2019 Nissan Altima Review, Specs, Price

2019 Nissan Altima Review, Specs, Price - it could be difficult to believe, but the Nissan Altima has had the identical two engine options for greater than 15 years. The modern-day 2018 Altima makes use of the equal basic 2.5-liter inline-four and three.five-liter V-6 engines that debuted with the 2002 model. Code-named QR25DE and VQ35DE, those engines have obtained minor updates over time, but a complete powertrain overhaul has been overdue for a while. That’s in particular actual now that the Nissan’s two heavy-hitter opponents, the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry, are freshly redesigned. 2019 Nissan Altima Review, Specs, Price

The Altima is now getting a remodel of its very own for 2019, and it consists of an underhood replace inside the shape of new 4-cylinder engines. the base engine is once more a clearly aspirated 2.five-liter inline-four, and it even shares the same block and cylinder head as the vintage engine. however, Nissan claims that 95 percent of the components are new, and the engine receives a new code call: PR25DD. Direct injection replaces the antique port-injection machine, the compression ratio rises, and horsepower and torque every increase barely. The Altima’s upgrade engine represents an excellent greater big exchange: The V-6 is long past, and in its region is a turbocharged 2.zero-liter inline-4 with Nissan’s new variable-compression-ratio tech; this equal engine (code-named KR20DDET) made its debut inside the 2019 Infiniti QX50. 2019 Nissan Altima Review, Specs, Price

We’ve just experienced each of those engines in a trio of 2019 Altima prototypes on the enterprise’s proving grounds in Arizona. And whilst we are able to’t but speak about the Altima’s experience and coping with characteristics until towards the on-sale date this fall, we are able to proportion how those two new engines feel, sound, and behave inside the redesigned mid-length sedan.

No other automaker can declare to have anything just like the tech supplied in the Altima’s turbo 4. known as VC-T or VC-turbo—for Variable Compression turbo—this 2.zero-liter engine can range its compression ratio from 14.zero:1 to 8.zero:1 to maximise both gas performance or electricity. We’ve special the device thoroughly before, but to sum up, it’s all done thru a complicated system that provides a link among the crankshaft and the connecting rod. An actuator modifications the perspective of the link to vary the relative role of the pistons in the cylinders, for that reason changing the compression ratio.

2019 Nissan Altima Review, Specs, Price

This all provides up to pretty normal numbers for a turbocharged 2.zero-liter four: 248 horsepower and 273 lb-feet of torque; that’s down 20 hp and seven lb-ft from the QX50, due to different tuning and the Altima’s weight loss program of everyday fuel in the vicinity of the Infiniti’s required premium. but Nissan expects the VC-rapid to supply higher fuel-economy numbers than other 2.0T competition. EPA estimates aren’t to be had yet, however that might mean topping the Honda Accord 2.0T’s 27-mpg blended score and the Chevrolet Malibu 2.0T’s 26 mpg.

notwithstanding what the superior tech may advise, the VC-T behaves as a substitute like other 2.zero-liter faster fours, with robust low-cease torque and a linear power curve. simplest its incredibly guttural exhaust notice and a lowish redline of 6000 rpm provide the engine away as something uncommon.

We drove both SR and Platinum-trim automobiles, which had the 2.0T combined with a continuously variable computerized transmission (CVT)—the handiest transmission available with both engines. The VC-T’s different sound added a measure of sporty man or woman to the Altima, and it felt predictably stronger and torquier than the two.five-liter car at some stage in the rev range. but the VC-T is a bit less subtle than the clearly aspirated mill, being extra aurally present, and transmits more vibration into the cabin than the base engine. while we admit that it’s super that this engine can behave so generally given its ordinary inner hints, the increase in overall NVH isolation is at odds with the VC-T’s function because the premium powertrain, especially given the extraordinary smoothness and polished demeanor of the Accord’s 2.0T.

2019 Nissan Altima Review, Specs, Price

inside the base-model 2019 Altima S with the two.five-liter 4-cylinder, CVT, and the front-wheel force, we had been impressed by using the new engine’s refinement. The old 2.5-liter turned into grainy and coarse, with unseemly vibrations and a demanding amount of noise underneath difficult or maybe slight acceleration. the new engine now not best revs easily, it sounds hushed even at better revs because the structure does a better task of setting apart it from the cabin.

top electricity increases by 9 horsepower to 188, at the same time as torque climbs to one hundred eighty lb-feet from 177 lb-feet, which isn't always sufficient for an important distinction in flat-out acceleration (a 2018 Altima 2.5L went from zero to 60 mph in 8.0 seconds in our testing) without a full-size weight loss. the sensation while you positioned your foot down is some distance extra pleasant, even though, way to the retuned CVT, which uses greater sharply described synthetic “shift” points to imitate a traditional gearbox and limit droning.

Nissan is focused on a 1-mpg development inside the EPA’s combined fuel-financial system cycle, which would position it at 32 mpg, nevertheless a piece in the back of the Accord and Camry’s pleasant combined scores of 33 mpg and 34 mpg. The real ace up the bottom-engine Altima’s sleeve can be its new all-wheel-force choice, which we did no longer enjoy. available handiest with the 2.five-liter engine (Nissan says that AWD doesn’t work with the faster 4 in the Altima for packaging reasons), it’s expected to be popular within the Northeast, and it earns the Altima access into the pretty exceptional membership of mainstream mid-length sedans provided with AWD, which currently includes simplest the Subaru Legacy and the Ford Fusion—and the Fusion is being phased out.

The 2019 Altima has its eyes set on the pinnacle of this incredibly competitive segment, a tall mission given the excellence of a lot of its foes. the two new engines carry huge advantages over their predecessors, even though our final tests will have to wait until we will problem them to our instrumented checking out and actual-world gasoline-economic system regimens. until then—and until we are able to proportion our complete impressions of this new mid-size sedan—we’ll clearly need to go away it at this: matters look promising for the Altima now that it has legitimately new engines for the first time because flip phones had been famous.

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