Nissan’s stylish all-new mid-sized sedan makes its New Zealand showroom debut one year after it was unveiled “down under” in race-car form for this year’s Australian V8 Supercars Championship.
The Altima comes with a responsive and efficient four-cylinder engine and the availability of a number of clever technologies, such as the Nissan Intelligent Technology Suite and “zero-gravity” inspired front seats.
“The arrival of the new Nissan Altima sedan is the latest instalment in Nissan’s new-model renaissance in New Zealand,” said John Manley, managing director, Nissan New Zealand.
“The Altima combines beautiful exterior styling with innovative interior comfort in a dynamic driving package. This is an exciting all-new model. It delivers great value with generous standard equipment, each matched to competitive prices across two separate model grades, making it a compelling proposition for New Zealand sedan car buyers.”
The arrival of the Altima is the latest in the brand’s continued series of new model releases which have included the Nissan Pulsar sedan (January) and hatch (June), the Nissan Patrol Y62 (February), and Nissan’s Juke Turbo and Pathfinder SUVs (both October). A number of updated Nissan models have also made their New Zealand debuts this year, including MY13 editions of the GT-R and 370Z sports models.
The Altima is equipped with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine producing 127kW/ 230Nm, and with combined fuel consumption of 7.5L/100km (ADR) and a CO2 output of 174g/km. The recommended fuel is 91RON petrol and fuel tank capacity is 65 litres.
Gearbox is the latest generation of Nissan’s Xtronic CVT, and drive is through the front wheels.
Suspension is independent all round, with struts at a front and a multi-link design at the rear, and it incorporates a clever chassis technology named Active Understeer Control (AUC) similar to the torque vectoring systems used by other manufacturers to brake the inside front wheels during cornering (as required) to reduce understeer and improve cornering.
Active Understeer Control is almost undetectable when it operates and is designed primarily for everyday operation rather than emergency evasive manoeuvres. There’s electric-hydraulic power-assisted steering which allows a greater reduction ratio than with gears, and results in the benefits and driving “feel” of hydraulic power steering with the fuel savings of electric steer.
The Nissan Altima is available in two models, ST and Ti.
Features on the ST comes include16-inch alloy wheels (with full-sized 16-inch steel spare wheel), six-speaker audio system with five-inch display, USB/iPod connectivity and Aux-in jack, Bluetooth hands-free phone system with steering wheel-mounted audio controls and cruise control, dual-zone climate control air-conditioning, intelligent key keyless entry system, power windows, six-way manual height/slide/recline adjustable driver’s seat,60/40 split-fold rear seating, automatic on/off headlights with headlight washers, and electrically adjustable door mirrors.
Stepping up to the Ti adds 18-inch alloy wheels (with 17-inch spare alloy wheel), satellite navigation, rear view camera, parking sensors (front and rear), premium BOSE audio system with nine speakers, colour seven-inch QVGA display, Bluetooth audio streaming and NissanConnect smartphone integration, leather-accented seat trim and steering wheel, and an eight-way electric height/slide/recline adjustable driver’s seat with two memory settings.
The Ti also gets Nissan’s Intelligent Technology Suite, comprising blind spot warning, lane departure warning,
Moving Object Detection, and Around View Monitor (AVM). There are also xenon headlights with auto levelling, door mirrors with memory function, automatic day/night rear vision mirror, power rear sunshade, and rear privacy glass.
The Altima comes with a three-year/100,000km warranty.
Safety features on both models include Advanced Drive Assist Display (ADAD), Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC), traction control, ABS with EBD and BA, and six airbags.
ADAD is a 3D display that informs the driver of key information, such as turn-by-turn directions from the satellite navigation system (as fitted to the Altima Ti), lane departure warning (as fitted to the Altima Ti) and caller ID on the Bluetooth phone..
There’s choice of six colours: Brilliant Silver, Ebony, Storm Grey, Titanium, White Diamond and Mineral Blue.
Body-coloured electric folding door mirrors with integrated turn indicators are fitted on all model grades. The Altima’s stylish front is finished with a chrome front grille to match the vehicle’s door handles and the rear is highlighted with LED tail lights.
There’s good interior space utilisation within an overall length of 4,885mm, overall width (excluding mirrors) of 1,830mm, and overall height of 1,470mm. Boot capacity is 488 litres, and drag coefficient is 0.299.
A feature of the stylish interior is the new seating system. To help reduce fatigue on longer trips, Nissan turned to seating and posture research from Nasa, and the Altima features a new articulated seat shape that provides continuous support from the pelvis to the chest and distribution of localised deformation characteristics, “zero-gravity” inspired front seats which help reduce muscular and spinal loads and improve blood flow. Seat surface perforations provide increased ventilation, breathability and comfort.
Prices: ST $43,990, Ti $53,290.
