Autoblog

click above to view high-res gallery of the 2008 Nissan Altima Coupe 2.5S

Coldest day of the year. Single-digit, negative windchill cold. The rented Sony Digital Beta machine almost fits into the trunk of the newly minted Nissan Altima Coupe. The speakers for the Bose stereo hang down too low and block what could have been a glove-tight fit. Time for plan B. While the boffins at the video equipment rental house are watching from the window, I back the car into the middle of the parking lot to swing that big coupe door out as wide as it'll go. Okay, does the front seat lie flat? No... damn. The back seats do fold down and the front headrest is removable. Hmm. Front passenger seat slid all the way forward and reclined all the way back gives me *just* enough room to cram the big broadcast unit into the car where it has a cozy space to rest. That'll learn ya to buy a coupe. Expect scenes like this to be oft-repeated if you carry more than a messenger bag with your car.

Let's get this out of the way; the Altima Coupe is not a poor man's anything. Its looks certainly set expectations. There's plenty of Infiniti G37 in the lines of the Altima Coupe, but it can stand on its own considerable merits without basking in the halo of some other cousin with totally unrelated architecture. The 2.5S Coupe is more 912 than 911, more 318 than 335, which is not an entirely bad thing. It's shorter, lower and lighter than the sedan, and the happy vibes are served up in big portions.


All photos ©2008 Dan Roth / Weblogs, Inc.

click above for more images of the 2008 Nissan Altima

The Nissan Altima narrowly beat out the Honda Accord for the coveted Consumer Reports Top-Ranked, Mid-priced Sedan, which is revealed in the February 2008 issue. The V6 Accord lost to the V6-powered Altima by a scant one-point, followed by the Toyota Camry and Volkswagen Passat.

Consumer Reports tested a number of family sedans for its February issue, ranging from the base four-cylinder models and up to the range-topping V6s. The selected vehicles, which also included the Ford Taurus, Dodge Avenger, Kia Amanti and Subaru Legacy, were broken down into three categories: "Affordable," "Mid-priced" and "Large" family sedans.

The four-cylinder Altima took the top spot in the "Affordable" category, leading by six points over the Accord, with the Kia Optima EX and Passat 2.0T coming in third and fourth, respectively.

Consumer Reports is quick to point out that the Accord, which has won the publications Top Pick for five years, outperformed the majority of the players, but in the end, the Altima proved to be the best value overall.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

click image above for high-res gallery of the Altima Coupe Turbo

While we're just beginning to see a few Altima Coupes around town, once sales begin to head northward we're expecting the new coupe to become one of the darlings of the aftermarket. The Altima Coupe's sleek lines coupled with Nissan's 3.5 liters of V6 perfection are a solid foundation with which to begin, and Turbochargers.com has done exactly that. The VQ-series V6 gets a GTK650 turbo setup by Artisan Performance, supposedly good for over 450 HP. Fuel delivery comes courtesy of a new fuel rail and 650cc injectors, while charge temps are kept low through a custom intercooler. Although the 20x8.5-inch wheels are all show, the AP racing 13-inch, four-piston calipers are the business.

You can read through all the details in the press release after the jump and check the gallery below for a handful of high-res images.

Nissan plans on adding an instant fuel economy reader to every new Nissan and Infiniti it sells by 2010, and the meter is already available Stateside in the Altima and G35. The gauge is being added to show drivers how to drive with reduced fuel consumption in mind, and Nissan thinks owners can achieve 10% better fuel economy after using the gauge to adjust driving habits.

As an owner of a Volvo S40 with the same feature, I can personally tell you it works. My fuel economy went from 24.5 MPG to 27 MPG within a couple weeks of discovering the feature, and all it took was more coasting before stop lights, and less heavy acceleration from a stop.

[Source: Autoblog Green]

Fifteen years and three generations on, the three-millionth Nissan Altima has been birthed at the Smyrna Tennessee plant. The Altima is Nissan's current sales champ, with diverse trim-level and power unit options, efficiency nuts and performance enthusiasts can both find something to love in the Altima. When it first debuted, we weren't all sure how exactly to pronounce its name – its predecessor was the easily articulated Stanza – but it was a tidy little compact with good manners and tasteful styling. My, how it's grown! The Altima has bulked up in size to Maxima-esque proportions, with edgy, stylish bodywork where there were once "bar of soap" cues, this ain't no mid-'90s compact anymore. The available 3.5-liter V6 has the motive force to outdo many comers, and the coupe version has even more speed baked into the style. On the flip side, the hybrid Altimas sip fuel more gently than the other powertrain options.

The Altima is produced in two locations, Smyrna being the first US Altima assembly plant in 1992, with Canton, Mississippi joining up in 2004. Smyrna pops out about 750 new Altimas per day, while Canton does nearly as many, at roughly 600. Altimas for export are also produced in Smyrna before they're shipped north to Canada, south to Mexico, or to Gulf Coast countries. So far this year, the export markets have consumed 20,000 of Smyrna's cars. Since its start as a Stanza stand-in, the Altima has gone on to become Nissan's bread and butter sedan – not too shabby.

The full press release is after the jump.

[Source: Nissan via TAC]

Nissan just sent out pricing information on its 2008 Altima Sedan, which is already at Nissan dealers across the country. The best-selling car in Nissan's stable, the Altima was completely redesigned last year and receives only modest changes for '08. But that hasn't stopped the inevitable price hikes. But before you protest, understand that the price increases are quite modest ($280 on 4-cylinder models, $80 on the V6) and include some additional equipment. On SLs, the price actually dropped $120. The now-standard Anti-lock ABS alone used to be a $300 option. Pricing for the Coupe and Hybrid, however, weren't included in this release.


[Source: Nissan]

CVT transmissions definitely aren't new, but high gas prices have thrust the once unreliable continuously variable trannies back into the powertrain equation. Chrysler uses the CVT in a few of its products, Mitsubishi added the tranny to the new Lancer, and Nissan has begun using the CVT in the Altima and Sentra, among others. According to a Japanese business rag, Subaru is planning to add the gearless transmission into every model they make by 2010. The first Subie to mate a boxer engine to the CVT is rumored to be the updated 2009 Legacy, and a 2.0L diesel with a CVT may follow shortly there after. While the CVT will be available with every model, we're assuming (and hoping) that manual transmissions will be offered as well.

CVTs are usually a bit quicker off the line than automatics, but in our experience fuel economy savings are a mix bag. While the Sentra's MPG improved with the CVT, in the 2006 Ford Five Hundred, the FWD CVT version got two less MPG on the highway than the auto-equipped SEL model. As far as the driving experience goes, CVTs take a little getting used to since the transmissions keep the engine in the optimal rev range at all times and the transmission feels like it's slipping, but most drivers may never notice the difference.

[Source: Winding Road]

Another big recall to report. This time it's Nissan and its bread-and-butter Altima sedan. Apparently, cars with the 2.5-liter four-cylinder have an air filter that can cause some serious problems. It seems that if something hot is sucked into the filter, like ashes from a cigarette, it can catch on fire. Four incidents have already been reported to Nissan. Notices started going out to some of the 140,000 2007 Altima owners last week. Besides replacing the air filter with a presumably less flammable one, Nissan will also add an air deflector to help prevent a potential accumulation of debris in the filter.

In all, 140,582 Altimas have been sold so far this year, making it Nissan's best-selling vehicle, and the ninth-best seller overall in the States. The recall affects Smyrna, Tennessee cars made between Sept. 25 and May 11, as well as those built from Oct. 30 through May 11 at its Canton, Mississippi, factory.

[Source: Chicago Tribune via KickingTires]

Nissan's studying the Altima's segment hard, looking for nooks and crannies to poke Altima variants into. The first volley is the coupe, which rides on a shortened platform and shares only the hood with the longer Altima sedan. The lines of the coupe would lend themselves quite well to having a roofectomy, and it would offer another choice in the affordable four-passenger convertible market. Up until recently, droptop motoring at reasonable prices were the domain of such snoozefests as the Sebring convertible and the Solara. The Altima has a decidedly sporty bent, and though body stiffening would add weight, we'd still expect to see it post solid midpack acceleration numbers while being surefooted (for a puller) and rewarding to drive.

The knock on coupes lately has been claims of waning public interest. Nissan seems to think that it was more a case of public ennui with aged, dispassionate product. With the recent introduction of the Volkswagen Eos, Volvo's new C70, Pontiac G6, and the new Chrysler Sebring convertible, there's now a plethora of choice in the four-seat top down tourer end of the spectrum. The Altima, specifically its athletic demeanor, would help further wake up the segment, and much of the work is already done. We just hope that the sporty lines of the Altima coupe are retained, regardless if the top is cloth or metal. We also hope that once Nissan gets done with the convertible, it turns its attention to the Altima wagon that also gets mentioned. Now that would be sweet.

[Source: Inside Line]

If you have a 2007 Nissan Altima or a 2007 Infiniti G35 Sedan, you might want to keep your mobile phone in a different pocket than your car's fancy I-Key fob. The fobs, as you're probably well aware by now, enable and disable the cars' keyless ignition systems. According to Nissan, the problem is that if the fob is touched by a cellphone while a call is in progress, the software that controls the I-Key's automagic goodness could be altered or erased, rendering it useless. Furthermore, the damage is not reversible, and the I-Key simply becomes landfill fodder.

Nissan's modifying the key to correct the issue, and will provide new ones to owners once it's straightened it all out. According to the AP, this'll happen sometime in the fall. In the meantime, some dealers are stocking up on spares just in case, and you'd be advised to follow Nissan's advice and keep a little distance between the key and your phone. After all, you don't want the simple act of pressing the Start button to turn into an exercise in futility -- especially over something as mundane as checking your voice mail.

[Source: AP]