I've been with Edmunds.com long enough to remember the first Nissan Altima we had, the 2002 SE. In fact, I bought it for the Long Term fleet and then sold it (it sold within hours). I was lukewarm on that car because it felt so chintzy. Lots of the parts seemed like they were just stamped out of sheet metal or formed out of hard plastic leaving sharp edges and flashing visible...
The keys to our current Altima were handed to me on a recent afternoon and I jumped in with no thought except beating traffic and getting home. Right away this redesigned Altima felt different and vastly superior. My attention kept being drawn to the driving experience in a very pleasant way. It was like sitting down to a wolf a burger and instead savoring a steak. My opinion only deepened over the four days of a family trip along the winding Big Sur coast to Carmel, Calif. My son Drew took these pictures.
Virtually the only thing I can fault this car for is a poorly placed inside trunk release lever. It's worth mentioning because, even after you learn where it is, it's hard to find and press. Still, this didn't dampen my enthusiasm for this vehicle. As far as the performance goes, there is way more power from this V6 than you will ever legally need. I passed a few cars on lonely stretches of Highway 1 and put them in my rearview mirror without coming near to the limits of this power. Surprisingly, I averaged 26 miles per gallon over about 600 miles of driving.
Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor
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