In 1998 Nissan introduced the second generation Altima to the public, this four- cylinder sedan never got the encore it deserved because of the overwhelmingly success of the Nissan Maxima. Nissan used cars from 2002 came out with its third generation Altima and gave it a new look that screamed fast! No longer did you see nice smooth lines on the Altima, but a vehicle that look more like a sports car. With this third generation Altima, Nissan made the controls a lot easier to use in the vehicle and added more space to the glove box and the center console.
Nissan Altima used cars:
With the introduction of the third generation Altima, Nissan now had a larger sedan than both the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry and they now could say they have the largest, most comfortable interior in that particular market segment. The Nissan Altima had two different options for its engines. The base model had a 2.5-litre, four-cylinder engine with 175 horsepower under the hood. The V6 had the 3.5-litre engine used in their 350Z sports car; this had 240 horsepower rolling the wheels.
Then in 2004 the V6 added five more horsepower to the engine, giving it a total of 245hp. In 2005 Nissan decided yet again to add another five more horsepower giving it a total of 250hp. Also in 2005 Nissan added a high performance Altima calling it the Altima SE-R, this had a 260 horsepower engine with 18 inch wheels. Nissan also made changes to the Altima’s interior. They were badly needed because of how cheap the interior use to look in the previous models.
Even thou most people choose to buy the V6 model because of its sports car feel to it, people should realize the base model which has a 2.4-litre engine in it, also has 20 horsepower added to that engine which other previous models do not have.
I found some stats on the Altima’s fuel consumption. The four-cylinder has a 10.1-litre/100km for city driving and a 7.4-litre/100km for highway driving. The V6 has an 11.2-litre/100km for city driving and a 8.2-litre/100km for highway driving.
Let’s talk about the pros and cons of a Nissan Altima.
1- There are issues with the manual shifter in the Altima’s sporty version.
2- The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave it four stars for driver and passenger protection in frontal crash tests done to it.
3- Altima’s from 2002 and up were given a good rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for frontal crash tests done to it.
Nissan used cars like the Altima are a very reliable vehicle and I couldn’t find any major problems with this particular model.
