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Sedans Nissan Altima Nissan Altima Real World MPG
196 messages, Last post on Nov 29, 2009 at 7:50 PM
You are in the Nissan Altima Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: gpcramseysoral (Apr 08, 2008 8:30 am) We went yesterday to buy our Altima (pittsburgh also) and due to some small bumper scuffs we asked that they buff it for our approval or possibly to decline it if we are not happy. It's the only black with blond leather v4 out there really. So I started looking around again last night and came across the ... HONDA ACCORD 08! EX-L. At first, when we started this process - we looked at an 07 without leather and I believe the smaller less powerful 4 cyl. So, tonight we are going to look at the new 08 with the stronger engine. The thing that is kiling me about the Altima is their soft paint. I own a new frontier and have so many little scuffs etc and baby this thing. It's like it was born to scratch easily. Very soft paint. But the cool key system is really keeping me eyeing up the Altima. The Honda has LESS MPG. Rated at 21. The CVT transmission in your car 'should' keep you at the 23 mph. Pending you keep the rpms to about 2k. I didn't even look at what we were getting on our test drive. Yes we have MANY hills and traffic lights to deal with. I'm willing to lose a MPG to the Honda if I can assure I have better stopping power with the ESC and Brake Assist that comes standard on it vs the Altima that doesn't even offer it as an option. It's not for me so, it's important that it is safe and drives well in the snow. I'm seeing alot of mixed reviews about the gas mileage of the Altima. On a mixed environment , 23 can be had but most are not seeing that. Then there are the lofty 26 mph avg for the 6 cyl owners. You have to take much of this with a grain of salt. My brother claims 17mph on his huge truck. But he drives on straight roads and only about 5 miles A DAY, probably never breaking 40 mph. For us, it will come down to the drive. All things being equal it looks like we may opt for the Honda. I can get invoice pricing on both, what did you pay for your altima? The honda will be more by about 1200 if you include the nissan $1k rebate. Over the life of the loan it will be almost $2k exact more expensive for the Honda (due to nissans 3.9 vs honda's 5.0 % rate)
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Replying to: sincraft (Apr 08, 2008 8:48 am) This isn't magic... the Altima 2.5L makes more power under about 6000RPM than the Hondas 2.4L. (look at the torque ratings) at 4000RPM, where you use it most, the Altima makes as much as 20 more HP than the Accord. More HP = more gas if both have similar overall effeciency. So if you drove both car side by side on the same road, you'll get better mileage with the Altima, but wthout realizing it, you're probably taking advantage of the extra power. The Accord would need to rev another 500RPM to match the Altima's power, an then another 300RPM to make up for the extra weight. So... don't put you're foot into it, keep the engine under 2500RPM and you should see an improvement. The trick it to keep an eye on the tachometer, try and keep it from climbing as much as possible. If you're careful with the throttle, you'll find the car can climb like a goat at low RPM's. I've crawled up a 10% grade at about 10mph at only 1400RPM... with 1 passenger. I was expecting it to rev to 2500, but it locked up the torque converter and kept it in the lowest range on the CVT and muscled up it. |
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Replying to: gpcramseysoral (Apr 08, 2008 8:30 am)  If there are other out there with a problem like this I would sure like to hear from you. |
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Replying to: jkandler (Apr 08, 2008 5:11 pm) Personally, I would LOVE to see some class action lawsuits sent out against Honda and Nissan. At SEVERAL dealerships, I was quote WAY above the EPA ranges for City mileage. Funny how, when you buy the car (IE: my truck) from a dealer, then call to complain about numbers below the EPA #'s, and they then suddenly remember the hilly terrain we live in and cheap tree hugger non effective gas we use - and use this as an excuse for the reason they flat out LIED to you about what to expect. Why do they do this? Well because they all do. The only solace is knowing that the Honda DOES get less MPG than the Altima. We haven't even gotten ours yet, but I don't expect 23 honestly. Maybe 22. PA adopted the CA standards so we get less MPG. Funny, the website says to expect MORE MPG. Lies. It's so funny how people believe this is about saving the trees or the purple nosed squirrels, when in reality it's about making constituents happy and making huge amounts of $$$$$. I personally do not know what to do about buying this car either. We only have two choices. One has very light small scratches very low on the bumper about 1 cm in width , about 10 of them. The other, the nose ringed adorned car wash kid used sandpaper to wash the car they picked up on trade from another dealer and now it looks like what my truck did after a year of washing AND a winter. I wish there was another option, but after driving the accord today and dealing with the dealers unwilling to do anything less than 3% ABOVE invoice, and after feeling the EXTREME lack of power the accord 4 cyl has to offer...it's a no brainer - Altima all the way.  Oh well. The lesser of two evils I suppose.
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Replying to: sincraft (Apr 08, 2008 7:46 pm) It doesn't sound like your 2 dealer prospects are very customer oriented...that may be a clue to how you will be treated after the sale. I purchased a 2.5SL sedan in January 08, and fortunately, the dealership I dealt with was very accomodating....So much, in fact, that when I went to pick the car up, it was raining, and they provided me a demo to drive until the rain ended the next day. The sales manager said that a new car should be driven off the lot on a sunny day to truely be appreciated. It wasn't a big issue to me, but it sent a huge message as to how I would be treated later if a problem arose...
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Replying to: busiris (Apr 08, 2008 8:24 pm) I just put 10 gallons in the tank, marked my point and yesterday when we were almost home, it was about at the same point (Just before the yel light turns on) and we were at 194 miles! I would NEVER have been at 194 miles prior to the light turning on. Usually about 145-165. TOPS. I have this down to a science as I compared it to a full tank. I'm hoping this Altima gets OK gas mileage. At 23 that is a bit LOWWWWW for a 4 cyl. Keep in mind also that we have cars with two different emissions. CA, PA and about 15 other states NOW HAVE CARS that are CA emissions. Which means that it will be rated at 22 mph although they legally don't have to put that up there for some reason, they only have to state 23. If they are going to screw us, at least be honest about the end result eh? |
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I just ran the math for a car that lasts 125,000 miles. You will pay about $900 more for that car in fuel by best estimate if you have a car with CA emissions. Funny, most people don't even REALIZE that their state only allows a dealer to sell CA emissions product. AND, if they adopted this, they also force the fuel to not include as much sulfur in the gas which creates a very small amount of extra emissions. This raises the cost of fuel AND with all the other restrictions in the fuel - reduces your MPG further! I thought the whole idea was to have a more efficient car that uses less fossil fuels, NOT to reduce the emissions only to have to create MORE emissions because we will have to use MORE fuel. IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE! So then I see this on the Nissan Site. QR25DE — 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder Horsepower — 175 hp3  5,600 rpm Torque — 180 lb-ft3 3,900 rpm Emissions — Tier 2, Bin 5 (LEV2-SULEV in CA) VQ35DE — 3.5-liter DOHC 24-valve V6 Horsepower — 270 hp 6,000 rpm Torque — 258 lb-ft 4,400 rpm Emissions — Tier 2, Bin 5 (FYI SULEV stands for Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle) It rates at a Bin 3 and VERY close to ZERO emission output. However, the 6 cyl does not seem to fall under this category? CAN THIS BE TRUE? Maybe THIS is the reason why the 6cyl people are seeing such great MPG in contrast to the 4????? If that's the case, then I'm paying the extra few bucks up front and getting a 6. That actually pushes me toward a more gas guzzling care at that point lol. |
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Replying to: sincraft (Apr 08, 2008 8:48 am) I'm on a lease so a 1000.00 or so was relatively inconsequential for me. It was all about getting the most MPG's for the lowest payment without stepping into something that has no power. So my cost/value situation was unique to say the least. |
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Replying to: sincraft (Apr 08, 2008 7:46 pm) One persons driving like a granny is another persons driving like a bat out of you know where. This is a case in point. Accord 4 cyl by all means has never been criticised for lack of power. OTOH when I drove the 2.5 compared to my XT I thought it accelerated like molasses and didn't like the drive very much. |
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