The 2013 Nissan Altima: What the critics say

The Detroit Bureau

The restyled, re-energized Altima has a chance to unseat the Toyota Camry as America’s best-selling midsize sedan. At a time when higher gas prices are reviving sales across the segment, the Altima now offers best-in-class fuel economy, “extremely good road feedback,” and a load of tech-feature options. Always a competent car, the Altima has become significantly more stylish, and is now clearly more fun to drive than either the Camry or VW’s Passat.

EdmundsInsideLine.com

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Last year’s second-best-selling car in America just got better—”quite a bit better, in fact.” This fifth-generation, made-in-Tennessee Altima owes most of its impressive fuel economy—up to 38 mpg on the highway—to a continuously variable transmission that’s “arguably the world’s best.” Along with such new options as hands-free text messaging and moving-object detection, Nissan has added NASA-inspired front seats that rate “probably in our top five for most comfortable seats ever.”

Car and Driver

There’s no doubt that the Altima is a sporty performer for a midsize sedan, “but that’s within a segment full of boring cars” that do little but announce to true driving enthusiasts “that you’ve given up.” More significant might be that it does a fair visual impersonation of a $50,000 Infiniti. So don’t load up on expensive options; “the Joneses will be impressed by the Altima either way.”