Nissan Altima Hybrid?

[2TonJellyBean]

Went tire kicking with my better half yesterday. She wants a sedan to replace her 4cyl/5m Accord. She's very hip to a hybrid (and for the record Toronto finally jumped over $5/gallon this weekend - $1.35+/litre) but in essence she wanted something less boring but I need to fit into either of the front 2 seats and 2 growing 8 year olds need to fit in the back.

First up... Honda
The '08 Accord fit me so much better than her '01 but it seems to feel and drive about the same - which is fine but perhaps boring. The trunk's truly cavernous, the 4 cyl engine no longer has a timing belt, and it was nicely fitted out. Too bad the front looks like a Dodge pickup was one of her comments. The fact she smacked her knee on that weird exposed edge of the dash getting in didn't endear it at all. The HCH had no sunroof options, so it was out before my fit test.

Then over to VW.
She positively glowed sitting in a Beetle convertible. I saw the rear 2 seats and knew that without illegal e-bay children sales it wouldn't work as a "family" vehicle. The 2.5 in it isn't the best choice for FE anyways. The new Jetta wagon caught my eye and one of those with the new diesel and a 6M would have easily won over my Santa Fe last year had they existed. Anyway, I'm the wagon person, she isn't, and it's her car. No diesels until the fall and she probably won't be in a position to wait.

She was bummed by this point.

Luckily Toyota will have options...
So we go to Toyota. Her top choice there was a Camry Hybrid but she was interested in a couple of other models so she had reason to be optimistic. So I get in a Camry with a sunroof. I'm tall but it's normally always a legroom issue - not this time. She saw that and didn't even want to test drive it. She actually thinks the Solara is attractive but it's a V6 only car so dash that. I sat in the Prius and was fairly jammed in either seat. She knew it had no sunroof options but still wanted to check it out. When she did - no warm fuzzies...

She was very bummed now.

Why not check out a Mini?
So we waste all kinds of time finally navigating to a Mini location. It's like going to dog breeders - all kinds of cute little puppies. The Clubman seems like an obvious choice if she has to get one. They're so cute, but so crammed - even the Clubman. I would have enjoyed a test drive but would have hated to have her fall for one of these little critters.

She's was beyond bummed now, and by now I would much rather be scouring minefields or licking set mouse traps.

Next up - Nissan
She was mentioning the Altima quite a bit before going out. As soon as we're there, she gets the sale person to stick me in a sunroof equipped model. I fit... and fit quite well as that. So far so good. So we take a 4cyl/6M out for a test drive. Too cool... Then we find out they DO have a hybrid in stock. Needless to say we were both very impressed. Despite unseasonably high Toronto temperatures I wanted to leave the AC off and make the salesman in the back sweat just so that I could hear the electric motor whir (which reminded me of driving the ForkenSwift that MetroMPG was nice enough to let me drive last summer). Anyway, long story short it was great. The trunk was about the only negative. It's only 10 cu ft, no pass through, but it would easily fit a hockey bag (unless its for a goalie) or the weekly groceries. The dash is still a plastic oasis, and a tach would be nice to know when the ICE kicks in, but I loved the power gauge in its place. The handling was nicer than the Accord, the price doesn't seem too bad (it's amazing how much the prices here have come down since last year because of dollar parity).

Anyway, we actually managed to find a hybrid with a nice big sunroof that she finds exciting, that fits a tall guy very well and can fit 3 in the back seat.

If you've made it this far thanks for following along, so now the important question.

Any things that we are overlooking or should know about the Nissan Altima hybrid should we decide to get one?

[msantos]

The Nissan Altima Hybrid is indeed a worthy competitor to the Camry Hybrid and definitely a bit more "athletic". I had a chance to test drive one and I made some observations at the time:

- Nicely equipped and "upscale looking" materials, really nice.
- Very quiet at low RPMS
- Hard to EV in it with good SoC at temps barely below -10C even after 20 minutes of run time
- Trunk smaller than my HCH-2's in specs and usability. At 9 Cubic feet it is also smaller than the Camry Hybrid too.
- The dealer network - particularly the service departments may be the biggest enemy to these otherwise fine cars. I never seen sales people so eager to dismiss it and even dismiss hybrids in general. Makes me wonder...


Cheers;

MSantos

[xcel]

Hi 2Ton:

___The Prius should meet most if not all of your requirements and objectives and should be a bit less pricey (if you can find them?) vs. the TCH and NAH? I knwo you looked at it but the rear seat room is far larger than what either the TCH or NAH offer.

___Although only for a few, hypermiling the Accord to Elite levels will eat up a TCH or the NAH in most instances other than in slow speed stop and crawls for the most part? The TCH and NAH will make it all automatic however! Not for most of course.

___Do make sure you look at the Prius again ... “If” gasoline reaches $8 - $10 per in let us say 2012 or thereabouts, you will be glad to be driving a Prius over any of the rest …

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[GrendelKhan]

The climate controls do what they want. If you're as uncoordinated as I am, you'll keep turning the radio off when you try to adjust the volume (base model radio). No pass thru trunk = no long skis. Car handles well, even with tires at 52.

Make sure the car is off when you leave it.

It's a fine car and I love it, but listen to Xcel, the mileage is nowhere near the Prius. I'm surprised you had trouble fitting in the Prius. One of our sales guys has one, and he's always bringing the top dogs to lunch, and they're the tallest and/or biggest people in the company. Five large bigwigs at a time.

Maybe give the Prius another test drive, a sunroof isn't that big of a deal. But yeah, I'm happy with my NAH. Anyway, feel free to ask questions here or pm me.

[2TonJellyBean]

Wayne, unfortunately the Prius completely fails to fit my legs in either front seat so it can't be considered. My wife isn't a hypermiler so this seems like an ideal compromise. As it is I can get the Santa Fe within about 10% of what she gets with the 4cyl/5M Accord.

I would have guessed the back seat in the Altima was bigger than the Prius. The rear seat headroom in both sucks, but the Altima's seat definitely seemed wider.

*****************

MSantos, thanks for the heads up on servicing. The trunk's no major issue since I won't buy a vehicle without a hatch so we'll always have one cargo hauler in the household when needed. I must say though, that while the trunk is small, it did appear to be a very useful and accessible shape and space. If only the batteries could be smaller "eh". On the other hand, I can't see any way that there would ever be enough space to attach a hitch receiver at the back to haul bicycles on a hitch mounted rear carrier.

******************

GrendelKahn, I have heard that about the car. On/Off start buttons and hybrids seems like a recipe for good stories. Especially when they involve hybrid cars idling in the driveway so that their lights don't kill the battery when the driver doesn't shut it off. Yes the pass through could be an issue with even just longer hockey sticks... but my better half really likes it.

[Aether glider]

I'm 6'4" 290lbs and have no trouble fitting in my Prius. Its actually more comfortable than most suv's. I"m really picky about knee room.

Of course you may just not like the prius for some reason. everyone to their own. Any of those vehicles you mentioned would be awesome since they are better on gas than most of your other car options.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

IIRC, he is 6'7". I fit okay in the Prius but I'm 2" shorter and my knee just misses the shift lever.

[WriConsult]

If you can live with the tiny trunk, the NAH seems like the way to go for you. Has always seemed like an underrated vehicle to me.