle-age compromise.
But it shouldn’t have to be that way. We suspect many consumers, blinders off, are going to start taking second and third looks at the 2005 Nissan Altima.
The car hits all the fundamental marks quite well, thank you, with one added benefit:
This car is stylin!
We had the pleasure of test driving the Altima V-6 SE-R model -- but for only four short days, alas. The exterior was a welcome sight in the mornings. Before getting in to drive to work, simply approaching the car put a smile on our face and a pep in our step.
The Altima sports a sculpted look without trying to act too sleek -- though the rear spoiler gives it a devil-may-flair bit of ’tude.
The front and rear lights are cased in chrome clusters and capped with a clear cover that denotes attention to finish. Even the flush door handles seemed appropriate for the Altima’s design theme. Something that might be called mid-career cool.
The Altima’s cabin is welcoming. From the motorcycle-style gauges to the big-button air controls and a dash that looks carefully tucked under to enhance the sensation of owning a well-thought out vehicle. Even the black carpeted floor mats with the Altima name in pearl-white stitching look sharp.
All told, the exterior and interior combo feels like a half-generation ahead of other vehicles in the supposedly sedate mid-size category. Think of it as being sensible without bearing the burden of compromise.
But the Altima wouldn’t truly be capable of challenging the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord if it simply relied on good looks. The six-cylinder engine accelerates like an overachiever with all of its 260 horses. Handling a left lane merge into speeding highway traffic inspired confidence and a little heh-heh from the driver.
In one situation that would have produced anxiety with a lesser car, the combination of the V-6, rack-and-pinion steering and 18-inch tires left us impressed. Combined with the multi-link rear suspension [similar to what’s on the Infiniti Q45], the ride feels .. somehow well-orchestrated.
Every town has a badly engineered intersection or two, the kind that DOT doesn’t fix until the body count gets enough people alarmed. On the section by our house, it’s a hard-right ramp at the bottom of a blind hill. With a traffic light. This intersection often forces drivers to stop hard behind other cars, or accelerate through the yellow to avoid getting creamed.
On the night in question, we caught the yellow. In the rain. Hitting the gas and keeping the wheel tracking through the turn was easier than the gorge in our chest would have suggested. Bottom line for many drivers: sometimes performance isn’t a vanity option; sometimes it saves your derriere.
The Altima proved itself in these two, and a couple other, situations where we needed go-go punch to get through a tough spot, or sharp steering to avoid a nine-inch construction zone drop-off. In 99% of circumstances, it may be a simple, perhaps vain pleasure to drive a car that can kick up from a red light, or hug a suburban curve nicely. But when you need it, the Altima won’t let you down.
But what about the [boring] details that brings many consumers to the mid-size table in the first place? The V-6 is no fuel sipper, averaging about 20 miles per gallon in Metro D.C.’s harried suburban driving conditions. The four-cylinder model is rated at 23 city, 29 highway. And while you can expect to pay close to $30,000 for the six, Altima’s price floor starts at just under $20,000.
In terms of practicality, the Altima has easy-to-use 60/40 fold down rear seats that make the sedan so much more versatile. For people who take the time to think through their real-world use of the family car, it affords plenty of cargo room. In terms of people room, the front buckets are way comfortable for adults and the rear bench has more than enough room for two mid-size [read: teenage] adults.
The air control buttons turn with a graduated soft-click that feel precise and the six-CD changer audio system plays loud enough to drown out the driver’s karaoke practice. Front seat airbags are standard, as are four wheel disc brakes. Anti-lock brakes are standard on the SE-R and optional on other models, as are side impact airbags.
One option we particularly enjoyed was the dual-switch sunroof -- have you ever noticed how power roofs with single switches are always difficult to stop at the precise moment so the durned thing stays flat? With two switches, one flips the glass up, the other moves it back. With no jiggling.
Bottom line: If we were faced with a 20-50 mile daily commute and wanted a dependable yet sporty, peppy yet family-friendly ride, we’d stop complaining and start looking at the Nissan Altima.
