2008 Nissan Altima Review (continued)
Add your own review or comments

Walkaround

In styling the 2008 Altima Coupe, Nissan steered clear of any radical departures from the brand's established design cues while drawing heavily from what's already passed the eye test in Japan. Thus, what the U.S. market sees looks remarkably like the front half of the '07 Altima sedan grafted onto the back half of the brand's Japan-only sport coupe, the Skyline.

Front view, then, and despite the company's protestations that the only body panel the coupe shares with the sedan is the hood, presents a familiar face, which isn't particularly inspired or inspiring. A grille filled with an elongated egg-crate mesh bearing an oversize Nissan logo affixed smack in the middle is surrounded by a chrome strip interrupted only by a small gap at the bottom center. A squared-off air intake fills the lower valance, with spaces for the optional fog lamps at the outer ends. Multi-element, angular headlamp assemblies are recessed flush with the leading curves of the fenders. The best part is the sleek, unadorned hood sweeping back to a slippery looking windshield.

Side look is pure sport coupe. There's good balance between the longish hood, greenhouse and short boot, or trunk lid, with just the right amount of sheet metal between the cleanly outlined wheel arches. Credit for these proportions goes to a wheelbase (distance between the tires front to rear) shortened by four inches from the sedan, which enabled a shortened overall length (from bumper to bumper). Side mirrors that are neither too big nor too small and house thin secondary turn indicator lights snuggle into the forward lower angles of the windows. Tight seams and smooth lines add a quality look.

The back end shows a bit of a pinched bustle shape, fed by the arc of the roof flowing down and in toward the center point of the boot. It no doubt makes for reassuring stability at socially irresponsible speeds, but at rest it looks almost plump. The backlight, or rear window, swells at the sides, reducing the impression of mass while promising improved rear visibility from the driver's seat. The trunk opening dips in the middle, offering a welcome lift-over height for heavy objects of a couple inches more than two feet. Sporty, twin exhaust tips sit at the extremes of a blackened cutout in the bottom edge of the rear bumper. The widely spaced tires complement the car's sporty character, but a wider tread would contribute a more substantial and planted stance.

Interior Features

While the exterior shares almost nothing with the sedan, the interior is imported largely from the four-door sedan. This is far from a negative, as many elements of that interior fit quite comfortably into the coupe's sporty motif. Still, there are compromises that a clean-screen start might have avoided.

The dash, the major piece imported from the sedan, is functional, without being boring, stylish, without being frilly. Round registers that would be better if they could be shut like the rectangular ones at each end of the dash can be sit atop the center stack. The control heads for base and up-level audio systems fill the middle of the stack with buttons, knobs and display that are friendly to the eye and fingers. These give way to a 6.5-inch screen when the optional navigation system incorporating the audio controls is ordered. Below this is the panel for setting and directing the air conditioner.

At the base of the stack is a hinged cover on a storage bin, tucked away deep inside of which is the only power point even close to being accessible for plugging in a radar detector, and it'll be a stretch for all but the longest coiled cord.

In front of the driver, a perfectly decent triplet of circles shows engine speed, vehicle speed and fuel level and coolant status. LCDs inset in the bases of the speedometer and conditional gauge display trip and various safety-related data and personalized settings. At the lower right corner is the big red button the so-called Intelligent Key system forces the driver to push to start and stop the engine. That same button, by the way, becomes nothing more than a colorful decoration when somebody drives away leaving the key fob behind.

The shift lever occupies the forward portion of the center console separating the front bucket seats. The CVT version has a foot-operated parking brake. Next to the shift lever for the manual gearbox is the handbrake, which even when unengaged sits up at just about the right height to trip the bottom of a coffee cup or soda as it's lifted out of or placed in one of the cup holders situated between the shift boot and the bi-level center storage bin. There are two more cup holders in the rear seat. The fixed pockets in each door are too small for maps but do have molds that fit half-liter water bottles, which, by contrast, are too small for the center console holders, readily flopping this way and that through the mildest maneuvers.

Seats are unique to the Coupe, with more aggressive bolsters better befitting the Coupe's sporty aspirations. There's adequate thigh support, and the front-passenger seatback gets a release lever on the inboard side for the driver to use for easing access to the rear seat. That access isn't particularly awkward, as in addition to the seatback folding, the front seat slides forward in its track. Only problem is, the front seat forgets its settings, returning to some pre-set, default position in its track and seatback angle. Seeing as how there are coupes costing the same and even less than the Altima with seats that manage to remember their settings, this is inexcusable.

Materials and finish are good quality, nothing special, but a step or two above mid-grade. Tactile feel isn't cheap, but neither does it suggest anybody stretched the budget. This is one of the few cars where the leather treatment is more inviting than the cloth, as the latter looked and felt as if it were picked by accountants rather than stylists. Still, seams and gaps were tight, and everything looked solidly assembled.

Against the 2007 Honda Accord Coupe and the 2007 Toyota Camry Solara, the '08 Altima Coupe takes a middle of the road approach. Front-seat head room trails the Accord by the merest fraction of an inch but tops the Solara by almost two inches; rear-seat head room trails both, although by less than an inch. Leg room, front and rear, splits the difference. As does rear-seat hip room, while front-seat h