Driving Impressions

The Altima has always been a highly refined sedan, with smooth steering and good behavior over bumps. The latest version is even better, especially on rough pavement. When you push the Altima around a corner, the steering feels light, yet it retains a good feel of the road surface. This is a tight and nimble sedan. It corners with confidence, feels lighter on its feet than the larger mid-sized cars. There are four different suspensions on the various Altimas. The base XE gets firmer anti-roll bars front and rear -- a rare feature for any entry-level sedan. The GXE gets its own separate shock absorber tuning to take advantage of its stiffer body, made so by the addition of bracing in the floor; it also gets larger and slightly lower-profile tires than the XE. The SE gets the sportiest pieces, including the stiffest springs, stiffest shocks and thickest anti-roll bars. The SE's tires ride a bit harsher than the GLE's, but promise more grip. Both the SE and GLE get new blow-off-valve shock technology, which softens big bumps; they also get an upper front strut brace. Displacing 2.4-liters, Altima's engine is large for a four-cylinder. By not offering a V6, Nissan was able to keep Altima's hood low and its lines lean. Still, this engine won't win any drag races against V6-powered sedans. But it's a very smooth engine, even when you rev it up to its 6600 rpm redline; that's where many four-cylinders scream and rattle and where the best ones, like this one, shine. It pumps out adequate torque at lower revs, but fails to make the nearly 3000-pound Altima a speed machine, especially when attached to the automatic transmission. The overall gearing of both the five-speed manual and the four-speed automatic were altered in 2000 for better acceleration. The shift schedule of the automatic was reprogrammed so it hunts less when you're in the mountains. The five-speed transmission feels tight and direct, all good for fans of manual-transmission cars. This unit has always felt like a sports-car shifter, and for 2000 the lever was shortened slightly for faster gear-changing. It feels great, and could change your mind about needing an automatic for your boring commute. Acceleration feels noticeably quicker than before, and Nissan claims the new gearbox lowers the time required to get from 0 to 60 mph by almost a second. Back in 1996, the Altima came with a viscous limited-slip differential that helped keep the front wheels from spinning if you accelerated quickly out of a corner. That's no longer available. Now the cure for wheelspin is to lift your foot off the throttle, which the otherwise slick manners of the Altima don't encourage you to do very often. SE models get four-wheel-disc brakes, and you can feel the improvement over the standard rear drums when you hustle the Altima down hilly curves. The brake pedal feels tight, like the rest of the Altima's controls, and it makes you feel confident that you can slow the car down in any unexpected circumstance.

Final Word

The slightly larger Altima is still a sweet package, a high-quality sedan that's still trimmer in size compared to the larger and more popular Camry and Accord (not to mention Ford's Taurus). If you like trim, maneuverable sedans, Altima is still a great buy.