Until recently, if you wanted a semi-practical sport coupe for less than $30,000, and pony cars weren't your thing, then you had to get one based on a front-wheel-drive sedan. Chevrolet offered the Monte Carlo, Honda offered the Accord Coupe, Toyota offered the Solara, and two years ago Nissan entered the segment with an Altima Coupe. The Nissan was the sportiest of the bunch owing to a dramatically shorter wheelbase and the company's usual emphasis of handling over ride quality. Then, for the 2010 model year, Hyundai introduced the rear-wheel-drive Genesis Coupe. Why would anyone still opt for the Nissan, when the Genesis is the same price? 

Nissan Altima Styling

For their exterior styling both the Altima and the Genesis crib from the G35/G37 Coupe, Nissan more legitimately than Hyundai since it owns Infiniti. The Altima Coupe is quite stylish from the rear quarter, with shades of Bentley in its more complex surfaces and no intentionally odd side window outline. But when viewed from the side or front quarter the Altima Coupe's front-wheel-drive proportions take their toll. There's simply too much visual mass ahead of the front wheel, which is too close to the passenger compartment. The door windows are framed. The 2010 SE's 18-inch wheels and the tested car's dark gray paint, with a bluish tinge, do make the best of the shape.

Inside both the Altima and Genesis put the business of driving-and cost-ahead of style and flash. The Genesis has a more flowing center stack, but the Altima makes do with much less faux aluminum trim. Saving the Nissan's off-black interior from having the ambiance of a coal bin: red leather seats that look so good you wonder why so many companies offer only gray and beige. The women in my life (okay, a wife and a daughter) loved them. Hyundai offers orange-brown leather, which looks more luxurious but less sporty than the Nissan's red. The 2010 Altima's soft-touch IP and padded door panels are a definite step up from the shoddy hard plastic interiors of the first-gen V6 models-but then what isn't? They also look and feel a little nicer than the same bits inside the Genesis Coupe--interior materials are not among the Hyundai's strengths. The Nissan's primary instruments are attractive, designed to provide much of the appearance of those in a Lexus for much less money. 

The good stuff inside the Altima Coupe ends here. All of the other readouts-including the new head unit's LCD--suffer from Nissan's inexplicable love for orange lighting. The look, feel, and layout of the various buttons and switches continues to lag the leaders by a substantial margin. For example, the trip computer would be much more useful if the buttons for it were on the steering wheel rather than requiring a reach around. And who thought it would look good to place rectangular temperature readouts within the round HVAC knobs? I suspect the bean counters. 

Nissan Altima Room and Comfort

The front seats don't feel quite as good as they look. They're comfortable, but those in the Genesis Coupe are even more comfortable and provide better lateral support-the bolsters are spaced for larger people in the Altima. The Nissan's seat heaters never get very warm. The view forward is open, while the view rearward is more constricted-which is where the new-for-2010 rearview camera pays off. 

Typical of a coupe, in back there's not enough space for the heads or legs of adults. If you need to put adults in the back seat, then Nissan will sell you an Altima sedan. The Altima Coupe similarly gives up much of the sedan's trunk space-there are only 8.2 cubic feet of it, and the opening is tight. You'll be hard-pressed to find a smaller trunk in a car with a non-folding roof.

Nissan Altima Performance

Without question the V6 engine is the best part of the Altima Coupe. Variants of the VQ V6 have powered various Nissans and Infinitis since 1994, in 3.5-liter form for the past decade. This engine was first offered in the Altima for the 2002 model year. At the time a 240-horsepower V6 in a midsize sedan was unheard of. Today 270-or-so horsepower V6s have become almost commonplace in this segment, but the Altima led the way. For this reason the Altima seems somehow more special than the others to me, even if they have now caught up.

In some applications the enlarged VQ sounds gruff at higher rpm. Not this one. I cannot recall the VQ ever feeling or sounding better than it does in this car. The V6 pulls very strongly from 3,500 rpm on up, and the sound it makes is downright addictive. Hyundai must find a way to make its V6 sound and feel more like this one. Sure, the larger Korean V6 kicks out better numbers, but subjectively it doesn't come close.

In suburban driving I averaged 17 MPG partly because I could not keep my foot out of the throttle. How much better would it do driven gently? It'd be easier to find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. The 6-speed manual transmission's shift lever is tall and its throws are on the long side when snicking clunking from gear to gear, but it's still an easy choice over the CVT for any enthusiast.

Surprisingly, given the 258 pounds-feet the 3.5-liter engine produces, there's very little torque steer. But before sounding the all clear, try shifting gears during full-throttle acceleration-the front wheels perform such a violent double-hop that I initially wondered if something was wrong with the car's front suspension. Go easier on the throttle and there's still a bit of the same unless you slow the shift and feather the clutch engagement. A quick check with owners confirmed that the 6-speed Altima V6 suffers from fairly severe wheel hop. The aftermarket offers a fix in the form of traction rods-not a common mod for a front-wheel-drive car. Another, not recommended fix: the CVT. Never has it been more necessary to eliminate "shift shock." Did Nissan set up the suspension for the CVT, with the manual an afterthought?

The Altima's handling is thoroughly predictable, even in snow, with minimal roll and minimal understeer...okay, you know the qualification is coming...for a front-wheel-drive car. This said, the steering doesn't feel as quick or responsive as that in the Maxima. It's dull in normal driving, but thankfully becomes communicative in hard turns. The Altima Coupe is one of those cars that feels best when driven aggressively. If the only competition were other front-wheel-drive coupes, it would compare well, if only because competitors with their larger dimensions feel even more like the sedans on which they are based. But the Genesis handles better, if still not remotely like a sports car, thanks to the additional chassis modulation afforded by rear-wheel-drive.

The Altima Coupe's roll control comes at a high price-over all but the smoothest roads the ride varies between annoyingly jiggly and sadistically harsh. My wife likes to read in the car. She couldn't read in this one. Even with its optional sport suspension the Genesis rides better. With a ride this bad, the Altima Coupe should handle like a sports car. It doesn't. Even if it did this price would be too high. Nissan needs to find a way to calm the suspension down. 

Nissan Altima Price Comparisons and Pricing

The 2010 Nissan Altima Coupe lists for $30,320. In comparison, a Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Grand Touring lists for $29,250--and includes a navigation system. Adding a navigation system to the Nissan bumps its price to $32,185, nearly $3,000 more than the Hyundai. The Nissan does include some features not available on the Hyundai, such as a rearview monitor, power driver seat recliner, and dual zone climate control. Adjusting for such feature differences reduces the price difference to about $2,500. Compare invoices, and the Hyundai is about $1,800 less, a substantial difference.

The Altima Coupe also runs about $3,000 higher than the Honda Accord Coupe in EX-L trim before adjusting for feature difference, and about $2,000 higher afterwards. At least in V6 form, the Nissan clearly isn't going to sell based on its pricing.

Prices change frequently, and differences will vary based on feature level. To quickly generate these and other comparisons with the specific features you want, visit my Web site, TrueDelta.com. (It's the only site that provides true "apples-to-apples" price comparisons.) 

TrueDelta's page for the Nissan Altima:

http://www.truedelta.com/models/Altima.php

Nissan Altima Conclusion

The Genesis Coupe has some clear advantages over the Nissan Altima Coupe thanks to its rear-wheel-drive configuration. And yet...I enjoyed driving the Altima Coupe more than I did the Genesis Coupe. It just feels so much more eager and alive, asking for and rewarding an aggressive driving style. 

Which makes it all the more a shame that the chassis punishes much more often than it rewards. An outstanding engine can compensate for a lot of minor shortcomings, but not this major one. The 2010 refresh ought to have done more to raise the rest of the car nearer the level of the engine.

A Note on Nissan Altima Reliability

I cannot practically cover reliability within the context of this review. However, many people are interested in such information, so I've been collecting my own data. Results are posted to TrueDelta.com, with updates every three months. Unlike other sources, TrueDelta clearly identifies what difference it will make if you buy a Nissan Altima rather than another vehicle by providing "times in the shop" stats. 

To report results, TrueDelta needs reliability data on all cars--not just the Altima--from people like you. To encourage participation, those who help provide the data will receive free access to the site's reliability information. Non-participants pay an access fee.

Details here:

http://www.truedelta.com/reliability.php

Alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.
Amount Paid (US$): 30,495
Model and Options: 3.5 SR with floormats