It looks like a different car, but it's the same wholesome Altima underneath. Retooled, the Altima is perhaps best known for being one of the sportiest cars in the midsize segment, and with good reason. It handles well, rides well and thanks to some serious upgrades under the hood, it goes well too. And the most recent generation is also built well, with materials that could do double duty in Infinitis. I don't know about you, but there are plenty of billboards in my area loudly proclaiming, “No Sedan Additives” about the Altima Coupe. It's true, at least as far as the styling is concerned. Here is a vehicle to envy, a car that people will go out of their way to find out what it is and to tell you what a nice looking car it is. This is indeed one of the Altima sedan's biggest strengths. Everything but for the hood is new.
Murano and Z. And yet, what makes the Coupe that more impressive is that it is still very much the Altima, a link that doesn't require squinting to see. There are plenty of curiosities that give the Coupe its own unique look, mind you, from its face with its stretched out honeycomb grille and semi-chrome mustachioed outline, to the unique shape of the trunk lid. It's pinched towards the top, creating a swooping flow from the heavily raked roof that your eyes can seamlessly follow. It seems to be a style that people unanimously like, and a shape that people often mistake for being an Infiniti. At forty grand, this would be a good looking car. Looks slick; drives extra sharply. 3.5 SE. The famous VQ makes a fantastic match for the Coupe, with 270 horsepower it's plenty gusty dropping the hammer to 60 mph in well under six seconds.
Mounted lower, and with equal length half shafts that are parallel to the engine, Nissan has eradicated torque steer enabling the car to just grip and go. Mind you, the sweet song of the six might just make up for the bladder-bursting cruising range and excellent fuel economy of the four-cylinder car. For a huge portion of Altima buyers, the CVT is the way to go. Being one of the best units in the industry, it makes staggeringly quick shifts in manual mode that replicate a six-speed sequential gearbox. Really, it hops from gear to gear almost instantaneously making manual modes on traditional automatics feel off the pace. Driver faces much the same dashboard as in the four-door. Seat adjusts for height and steering wheel for reach and rake. You just depress and go.Practice, mind you, is essential in making sure your occupants feel that smoothness, as it takes a concerted effort to drive it. All of the Altima's vitals - gas, brake, steering - have been calibrated at a hyper sensitive level.
Hopping out of another car and into the Altima will make you wonder what's going on. The steering turn-in is ultra-sharp and near weightless, a combination that makes for easy palm-twirling in traffic, but often requires correction mid-turn - not to dial in more lock, but to reduce. It's followed by a much heavier weighting once speeds rise, but it isn't as simple as driving fast. Seats five. Not four, but five. Coupe's nicely bolstered buckets.Sitting in the Altima Coupe is just like sitting in the Altima Sedan. You're faced with the same dash, the same very bright Fine Vision instruments, the same perforated leather-wrapped steering wheel, and the same console packed with the same goods. The only two changes that were made ahead of the B-pillar are new seats with fatter bolsters, and a hand-operated parking brake in place of a foot unit for cars equipped with the CVT.
That said the cabin is a little plain and ordinary to look at, with a fairly dark atmosphere if you don't opt for the Blonde cloth or leather. On the plus side, as far as coupes go the Altima is quite usable to transport four passengers with decent leg and shoulder room. Should you want more go, there's always the 3.5 SE with its V6. Thankfully, unlike the previous Altima there's little torque steer. 5'10”, I fit in back without knocking my head on the rear glass. Unlike the Eclipse or the G6, the Altima is a five-seat coupe, which, come to think of it, is a rather rare finding these days. 20,500 - you won't find a sleeker car for less money.The Altima Coupe isn't perfection on wheels, as its supermodel looks might suggest, but it's highly likable. Perhaps its biggest flaw is in the eye of the beholder; with looks like these you might come to expect stronger and more sports car-like performance. Instead, Nissan has delivered something that appeals to the heart, without neglecting the mind - flash, with room for family and friends. If you need a true passionate sports car with room for four in relative comfort, a Mazda RX-8 or the brutish V8-powered Ford Mustang may better suit your needs. Nissan could conceivably gain ground on that crowd by adding more sport to the equation to back up its styling, but within the segment of midsize coupes they've got their target nailed. We like it a lot, and think that most buyers in the segment would be doing themselves a great disservice by not taking one out for a test drive.
