2014 Nissan Altima details

2014 Nissan Altima

The 2014 Nissan Altima is a midsize, 4-door family sedan offered with a choice between a 4-cylinder and a V-6 engine. The Altima, last redesigned for the 2013 model year, competes against a wide range of models including the Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, Mazda 6, Subaru Legacy, Toyota Camry, and Volkswagen Passat.

The new Altima begins life with a new shape, which Nissan says comes from an emotional take on styling, and some advanced manufacturing techniques that enable some complex surfaces on the attractive new body. The front end wears some of the angled, arrowed cues of other Nissans and Infinitis at the headlamps and taillights, while the side glass tapers gradually to a tasteful backstop. The interior's a big contrast: it's conservatively drawn, with straight lines dividing off the center stack of controls from the driver and the passenger. There's also more space left for larger LCD screens for more advanced infotainment systems, a selling point where the Altima's lagged behind the Koreans and Americans.

With large passenger cars sales continuing to slide downwards Nissan feels there's an opening for Altima in the medium car segment. The Altima is marginally longer than the discontinued Nissan Maxima and has the same choice of four and six-cylinder engines.

Running counter-trend, Nissan continues to offer a V6 as its "up" engine. The 2.5-liter four is designed for lighter weight and higher efficiency, while the 3.5-liter V6 is improved to reduce its fuel consumption. Both drive the Altima's front wheels through the only gearbox offered, Nissan's next-generation Xtronic continuously-variable automatic transmission (CVT). Not everyone loves a CVT, which drives engine revs ahead of vehicle speed during strong acceleration, but this one accounts for both the 4-cylinder and the V6's impressive fuel economy, and it comes with fixed-ratio-simulating manual shift paddles on uplevel models.

The Altima comes standard with Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity, keyless entry and push-button start. Optional features include NissanConnect, which links with smartphone apps like Facebook, a 7-inch navigation touch screen, a nine-speaker Bose audio system, a rearview camera and a moonroof. Available safety features include blind spot warning, lane departure warning and moving object detection.

The 2014 Nissan Altima comes standard with antilock brakes, stability and traction control, front side airbags and side curtain airbags. A rearview camera comes standard on everything, except the base and S trim levels. Blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alerts and a lane-departure warning system are also optional.

The 2014 Altima lineup includes seven versions of the Altima Sedan, ranging in price from $22,650 for the base 2.5 model to $31,450 for the Altima 3.5 SL. The prices include a destination charge of $790.