The whole review strikes me as BS. The guy who claims he got the same mpg with a 4 cyl Stratus is FOS. Dodge gets the worst mpg in every class it competes in.A normal driver would have a hard time getting 31mpg in 50/50 driving with a Corolla or a Civic-he sure as heck can't get it with a 3500 lb Stratus-the Neon-same engine- couldn't get it-it was always near the bottom of the class mpg wise. I'm always suspicious when someone says,"I had 1990's whatever, and it got better mpg than these new cars." I'm especially suspicious when that old car is a Dodge, since the only Dodges that got decent mpg with the rebadged Mitsubishi cars -like the Colt-from many years ago.
Some old,small cars did get better mpg than most modern cars-mid 80's-90's Civics,Corollas etc with manual trans got great mpg. However they were tiny-2100 lb-cars-more in the class with an Aveo, or a Fit(but lighter than them), and those cars were deathtraps compared to current vehicles.
The Altima is roughly the size of a Camry-with roughly the same drivetrain-it will get about the same mpg(EPA numbers are about the same).
Thanks,
Charlie

 

I use to get 38 MPG with mix driving in my old Corolla. I was a normal driving. And when gas was under $2 a gallon, I didn't even try to economise. My neighbor has a 2003 Corolla S and he gets close to 40 MPG in mix driving.

I’m disappointed at what Nissan did with the NAH. It’s as if they did it just to comply with CARB.

Despite Nissan’s use of Toyota’s HSD, the two cars or not similar. The electric motor is the same, but the differences in the engines do have an affect on overall MPG.

 

I do believe this is exactly why they did it, and for no other reason. Their own CEO Carlos Ghosn has said he doesn't believe in hybrids. I was a very satisfied Altima owner (first year, 1993) and I would have strongly considered an Altima hybrid, except for two things. One was Ghosn's anti-hybrid stance. The other was a few nitpicks on an Altima I rented last year. I got it NEW, at 5 miles, and one of the console doors would not open. There was also a dash rattle. Plus, I really hated the way the sun reflected off the chrome accents around the instruments--it seems like the sun was in my eyes all day.

Anyway, I can still see myself back in an Altima some day. For now, I'm enjoying my Camry Hybrid immensely, and I'm getting 35.4 MPG over 8500 miles.

I'm sure I'll be following this Altima forum just for interest. Best wishes to you all.

 

Hi Larry,
My recommendation is purchasing an extended warranty from Nissan.
Please note that there is a potential to be an orphan among Nissan vehicles.
The contract between Toyota and Nissan is for Altima Hybrid only and Nissan is planning to release their own hybrids later.
Please try to get Nissan's commitment to maintain your vehicle lifetime.

Regards,
Ken@Japan
.

 

Ken,

Thank you for your answer, I did in fact buy it thru Nissan. by getting it thru them it dropped my interest rate to 5.1%. The warranty is good for 6 years or 100K. I have never kept a car that long, but at least I feel safe.

thanx
Larry

 

Yes the different motors-Nissan vs Toyota could make a difference-The Nissan 4 cyl in the "normal" Altima gets 18 mpg in CR's city loop vs the Camry's 4 cyl getting 16 mpg in CR's city loop. The Altima Hybrid should do at least as well in stop and go as the Camry Hybrid.The Hy loop is 33 vs 36 I think
The Altima Hybrid should match the Camry Hybrid in most respects.If it doesn't/didn't (I checked CR-no Altima Hybrid yet),I would wonder if Toyota managed to sell Nissan some sort of imcomplete system; maybe they left out all the programing that tells the vehicle when to add regen braking during the 1000 times I gently release pressure from the gas pedal. I would never brake during those times, but the Prius does, and manages to store some energy that I don't "miss."
We'll see.
Luck,
Charlie

 

OK, how about this review?
I'm going to purchase a hybrid (as soon as I sell my RX-7- which just sold on Friday. Yes!!!).
So last summer I test drove a Prius. I've looked at a Civic Hybrid. Then the local Nissan dealers finally got an Altima Hybrid in! Soooo....

Just took one for a drive. Salesman says leather not available in Canada, though it is mentioned on the Nissan on-line site. Perhaps next year. Car had just about everything else, including "smart key" (just keep the fob in your pocket and use the start/stop button). State of Charge (SOC) was low when he started it, and it wasn't warm out (just below freezing), so the engine ran for almost the entire test drive. Still, I had no problem getting the mileage meter way down in the 3-5 L/100 km area. Salesman stayed at the dealership (West End Nissan in Edmonton Alberta) and let me "play" by myself.

Handling was pretty good with good feel as well. I didn't want to overcook it as the roads were wet with snow and ice on the shoulders. The roads here are in terrible shape with deep potholes everywhere after an unusually rapid and frequent freeze-thaw cycle winter. This was not a problem for this car - it didn't "vibrate" going through them, didn't waver, and was fairly quiet when it went over the potholes. Nice to have 16" wheels.

I was amused with Nissan's way of displaying info Toyota uses the MFD for (Prius). A "tachometer like" power gauge (in the place on the dash where you would expect to find a tach), with a separate horizontal bar graph indicating current dynamic mileage and a SOC meter as well. I didn't see any indication of cumulative mileage. The power gauge also shows brake regen., by moving the needle counterclockwise. So clockwise is power out of the system, and counterclockwise is power back in. It doesn't show the energy the ICE puts into the battery as far as I could tell except the SOC meter slowly moves up.

I wondered if the car might be a little "gutless" but it seemed just fine in the city. The ICE is Nissan's 2.5 L four, tuned for the Atkinson cycle, so it puts out a lot less HP than the Altima 2.5S engine. The electric motor/generator compensates well for this loss of HP.

I couldn't feel the car transition from regen braking to hydraulic braking. Nicely done, Nissan. In fact, the car was very smooth in everything I asked it to do.

About two blocks before I returned to the dealership, the SOC and temps were high enough the ICE started to shut down from time to time. It wasn't a long test drive - about 4 km and 15 min.

All in all, quite nice. The car sells for about $32,000 Can., $36,000 including all taxes (reg. and licence are always separate and the owners responsibility in Canada and amount to less than $200). The Hybrid Altima is aimed at being competition for the Camry, and an equivalent Camry is about $1000 more. In fact, even the Prius, with equivalent equipment, is about $2000 more.
If you don't want people to know you're driving a hybrid, this is one good choice along with the Camry and Civic. It looks the same as all the thousands of "normal" Altimas on the road, except it has a rear spoiler. Curiously, the Hybrid Altima is a little higher than the "normal" version. I couldn't figure out why. Perhaps because of the slightly higher weight, Nissan put in a slightly taller suspension.

They're making my decision more difficult - Pruis, Civic Hybrid, Camry Hybrid, or Altima Hybrid!

 

The horizontal bar graph with current mileage is one of several different displays you can cycle through in that area. The next one is cumulative mileage (along with avg. speed). (After that come miles and time driven, then estimated range remaining on current fuel, then outside air temperature.)

Your review seemed a lot more accurate than that blog one, though.

 

Nissan uses several types of CVT and I've never been sure of which type gets used in which car. The info I've seen from Nissan is sketchy. Where did you find your info?

 

http://www.nissanusa.com/altimaHEV/
http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS...040603-01.html
NAH is certainly equipped by Toyota supplied the hybrid system components.

Ken@Japan