No little tumors hanging off the end of the headlamps for this one?

I like the look of Nissan’s cars… especially the Maxima. But the fact that they use CVTs so heavily disturbs me.

I agree with RaineMan, Nissan linup is the most attractive one from the japanese carmakers. Did they hire French designers from Renault?

I understand the teaser image concept for all new vehicles or those with a new top hat, but for a vehicle that’s getting a minor refresh(hood, grille, front bumper)???? Just seems stupid. Not that much has changed, if you want to show something, show the whole car.

Agreed, I have an 07 and from the image I don’t see anything new. Folks should stay away from the cvt’s in this car, the 6-speed is very nice.

Looks pretty much the same to me. I wonder if they’ll change the overstyled taillights or just switch out the amber signals for red ones like they did on the previous version’s midcycle update. snzzz

I saw a camoflauged Altima coupe running around the town I live in, with camo over the front facia and hood, as well as tails and rear. That said, I’d say this report should be accurate.

i wouldnt be surprised if it looks exactly like the previous generation maxima, hell, thats what theyve done with the altima and maxima for the past 4 years or so

Red tails would be cool

Hope they change the back end. a LOT!

I’ve heard a couple of horror stories about what it costs just to do recommended maintenance like fluid changes on CVTs. Anything they save you on gas over the life of the car is probably negated by one trip to the dealer.

yea, make the taillights all red with LED in it. Sexy…..

yeah, the cvt makes the maxima quite a joke as a “4 door sports car”…the marketing department got screwed on that deal…i have a hard enough time contemplating driving an automatic, there ain’t no way i’m going cvt…concerning the sentra, not a huge fan of the styling (and i like the boomerang lights on the 370z)…

They need to bring out the SE-R Spec V for Altima coupe and not the old chassis Sentra.

Agree with previous posters. Nissan’s lineup is very attractive. Maybe Lexus should hire them.

Looks like they ditched the projector headlamps, if so, WEAK.

CVTs belong in EV cars, not conventional cars.

So much CVT hate on this board. I love my CVT nissan, perhaps the best thing to happen to automatic transmissions since sliced bread.

Sorry orangecones… I have yet to drive a Nissan CVT. But if it is anything like the Dodge CVT and Audi CVT I have been behind the wheel of… I’ll stay far far away!

CVT is like the worst possible case of turbo lag you can imagine.

Hit the gas… count to 3 while the tranny picks the right ratio… then off you go.

If I push the accellerator… the car better go instantly.

I went from owning a manual CTS and a CTS-V too the Altima CVT. I drove all comparable cars before I purchased and pretty much beat the hell out of them. When you put the CVT into manual mode for canyon roads it kills all the other cars in its class. It was super weird at first but then I got used too it. I drove a new impala the other day and the trans felt like hell.

They needed to improve this car. Period. I’d be in the market for a refreshed Altima with a little different front end and rear lights – like pretty much everyone agreed on. I also think it would be a good idea to differentiate the V6 and I4 with SOMETHING! Maybe a different grill and rear lights, but something more than a badge that’s the difference currently. Mazda puts the different exhaust and LEDs optional, which you can then tell the difference a little bit. I want to have it say “I PAID 2000 MORE FOR THIS!”

Oh, and on the Mazda6…. I looked at one today and boy, wtf is up with Mazda’s pricing. $25k – No rebates for a low eqipped 4 cyl? I bought an ‘03 for $16k new with the same equippment new AND 0% financing. Eff that! Then they show me a Mazda3 base saying that’s what I could lower my payments on the GTI with. The thing wasn’t as nice as my Protege5! I’m lost with Mazda’s new pricing structure. Who do they think they are? Honda or VW?

This bland vanilla update will only accomplish one thing…..decrease in retail sales and a much needed increase in Rental company leases. Nissan needs new leadership and direction. period.

i rented a cvt altima a few months ago in kansas city. it was suprisingly fast for 175 hp. not a bad car, and i enjoyed the cvt manual shift mode. nice car for the money. blows away any camry for quality and sportiness.

where can i find more info on the cvts, ive been wanting to read up on how they work.

I have always like the Altima the best out of the mid size Japanese sedans. Best handling, Interior space was excellent from ‘02 and up, manual transmission available with V6, sport package available, best looking(especially compared to any honda, toyota or subaru) good fuel economy, good power with 2.5, excellent power with 3.5(good economy for the power as well), best CVT on the market so far and last but not least the $price! Those combined equal the most bang for the buck when comparing apples to apples.

What Altima could use for lowering gas consumption is replacing the QR engine with more advanced MR series and perhaps add in dual-intake manifold just like the 1999-2002 Maxima.

Anybody notice there is a lot of “refreshing” going on this year? Normally the Japanese do all new bodies and interiors every 4-5 years. The ES was all new in 2007, 3 years later a minor whereas in the past at 4 years it was all new. Looks like they are going to 6 year cycles.

Perhaps it is due to the hard times. But I doubt that. Would have been 2 years ago that they would have started working this refresh and that was still when Toyota was predicting yearly increases and upping capacity.

Rotax, why the severe downgrade? Are you married to a mechanic or soemthing? You went from 2 perfect vehicles that are the Standard of the World to a japcrap POS import. Are you that dumb? YOu should move to Japan then too since you sold out your Country.

Buy American, Buy GM. It is your patriotic obligation

I know you are a troll NMOFGM but…
Enjoy your lies GM…. Nissan quite possibly employs more people in the US than GM. Also the Altima was built in TN, and has been for years. Also you never have the right to bash a brand until you extensively drive it (or better yet, own it). I am on my 2nd Nissan in a row right now because you can’t beat the driving dynamics (and design) for the price. My other car, a product of GM-Daewoo has been alright (more or less) mechanically….but more things have gone wrong on it in the first 4 years of ownership than both my Nissans (2000 – now) and my 1991 Corolla (bought in 98, traded in 03 for the daewoo) combined.,

orangecones: your first sentence actually was all the reply that More trolling for government motors was worth… just ignore the stupidity not even he himself believes, and he will eventually go away… i would NOT be too surprised if some people actually reconsider their decision to get a GM-Product after reading his posts…

orangecones, don’t waste your time. A troll is a troll is a effing troll. And thanks for buying a Smyrna built Nissan. Many good Americans here would be happy to shake your hand. And no, I’m not employed by Nissan or any of its suppliers.

OrangeCones is a fellow Nissan owner, too? Nice. My Quest is my second, after my old ‘76 280Z. I really think Nissan has great value for the money, and they have some of the most attractive products out there as well. I’ve been happy with my Quest and my old 280Z was a great little car, as well as some others that have been in our family. My wife had an old Sentra before I met her, though, and she hated it, so she was a bit reluctant to even look at the Quest.

Nissans for the most part have been good to me. I’ve still cars from many makes like Chrysler, Jeep, Ford, Toyota, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Dodge and probably others I can’t think of right now. And I’ve driven just about anything under the sun that isn’t considered a supercar, although I’ve even driven a few of those. Most cars have been decent, and many have been great in a few areas, but the Nissans have been the most well-rounded vehicles to me. Still, I’m not one to be brand-partial, and I love to drive anything.

I don’t hate CVTs, but I feel they are better suited for EV cars than conventional cars because of the different mechanics of the vehicles. Although CVTs are probably better for a regular engine than a typical transmission, I can see how they would be torn up easily by conventional engines at high revs. EVs have more torque at low revs, which would tear up a conventional transmission. And although Nissan has probably the best CVT out there, paddle shifters for a CVT car are just wrong.

*I’ve owned, not I’ve still. What is wrong with me?

Too early to tell, but generally, Nissan is my favorite company overall for styling. I do hope they don’t do to the Altima what they did to the poor Maxima this last go around. The back seat lost over four inches of leg room and is no longer very usable by average height people (forget anyone over 6 ft). The Maxi also has the bucket-like rear seats which make the middle seat useless for anyone over the age of five.

orangecones. How can you possibly believe that Nissan has more employees in the US than GM?

Nissan has 3 manufacturing plants in the US. GM has almost 20. GM has a huge engineering/marketing/corporate headquarters here in the US while Nissan has a small engineering group to develop their large trucks and a small Marketing group.

More misinformation.

I have to strongly agree with OrangeCones, my parent made the mistake of buying a New 2006 Chevy Monte Carlo and we had nothing but trouble. To be exact we had it in the dealership 38 time and that was all under 36,000 miles, oh yeah and at 28,000 miles the master cylinder went out while i was driving down the interstate. So we turned the car over to an attorney at it turned out we had a lemon. So we decided that we should go back and get our FIFTH NISSAN, yes that is correct our fifth one we have 99 and an 05 pathfinder, 04 Armada and now we have an 07 and an 08 Altima, and might I add that we still own our first pathfinder. So i am puzzled at the fact that Needs More Oil For GM thinks that it is an Americans patriotic duty to by American, and that our so called foreign built jap cars are POS. Oh and another thing just because we own foreign cars does not mean we enjoy driving our classic 1968 Charger RT and 1964 Dodge Polara 440. If GM wants to beat out the comp. then actually build a car that is not a death trap waiting to kill the drive, and that does not remind a person of a 78 year old persons sunday driver.
NISSAN 4 LIFE!!!!

Nissan reliability – We had a ‘99 Altima and only put in routine maintenance. We traded in for a ‘05 Murano because we wanted the extra cargo space. We have 70k miles on it. We have only issue with the stereo that was covered under warranty. Before anyone chimes in, the average car in America will experience about 1.3 issues in their first couple of years. The dealer was great about the repair and it just drives great (we average 23 mpg in Murano AWD). When my parents were forced to replace their ‘94 Eagle Vision in May, I suggested several cars to drive. They actually hated the Camry because the felt like it drove like an “old woman’s” car. My folks are 67 y.o. They loved the way the ‘09 Altima 4 cylinder drove and have been happy with their decision.

Chevrolet Malibu wannabe. Only with lower quality, pathetic reliability and dismal dependibility. Buy one for the short term because once the warranty is out, the car is junk. A Malibu will run 400 thousand miles with narry a wimper. There’s a difference between GM’s bulletproof reputation and Sushilands reputation for building noting but garbage.

Be American. Buy American. Buy GM. An American Revolution

NMOFGM not only pretends to hate foreign cars, but he pretends to hate Ford and Chrysler, too. He’s a phony troll, driving people away from GM if he can.

Honestly NMOFG, if there is a Malibu that has 400 thousand on it i want to see it. and as far as “sushiland” building garbage goes explain to me why there are still first generation Pathfinders from 1987 that are still running strong. And as beatusmongous stated the only thing that NMOFG is accomplishing is turning people away from GM.

still looks ugly