2018 Nissan Altima: First Impression

The Nissan Altima has been a wonderful amalgamation of a family sedan and a potent racetrack car. While the range of Nissan cars like Maxima, X-Trail, and Tiida were more about practicality, the Altima has the inherent genes of dual personality that equally track and road-centric.

The Japanese company has still managed to keep a chunk of the elements similar when the fifth generation was introduced around half a decade ago. However, the fifth generation model is still more versatile and sporty over the previous generation and this upgrade is prevalent on every parameter, be it exterior, interior or the engine. But the question here is, how much sportier?

Let’s have a closer look at the 2018 Nissan Altima and find out what all it has on offer.

Aesthetics

The 2018 Nissan Altima is still a 4-door sedan with the dimension very identical to the Maxima. The sedan is now a lot edgier and sportier than the previous generation predecessor. The nose is sharper than before. The 3-slat black grille is cupped on a chrome strip, which looks like an attractive underlining, something that Nissan calls the “V-Motion grille”. The headlamps are extremely sleek and house xenon projector units.

On the sides, there is a sharp line on the lower profile which skites through the wheelbase. The wheel arches are very prominent. The rear houses wraparound tail lights, which split at the tailgate. Down below, there are two round exhaust tips at the two sides separated by a skid plate at the centre.

Interior

Once you step inside this new 2018 Nissan Altima, you will notice that the things aren’t very different from the previous generation. But still, there is nothing to worry about as the interior of the Altima has always been plush. The choice of the interior colour scheme is traditional beige or charcoal black and you can choose either the fabric or leather upholstery. The leather-wrapped 3-spoke steering wheel gets satin trims on them, which looks attractive.

However, the material of the plastics isn’t very impressive as you will find soft-touch plastics in some parts and hard ones on others. However, Nissan claims that the new Altima has “zero gravity” seats, which have been designed in such a way that any particular body part does not take up all the weight.

Engine

The 2018 Nissan Altima is offered with the same engine options as the 2016 facelift. There is a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine which can churn out a maximum power of 182 hp along with a peak torque of 244 Nm. On the other hand, the performance-oriented V6, the 3.5-litre engine makes a whopping 270 hp power and a humongous 340 Nm torque. Both are offered with a CVT gearbox. However, there isn’t a huge difference between the top speeds of the two engine trims, where the smaller engine can pull of 223 kmph while the V6 can go to a maximum of 237 kmph. However, when it comes to the acceleration, the 2.5-litre can hit 100 kmph from a standstill in eight seconds whereas the V6 can do the same in just 6.3 seconds.

The Altima 2.5-litre needs around 6.5-litre of fuel for every 100 kilometres. On the other hand, the V6 gobbles up eight litres for the same distance traveled.

Verdict

The 2018 Nissan Altima is a wonderful sedan, for sure. However, the cabin has a bit room for improvement. However, the Japanese company has tried to get the premiumness higher by offering the zero-gravity seats, which is not very common in sedans of this range.