Nissan

howie777

I'm thinking about buying a 2005 Nissan Altma 3.5SE. Anyone have any comments?

I have been told to pay special attention to road noise, so I'll give one a spin on the highway (I have a 20 min highway drive to work in MI so 70 mph highways with little traffic). Otherwise I think it is the car for me. I also tried a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP (I have a 98 GTP now) but wasn't too impressed although I'd miss my HUD ALOT. I'm also not happy with the bose audio system, I have alpine + polk now and I'm not sure I can put an aftermarket radio in the Altima easily (see the interrior for what I mean). And yes the Alpine and polks will stay with me! MUAHAHAHA

Any comments or suggestions on this car or any like cars will be helpful.

Howie

Demiurge

I've always been a fan of Pontiacs, but that's merely because I can't afford a truck/SUV right now. I drive a 2001 Grand AM right now and I love it.

There are nothing wrong with Nissans, my girlfriends dad loves them. Give it a shot and go with what feels right to you.

shepx2

I had one for a couple days as a loaner car, it was a 2.5, and I was very unimpressed. Considering all the hype, I felt it had a very bnumpy riding feel, and yes, the road noise was really loud. Louder than a lot of trucks I've been in. It seemed to handle well though, and felt comfortable to be in.

ohskigod

i second the ride issue (at least in the 2.5). ive heard that the 3.5 is a pretty ballsy engine though. nissan allways has good build quality, so test drive it, and if you like it, you really cant go wrong.

wallstreet

The only bad I've heard on the 3.5 Altima is torque steer problems under hard acceleration. With 260 effin HP's, it should be a problem. Same for the Maxima. Not a problem with the Infiniti's as those are rear wheel drive.

dorokusai

There is nothing bad enough in that vehicle to keep it from being an option. I have been a Nissan fan since my 1978 280Z, no worries then either. I'm not against Pontiac, they make a valid vehicle, I wouldn't buy one, but it's a solid brand.

You have experience with Pontiac, Comfortable = Pontiac.... New Experience = Nissan. I don't think you can go wrong. Resale value on the Nissan may very well be higher, so that should be a consideration.

Road Noise? Tires can cause a tremendous amount of road noise and questionable road characteristics....the tire choice for the Altima is just poor and atypical. Easily fixable, but often not something to look forward to when buying a new vehicle.

Torque Steer? As Walter said, no ****. ANY FWD car with above average HP will have that issue.

jrausch

I test drove the 3.5 and was un-impressed. I was expecting a good amount of torque for a good take off and only found a less than impressive acceleration with a jerky over steer. I bought an Acura TSX and have been extremely happy with the peppy 200 hp motor that gets me 33mpg and no over steer issues. :cool:

dorokusai

You would have to go WAY out of your way to induce oversteer in a FWD car....just wondering exactly what you mean. I've owned an Acura as well, and it's a totally different animal. He asked about Nissan and Pontiac tho' so there you go.

brettw22

I don't know what the deal is with the Altima......their outter styling has come a LONG way, but their interior seems to be getting worse as the years go on. They're seemingly getting more along the lines of (sorry Ponitiac Fans) plastic feeling parts etc.....

What's the price point that you're trying to stay within?

PolknPepsi

Dependability is the most important factor when buying a car in my book. My wife has a 2001 Acura cl that has had ZERO problems and I used to have a 98 Lexus 430 with very low noise. My neighbor has the old Altima with old fashioned looks and much smaller size.

After discovering the dependability factor and silky smooth engines with a Nissan Honda or Toyotaor maybe even a KIA for that matter I find it hard to buy american nameplate car again. Maybe if chevy or ford ever "catch up" with quality of interior and sleek looks maybe ....but well see. I don't want this reply to turn into an american versus foreign debate but after driving the foreign names it is hard to argue with quality.

The new Altima looks killer!......................:D

howie777

"but their interior seems to be getting worse as the years go on. "

Have you seen the 2005 Altima? It was completely redesigned on the interrior due to many complaints like yours. I think it looks very nice now, the Maxima looked very plastic to me, I was really dissapointed.

The problem is there are not very many Altima's available near me to test drive, I think they have a demo 3.5SE I can take on the highway for some critical listening. And yes, new tires are an option. To bad dynamat isn't a factor option. Well I'm going in today to talk numbers. I'm thinking Blue with Blond leather. I love the black leather, but I have that now and it really heats up in the summer, not sure Blond leahter would help much though.

Howie

Willow

road noise I can see it now....peeps bringing their SPL meters when test driving cars...

okiepolkie

I've had a 2002 2.5S for the last year. If I were going to buy another car within this price range, I'd get another one. Road noise to me isn't a big factor, even though I drive on a lot of rough and noisy roads.
Why is dynamat not an option on cars? It would make sense to me.

reeltrouble1

My wife works at a pontiac/Gmc dealership, my son at a nissan. Ii would buy the nissan.

Mike682

If you are going to buy the Altima, buy the 2005. My wife has a 94 Altima and we were looking to get an 04. During a visit to Nissan's shop, I asked the mechanic about the 04's and he said the year they redesigned them (forgot, but think it was 01,02) up until 04 had many problems. The quality problems is why they redesigned the altima again for the 05 year. He advised us to get the 05.

So for the Altima get an 05. The 3.5SE is a nice car with decent power, very close to the maxima.

bobman1235

Its' funny reading a lot of these replies with people talkinga bout styling. Obviously the guys' gonna look at the car before he buys it and make his OWN decisions on styling, I don't think anyone else's opinion of how it LOOKS really matters to him.

Reliability-wise, Nissan's have been great in my experience. My mother had one go 200,000+ miles (actually my sister has it now, so it's still going) without a single serious problem, and she's a NOTORIOUS car-killer (she's a woman, what do you expect?). And that was a 90-something Sentra. She drives an '01 Maxima now and loves it too. I think they handle pretty well, and if you play the radio loud enough who notices road noise? But again, those are things you can decide on a test drive.

Pontiacs on the other hand... well, it's a GM. They have problems. If you plan on keeping it past 80,000 miles expect ot put some money into it.

faster100

I also own a Nissan, Great Suv.. We have the Xterra and love it..soon we will need more room as my kids get older and have friends along with us, We want the Armada.. Great vehicle.. Nissan has been around for years, to think any one car company won't have issues or problems.. its just gonna happen. we have had small things pop up, Nothing mechanical though.. had for 1 1/2 years now.. and will buy Nissan again when we step up past the xterra line..

PhantomOG

for the same price, personally I would buy the 2005 Subaru Legacy GT.

AWD, 250hp, very nice interior, very responsive as far as handling. I test drove one for a very short time but was very impressed.

But this is coming from a current Subaru owner so I do have a bias.

Sami

Originally posted by Willow
road noise I can see it now....peeps bringing their SPL meters when test driving cars...

My Nissan gets 105dB at idle but that's from outside 1m from exhaust.

Willow

LOL:D

howie777

I was actually thinking about bringing my SPL meter yesterday! LOL, that would probably be a first for the dealers.

Well I took a 2005 Altima SE out on the highway and the road noise is pretty noticable. I'm still not sure about buying the car though, today was test drive #2 and I just wasn't exited about the car anymore and am wondering if I'm just bored and convincing myself to buy a new car.

I have all weekend to think it over and remove my stereo from my currect car as that Bose system is very poor quality (maybe not for a factory radio, but it stinks compared to my alpine/polk system).

And I guess turning up the volume is an option for combating road noise, then when you go deaf from the audio system you don't need to worrry about the road noise, so it all works out!

Thanks for all the response! I'll just have to think it over this weekend.

Howie

wallstreet

Originally posted by bobman1235
Its' funny reading a lot of these replies with people talkinga bout styling. Obviously the guys' gonna look at the car before he buys it and make his OWN decisions on styling, I don't think anyone else's opinion of how it LOOKS really matters to him.

And how is this different from any other audio post on this board? Why would anyone take my opinion on what I thought sounded good, looked good, etc.? You get folks (names withheld to protect the guilty) who have blatant opinions on what speaker, receiver is better than the other. And that is the whole point of forums! If I think the car your going to buy with your money looks like caca, I'll tell you so. You get what you pay for on the internet and then some. :cool:

Jstas

Not that it matters but I felt like interjecting my own opinion in here and that is: They're all slow!

bobman1235

Originally posted by wallstreet
And how is this different from any other audio post on this board? Why would anyone take my opinion on what I thought sounded good, looked good, etc.? You get folks (names withheld to protect the guilty) who have blatant opinions on what speaker, receiver is better than the other. And that is the whole point of forums! If I think the car your going to buy with your money looks like caca, I'll tell you so. You get what you pay for on the internet and then some. :cool:

HAHAHA, excellent point. Just meant that the most useful information, audio or otherwise, tends to be about reliability, power, or intangibles that come with time and can't be seen on a test-drive.

But I suppose if everyone here told him the car looked like ****, he probably wouldn't buy it despite what he thought....

keith allen

Buy a Toyota,and be done with it

Demiurge

Pontiacs on the other hand... well, it's a GM. They have problems. If you plan on keeping it past 80,000 miles expect ot put some money into it.

Stop talking like a moron.

brettw22

Originally posted by Demiurge
Stop talking like a moron.

His statement is fairly grounded Demi.......I've driven several Pontiacs, and I wouldn't ever personally have one past 80-100k miles........

Demiurge

Originally posted by brettw22
His statement is fairly grounded Demi.......I've driven several Pontiacs, and I wouldn't ever personally have one past 80-100k miles........

OK, well, just speaking from my personal experience...I'm on #2, and my first one lasted me all through college with 180,000 and I wasn't gentle with it. That's NOTHING for a honda or toyota, but I can't afford anything like that now anyhow.

Cars are a lot different now than they were even just 10 years ago. They don't crap out after 80K, unless you neglect them.

I'm not even a Pontiac fan (Ford trucks, personally) but I'm just going with what I know here. I just think it's false to say that a Grand Prix won't last you 80K without a lot of money into it.

I'll just exit this thread now because I can't think of a more ridiculous pissing contest to get into than ones over car brands. (and I don't mean with you Brett, I don't want to get into it with anyone).

brettw22

No worries.....I can piss with the best of them.....

howie777

Well I took out the Pontiac Grand Prix GTP again today, this time without the salesman. WOW they are a very fun ride. But they didn't have the color/options package I wanted so I guess I'll just keep my car for now. And I have 103k on my Grand Prix now with little money put into it. Actually, it drives very well. And the engine in it should last to 200k, but I do not think the rest of the car will!

Howie

exalted512

Originally posted by Demiurge
Stop talking like a moron.

agreed...GM have problems?
BS
my GMC has 183K miles on it and all thats been replaced was the alternator and the master cylinder
that and the fact that i can work on it myself...i cant stick a wrench in a damn honda engine compartment
ive worked on many grand prix's before, helping tune them and so on with my friends dad whos a mechanic that i used to work PT for
theyre fun to drive and quite reliable
the only problem i ever had working on one was getting one of the calipers off because the moron who did it before me stripped out the allen head and put it on way too tight
-Cody