The Nissan Altima Invigorated the Family Sedan, Then Ruined It
Perhaps you remember the quality of Japanese cars during the Bubble Era, but there’s a good chance you’ve forgotten the semi-premium positioning of Nissan’s Stanza Altima from 1993. Brands going upmarket was par for the course in the early 1990s, and Nissan saw gold in an Oldsmobile-like vehicle that bridged the gap between their value-oriented offerings and Infiniti’s premium positioning. They were right, and it spawned an iconic vehicle for the best and worst reasons you can bestow upon a family sedan.
Let’s discuss the good vibes first: with Infiniti J30-like styling, a remarkably luxurious interior with faux-rosewood accents, and a $13,000 base price, the original Altima was promoted as an affordable luxury sedan. The nameplate became an instant hit. David Woodhouse, vice president of Nissan Design America, even suggested the Altima was “a Goldilocks of its time: just enough, not too much; a sweet car, with sensibility just right for a mainstream sedan.”
Woodhouse nailed it, and inadvertantly gave a quote that applies to many Bubble Era Japanese cars. But the country changed when the economy soured, and the second-generation Altima was cheaper and boring, with a drab interior and a deformed trunk. Luckily, Nissan had a new platform up their sleeves specifically for the American market, one that sported proper American dimensions and aggressive proportioning.
That chassis turned into the third-generation Nissan Altima for 2002. No longer looking like a cost-engineered Infiniti J30, the new Altima was aimed squarely at the ubiquitous Camry and Accord. It was longer, wider, and taller than anything in its class, setting the new standard years before the Chrysler 300 became a boxy Bentley on a budget. The Altima’s fresh look featured a gentle rise in its belt line, 17-inch wheels pushed out to the corners, and the radical implementation of the Lexus IS-style (i.e. Toyota Altezza) tail lights: Heady stuff for a family sedan.
The huge interior lacked the original’s multi-toned polymers and elongated plasti-wood strips for the dashboard, though its clever gauge cluster had the intimacy of a motorcycle’s triple gauge pod. Just like the original Stanza-Altima, this model put the competition on notice and racked up awards in the process.
“The concept behind the third-generation Altima styling and engineering was simple—stop copying Accord and Camry, as we had been doing—and carve out fresh territory of our own.”
Al Castignetti, Nissan Sales and Marketing VP
Nissan did their job, right down to making a high performance “SE” version with a 3.5-liter V-6 engine (from Nissan’s VQ family), four wheel disc brakes, and a multi-link rear suspension. Perhaps the third (and fourth?) generation Altimas were so good that the only place it could go from there was downhill.
And downhill it went. Just as Altimas had hit their stride, along came a guy named Carlos Ghosn: While his current situation is far from black and white, name drop this former CEO to anyone associated with U.S.-based Nissan dealerships and gauge their reaction. My decade in automotive retail made it clear that Nissan was a pariah, mostly thanks to Ghosn’s inhumane stair step plan after the 2008 recession. The plan was to increase Nissan/Infiniti market share to 10 percent by 2017, which instead tanked the brand’s equity with consumers and dealers alike. This was most notably manifested in the Altima. But you already knew that, didn’t ya?
Package Nissan’s bargain basement discounting, diminished resale value, and worrisome X-Tronic CVT transmissions with the fact that sedans were beginning to cede territory to CUVs, and you doom the fifth- and sixth-generation Altima to automotive leprosy.
But for a brief moment—before Big Altima Energy (BAE) was a thing—the third-generation Altima was a radically compelling vehicle for so many folks.
You could rightly suggest that Motorweek’s take on this new family sedan proved there was BAE afoot. But that used to be a good thing: Camry-killing style with performance-minded swagger, in a full trickle-down effect from the 4DSC Maxima from Nissan’s Bubble Era. Even the four-cylinder Altima’s 175 horsepower was peppy enough to spring to 60 in less than nine seconds. But Motorweek got their hands on a 3.5 SE model, with Nissan’s now commonplace VQ-series V-6 putting out 240 horses and netting a 5.9 second 0-60 time.
Even in today’s era of radically fast EVs and turbocharged family sedans, a sub-six second time to 60 mph is nothing to sneeze at. Some credit goes to the Altima 3.5 SE’s available five-speed manual transmission, though Motorweek noted that torque steer was also present during testing. Their instrumented testing netted a quarter mile trap speed of 100 mph, a figure unheard of in family sedan circles. Heck, a triple digit trap speed shall spank a manual transmission Mustang GT of the era, much less a V-6 Camry or Accord.
This Motorweek retro review took me back to my final year in college. I imagined graduating from my heavily modified Fox-body Cougar and going into $25,000-ish of debt for one of these row-your-own V-6 Q-ships finished in “Seascape” metallic green. Aside from the desire to do front-wheel drive burn outs just like Motorweek did on TV, my post-grad plan was to have a reliable new car, a good job, and a pathway to grow up into a proper adult. And since it’s an Altima, I could enjoy a respectable family sedan for what should be a future with a wife, kids, and a good career with upward mobility.
But that wasn’t in the cards, as I smacked the same brick wall many millennials faced upon their respective graduations just a few years later. Be it as a dreamer or an owner, I doubt I’m the only person who waxes nostalgically about these Altimas, especially the 3.5 SE. It was an affordable sedan that seemingly did it all, a halfway point between the appeal of an SUV and the thrills of a touring car.
No vehicle is perfect, but this one came awfully close. Even the current Altima, with jokes readily available on the Internet and present at the airport rental lots around the country, is a respectable vehicle by the numbers alone. I’ve driven several and have no qualms, as the BAE memes are a badge of honor, not a scarlet letter.
Perhaps that’s because of the legacy created when Nissan gave the world the 2002 Altima 3.5 SE. It’s a shame what happened to the nameplate after that moment, as stair-stepping CEOs and public perceptions tanked the Altima’s prospects for victory. Tragedies are unavoidable without the benefit of hindsight, but least the Altima remains in production while many of its ballyhooed sedan competition passed on years ago.
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To be honest most of the asian FWD sedans are just reliable soul less cars. They have nothing that stirs the blood style wise and performance wise.
That is not to say the American FWD sedans were much better.
The advent of the CUV era was driven by these models as they were similar foot print but at least they had more room and cargo ability. Most got the same or similar MPG.
My Malibu had the same engine as the Acadia I have and my truck. Yet the Malibu was good for only 4 adults and the truck while large has such a small opening you could not haul anything. That affected many of these cars and adding a hatch never caught on in America.
I remember noticing a Nissan sedan on the lots a few years back and thinking how much better it looked than all the other Nissans (including sedans). Searching the internet, looks like it was the 5th generation Altima with the curves. I wouldn’t pick it over a 300 though for looks.
Going way back, the 80s Maximas have a look (very boxy) I like as well. Most of the Altimas are kind of generic which fits with Hyperv6’s comment.
The 3rd gen SE-R 6 speed is thr pinnacle of that gen of car
After College, I leased a beautiful and expensive Infiniti G35 coupe. When the time came up to turn the car in. I was about to purchase my first house. Not wanting to be car-poor, something had to give. I really wanted to keep that glorious Nissan 3.5 VQ engine. The cheapest way to do so was, of course, to go Altima. It would be a downgrade, but it was the “Adult thing to do”.
On the day Bear Stearns crashed, I bought a SE 3.5 V6 Altima. My car was the only car the dealership sold that week. Although that made it an ominous start, the Altima was good to me. As my Dad would say, “That 3.5 V6 can cash any check my right foot writes,” and he was correct.
Compared to the Camry and Accord in 2008, the Altima was the best-looking and quickest option, in my opinion. Today, though, I can not say the same.
I was hoping someone else could appreciate what that car meant for buyers of the era, and you didn’t let me down. Thank you!
HA, Kindred Spirits! I will say I have to rent a car occasionally for 400-mile day trips. I always ask for whatever Altima is on the lot. It has great seats and great MPG, which is what you need for day trips. Every time I rent one, though, I think to myself, “You used to own one of these. Would you want to own one now? Probably not on purpose.”
I can’t decide if I’ve changed in 16 years or if the Altima has… I hope it’s the latter; however, maybe it’s not.
I had a friend who bought the first generation Altima. It was a great car. It also made buying a Maxima an increasingly silly thing to do when it basically offered everything the maxima had at a better price point.
Now the maxima is irrelevant and the Altima is a crappy shadow of it’s former self. Also those old Altima’s are now the domain of 500 something credit score people paying 21% interest from some sleazy dealership.
Long live the Altima!
Ah yes the Altima. Third gen nissans. Jasper couldn’t keep up with the engines destroying themselves. While Nissan sat back and denied the problem with the catalytic converter design. But they finally worked it out. I changed plenty of those engines. Shame , they are good cars but it was a tough hurdle when this was happening. The problem is fixed but i still here people shying away because of that issue.
Altima, a car thats transcended from mere model name to a legend, but not neccisarily in a good way. Though even before BAE became a thing, I’ve always said Altima drivers are just Audi drivers with bad credit…..
Though this was pretty nice for the time and a lot of car for the money…then they turned into the car passing you in the breakdown lane doing 106mph with a bumper flapping on a donut with an expired temp tag.
I still drive a 2008 Altima 3.5 SE sedan with… A six speed manual transmission. Talk about a goldilocks car! It has almost 190,000 miles and drives great. I never want to replace it.
The goodness was there in abundant quantities for the Accord and Camry of the 2003-2010 era, and to a lesser extent the Altima. In 2005 I bought a 4 cylinder mid-range model Accord sedan and an Acura TL for my wife and I. Best cars we ever had by far (long run of Hondas / Acuras for me, and my wife previously had a Neon) for the 15 years we owned them. Experienced a few Altimas as rentals, but none left me wanting to drive another Altima. Likewise the American sedans. The Accord and TL simply checked all the boxes and then some, and left us smiling. Traded them for a TLX and Pilot both with the 3.5 V6 and SH-AWD and luxury packages, after 5 years we’re still smiling and love the Honda experience. Comparing rentals from Nissan and Toyota confirmed that there wasn’t any love for Altima or Highlander or Camry.
The 2002 and newer Altima V6 was extremely popular with police agencies. Prior to this we’d been using Luminas, Taurus, etc and they were simply awful. A day on active surveillance and they’d need new brake rotors on every corner. Terrible quality.
The Altima could be driven hard all day long for years and only require routine maintenance. We had them in every colour Nissan offered. After experiencing this massive change in reliability, we didn’t use a single Dodge/Ford/GM vehicle in the detective office.
Is this forum rejecting posts for everyone? It keeps telling me I’m trying to slow down, that I’m posting too quickly or duplicating posts.
Yes. I get the same message.
The goodness was in abundant quantities for the Accord and Camry of the 2003-2010 era, to a lesser extent the Altima. In 2005 I bought a 4 cylinder mid-range model Accord sedan and an Acura TL for my wife and I. Best cars we ever had by far (long run of Hondas / Acuras for me, and my wife previously had a Neon) for the 15 years we owned them. Experienced a few Altimas as rentals, but none left me wanting to drive another Altima. Likewise the American sedans. The Accord and TL simply checked all the boxes and then some, and left us smiling. Traded them for a TLX and Pilot both with the 3.5 V6 and SH-AWD and luxury packages, after 5 years we’re still smiling and love the Honda experience.
Comparing rentals from Nissan and Toyota confirmed that there wasn’t any love for Altima or Highlander or Camry
I worked for a Nissan dealership from 2004 to 2016. I’m a bodyman by trade and have fixed them all, from 200sx, 240’s, Sentra’s Maxima’s, Altimas, 300zx,350,370z’s,$100k+GTR’s, NISMO’s, ext. Altimas were easy to diagnose issues and work on. When the rear subframe recalls came out I couldn’t tell you how many rear rails I had to replace because of seized bolts due to to aluminum subframe on steel studs. Warranty only paid 27 hours( flat rate time per rail) to remove back half Interior, trunk, removing rear seat brace, cutting half the floor out to reach the rail rear inner welds, all the under bracing to get them out. Then In reverse order to weld them back in at factory seams and dimensions. It was a lot to do for 27hrs per side but I got it down to a science and had them done in three days! The SE-R manual was by far the best performing and handling Altima made in my opinion. I truly miss those days:(
Bought a new 2013 Altima 3.5 SV. Best car I have owned. I like to go fast in a straight line. First time run at my local drag strip it ran the 1/4 mile in 14.095 at 102 mph. I drove the tuner car kids crazy. Most fun I have ever had with a car. I average 25 mpg. I will drive it until the wheels fall off.