AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Nissan's Altima Coupe 2.5S
New Queen of the Secretarymobiles

Two-door Japanese 4-cylinder cars traditionally have the reputation as being "secretaries' cars." The owner demographics tend to be heavily-weighted to female ownership. Nissan just came out with a 2-door version of the Altima. As it so happens, Nissan is selling them faster than they can make them. My sister wants one, but I haven't been able to find one. Here's a Edmunds.com comparison sheet that I worked up comparing the Altima Coupe with the outgoing Honda Accord Coupe, Toyota Camry Solara, Mitsubishi Eclipse, and the only American model squarely in the segment, the Pontiac G6 Coupe. Actually, the G6 isn't squarely in the niche, because it's a 6-cylinder, but the price is similar to the others, so the G6 is cross-shopped. Quite frankly, even though the Pontiac's performance is similar to the other cars, it's fuel economy is not in the same league with EPA city rating of 18 MPG (under the 2007 ratings) vs. EPA 23 for the Nissan under the harsher 2008 standard. The big culprit in the drastic difference in fuel economy is the difference in transmissions. The Nissan has a top-of-its-class CVT automatic transmission, while the Pontiac has a standard (old) 4-speed automatic. In a family sedan comparison in the March 2007 issue of Consumer Reports Magazine, the 2007 Nissan Altima Sedan beat a bevy of newish family sedans including the Saturn Aura and the Pontiac G6 in both 4 and 6 cylinder forms. Nissan's CVT transmission allowed the 4-cylinder Altima to accellerate with the 3.5 liter 6-cylinder GM cars, but had much higher fuel economy. GM's 4-cylinder was still hamstrung by the General's ancient 4-speed automatic transmission. (By the way, in the March '07 comparison, the lowest rated cars were Chrysler's Sebring and the Dodge Avenger, cars that even Chrysler's own executives describe as "disappointing".

According to GM Car Czar Bob Lutz's Fastlane blog, the 2008 Altima will also debut with the 4-speed automatic, though a 6-speed auto will be available later. Though Lutz raves about the redesigned Malibu, it will have to go up against excellent cars like the Altima and Camry PLUS an as-yet-unveiled, redesigned, 2008 Honda Accord. Good luck with that Bob.