The 2009 Nissan Altima summer commercial campaign "Look Closer Nissan Delivers" hits the Toyota Camry head-on. In a battle of Japanese sales-leading sedans, the Altima is a popular car and maybe you have to ride in one to notice how many are on the road around you. The Altima turns heads.
In seven months of 2009, Nissan has sold 115,680 of its best-selling Altima sedan which trails Camry's year-to-date sales of 184,216 - but it should be your taste, not the sales race stats, that attracts you to the car.
The Altima's smaller 175 horsepower 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder engine gets a combined 26 miles-per-gallon according to Edmunds.com so it made the Altima eligible for the top $4,500 Cash-for-Clunkers voucher making it worth a "look closer". The 4-banger was quick off the line with lots of pep and power. After a week of driving the Altima around Los Angeles and racking up 300 miles, there was still a quarter tank of gas left.
I had driven a rented 2009 Altima earlier in the summer on the twisting roads of Northern California's wine country with two sets of golf clubs and lots of luggage stowed in the 15.3 cubic feet trunk showing off Altima's surprising amount of room for both passengers and cargo.
The Altima sits on a 109.3-inch wheelbase with an overall length of 189.8 inches. The larger engine choice is a 270 horsepower 3.5-liter 24-valve DOHC V6 engine. The Altima comes standard with Nissan Intelligent Key with Push Button Ignition and many available options like Bluetooth Hands-free Phone System, RearView Monitor and Nissan Navigation with XM NavTraffic real-time traffic information.
The Altima has received the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) highest rating - 5 stars - for front-impact and side-impact crash safety. The 2009 Nissan Altima is available in four models: 2.5, 2.5 S, 3.5 SE and 3.5 SL. The Edmunds.com Editor's Rating is 7.8 while the Consumer Rating is 9.0. As the commercial says - Nissan delivers.
Nissan supplied the vehicle for the test drive.
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