The Nissan Altima entered the 2025 model year in 2025, losing its VC-Turbo engine in the process. Because this generation of the Altima is close to its demise, it should come as no surprise that it's not up to snuff in terms of crashworthiness, with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety marking it down in two extremely important crash tests.
First and foremost, the nonprofit organization funded in 1959 by three insurance groups rated the Altima poor in the updated side impact test, poor being the worst rating possible. Although the rear-seat dummy got away unscathed from said crash, the head of the driver struck the window sill of the driver's door hard. Furthermore, the sensors indicated poor head, neck, torso, and pelvis protection.
Marginal is the rating awarded in the updated moderate overlap front crash test, with the subject vehicle hitting a stationary barrier at 40 miles per hour (64 kph) with 40 percent of the front overlapping. The updated part stands for a revision that added back-seat protection to the mix, with the rear dummy representing a small woman or a 12-year-old child.
The overall evaluation may be marginal, but as far as rear-passenger restraints and dummy kinematics are concerned, the Altima did a poor job. More specifically, the lap belt moved from the pelvis onto the abdomen, which increases the risk of injury. The shoulder belt also moved upward, further compromising the effectives of the restraint system.
As per the IIHS, the Altima could use better headlights to boot, whereas the front crash prevention system performed marginally in vehicle-to-pedestrian scenarios. Given the aforementioned, the mid-size sedan does not qualify for the lower-end Top Safety Pick or higher-end Top Safety Pick+ award.
Photo: IIHS on YouTube
Codenamed L34, the sixth-gen Altima made its debut back in 2018 for the 2019 model year. North America gets the reasonably priced sedan from the Canton assembly plant in Mississippi. For a few years, the sixth generation was also produced at the Smyrna assembly plant in the state of Tennessee.
Based on the front-biased Nissan D platform, the Altima can be had with all-wheel drive as long as you're okay with upgrading to the SV, SR, or SL. The S doesn't offer all-wheel drive. Regardless, all four grades feature a JATCO continuously variable tranny.
Slotted above the Sentra and entry-level Versa, the Altima starts at $27,000 for the aforementioned S. The front-drive SV is $27,430 from the outset, while all-wheel drive adds 1,500 buckaroos to the final price.
Its naturally aspirated 2.5-liter I4 makes do with 188 horsepower at 6,000 revolutions per minute and 180 pound-feet (244 Newton-meters) of torque at 3,600 revolutions per minute. When fed premium-grade fuel, the 2024 model's VC-Turbo engine makes 248 at 5,600 and 273 (370) at 4,000 revolutions.
| Two new EVs were tripped up by the small overlap test, while popular models from Nissan and Kia fell short in the updated moderate overlap crash test.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News