2013 NISSAN ALTIMA: The ultimate Altima?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/11/2012 (4910 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You’re not going to see Lindsay Lohan crash a 2013 Nissan Altima into the back of a garbage truck.

Your 10-year-old won’t be hanging a poster of one on his bedroom wall next to a Lamborghini Aventador and Kobe Bryant.

The car won’t have a heavily scripted cameo in the next “Avengers” movie with Robert Downey Jr.’s character at the wheel.

Mid-size sedans don’t get that kind of attention. This Nissan should.

The mid-size segment traditionally has the allure of a used toothbrush with none of the minty residue. Putting function long before form will have that effect on a car. But doing so also makes sense; cars such as the Toyota Camry, Chevrolet Malibu and the previous Nissan Altima are the bestselling cars the companies make. You don’t sell that many cars by offending the masses.

Yet the 2013 Altima 2.5 is so thoroughly conceived and executed, it might be the first time you’ve lusted over such garden-variety transportation since you took the training wheels off your bicycle. And this time, you don’t even need a helmet.

One of the key elements to the new Altima’s excellence is its inherent quality. Cars in the mid-size coterie are often an assemblage of compromises to keep costs manageable. Thus, doors sound hollow when you close them; interior panels are stamped out of hard, cheap plastic and an overflow of the world’s noises (wind, road, compensatory Harley-Davidsons) seep into the cabin.

None of these problems plagued the Altima. Blindfold friends and take them for a ride in this Nissan and they’d swear you’d robbed an Infiniti dealership. The interior is one of the quietest and best-made in its class. Any button, switch or surface that occupants touch belies the car’s economy, while the dashboard layout is clean and intuitive.

My solidly middle-class test car, a $26,998 Altima 2.5 SV, came standard with niceties like a backup camera, dual-zone climate control and keyless entry. It added the $900 Technology Package which includes a navigation system. The most basic Altima 2.5 starts at $23,698, and all of them are put together in Nissan’s plant in Smyrna, Tenn.

The new Altimas also come with NASA-inspired seats designed to reduce driver fatigue. Although Nissan has dubbed them Zero-Gravity seats, you should disavow notions of floating Jell-O or slow-motion back flips; they’re still just seats.

But after my week with the car, I came away impressed with them; the chairs manage to squish and support at the same time. Unfortunately, the headrests are oddly positioned and hard as nails (maybe that’s where they put the gravity). Interior room is average for this class, though rear headroom is a tad tight.

On the road, swaddled in your space seats and surrounded by the quality interior, the Altima’s ride is comfortable but firm. Its predilections err more toward sporty driving than will other cars in this segment. This comes most sharply into focus when you toss the Altima into a turn and come out on the other side smiling rather than cringing.

This is possible largely because of a system on all new Altimas that will lightly feather the brake on the front inside wheel to reduce understeer. A well-balanced suspension design doesn’t hurt; neither does shedding 32 kilograms compared with the previous model.

Nissan is due kudos for giving the Altima impressive steering feel by way of an electronic-hydraulic power-assisted setup. Although it may be a smidge less fuel-efficient than the full-electric systems dominating many of today’s autos, it’s a trade-off you will appreciate every time you turn the wheel.

Unfortunately, the Altima does make a concession to fuel efficiency with its gearbox. Like its predecessor, the 2013 Altima comes with a continuously variable transmission. It’s the sole detractor from the car’s sporty demeanor and the general quietude of the interior.

A CVT, as these transmissions are known, gives a car essentially one gear with infinite ratios. This is instead of the five or six fixed ratios — normal humans call them speeds — on most automatic and manual transmissions. In theory, a CVT always has the engine running at optimum speed (rpm) relative to the vehicle’s speed, and thus is more efficient.

But because a CVT is never shifting, it allows the engine to rev higher, and therefore louder, as you’re accelerating than would a car with an automatic transmission. So be prepared for more engine noise than you might expect when really pushing the Altima.

This transmission also inhibits the four-cylinder model’s sporting proclivities by not offering any manual shifting. A sport mode will mimic shifts for you, but there’s no way to have absolute control over this gearbox.

Making amends for this privation is a rosy bouquet of fuel economy. The four-cylinder Altima 2.5 SV I tested is rated at 7.4 L/100 km in the city and 5.0 on the highway. This means only hybrids and diesels beat it for efficiency in this class; it solidly thumps gas-powered competitors such as the Hyundai Sonata, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. During nearly 500 kilometres of testing in mostly city conditions, I averaged 9.4 L/100 km.

The 2.5-litre, four-cylinder engine makes 182 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque. Other than its occasional noisiness, this engine is a good one and will move the car from zero to 100 km/h in about 7.4 seconds.

A larger, 3.5-litre V-6 is good for 270 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. Control freaks rejoice: Altimas with the V-6 have paddle shifters with the CVT.

Finally, Nissan did everyone a favor and covered all this in a new, silky, wind-swept exterior. Previous Altimas were never ugly, but they lacked the sleek, polished look this 2013 model has. The headlights and taillights now wrap around the Altima’s corners, and then stretch up the car’s sides toward one another. Meanwhile, subtle morsels of chrome on the grille, door handles and trunk lid give the look an upscale air.

The new Altima should have no trouble selling as well as the previous popular version. This bodes well for Nissan, as it gives the company a strong head start on the all-new and highly anticipated versions of the Honda Accord and Ford Fusion due this fall.

Just don’t let Lindsay drive one.

— Los Angeles Times

THE SPECS

— TYPE OF VEHICLE: 5-passenger front-wheel drive sedan

— ENGINE: 2.5L DOHC four-cylinder or 3.5L DOHC V6

— POWER: 182 hp @ 6,000 rpm, 180 lb-ft of torque @ 4,000 rpm (2.5L); 270 hp @ 6,400 rpm, 258 lb-ft of torque @ 4,400 rpm (3.5L)

— TRANSMISSION: continuously variable

— BRAKES: 4-wheel disc with ABS

— LENGTH: 4,863 mm

— WHEELBASE: 2,775 mm

— CURBWEIGHT: 1,416 kg

— FUEL CONSUMPTION (L/100 KM): 7.4 city, 5.0 hwy (2.5L); 9.3 city, 6.4 hwy (3.5L)

— BASE PRICE: $23,698 (2.5) — $32,598 (3.5 SL)

–TRANSPORT, PDI: $1,695