Nissan Altima Coupe

Nissan has cleverly taken its very successful Altima sedan and nipped and tucked it to produce a gorgeous coupe variant. The Altima Coupe doesn’t try to hide its ancestral connection to the sedan but Nissan aims it at a different customer. According to Nissan, “…it fills a desire among target customers for a more personal expression of style and individuality.” Well spoken. The coupe has tidier proportions. It is shorter, has a shorter wheelbase and is a touch lower. Having said all that, the vehicle feels quite spacious from the driver’s seat and does not feel like a small car.

The Styling on the Altima Coupe is rather simplistic, almost Spartan. The seductive shaping of the sheet metal makes chrome and add-on baubles superfluous. Even a base model in silver with nice wheels looks very very attractive indeed when all polished up. Its hard to believe that the starting price is just a pinch over $20,000.

The base coupe is equipped with cloth bucket seats, a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine and a 6 speed manual transmission. Don’t despair as this model is nicely equipped and basic seats have several manual adjustments and are very comfortable. And yes, you can get leather if you must. The 2.5 liter 4 cylinder has 175 horsepower and niceties like dual exhaust. This engine had surprising good power and responsiveness and produces an EPA 31 to 32 mpg on the freeway. The famous 3.5 liter V6 has 270 horsepower with the same transmission options and a lot more power. There is no traditional automatic transmission available. Rather, Nissan is offering a new technology CVT transmission. These are gearless units that deliver a continuous flow of power without traditional shifting. The CVT’s in this coupe have gear-like steps built into it so that you can manually select “gears” from 1 to 6. Bottom line is that you get a smooth efficient delivery of power and good fuel economy.

The interior of the Altima coupe is tasteful, functional and again quite simplistic. The usability and comfort is good, but it’s not highly adorned or ornate. The instrument panel does not demand to be the center of attention. Its there simply to do its work and perform its function. Still, the Altima does avoid the hard plastic grained surfaces found in many value priced models. The trunk is useful but does give up a bit in volume to accommodate the rear panel styling of the vehicle. The back seat will carry people but you need to be nimble enough to climb in the back of a compact interior.

In all, the Altima Coupe should sell well because the styling is great, the quality and reliability are good and the value proposition is strong. With the Altima Coupe, you get a lot of good looking car for not too much money.