You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. This is a line spoken by Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent in the 2008 Batman film The Dark Knight. Anyone who has been online enough has certainly seen this quote in forum signatures and memes galore. Sometimes, this quote from a fictional movie can be accurately applied to situations in real life. Take the Nissan Altima. Today, it’s a sedan derided by enthusiasts for being the vehicle of choice of some (not all, but definitely some) people who like to beat traffic by threading the needle at 110 mph on two donut spares. But the Altima hasn’t always been the villain to enthusiasts. In the not-too-distant past, the Nissan Altima was a hero.
This morning, Nissan is celebrating 30 years of the Altima. Specifically, the automaker wants you to know that the 1993 Nissan Altima GLE in our topshot was “Nissan’s ‘Goldilocks’ of midsize sedans.” We agree. While the Altima of today is ignored by some and laughed at by others, there was a time when Nissan’s mid-size was a big deal. The Altima was even once named North American Car of the Year.
If you’re like me and have spent many nights playing Forza Motorsport 2 and other driving games, maybe you’ve even sent a digital Altima around a racetrack. Those were great times.
The pedants among you will point out that Nissan is technically over a year late on its own news, as production of the first-generation Altima began in June 1992. Nissan is celebrating 30 years of the Altima according to model years, which is fair. Let’s take a look into why the Altima was such an important vehicle for Nissan.
Stanza Start
To understand why the Altima was such a big deal, we have to look at what came before it.
Japanese brands spent the latter half of the 20th century, and especially the final decades, working hard on planting strong roots in America. Honda started producing the Accord out of its plant in Marysville, Ohio in 1982. Acura was established in 1986 and Lexus followed in 1989. Mazda began U.S. manufacturing in 1987 in Flat Rock, Michigan. Toyota started American production at NUMMI and then had its first standalone plant running in Georgetown, Kentucky in 1988. Nissan was right there alongside them. Its first American plant opened in Smyrna, Tennessee, in 1983.
For these brands, it wasn’t good enough to just build some models here. Eventually, the United States branches of Japanese marques would move from just building cars in America to setting up design studios in the USA to pen cars just for Americans. For example, in 1996, Acura created the Acura CL Series, the Acura for America, rather than adapt an existing Japanese design to (hopefully) suit the tastes of North American customers. This strategy wasn’t limited to Japanese brands, either. If you drive a Volkswagen Atlas or a Passat made in 2011 or later, you’re driving a car crafted for your American tush. I’m getting too far ahead of myself here …
At the beginning of the 1990s, Japanese sedans were taking off in popularity and sales. Americans walked into Honda and Toyota dealerships and then drove out in a new Accord or Camry. As the midsize sedan segment heated up, this presented a problem for Nissan. It didn’t have a proper midsize sedan to compete with its peers. Sure, Nissan had the Sentra, but that was too small. On the other end of the spectrum sat the Maxima, but that was too expensive.
Right in the middle was the Stanza. Sold elsewhere as the Bluebird, the Stanza was a fine car. The problem with the Stanza was, as Autotrader writes, that it wasn’t competitive with the power and refinement of the era’s new mid-sizers.
Unfortunately, struggling to compete in the showroom wasn’t a new problem for the Stanza. In 1985, one of the few years I could find sales data for the larger Japanese automakers, Nissan was getting beaten by everyone, including Mazda. That year, the Stanza sold 64,398 units. That’s not bad until you look at the competition. Mazda sold 92,839 examples of its 626 while Toyota moved 128,132 Camrys. Honda took the crown that year with 268,420 Accords finding a new home. As Curbside Classic notes, even domestic cars like the Ford Tempo and the Plymouth Reliant were wiping the floor with Nissan. Nissan’s own more expensive Maxima outsold the poor Stanza. Something had to change.
Nissan’s Turning Point
Nissan wasn’t just taking the hits. Like the other Japanese brands, it focused on expansion. In 1990, the Nissan Pathfinder SUV gained a more appealing four-door option. In 1992, Nissan’s 1988 partnership with Ford paid off with the Mercury Villager and Nissan Quest minivans. Now, it was time for Nissan to battle the midsize titans.
To make this happen, Nissan invested heavily in its North American operations. It started with the Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corporation (NMMC) facility in Smyrna, Tennessee. Nissan says it spent $490 million ($1,072,380,541 today) on stamping, body assembly, painting, and trim plants at NMMC just for the Altima. Part of this huge investment included the addition of Nissan’s Intelligent Body Assembly System, which was designed to ensure tolerances within 0.1mm at 154 points on the body. Nissan says NMMC’s IBAS was the first time its system was implemented outside of Japan and the usage of the system would translate to a stronger and better quality car. Nissan’s investment in Tennessee also included a switch to a water-soluble paint system, which reduced the number of solvents used in painting.
Because of these improvements, Nissan said its Tennesee facility could build 450,000 vehicles a year. Back then, the plant was already producing the Sentra and the Truck, so the Altima was another large boost. Building the Altima also required a large workforce. Nissan said the facility would employ 6,000 people by the end of 1992, 2,000 of them would work on the Altima.
All of this was part of Nissan’s International Cooperation Program. The automaker, like its contemporaries, wanted to localize the development, production, and sales of vehicles in the markets that would receive them. For the Altima, this meant the vehicle would be penned by designers in its Nissan Design International, Inc. studio in California. And while the vehicle would continue to be based on the Bluebird, engineering was carried out by Nissan Research & Development, Inc. in Michigan. All of this would be wrapped up with a bow and punched out of Tennessee. A Nissan designed by Americans for Americans.
Another benefit noted by Nissan is the fact that by shifting production, some 60 percent of the vehicles sold in America would be built here, reducing a trade imbalance between Japan and the United States.
When the Altima made its debut in 1992, not everyone was convinced it was a rockstar. In a 1994 Car and Driver piece, journalist Don Schroeder recalled how the automotive press wasn’t impressed. Reportedly, car journalists of the day thought the Altima looked like a bar of soap, felt the lack of a V6 like its competition was a miss, and didn’t like the car’s automatic seatbelts. It didn’t matter what Car and Driver thought, because the public loved the Altima. 120,000 Altimas were sold in the 1993 model year, beating Nissan’s predictions by 20 percent.
It’s easy to see why people loved them. Take this feature list from my piece on the Altima SE-R:
Something notable about the first-generation Altima was found in its GLE trim level, which had a head-up display in 1993 and 1995. This HUD displayed speed, turn indicators, and warning lights. Nissan noted other luxury features like adjustable lumbar support in the front seats, digital automatic climate control, keyless entry, cornering lights, and a high-end sound system with metal speaker grilles. Furthering the luxury vibe was rosewood color [plastic] trim in 1993 and burl wood [plastic] trim in 1994.
The four-cylinder engine wasn’t a bad one, either. First-generation Altimas came equipped with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder making 150 HP. Sure, the Altima didn’t have a V6 option, but back in those days, 150 HP was knocking on the door of V6 power. Consider that a fifth-generation Accord made 170 HP from its V6 and the Camry punched out 185 HP from its V6. The Nissan was down on power, but it wasn’t completely out of the race.
One neat oddity about the first Altimas is the fact that they had a tiny sticker on the back with “Stanza” printed on them. Nissan says some sort of regulatory hurdle required it to call the car the Stanza Altima for a year and that’s how the automaker complied. Nissan also feared people wouldn’t be able to pronounce Altima, and Nissan distributed guides on how to say the car’s name.
This red Stanza Altima here is what Nissan calls a “Job One” example, or a first production Altima. Anyway, the Altima seemed to impress Car and Driver in its long-term review:
At first, every driver here was strangely silent. Six thousand miles rolled up on the Altima’s odometer without any comments appearing in the car’s logbook. Quality and assembly flaws are usually the first to be noted, but staffers couldn’t seem to find any in our car, which was built in Smyrna, Tennessee.
[…]
As their logbook comments indicate, staffers thoroughly enjoyed driving the Altima despite its glitches. And the log was as revealing for what wasn’t mentioned: no one grumbled about the automatic transmission, which seemed always eager to run with the Altima’s high-winding 150-hp four-cylinder. Nor were there complaints about the motorized automatic shoulder belts or the lack of interior room, things we harped on the last time we looked at the Altima. It speaks well of Nissan’s small sedan that, given time and miles, these grievances seemed less important.
So, respecting the Altima’s popularity in the marketplace, it looks like Nissan slipped a curve ball past us car critics. A few more new cars like this one might have the embattled maker singing Bye‑Bye, Blues.
Nissan sold the successful first-generation Altima until spring 1997, when it was replaced with a second-generation model. Unlike the first Altima, which was a leap forward for Nissan, the second Altima was largely a minor update. The vehicle received updated, more modern styling, and its engine now put out a maximum of 5 more ponies.
Reportedly, the first-generation Nissan Altima sold around 150,000 units each year. That was great for Nissan, which didn’t break six-figure sales in the past with the Stanza. The second-generation Altima didn’t move this needle forward. It was also still far lower than Honda and Toyota, which were selling a ridiculous number of their midsize sedans. In 1999, Toyota sold an incredible 445,696 Camrys and Honda was closely behind with 404,192 Accords sold.
Nissan needed another hit.
Altima Revolution
After the second-generation Altima failed to cause a sales sizzle, Nissan got serious about catching up to Toyota and Honda. This time, Nissan would give the Altima a total overhaul. Have you ever come across an old classmate for the first time in 20 years and they look so different they’re almost unrecognizable? That’s what happened to the Altima. I’ll let Nissan explain:
It was the first mass-market product built on Nissan’s new FF-L platform, which was unique to North America and had no equivalent model in Japan. It was produced in model years 2002 through 2006. This new design had up to 18-inch wheels and was the first Altima series to offer a 3.5-liter V6 in addition to its 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine. The Altima grew substantially for this generation, as interior volume expanded to 118.8 cubic feet. The Altima’s interior dimensions even surpassed that of the higher-end Maxima, so the 2004 Maxima moved more upscale into the full-size bracket. The new Altima also featured improved handling and more aggressive styling. Reviews were consistently strong by media and consumers alike as the Altima helped lead Nissan’s product resurgence in the early part of the new century.
I love how Nissan notes that the Altima got so big that the Maxima had to get bigger to maintain its higher place in Nissan’s lineup. In addition to growing up, the Altima embraced a new position in the midsize market. The Altima got so large that it ended up surpassing both the Accord and Camry in size. Nissan was no longer trying to copy Honda and Toyota. Instead, the new Altima jabbed at Honda and Toyota, as Nissan positioned the vehicle as the fun midsize choice.
Nissan’s marketing was aggressive and terribly-timed, with the automaker calling the new Altima ‘The Cure for the Common Car.’ Tired of losing your Camry in a parking lot? Buy a Nissan Altima, you won’t lose your Altima and its “Altezza Lights” jewel-like taillights in a garage. At least, that’s what Nissan wanted you to think.
The powertrain and platform also caught up, from my retrospective:
The base engine in the Altima was a 2.5-liter four making 175 HP and 180 lb-ft torque. That was 40 more thoroughbreds in the stable than the Accord had and still bested the Camry by 18 horses. Backing up the power was a new chassis with torsional rigidity that was up by 70 percent. Meanwhile, usage of aluminum in the car’s suspension touted weight savings while adding strength.
Speaking of suspension, Nissan tossed out the torsion beam rear for a multi-link setup based on the one found in the Japanese market Skyline. Nissan even tossed in a 20-gallon fuel tank, giving the Altima long legs for its 29 highway mpg for the four cylinder and 26 highway mpg for the V6.
Initially, that 3.5-liter V6 dished out 240 HP and 246 lb-ft torque. That was good for a sprint to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds. It seemed the Altima made for a pretty decent sporty family hauler, one that Nissan was serious about using to beat Honda and Toyota.
Nissan captured lightning in a bottle with the 2002 Altima and it was rewarded with positive reviews. The new Altima scored the “North American Car of the Year” award that year as well as a “Best of the Year” nomination by MotorWeek. Check out MotorWeek’s review:
Later, Nissan would spice up the Altima with the SE-R, which bumped the V6’s output up to 260 HP and 251 lb-ft torque while adding Nissan Z-inspired styling bits, a sport suspension, and forged wheels. Nissan’s work also paid off in sales. By 2005, the Altima was selling 255,371 units a year. Sure, that’s still trailing behind the 429,519 Camrys and 369,293 Accords that sold that year, but far more than what Nissan used to sell.
Nissan Builds A Camry
In 2007, the Altima entered its fourth generation. This time around, the vehicle wasn’t a revolutionary change, but more evolutionary. The vehicle received a styling update and moved to the smaller Nissan D platform. The Altima lost an inch of wheelbase length but maintained a largely similar appearance and interior. A manual transmission stuck around as the default transmission, but a CVT appeared as the optional choice. A hybrid option also appeared in this generation.
The Altima continued to be received well, with sales increasing to over 300,000 units for the first time in 2012. That year the fourth-generation Altima was selling 335,887 units, which nipped on the heels of the 353,204 Accords Honda sold in the same year.
Sadly, 2012 would mark the peak of Altima sales. The Altima has since been given a fifth and sixth generation, which came out in the 2013 and 2019 model years, respectively. The fifth generation brought on a major styling overhaul and the 3.5-liter VQ35 V6 even stuck around with 270 HP of output. Sadly, the manual transmission did not make a return. By the Altima’s sixth generation in 2019, even the V6 died off. The best engine is now a 2.0-liter turbo four with an output of 248 HP.
That’s not to say the Altima’s become a bad car. Instead, the Altima went from being the sporty option to being Nissan’s version of the Camry. In a way, you could probably argue that the Altima has come full circle. The 2024 Nissan Altima still generates positive reviews, with MotorTrend calling the car a bargain for people looking for a lot of tech in a mid-size sedan, before calling the CVT a horrible experience.
Sadly for Nissan and pretty much every other automaker, midsize sedans don’t capture the public like they used to. In 2022, Nissan sold 139,956 Altimas just compared to 154,612 Accords and 295,201 Camrys. Yep, even the mighty Camry has lost some staying power.
It’s even worse for the Altima because, through all of this, it has become a bit of an Internet meme. Now, the Altima isn’t alone. You’ve probably heard them all, from Prius drivers being left lane-hogging treehuggers to Corvette owners being old guys with jorts and New balances. BMW owners don’t use turn signals, truck owners are compensating for something, and so on. The Altima is only the latest victim of Internet jokers. People have uploaded videos of clapped-out Altimas doing warp speed on busy interstates, Altimas crashing, Altimas on fire, and broken and beaten Altimas just generally engaging in shenanigans. That’s Big Altima Energy.
How true is it? Well, the Altima does frequently show up on lists of cars involved in most fatal crashes. Granted, those lists are also quite similar to the list of best-selling cars in America. The Altima also shows up on the IIHS list of cars with the highest rates of driver deaths. So, crashes are happening, but the Altima is not the worst car out there. Yet, you don’t see Big Silverado Energy or Big Mirage Energy.
I don’t think the Altima is deserving of its current reputation. It’s not the Altima’s fault that irresponsible people buy them and terrorize the streets with them. At the Altima’s best, it was a roomy sedan with a great V6 engine and even a manual transmission. At its worst, you’re looking the Nissan Camry, with isn’t really a bad thing. While we’re on the subject, the Prius is also not a bad car because some people hog the passing lane in them. Drive these cars, you might end up liking them!
The Altima marked Nissan’s turning point, but today it’s the crossovers that bring in the bacon. Now, the poor Altima is an Internet meme and punching bag. Today, Nissan celebrates 30 years of Altima, and I think it’s a celebration that was well-deserved. The Altima never succeeded in beating the sales of the competition, but it did help Nissan further drive its stakes into American soil. For a moment in time, it was also a bit of an enthusiast car, too. If recent reports are true, the Altima’s time may be coming to an end soon. If so, remember the Altima’s better days, not just the memes.
(Images: Nissan)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
I remember seeing the second gen next to the first gen as a kid and wondering aloud which was the newer Altima. The second gen was so much less interesting that it didn’t even get a picture in this article (which it sort of deserved). Maybe it didn’t help that colors other than beige and silver seemed to be non-existent for the 2nd gen.
Outside of that analysis, the Altima was a great car until the dreaded JATCO CVT wormed it’s way into every Nissan product. Change your transmission fluid everyone!
That second-gen refresh was awful. It literally made me angry. I had no personal investment in it at all, I just couldn’t believe that Nissan would deliberately make one of its most popular cars so ugly and dull.
Yeah the Altima temporarily went from one of the most interesting sedans to something that genuinely looked less interesting than the Camry. Nissan seemingly so blinded by Camry fever that they forgot why people bought the Altima instead of the Camry in the first place.
It’s one of the rare cases where the replacement car looks like it might be older than the previous design. The 2013 Malibu also has this distinction.
> designed to ensure tolerances within 0.1mm at 154 points on the body.
Isn’t it amazing how far manufacturing has come, where we can now get sub-micron tolerances on the cybertruck?
(/s)
A 1994 Altima was the start of my hate affair with Nissan. Never liked the car, and finally got rid of it when the transmission went.
So that Stanza thing we called a Pintara here in Oz. I had a ‘Superhatch’ at one point, and we used to call it the Pinata (as you could beat the shit out of it for fun…).
Looking it up then lead me down a little rabbit hole, because I swear the next model (first gen altima) SSS’s had SR20DE’s in them, but it turns out we still had the same KA24 as per the Pintara… The Japanese model however did get SR20s, both DE and DET, so I assume what I remember is a few swapped ones. There were a few JDM U12s about too with CA18s in them from memory.
Anyway, we also had R31 skylines labeled as Pintaras with a 4 banger in them.
Nissan and naming conventions in Australia have been a bit wack over the years…
The first gen Altima was not a goldilocks size. It was too large to be a compact and too small to be a mid size. Kind of like the Ford Contour of the 90s. And therefore it couldn’t compete, despite being a good car, like the Contour. When the 3rd gen debuted and they increased the size so much, it made the Maxima superfluous. I’m amazed they ran the two cars for 20 years in the same show room. They had the same drive train. Weren’t they built on the same platform? Like, what was the point?
Not the same chassis, or at least not initially, anyways. The Maxima had a beam rear suspension and the Altima had a new four wheel independent chassis. Which made the Maxima even more superfluous.
The 2004 Maxima was bigger inside and offered additional luxuries and features, but it became a bit of a market tweener itself. The Camry/Avalon would be the closest analogy; the Max was more sporting but a large-ish non-lux-brand sporty sedan was a tricky sell by that point, unless you had a lot of buzz like the Chrysler LX cars. Ultimately for the price, any number of entry level luxury models ran about the same in price – including the also-new G35 over at Infiniti.
The last couple Maxima generations shrunk a bit, smaller inside than the Altima like it was going for a 4-door coupe vibe. Sales were kind of steady, it sold similar/more than a Murano in the same generations, but it might have been heavy on rental sales too and probably counted as “large” or “premium” in rental company terms.
Nope.
Sounds like a Green Eggs and Ham situation… if green eggs and ham had a bad reputation
The green is from mold in this case.
The Altima Coupes with the V6 and manual transmissions were underrated. Good looking, too.
My then girlfriend now wife had a Sentra that died. When towed to her Nissan dealer, they had just rolled a new ‘94 Altima off the truck. She had given up career 1, and had gone back to school. Pretty much down to pennies, she got the Altima. When I finally saw and drove it, I was very impressed. Fun car to drive. Zippy, good handlimg for a sedan. Not perfect. Seats could have had more support. And back seat was minimal- i can see why the next real remake was a bigger car. But a great car none the less.
i have driven various Altima rentals over the years. Always thought they were a better overall car than the Camry. Accords was always tops. Almost bought one in 2016, when I needed a business car (but got a Mazda 6 manual- with no regrets).
Too bad the world now insists on overpriced SUVs.
There was a time when Datsun/Nissan was neck-and-neck with Toyota in terms of quality, durability, and overall value.
These days, I think I’d pick a Mitsubishi over a Nissan, if those were my choices.
Agreed, 90s Nissan was peak Nissan, in the early 90s you had the 300ZX, 240SX, Sentra SE-R (had one, loved it). Performance and engineering as well as reliability on par with Honda and Toyota, the new Maxima in ’95 was a winner as well (I drove an SE with a 5 speed for many years).
Anyway, although they still made some good performing cars after that, reliability, and in my opinion styling, went downhill and Nissan became a second tier Japanese brand.
At the time, the Altima was the only Japanese midsize sedan to use a timing chain. Honda, Toyota, Mazda, etc. still used timing belts.
The Altima used to be a fun sporty midsize sedan. Just as good quality and reliability as Honda and Toyota, but they cost much less due to not having the used Honda/Toyota tax.
Costing less but still being as reliable as an Accord or Camry is most likely the reason the Altima earned its ghetto reputation later on. A car they can count on *and* actually afford.
If you get a V6, the VQ is MUCH easier to work on than any Toyota V6, especially the 1MZ/3MZ! However, I’d still opt for the four.
It was also odd how brief the last Stanza’s run was, not even 4 years.
The 1st gen Altima was still on the small side next to the Camry, but that wasn’t an uncommon size then, it was comparable to an Accord, 626, Tempaz, a GM N-body, etc. Those did offer V6s, but by the end of the 90s that sort of sizing made it a tweener between small and true midsize cars. The 2nd gen was still a decent car at its core but the sizing is where it really struggled, showing up the same time as a much bigger Accord. The ’02 redesign and upsizing was exactly the right move for the model.
Nissan marketing was really strong in the 1st and 3rd gens too (despite some of the ill-timed ads in the latter like you mentioned). Many of the original ads were modeled after Lexus ads such as the ball bearing running along the panel gaps, part of the point they were trying to drive home that it was “the luxury car you can afford.”
After my ’97 Maxima I was always open to an Altima but finding a decent used one with a manual that wasn’t a base model was next to impossible.
I was around when the Altima debuted. With solid build quality and a nice interior, it was marketed as a premium small car, something strange to the US market where people had been conditioned that bigger is always better. I got one as a rental upgrade in Canada and it was perfectly fine by the standards of the day. It was definitely better than the equivalent North American products.
I came here to say that the first gen was one of the better rental cars I’ve driven. Easily moved a family of four around on a trip. In those days, many rental lots still only had US brand vehicles, so this was a novelty and definitely a quality improvement. Maybe almost having a Chevy Lumina that caught fire when the lot jocky went to bring it to the front coloured my opinion a little.
Me too. A coworker bought one, and I remember being impressed with it, esp. at the price point. He was really proud of it for offering a really good package more akin to a low-level luxury car of the time.
And he got it in that soft teal b/c 1990s.
Come on the Altima was a good car. It wasn’t until tons of these good reliable vehicles lasted long enough to be come the selected long life vehicles for the fiscally and mentally challenged. They lasted got cheap and were bought by the poor and the cheap. Then it was a matter of just trying to make them.last.
You can’t blame a salvaged ICE Cream truck because a pedophile bought it to lure children with free candy, and you can’t blame the Altima for the actions of the 4th or 5th owner.
I agree! The Altima is one of those cars that doesn’t deserve its reputation. At its best, it’s a lively sedan that could be had with a great-sounding V6 and a manual transmission. At its worst, it’s a Camry, which is fine!
It’s the difference of having been around the whole time VS just afterwards reading stories. You know the whole story. Which many here don’t appreciate. They think they know better than people who lived it.
Also, it helps that the styling of the first gen was simple yet purposeful. Of its time, sure, but in retrospect as well, it’s so clean.
I can’t imagine the future is going to look kindly on the current model’s.
Good news: I already don’t!
This car is my personal nemesis.
The design ethos strikes me as equivalent to domestics in the ’70s – very overwrought and complicated, and likely to be appreciated later only as a signifier of supposedly better times (“Check that baby out. Man, those 2020s were great, before the internet was directly beamed into everyone’s heads all the time!”). As compared to say a Porsche’s timeless, beauty for its own sake design.
I might be a dyed in the wool Nissan apologist. Praying to the alter of Nismo on Tuesdays. But, I’ll die on the hill that the MK3 Altima is damn good car. And for awhile there the VQ Altima was about as fast as 4k will let you go. The thing rips for a premium econobox. Which might explain BAE. You got dudes going from clapped Civics to this war machine. All of sudden you can drop the hammer on every CUV to ever come off assembly line. Which anyone with a fast car has been there. It’s pretty fun. Usually restrained by replacement cost of say a Porsche. But when a VQltima is only 4k, it’s foot to the floor all the time bae!
If you need a hoonable daily, the Altima SE-R is probably THE best performance bargain available on the used market. The fact that they come in manual form is very nice.
All Altima gens are good cars. It’s hard to argue against that. I didn’t even know we’re supposed to mock the Altima and its drivers for some reason. It’s a fine car. They did make it too big against the Maxima, but that meant we got a nicer Maxima.
A manual transmission Altima SE-R is a GREAT budget hoonabout. It can go much faster with some cheap bolt-on parts, and still remain reliable. My biggest gripe is that it is FWD.
Like the Charger Hellcats, I just love everything these cars stand for. Raw, unfiltered anarchy in vehicular format accessible at an affordable price to any 350 credit score no-license uninsured drunken halfwit that wants to keep their foot to the floor and constantly beat the car to shit, and the car just keeps on taking a beating.
It’s beautiful.
If I for some reason ever need a cheap ICE-powered daily, an Altima SE-R with a manual would be high on the list of priorities.
“In 1990, the Nissan Pathfinder SUV gained a less appealing four-door option.”
Fixed it for you.
My first car was a 1995 Altima that I bought from my mom in 2004. Served me well for a couple of years out of university until I bought a used Protege5. Biggest issues we had over its life was starters, I think it was on its 4th when I traded it in. Worst was when it died in Thunder Bay on the Friday of thanksgiving weekend. Great highway cruiser, at the time I was working in remote camps so would put 800-1000km on in a day then it would be the occasional rip to town (400km return) for smokes and beer in the evening. And in the bitter -35 cold trying to move the gear shift was like it was stuck in a block of hard cheese until the transmission warmed up.
We had a 96 maxima that was one of the best cars I’ve owned. Unfortunately the 04 Altima move upsize turned the Maxima into a piece of crap. It’s been a car without a reason since then, I can’t believe it’s still around.
It isn’t anymore. Nissan killed the Maxima this year.
My parents had a 1999 Nissan Altima GLE in Mexico for 10 years, they had a Nissan Sentra B13 before that. Neighbors were jealous, I even remember that the dashboard was in MPH, a true statement that the car was imported and they didn’t even bothered to change it to metric units. That’s the car I started to drive when I was teenager. It was so roomy and luxurious for me. It took us everywhere with not a single issue, none. Just oil changes, brakes, basic maintenance. Even the headlights bulbs were still original after 10 years.
I am still trying to find one to go back to memory lane, but most of them are gone, rusted, etc. That’s the era of Nissan that I miss, no CVT junk, the brand had a reputation that they never recovered it.
My mum had a 1992 Nissan Bluebird – same car as the Altima. Although I don’t think we got the 2.4 here, just the 2.0 to start with, but in comparison to her old 1986 1.6 Ford Telstar, the Bluebird was a rocket ship and a technical marvel. Its amazing how much technology leaped in car design between the mid-80’s and early 90s. We had power steering, an automatic gear box, power windows, DIGITAL climate control (not to mention A/C). In fairness I think the Telstar was base stripper model and the Bluebird was a fairly high spec model. But I think it was the lack of a carburetor that was the biggest revolution for my dad, no longer having to fiddle with it constantly to make the car work was probably mind blowing viva la EFI!
It was a pretty nice car, it just got a bit fally apart as it got old, I think the engine died at about 200,000km which in comparison to say a Toyota Corona (which was the other car they were contemplating) which I know for a fact would have gone to the moon and back (our friends had like 400,000ks on their 1993 Corona).
If you really think about what else was out there in 1992, the styling of this first gen was pretty good and has aged very well.
In fact, the first-gen Altima looks more handsome than the other car to share its silhouette, the Infiniti J30 of the same period.
Yes! The first gen was positioned as a “J30 on-a-budget” and the GLE trim level had the interior design to back it up. I remember it comparing favorably vs HondaYota offerings.
I had 1992 Nissan stanza for a while and as stated in the article it is kind of bland. But surprisingly quick with 138 hp out of the 2.4L 4 banger. An absolute rocket ship compared to my 1992 Toyota corolla with the 1.6L 4AFE at 100 hp. The stanza was reliable, if quirky, but it didn’t garner enough enthusiasm for me to spend double the value of the car to get new unobtanium front struts from Japan. Good enough vehicle, no desire to have another one, especially due to the relatively poor gas mileage of 20 mpg.
I didn’t know there was a reason for the “Stanza” label on early Altimas! I thought they were just trying to ease the transition, as they did when they moved from Datsun to Nissan.
Or the 2004 Pathfinder Armada, although that didn’t really have anything to do with the Pathfinder at the time and was an additional model. Maybe just a way to capitalize on the need for a 3-row SUV until the actual 3-row Pathfinder debuted a year later and the Armada dropped the prefix.
I remember, at the time, Nissan said that they called it the “Pathfinder” Armada so their customers wouldn’t be confused. What kind of mouth breathers do they think are in their showrooms? It’s a large Nissan SUV. I think we can handle that.
If anything it seems more confusing. If it were a few years later I’d say maybe it was some way to capitalize on the Pathfinder name for SEO or something.
Bizarrely, I think it might be easier to find a 1st or 2nd generation Altima in decent condition now than a Mk3 model? I don’t know, I can’t remember the last time I saw a third gen with paint still on the horizontal surfaces and headlights that weren’t clouded to the level of a full milk jug