2008 Nissan Altima Coupe Review

Specifications

The definitive midsize coupe is without a doubt, the Honda Accord. It’s the trusty one, the mainstay and has earned its position of most prominent player on the scene for the past decade despite the fact that the midsize coupe segment is even less stable than the San Andreas Fault line. Through the years it’s grown up to be one of the best practical coupes that money can buy, and for 2008 it’s all new and better than ever. Honda’s top-line coupe has seen its fair share of two-door competitors arrive and disappear since its inception, from Toyota, Chrysler, General Motors and other brands, with the newest to arrive being from Nissan. Introduced this model year, the Altima Coupe makes a strong first impression with its true coupe styling, and thanks to its solid base the still-fresh Altima shows plenty of potential.

That’s why the cars we’ve assembled here are essentially fully loaded – toys for big boys… and girls. Both cars sit at the top of their respective hierarchy, powered by strong 3.5-liter V6 engines, and come with features like satellite navigation, leather seats, upgraded stereos and more. Both cars also happen to be spinoffs of very good but nevertheless average run of the mill family sedans, which means they retain their four-door siblings’ suspension setups (but different tuning), and front engine, front wheel drive layouts.

The only difference in configuration for our testers is the transmissions; our Honda Accord was fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox versus the Altima which featured Nissan’s Xtronic CVT. This wasn’t our choice, but rather it boiled down to availability. Besides, we like to think that the transmissions selected here represent strengths of their respective manufacturers.

The midsize Coupe market is one that ebbs and flows, but now is a time when the segment is on the rise. Surprisingly, its growth is driven by the fact that the segment no longer caters just to middle aged folks, but to a younger crowd as well, a crowd wanting space but with no desire to sacrifice the thrill of quick acceleration and the smile-inducing properties of capable cornering. But subtract two doors, and the mix suddenly becomes unexpected and random. Some cars are loud and proud, while others prefer to cosset unequivocally. Others play the sporting card, some less than others.

And which one of these two cars possesses the secret blend necessary to make it the best midsize V6 Coupe? Read on and find out what we think…

Nissan Altima Coupe 3.5 SE
The best thing to do with an Altima Coupe when you encounter one is to stand back and have a good look at it. Here’s a car that attracts a whole lot of attention, despite its ordinary genes. Walk around it and you’ll be convinced that if it weren’t for the Nissan badges adorning its grille and decklid, it could be something much, much more expensive. By keeping it simple, clean and most importantly attractive looking, the Altima has become Nissan’s affordable version of the sexy G37 Coupe, which, in almost anyone’s books, is a very good thing.

We discovered a little while ago that besides the visuals, the Altima Coupe is by and large very much like an Altima Sedan to drive in its base trim level, albeit slightly firmer, but the 3.5 SE model with its 270-horsepower, bigger alloy wheels and sportier demeanor has a different story to tell. Or at least some chapters of that story are unique.

Take the brakes for instance, which are still as touchy and sensitive as ever, but the problem isn’t as bad at higher speeds, where the braking feels much more linear and progressive. One of our testers mentioned that it felt a lot like Mercedes’ brake by wire system, a vehicle with an on-off switch for a brake pedal (not literally folks). The steering is similar too, as it takes only a light grip of the fingertips. You feed the car information little by little, reacting too quickly to slower, steadier inputs which can make driving a bit on the annoying side. And although the steering weights up when the speed of the car picks up, it feels too light for its own good, canceling out some of the hard-earned sporting pretenses its styling promised.

The ride isn’t much better either, as Nissan’s developers seem to have confused “sporty” with “hard”. The ride of the Altima Coupe isn’t just harsh in comparison to the Honda, it’s just plain harsh in general. Overly stiff springs set with squishy-soft dampers produce chop over anything but the smoothest of surfaces. Nissan’s intentions of delivering a sporty feeling car fall flat; body roll is still evident, and at least on the road it cornered no better than the last Altima V6 sedan we remembered having whose ride was much more comfortable to boot. Not that we’re picking on the Altima, but by trying to multi-task to extremes, it lives in an unhappy medium. To its advantage, reports of its performance on the racetrack are very positive, besting everything in its class, including the Accord Coupe in this comparison. This is great news if you happen to spend a lot of weekends at the track, but as is often the case, racecourse success doesn’t always translate into real world capability and livability.


Our complaints just might be washed away by the Altima’s powertrain. The excellent Xtronic CVT (Nissan’s calling card) works fantastically with the creamy-smooth VQ-series V6 engine. With plenty of low-down torque, it provides acceleration that’s smooth to the point of being uncanny, and it also is completely and utterly on the ball. Depress the accelerator and you will accelerate quickly and efficiently. If your game is performance, you’ll find that the CVT’s six artificial forward ratios feel a little bit fake, with an insubstantial feeling jerk, but its quickness through the intervals is hard to beat. Despite the CVT, the Altima Coupe is the faster of the two cars to 60 mph from standstill by 0.3 seconds.

The Altima assures you’ll look cool behind the wheel too, but it also will make you feel cool. Its interior was praised for its high-end instrument panel and heavily bolstered seats, as well as its straightforward, no-nonsense center console. Sit low and you’ll feel like you’re in a sports car, which speaks well to Nissan’s design. Things don’t get much simpler than the console, with its easy to use climate control and ergonomically sound navigation system. The Altima also has the amenities of a true luxury car, with features that we wished the Accord came with including a reverse camera, HID headlamps and keyless ignition plus a pushbutton start.

Space, unfortunately, is at a premium in the Altima, hands down, no questions asked. The Accord towers over the Nissan, and this extra height allows the car to feature a raked rear window without making it uncomfortable in the back seat. If you’re over 5′9”, you won’t fit comfortably in the Altima Coupe, especially not if someone taller is sitting up front.

The Altima is the sort of car that you fall in love with at first sight, a car that you can also afford with relative ease provided you’re willing to go light on the options. The 3.5 SE starts at just under $25,000, which is not a lot of money to part with for something so stylish and capable. It’s just a tiny bit more than the much less powerful four-cylinder model, and going base-for-base, it undercuts the Accord V6 Coupe by over $3,300. The as-tested price, however, was a heady $31,270, including $6,300 of options.

Honda Accord Coupe EX-L V6 Navi
With every generation of Accord, the car gets bigger. This latest 2008 iteration grew again, we were warned, but we weren’t prepared for just how much it had grown when it pulled up next to the Altima, and towered over it.

Big has its benefits. The Accord is one of the roomiest two-door vehicles around, and can easily swallow up five large adults without difficulty. The roof may look raked from the outside, but the extra height plus the low mounting of the seats makes it possible for everyone to travel in comfort. Its long wheelbase and carved front seatbacks are actually habitable for longer journeys, and since it’s got a trunk that’s both deep and long with a wide opening, luggage for those traveling can also be brought along. The Accord also felt airier than the Altima, and its upright cabin provided much better outward visibility. But then the comments started flowing in – how could this big, burly machine compete with something so nimble and lithe as the Altima Coupe? Bigger it may be, but the Accord has its size and weight kept well under wraps.

Where the Altima sneakily builds up speed, the Accord throws its punches – 1, 2 and 3 – each of those gears pounding out and into the next emitting the slightest bit of tire chirp. The new 3.5-liter engine delivers its power with ferocity as well as refinement. This 268-horsepower engine also proves that Honda engines don’t always need to have the nuts and bolts revved off them for brisk progression, as power is always accessible and on tap. Honda’s V6s have always been smooth, but this new 3.5-liter thoroughly beat our expectations, aided by active engine mounts that counter vibrations. What’s more is that it does it all on regular fuel, unlike the premium-fed Nissan VQ35. The six-speed manual (a no-cost five-speed auto is also available) is a joy to row through the gears with throws so slick, it could be Teflon-coated. Like other manual Accords we’ve tested in the past, the clutch tends to be a little awkward with a high engagement point, and the hanging-revs of the electronic throttle are still present.

This wonderful powerplant is mounted within the latest generation Accord platform which is very rigid. The steering has a heavier set weight than we were expecting, and when combined with the usual crispness and clarity of Honda steering put smiles on our faces. Although the Accord Coupe rides on 18-inch wheels, the biggest ever fitted to an Accord, its ride is better sorted than the Altima’s. It has a very European feel, that’s suppler and more capable of absorbing undulations and bumps that would otherwise be of annoyance, yet body roll feels more contained than the Nissan. There’s no shortage of fun factor with the Accord, though if you’re too eager with the throttle, it will torque steer. A little torque steer is expected with manually equipped front drivers with powerful engines, and we would expect much the same from the six-speed manual Altima Coupe. The five-speed automatic available with the Accord Coupe is also smooth and capable, with a fairly sporty feel thanks to a manual shift mode, but its shifts aren’t as quick as the Altima’s CVT.

Although well built, the Acura-inspired interior was hit with criticisms from our crew. The seats, for instance, were comfy over the long haul and the instrumentation straightforward, but the console drew complaints for being overly complex and fussy to use. Looking at it, it doesn’t appear daunting, with large, labeled buttons, but the problem resides in using it when you’re on the go. With so many buttons all the same size and shape, you’re forced to take your eyes off the road to select exactly what you’re looking for. Also, the layout of the console itself is slightly bothersome; why are so many of the controls – the important ones like fan speed, no less – all the way over on the other side of the center stack, facing the passenger? On the contrary, the navigation system reads out menu titles aloud, and you can enter in data whilst driving, a major bonus. As for the new interior, it’s typical Honda fare, but made with more soft-touch plastics and tighter panel gaps.

Honda has a structured way of pricing the new Accord Coupe, and if you’re after a V6 it’s going to be almost fully loaded. The only choices you have are in terms of color (there are 6), transmission (stick or auto), and navigation. Our Accord V6 Coupe with navigation undercut the Altima Coupe by quite a bit, with an as tested price of $30,510. Without the navigation, it would’ve cost $28,310.

Conclusion
Although both the Altima and the Accord battle it out in the showroom for your hard earned money, they’re very different cars. Picking a winner in this competition was hard at first, but the more time we spent with the cars, the choice became clear. Although Coupes aren’t bought for pragmatic reasons, both of these cars could double without too much problem for standard family transportation, especially the Accord. Here’s a car that despite only having two doors would be more than happy to do duty as the family hauler. The ride is smoother, the car is quieter, and despite lacking the Bose brand name, the stereo sounds better than that in the Altima Coupe. There’s also no question about which car is the better to drive day in and day out.

The general consensus about the new Accord Coupe is that without too much difficulty, it could be an Acura – perhaps the next generation CL? Still, we’d like to see some of the features from the Altima featured on this high-end coupe, such as keyless ignition and HID headlights. Even without them, mind you, the Accord Coupe is our winner.

Don’t get us wrong though, because the Altima is not a bad car in any regard, with it drawing in plenty of emotional responses. It’s darty, sharp and light on its toes, all characteristics that one can identify with a sports car. It also happens to look more like a coupe (with a more appealing shape and details no less), and from the inside it certainly feels like you’re driving a sport coupe with its snugly bolstered seats and cozy, close-quarters cabin. The only problem is that the suspension tuning can’t decide what it wants to do, cruise or perform, as with the rest of the car.

Finally, the Altima is the one you’ll want to date… the one you’ll have plenty of fun with, but also the one that has some fundamental if ignorable flaws. The Accord, however, is the one most will want to marry and live with. It may not be as charming as the Altima off the bat, but it’s superior in just about every other way. So if choosing between the two, it really comes down to where you’re at in your life. If you’re still in dating mode, the Altima Coupe is prime for an exciting lifestyle. If you’re ready to settle down or already fully settled, the Accord Coupe is your ride.