Could the Altima become a Camry-killer? I think so.

For as long as I can remember, I have been driving Japanese imports-especially Hondas and Toyotas. The quality of these vehicles is unsurpassed and I usually drive them into the ground. Unfortunately, one of my current Hondas (a 1995 Accord-see my review) may have a shorter lifespan than I wanted. With only 105,000 miles on it, the manual transmission is grinding into 2nd gear and an undetected water leak through a rear window seal has caused the formation of rust inside the frame, meaning it will fail within a year.

Keeping that in mind, I began my search for vehicles over Christmas vacation. Of course, I examined the two "usual suspects": the 2002 Honda Accord and the 2002 Toyota Camry. I took my 16 year-old "car encyclopedia" son with me to try a 6-cylinder Accord (we haven't tried the Camry together). Although I would prefer a manual, the automatic did pretty well. Following that, my son insisted that I drive to a local Nissan dealer and try the redesigned Altima (he also had a coupon for a free $95 designer watch with a test drive and was asking me to drive it for that reason).

I expected to drive this car and I thought that I would probably nix it after doing so. When we arrived at the dealer, we were greeted immediately by a salesperson. When we asked to drive a manual 4-cylinder Altima, he immediately left to pull one from the back lot (although there was a 4-cylinder manual and 6-cylinder manual in front). It did not matter though because the salesman brought up a 2.5 SL with a manual, power seats, and Anti-Lock brakes (almost exactly matching my equipment "wish list" and my son's as well).

The car's handling and acceleration were way beyond what I expected. In fact, they almost exactly matched the performance of the Accord V6 I had driven earlier in the day. The manual and the increased fuel economy, however, made the car seem even better. The shifting felt smooth (better than my Accord). The winding two lane roads we used for the test drive brought out the best in the handling of the Altima as it took every curve with the greatest of ease. As far as noise, I like to hear the car "rev" a bit, so it doesn't bother me that much.

NOTE: On my second test-drive 10 days later (at another dealer), I tried a similar vehicle (without leather and more reasonably priced) on the highway. I was amazed at the power in the engine as I was up to 70 MPH in 3rd gear! The engine works much better than the one in the new Camry (I have not found a manual 4-cylinder Accord). Unfortunately, the salesman told me that Nissan is cutting back on manual transmission production and it turns out the car I drove is the only one like it in a 600 mile area!

The 175 hp 4-cylinder engine, according to the first salesman, is adequate for most people and I agree. The 240-hp V6 and a manual transmission seem like a great combination, but you pay for it in fuel economy and price. My son commented that the 3.5 liter V6 may have been the engine from the 2002 Infiniti Q45 (4.5L V8 with 340 hp) minus a liter of displacement and 100 horses. It makes sense, especially since Jeep did something like that with their V8 for the V6 Liberty.

The inside was another pleasant surprise. The rear seats had tons of leg room (important when you have two 6-foot teenage boys) and the front seats felt supportive and comfortable. Since it was a cold day, the heated front seats from the Cold Weather Package were a godsend (although I am not sure if I would want to get leather-extra cost). Some of the dials looked a little cheap for such a car, but the trip computer (with outside temperature gauge) is neat and would come in handy in the winter. The Bose stereo does not have a cassette player but has a 6 CD-changer. It's better than other standard factory stereos, but it's not really a necessity for me.

The Altima exceeded my expectations and I automatically decided to keep it on my list of cars to consider (the reliability in the past has been comparable to Honda and Toyota, so this car should follow suit). However, I am not sure how much I will be able to negotiate because the car is so new. I want a good deal on a car with the exact options I want. I have not tried to "talk turkey" (and I won't for a few months). If I wanted a 2.5S, however, the packages I would need would jack up the price. Edmund's "TMV" prices also suggest paying near retail for the Altima and I would rather negotiate as low as I can go. That is why I may end up settling with an Accord V6, but I'll have to see how things go. Also, the service prices at the dealer were extremely steep. The cheapest scheduled service was $60 and every service included engine and fuel additives (are they really necessary?). On the other hand, the Toyota Camry's prices are structured in a similar fashion (with excess packaging), so it seems to me that the Altima is a better value than the Camry.

Overall, the Altima had a few flaws, but it is definitely worthy to compete with Accord and Camry and will definitely win the hearts of many shoppers-maybe even me!