Friday, June 4, 2010


First and second drive: 2010 Nissan Altima Coupe 2.5s

$23,405

Tommeter: 73/100
Lb/hp & Torq./hp ratio: 17.85/17.35
Combined hp/torq. avg: 17.6

Summary:

Positives...

- Killer looks outside, great seats inside with thoughtful interior engineering, not too heavy doors, intelligent smart key w/push button start, ample engine power, outstanding fuel economy, huge cruiser 20 gallon fuel tank, very good handling

Downers...

-Sedan only dual exhaust doesn't sound FUN, too-much-red tail lights and gauges have no extra pizzazz in the sport coupe, small cargo area for mid size car, boring engine cover, steering wheel could be a bit finer tilt adjustable.

Initial observations:

I just test drove my first Altima coupe today and I liked it overall but am having mixed feelings about it too. For starters the exterior styling is killer. Seriously pictures don't do it justice. The thing looks like an oversized Infinity G series coupe. Although I kind of wish the rear tail lights had some of the multicolor lenses and reflective mirrored treatment that the sedan has, instead of the huge expanse of red. I hope there are some Stillen or other aftermarket tail lights available. The headlights look tough, very sporty with projector beam lenses...perfect for the aftermarket xenon kits. The one I drove was the silver with 17"wheels which look very good no need to upgrade these at all.

On the inside I found the black cloth seats are of very high quality with French stitched seams. They have an almost suede like feel which feels very upscale not typically 20k car territory. The designers even carried the seat fabric to the top of the center console arm rest (which adjusts fore/aft for total comfort) which is a nice thought especially with black interior...no burned arms from hot console surfaces! The tilt/telescopic steering wheel is nicely adjustable but it would be nice if there were three or four more positions added to the mechanism. All the way down felt about an inch too low but up one notch wasn't quite right for me either. The dashboard looks to be standard Altima sedan issue and the gauges are clearly legible black with white numbers & red-orange needles. Including an attractive white fluorescent halo effect around each gauge with LCD based info centers at the bottom center of the tach. and speedo. These display trip info, avg. MPG, range at current fuel consumption etc. There is even an instant MPG progress bar to help you get the optimum mileage while driving. Rear seat comfort isn't as good as Accord but there are flip down rear seats with a large pass through and cup holders on the outboard panels.

The radio was high mounted with simple and clearly readable screen and controls and a large center volume knob which is easy to finely adjust while going down a less than stellar road. There is also a cell phone charging port under the center armrest with a pass through for the cable so you can take a call while the phone is charging. There is also a cavernous glove box and nice (under HVAC controls) covered storage bin so the contents can't come flying out under hard acceleration. Thank you for thoughtful engineering Nissan!

Driving impressions:

One of the fist things I noticed was the seat seemed nicely supportive with firm bolsters. They have that sports car hug your torso quality but not uncomfortably. One thing is the seat cushion seemed to be hitting my wallet in a bad way and causing uncomfortable pressure. Removing my wallet fixed the problem though, and otherwise the cushion had that same hugging quality to it. It may have been a while since I have driven a vehicle with such a steep windshield rake but the AC had a bit of a tunnel feel to it, but you get past it pretty quickly. There is virtually no blind spot on the RH side but the LH side visibility is poor. I had to adjust my LH mirror a bit to cover the blind spot better.

The steering feels a bit over-boosted at parking lot speeds (low effort) but firms up nicely above 30-40 MPH. One of the things I was most interested in was how did this thing feel with only a 2.5 I-4 and a CVT. Well I can happily report that it feels a bit weird, but good too. Under normal light pedal pressure the decent low end torque and cvt combine for effortless (dare I say peppy) off the line from stop-light to stoplight. You can feel the acceleration is smooth and constant (no shift bump) but it's weird not to have the engine dropping down rpm under each load change. When you want to get sporty I recommend gating the cvt shifter to the left to go into a simulated 6 speed manu-matic mode. This includes a numeric gear read out on the speedo info LCD display. I found the manu-matic mode to be very cool especially knowing that the cvt doesn't actually have any gears it simulates it remarkably well. This is especially neat for spirited driving, coming in and out of curves on the power, and for engine braking. Punch the pedal and you get some real pull out of the 2.5 (so much so that I experienced a bit of torque steer), with zero to sixty taking just under 8 seconds. You won't win many races but you can surprise people with the 2.5's power, which is more than adequate for freeway on ramps and passing maneuvers.

I also noticed the real time MPG progress bar displayed 30-40 MPG with the cruise on at 55-60 MPH. I think with a light foot and cruise control you can easily achieve the 32 MPG rating on the AC, and possibly 34-35 if you run the tires 3-5 psi over standard setting. The engine registers about 1,800 rpm at 60 MPH. I did think personally that was a bit high for a transmission with no gear restrictions (I would have though 1,500 or lower would be more eco-efficient) but perhaps Nissan wanted to stay in a nice torque band for easy passing ability with mild throttle input. For example my wife’s 2010 Caravan SE runs about 1,500 rpm @ 55 with a four speed auto and 3.3 V-6 and is rated for 24 Hwy. While my 2003 Pt Cruiser runs 2,100 rpm @ 55 with a 2.5 I-4 and is rated at only 25 MPG hwy. The really cool part about the cvt is that when you push the speed up to 75 MPH the cvt adjusts and still keeps the engine at a nearly ideal 1,800 rpm. Now your penalty for exceeding 60 MPH is basically all but eliminated, you are using more fuel for the extra wind resistance but the MPG meter was still in the 35 MPG range at this speed. WOW!

At cruise the engine is fairly quiet and wouldn't produce an annoying drone for long trips. Under hard acceleration though it doesn't sound as smooth, but you still do get a sense of decent power from it which is nice. I'm sure a nice magnaflow cat-back would produce a deeper pleasing sport coupe sound than the stock system which doesn't impress much, and is probably borrowed straight from the sedan parts bin. However those of us in the sport coupe market are looking for a bit more bark with our bite.

The suspension and handling is quite good with good road feel and taught mostly communicative steering. Hitting the twisties is a smile producing affair, with minimal body lean and strong brakes. The standard tires have ample grip for most drivers, but if you get serious you may want something stickier for the summers. The car is willing though to go as far (and probably farther) than you're comfortable with.

Under the hood:

Popping the hood was super easy and a surprise as it feels feather light due to the all aluminum composition. The 2.5 is covered with a large plastic engine cover which isn't very exciting looking. At least they could have painted it with a bit more sporty/racing inspired motif, but we get lightly textured basic black.....details I suppose (take a page from SAAB Nissan). Another thing the tuner aftermarket will fix for us....

It does appear that Nissan is using a low tech ram air system on the AC as it takes cold air into the engine through an orifice somewhere behind the grille (rather than the typical fender area) and AC condenser. The only downside I saw was the two extra bends in the air box inlet pipe and the fact that it was mounted directly above the exhaust manifold area. Straighten those pipes out Nissan and move the inlet away from the exhaust and you might get more out of it. All the necessary fluids are easily accessible and visible and there is actually some room around the engine unlike many cars today whose engines are shoe horned in. I found at least six places I could fit my hand/forearm into if necessary. No sign of the oil filter though so it must be creeper accessible only.

The 2010 Altima does a lot of things very right. Some of the wrong things just bug me in that niggling way. I suppose if I ended up buying it those little things wouldn't seem like much and I'd generally be pretty happy with such a sweet looking ride. It's the kind of car you love to polish if you get my meaning, and the manu-matic in the twisties could be a 100k miles of love. Time will tell. All in all the Altima coupe is a nice pkg. for about $23K, though there are more powerful cars out there not many can match the Altima coupe's fuel economy ratings with the cvt and sexy sheet metal at the same time. This car likes me too, and I like it very much for a lot of reasons. Another attractive factor is that the dealer is also willing to sell this car at invoice. For $21,973 that's a lot of car. It's a tough choice between this and the Accord Coupe for me. Maybe the Mustang will help make the decision easier?
Thanks to Bob at Woodfield Nissan (Schaumburg IL) for the nice long drive to get this all figured out.

The Tommeter: Scores - 1 (poor) to 5 (average) to 10 (Exceptional)

Comfort - 7
Design Interior - 6
Design exterior - 8
Powertrain - 7
Handling - 7
Fuel economy - 9
Electronics/convenience - 6
Engine note - 7
Fit & function - 7
Must have factor - 9
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)