When you look at the myriad of choices for midsize sedan’s and coupes, the Nissan Altima stands head and shoulders above the rest as a real driver’s car. If you appreciate, good looks, power, and sharp handling you need to check the Altima out.
The 2010 Nissan Altima lineup offers significant changes, with both the Coupe and Sedan featuring new exterior styling, upgraded interior treatments, with more technology and entertainment features.
Powerplant choices include a four-cylinder, V6, and gas/electric Hybrid. The Altima comes in sedan and coupe versions that all offer a sportier alternative to other popular midsize cars such as the Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, and venerable Toyota Camry.
The 2010 Altima Coupe — our test vehicle — comes in four well-equipped models: 2.5 S 6MT, 2.5 S CVT, 3.5 SR 6MT and 3.5 SR CVT. Our test version was the 3.5 SR Coupe, with the 6-speed automatic, so I’ll focus on that alone for the purposes of this review.
Walkaround: While the profile remains similar, the Altima Coupe has a distinctive, sportier look than the Sedan, with the same contours as its cousin, the Infiniti G37 Coupe. It features a new hood, grille, and front bumper, along with new projector beam headlamps and new 17-inch alloys. There’s a nice balance between the long hood, cabin, and short trunk lid, with cleanly outlined wheel arches.
The headlight and taillight clusters have been redesigned, with irregular, soft-edged, vertical trapezoids outlining the halogen headlights. Four lamps control the high beam, low beam, turn signal and parking lights. The LED taillights are sheathed with clear plastic like the headlamps, and contain a lamp cluster with the red lamp, a round white backup beam and a big orange piece for the parking lamp and turn signal.
The arc of the roof flows toward the trunk lid for a design that increases high-speed stability but does give the tail a somewhat stout look. The large rear glass offers decent rear visibility from the driver’s seat.
Interior: All models of the Nissan Altima offer a roomy, comfortable interior, with front passengers getting priority — especially in the Coupe, which because of the four-inch reduction in the wheelbase, is essentially a one or two person car. The overall fit, finish and interior refinement of the Altima is exceptionally good, featuring new fabrics for both Sedan and Coupe. The available leather has a rich feel, with soft materials used for touch surfaces like padded armrests.
The comfortable front seats in the Coupe have more aggressive bolsters than the Sedan, befitting its sporty aspirations.
The Coupe’s instrumentation has been changed and incorporates white illumination with Nissan’s signature amber. The gauges are arranged in a practical configuration, with lettering that’s sharp and easy to read. LCD insets display trip information, outside temperature, safety-related data and personalized settings.
The center stack includes three big climate control knobs at the bottom that are easy to understand and operate. Controls for the base and up-level audio systems are positioned just above. The base audio system is more than adequate, but the optional nine-speaker Bose system, which our test vehicle had, kicks butt.
The biggest change is the availability of the new premium audio upgrade, including a 4.3-inch color display, hands-free Bluetooth phone, USB port with iPod connectivity, XM Satellite Radio, a RearView Monitor, and an Intelligent Key that allows the car to be started with the key in your pocket or purse.
Another change includes an advanced Nissan Hard Drive Navigation System with a 9.3GB Music Box for digital music storage and playback with a standard 6.5-inch color touch-screen display. A rearview camera is also optional.
Standard safety equipment on all 2010 Altimas include the full complement of airbags, anti-lock brakes, Nissan’s Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) and Traction Control.
Under The Hood: Our test vehicle was equipped with the V6 — a version of the same engine in Nissan’s 370Z sports car. It delivers terrific performance, with 270 ponies and 258 pound-feet of torque. It was married to Nissan’s 6-speed automatic that also features a manual shift mode.
Behind The Wheel: Great handling and the strong 3.5-liter powerplant make the American-built Nissan Altima Coupe lots of fun to drive — and at least as much fun than most of its imported competition, except perhaps its Infiniti G37 cousin.
Acceleration is strong, with the six-speed automatic delivering sharp, precise gear selection and tight shift patterns akin to those in some more expensive European sports sedans.
Although buyers shouldn’t expect pure sports car handling, the chassis feels tight, with minimal noise and vibration, while the suspension delivers responsive handling, with steering that’s true and responsive. Torque steer — the tendency of front-wheel drive cars for the steering wheel to jerk under hard acceleration — is well managed, which is saying something with a 270-hp V6. When pushed, the Coupe’s dominant characteristic is nice, safe understeer — the car wants to go straight instead of turning — which intuitively encourages the driver to ease up on the accelerator.
The strong brakes are vented discs in front and solid discs in the rear. All Altimas come with four-channel, four-sensor ABS with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), which optimizes the front/rear brake balance depending on load condition.
Whines: Even when it’s not engaged, the handbrake sits at just about the right height to trip the bottom of a coffee cup as it’s lifted out of one of the cup holders situated between the shift lever and the bi-level center storage bin. The Altima should lose the lever and go to a pedal.
Bottom Line: The Altima model line is tailored to fit a wide range of tastes and budgets. The base vehicle begins with the essentials, while the generous list of options, most grouped into packages, allows equipping the Altima at luxury-class levels. If you’re in the market for an above average daily driver that’s sporty, powerful, comfortable, handles well, is fun to drive, and offers numerous creature comforts along with state of the art technology, the 2010 Nissan Altima Coupe should be on your short list.
