2009 Nissan Altima Review
Sometimes you just want to jump in a car and drive somewhere. Maybe it's your commute, maybe it's errands, maybe a trip, maybe just hitting a fun road with a friend or even alone. The Altima's got you covered.
First (and most boring), your commute. It should get you to work every dreaded morning without incident, and it just picked up a top segment ranking in the J.D. Power and Associates' 2009 Initial Quality Study. Personally, I'd prefer a car with a reputation for Monday-morning breakdowns. Our S Model included Bluetooth so you can safely yak away your time in traffic.
Second is errands, with the boredom factor determined by what those errands are. The Altima's runabout resume includes 15.3 cubic feet of trunk space for what-have-you bought, and a transponder key. The fob thing stays in your pocket or purse the whole day; you can lock and unlock doors at the handle, and just push the start button and you're running and off. When you're going from parking space to traffic to parking space, a car (as opposed to SUV, van, or crossover) is the most comfortable and nimble choice. Our tester did not have the optional backup camera and navigation system. If you're considering these options, we advise taking some serious time to scroll through the controls to see if you like how they operate.
Finally, it's time to consider your weekend. You can put people in the back seats and with all the space and optional rear vents, if they complain, they're whiners. The Altima is not small anymore. Our loaner had a peppy (not fast) 2.5 liter engine, EPA rated at 31 mpg highway. Versus a 20 mpg crossover alternative, that's a huge difference. The 2.5 will get up any hill without complaint (unlike those rear-seat passengers), but if you're really into your driving, you'd probably want to kick in for the 3.5 liter six. We had one in an Altima coupe a while back and it's 270 horsepower was a fun and dangerous (traffic ticket-wise) toy. Nice segue into...
Do you ever just want to drive? The Altima is not a serious sport-sedan player, but pretending's not too far off for something priced in the 20K range. Our S model had dual-climate control, meaning you can fight about something other than the temperature.
Overall, we have no major issues with the Altima. It still has some the coolest taillights in its class, and probably a couple of other classes, too. It is a very liveable car, with all the basic must-haves features and few of the must-drive-up-the-price ones. We hate to sound like a Nissan ad, but we like this thing and can't find any good beefs. Altima sales picked up a bit in July, but have been down plenty for the year. Nissan's offering $1,500 cash back or low-interest financing, so it might be a good time to just get into this car.
