As a mid-size sedan, the Altima is one of the best available on the market right now. But the fifth generation, codenamed L33, is showing its age. Introduced in 2012 and facelifted three years later, the Altima we know and love prepares to ride into the sunset, with the all-new model confirmed to go official at the 2018 New York Auto Show.
Estimated time of arrival? 28th of March, 2018. Another confirmation comes from the vice president of components engineering at Nissan Technical Center North America. According to Christopher Reed, all-wheel-drive is on the menu.
Speaking to Autoline After Hours, the official had the following to comment: "We know that in the future... especially in the North, people like all-wheel-drive cars, right? And we're talking about coming out with all-wheel drive on the Altima and that kind of stuff, so we're doing some new things there."
Nissan isn’t willing to share more information on this topic for the time being, with complete details coming at NYIAS. The all-new Altima won’t have it easy, though, for the current generation is the best-selling passenger car Nissan sells in the United States.
Compared to the Rogue (403,465), Nissan moved 254,996 examples of the Altima in 2017, followed closely by the Sentra (218,451). Based on the heavily-camouflaged prototypes spied by the carparazzi, the newcomer is a lot prettier than the model it replaces, borrowing styling elements from the Vmotion 2.0 Concept.
Rumors about a turbocharged four-cylinder and a hybrid drivetrain are rampant, though it’s best to assume that Nissan won’t operate too many changes to the range of engine options. The 2018 Altima, as a brief refresher, costs $23,260 in 2.5 S trim and comes with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder as standard. Rated at 38 mph highway and 27 mpg city, the engine is rated at 179 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque.
The 3.5 L, meanwhile, serves as the top-of-the-range trim level. As the name implies, the suck-squeeze-bang-blow part comes courtesy of a 3.5-liter V6 with 270 horsepower and 251 pound-feet. In terms of fuel economy, the EPA ratings for the V6-engined Altima are 32 miles per gallon highway and 22 miles per gallon city.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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