Whew ! 1000 miles in rental Altima in 4 days. 1300 miles in 9 days in the Alfa.
07-14-2002, 10:47 PM
#1
AudiWorld Uber User
Thread Starter
Whew ! 1000 miles in rental Altima in 4 days. 1300 miles in 9 days in the Alfa.
A few more miles data logging the AMS A4.
Here is the Altima report.
Price of car is $17,400 according to edmunds.
We flew into Spokane airport and picked up our car from Hertz. The first car had a bad pull to the left - darned sloppy parking by previous drivers ! They then gave us another Altima. First beige on beige, and then white on grey. 2.5 automatic rental special, baby !
Here is a run-down of what I noticed:
The exterior is one of the better Japanese designs out there right now - with the exception of the tailights. The Koreans have been producing far more attractive and distinctive cars on average lately. The one thing we noticed immediately was that the long sloping top edge of the rear bumper allows for long obvious scratches from folks loading and unloading the car. The door handles make a nasty cheap hollow twang when you let them snap back closed. The rest of the car seemed solid both standing still and driving. Tap the panels though, and they sound very thin.
The inside door handles have too shallow a well - the tips of your fingers hit the far side bottom every time you go to grasp the flipper. Small but annoying over time. There are 3 different metallic finishes inside the car. Each a tiny touch that does not seem to relate to the other or the effect as a whole. Maybe the interior design team did not communicate well...The dash in both grey or beige is far too light in colour, and allows major reflections in the windsheild. Extremely annoying to the say the least. Plastics are OK, but nothing to stand out in this class. Of course nowhere near VW levels. Many parts did not line up properly - dash vents to dash mold lines, etc. Mid-90's VW stuff. Nothing rattled though, no matter how many bumps.
The driver's seat has a number of adjustments not avialable to the front passenger - bottom tilt and height. Seat fatigue was minimal even if lateral support was a joke. The steering wheel is placed far enough away that short folks like myself aren't crammed against it with the seat moved waaaay up. Might be too far away for tall folks though. Tilt function only. The trans lever control is very annoying. It zigs and zags across the top of the tranny tunnel as it defines the various gear selections. There is a dash display, but the uncertain tactile feel and tiny display makes you look down to confirm.
The dash displays are housed in 3 large round tunnels. Good for protecting from reflections, but the lack of detailing on the surfaces looks rather cheap. The door pockets were useless for everything except maps. Deep but not very wide. You had to fish for stuff in the bottom. There is a shortage of easy to use cubbies. There is one with a door under the dash, small door pockets, and a shallow as well as deep center console cubby that was awkward to open with the armrest extended and the seat far forward. There was room for stuff, but it just didn't seem easy to stash, or retrieve.
The stereo is easy to use and had acceptable sound for a budget car. Don't know about much else, as we used the iPod for tunes.
The 4 cylinder goes from idle to redline without protest. It doesn't make any interesting sounds, but it also doesn't drone or sound like it is going to fly apart at high rpms. Power seems on par with the 2.5 V6 automatic Alfa we once had ( 165hp/3spd ). If you're at 4 grand, you have max torque, and power will build slowly from there. It sure didn't feel like 175hp and 181lb ft of torque. Maybe they are small Japanese horses;-) Having driven a partially chipped1.8t A4 for several days ( 190hp ) I can tell you that the German horses are a little larger;-) The cruise control works well and is quite smooth. Fuel economy is excellent with an average of 26mpg overall. We locked out the overdrive often.
At part throttle, the tranny is smooth. It has noticable but minimal decel engine braking unless manually provoked. It can be rough at WOT or near there. You can slot the car through the gears yourself, although it can get jerky as the tranny computer considers your request and then grants it begrudgingly.
Like many modern cars, the brakes are touchy. Once they bite however, stopping is progressive and that little jerk that so often happens in the final foot or two, can be modulated away with practice.
Handling is decent given the 60 series tires. However, our rental Sonata V6 last time we were up there, was more composed at the limits. Fine for folks who never exceed 60 to 70%. Pushed harder in corners, the car feels nervous and poorly damped. Speeds above 80mph are not a good idea as small side winds can push the tail around a lot. Given how much time has elapsed, it is hard to say which car had higher limits, but the Sonata felt better when pushed. Off and on throttle oversteer and understeer is very pronounced. Good at the track, but probably not so good for the average driver who doesn't understand about using the throttle to tailor your line. The tires and the automatic conspired to make the transition much too abrupt to be fun. A manual and lower profile tires would no doubt help.
Steering is pin sharp, but devoid of any feeling. You don't drive on visuals alone, but it isn't far from it. It isn't a car that reads your mind and just magically goes there like some of the best do. You have to rely on the chassis feedback to tell you what is happening, as the steering is giving you the silent treatment. Fortunately there is some chassis communication going on, so it isn't too tedious.
I would say that it is a nice rental car. Not a personal keeper or a fun thrasher like a manual Tercel ( which I once rented from the same airport ). Fine transport for folks who don't really care about cars and replace them every few years. A very good alternative to some domestic offerings, although not Ford Focus fun. If this is what Nissan and Infiniti are offering to people, they will do fine. Most folks will never notice the details as they haven't been exposed to higher level cars before. The details aren't there though. It is an intermediary for people who might eventually move up the car food chain if they notice the small stuff.
I have to say that climbing into the Alfa less than 12 hours later, was a shock and half...;-)
Here is the Altima report.
Price of car is $17,400 according to edmunds.
We flew into Spokane airport and picked up our car from Hertz. The first car had a bad pull to the left - darned sloppy parking by previous drivers ! They then gave us another Altima. First beige on beige, and then white on grey. 2.5 automatic rental special, baby !
Here is a run-down of what I noticed:
The exterior is one of the better Japanese designs out there right now - with the exception of the tailights. The Koreans have been producing far more attractive and distinctive cars on average lately. The one thing we noticed immediately was that the long sloping top edge of the rear bumper allows for long obvious scratches from folks loading and unloading the car. The door handles make a nasty cheap hollow twang when you let them snap back closed. The rest of the car seemed solid both standing still and driving. Tap the panels though, and they sound very thin.
The inside door handles have too shallow a well - the tips of your fingers hit the far side bottom every time you go to grasp the flipper. Small but annoying over time. There are 3 different metallic finishes inside the car. Each a tiny touch that does not seem to relate to the other or the effect as a whole. Maybe the interior design team did not communicate well...The dash in both grey or beige is far too light in colour, and allows major reflections in the windsheild. Extremely annoying to the say the least. Plastics are OK, but nothing to stand out in this class. Of course nowhere near VW levels. Many parts did not line up properly - dash vents to dash mold lines, etc. Mid-90's VW stuff. Nothing rattled though, no matter how many bumps.
The driver's seat has a number of adjustments not avialable to the front passenger - bottom tilt and height. Seat fatigue was minimal even if lateral support was a joke. The steering wheel is placed far enough away that short folks like myself aren't crammed against it with the seat moved waaaay up. Might be too far away for tall folks though. Tilt function only. The trans lever control is very annoying. It zigs and zags across the top of the tranny tunnel as it defines the various gear selections. There is a dash display, but the uncertain tactile feel and tiny display makes you look down to confirm.
The dash displays are housed in 3 large round tunnels. Good for protecting from reflections, but the lack of detailing on the surfaces looks rather cheap. The door pockets were useless for everything except maps. Deep but not very wide. You had to fish for stuff in the bottom. There is a shortage of easy to use cubbies. There is one with a door under the dash, small door pockets, and a shallow as well as deep center console cubby that was awkward to open with the armrest extended and the seat far forward. There was room for stuff, but it just didn't seem easy to stash, or retrieve.
The stereo is easy to use and had acceptable sound for a budget car. Don't know about much else, as we used the iPod for tunes.
The 4 cylinder goes from idle to redline without protest. It doesn't make any interesting sounds, but it also doesn't drone or sound like it is going to fly apart at high rpms. Power seems on par with the 2.5 V6 automatic Alfa we once had ( 165hp/3spd ). If you're at 4 grand, you have max torque, and power will build slowly from there. It sure didn't feel like 175hp and 181lb ft of torque. Maybe they are small Japanese horses;-) Having driven a partially chipped1.8t A4 for several days ( 190hp ) I can tell you that the German horses are a little larger;-) The cruise control works well and is quite smooth. Fuel economy is excellent with an average of 26mpg overall. We locked out the overdrive often.
At part throttle, the tranny is smooth. It has noticable but minimal decel engine braking unless manually provoked. It can be rough at WOT or near there. You can slot the car through the gears yourself, although it can get jerky as the tranny computer considers your request and then grants it begrudgingly.
Like many modern cars, the brakes are touchy. Once they bite however, stopping is progressive and that little jerk that so often happens in the final foot or two, can be modulated away with practice.
Handling is decent given the 60 series tires. However, our rental Sonata V6 last time we were up there, was more composed at the limits. Fine for folks who never exceed 60 to 70%. Pushed harder in corners, the car feels nervous and poorly damped. Speeds above 80mph are not a good idea as small side winds can push the tail around a lot. Given how much time has elapsed, it is hard to say which car had higher limits, but the Sonata felt better when pushed. Off and on throttle oversteer and understeer is very pronounced. Good at the track, but probably not so good for the average driver who doesn't understand about using the throttle to tailor your line. The tires and the automatic conspired to make the transition much too abrupt to be fun. A manual and lower profile tires would no doubt help.
Steering is pin sharp, but devoid of any feeling. You don't drive on visuals alone, but it isn't far from it. It isn't a car that reads your mind and just magically goes there like some of the best do. You have to rely on the chassis feedback to tell you what is happening, as the steering is giving you the silent treatment. Fortunately there is some chassis communication going on, so it isn't too tedious.
I would say that it is a nice rental car. Not a personal keeper or a fun thrasher like a manual Tercel ( which I once rented from the same airport ). Fine transport for folks who don't really care about cars and replace them every few years. A very good alternative to some domestic offerings, although not Ford Focus fun. If this is what Nissan and Infiniti are offering to people, they will do fine. Most folks will never notice the details as they haven't been exposed to higher level cars before. The details aren't there though. It is an intermediary for people who might eventually move up the car food chain if they notice the small stuff.
I have to say that climbing into the Alfa less than 12 hours later, was a shock and half...;-)
07-15-2002, 01:03 AM
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You should write for C&D or something
Very thorough. Funny but that's how I pictured the Altima to perform. It's a nice rental. I recently spent over a month in a Chevy Metro rental, however I don't think I can give it a positive review ;-) Btw, has the mystery mechanic returned and do you guys finally have the alignment software? Sorry, just poking fun at the situation :-P
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