When you think Nissan what comes to mind?
For us at Automobile Journal, Nissan is one of the most imaginative and creative auto companies in the world. They break new ground (see Nissan Leaf), they often startle us–and please us at the same time (see Nissan Cube), and their sports cars are indisputably among the most desirable in the world (see Nissan GT-R and the 370-Z).
There’s seldom a dull moment with this brand!
We also know we can count on them for innovative styling, creative and daring design, and their engines that have been rated ampong ythe best in the industry for ages. And their Infiniti luxury line? We swoon! But more about Infiniti in a separate Buyers Guide piece. Stay tuned!
As for their 2013 lineup, three nameplates should come to mind: Altima, Pathfinder, and Sentra.
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of Altima to Nissan, and the all-new 2013 model almost surely will be among the top sellers in the mid-priced, family car segment.
Why? First, it’s a lot of car for the money. There’s a long list of standard equipment, and an equally long list of options and choices to make. The new Altima also pretty economical: Highway gas mileage rating with the four cylinder model is 38 mpg, and that’s with a gasoline, not hybrid engine. It has wonderful features like the”Easy Fill Tire Alert” system.
If you’ve ever dreaded–or loathed– filling your tires with air and guessing whether you’ve added enough, you’ll love this one.
The “Easy Fill Tire Alert” system uses tire pressure monitoring sensors to alert a driver when a tire’s pressure drops below a safe level. Once the driver stops to add air, the system activates the vehicle’s four-way flashers to indicate that the tire is inflating, the horn then honks once to signal that the tire is at its recommended inflation level.
If the driver continues to fill the tire with air, the horn honks more aggressively to indicate over inflation and once air is let out of the tire, the horn chirps once more to indicate the correct pressure has been reached, making the whole process fast and easy and with no need for hand-held tire pressure gauges.
As for styling, Altima’s new design has plenty of flavorings from the Infiniti lineup–not a bad thing. Both the interior and the exterior look way more expensive than their competitors, and the Altima team also wisely kept plenty of sporty performance and handling fun dialed in, too, thus preserving Altima’s long-standing reputation as the driver’s car among family sedans.
As we mentioned earlier, when you get behind the wheel, the first thing you’ll notice is that Altima is way more fun to drive than the other cars in the segment, even in base model form, with sparkling handling, well-balanced steering, and an overall sporty demeanor that feels much lighter and more rugged than the previous generation of Altima.
Inside, Nissan managed to design an interior that feels spacious, yet cozy at the same time. The driver feels as though he or she is surrounded by a cockpit, giving a sense of intimacy behind the wheel, but a wider center stack and other elements make you feel as though the interior itself is wider. And the steering wheel is spot-on perfect in size and texture for vigorous driving.
The four cylinder version feels quick and responsive, stepping out instantly as you press the accelerator pedal. And you’d better hold on tight with the V-6, which can really gobble up pavement pretty quickly. We think that for most people, the four cylinder version will be more than adequate.
The 2.5-liter four cylinder engine has been redesigned to be lighter and more efficient, witih both variable valve timing on both exhaust and intake camshafts, and a new intake system that opens the valves at a higher rpm to help keep the torque curve flat. Nissan’s increased horsepower to 182 hp (from 175 hp), while torque remains the same at 180 lb-ft (est.). Meanwhile, if you have a need for speed, check out the 3.5-liter V6 rated at 270 horsepower (est.) and 258 lb-ft of torque (est.).
There are other cool features that Nissan can point to with the Altima, too. It will have the first self-cleaning rear view camera ever on any carm, and it will be the first in its class to offer lane departure warning and moving object detection, and it allows drivers to get a warning with the backup assistance system if there’s something in car’s blind spot. And a NASA-insported seat desigtn reduces fatigue by up to fifty percent on long drives.
Nissan Altima base prices for 2013 range from $22,280 to $30,860. Mileage rating with the four is 27/38, and 23/323 with the V-6.
Another all-new model for Nissan is the Pathfinder, which has foresaken its former body on chassis design and switched over to unit body construction, thus making it a crossover rather than a strict body on frame sport utility vehicle.
With the weight losses that go along with switchover, the Pathfinder has much better mileage with ratings of 19 to 20 for city driving and 25 to 26 for highway driving.Power comes from a 3.5 liter V-6 that produces 260 horsepower, and the Pathfinder comes in S, SV, SL, Premium, Platinum, and Platinum Premium versions.
When you check out the new Pathfinder, be sure you take a look at the new “EZ Flex” second row seat. This system lets the second row 60/40-split seat slid forward as much as 5.5 inches so your passengers can gert into the car from the third row from either side of the car. It also includes a Latch and Glide feature which allows a child protection seat to stay anchored and attached to the second row seat if you tilt that seat forward to get to the third row seat.
If you like lots of sun, you’ll love the huge new sunroof, and you’ll also discover some features like the “Around View parking camera that monitors things in a 360 degrees radius. This crossover comes in both all wheel and front wheel drive versions.
Style-wise, the new Pathfinder is lovely. Gone are the squarish lines and the rather cumbersome look of the old model. Now you get curves, complementary character lines along the flanks, and much more modern front and back end designs.
You’ll be hard pressed to find a 2013 car that looks and acts more differently from its 2012 counterpart than Nissan’s all-new 2013 Sentra, which hits that milestone 40 miles per gallon on the highway among other things.
The company says the new model is slightly bigger overall, but also has more interior room while still being 150 pounds or five percent lighter than the outgoing model. Nissan’s news release also says the new car is more aerodynamic, thus allowing Nissan to “use a more fuel efficient 1.8-liter engine, which along with the next generation Xtronic CVT® with sub-planetary gear helps deliver a 13 percent improvement in EPA combined fuel economy.”
As for looks, we won’t be surprised if the Sentra is nicknamed the “Baby Altima.” That’s because it resembles closely the also all-new Nissan Altima– great since the Altima has been praised for looking like a far more expensive luxury car. From taillight design to grille to side profile, the similarities are striking.
The interior is classier too, with upgraded materials, a more contemporary presentation, and a new, more expensive looking instrument panel. And as we said, more interior passenger space, too. You’lll notice the use of a lot of materials that look like they belong on a mid-sized sedan, which of course, is in keeping with Nissan’s “Class above” philosophy for its products. You’ll also see things like soft-touch instrument panel and driver’s door armrest, available leather-appointed seating and available Maple wood-tone trim.
Along with offering mid-size roominess in a compact-size exterior, the intuitive interior layout emphasizes driver control and class-leading seat comfort for all occupants. The instrument panel curves out towards the doors and features Fine Vision electroluminescent gauges that are backlit even in daylight, providing a high-quality look that is also easy to read, Nissan says.
Let’s talk fuel mileage.“With the FE+ models, Sentra achieves up to 40 mpg on the highway. Other CVT-equipped models are rated at 39 mpg on the highway, ” Nissan says in a news release. “All CVT models achieve a best-in-class* EPA rated 34 mpg combined (City and Highway).”
As is the case with Altima, Nissan seems to be going after the more upscale buyers in the market segment with the new Sentra, while still offering prices that are highly competitive with other brands in that segment.
The new Sentra design, Nissan says, reflects “a “professional” character targeted at upwardly bound buyers who aspire to drive something more premium than some of the other designs in the segment. It adopts Nissan’s bold new signature trapezoid-shaped grille and large wraparound headlights with LED accents – the only sedan in the compact segment to offer them as standard equipment. In the rear, LED taillights are also standard, which complements the sophisticated styling.”
The company adds, “Compared to the previous design, Sentra’s beltline has been lowered and a new character line has been added that runs from the front fenders, along the sides, and finishes at the sculpted taillights and trunklid, giving the new Sentra a more aggressive stance and enhanced outward visibility for passengers. Other exterior features include chrome door handles and accents, available heated outside mirrors with integrated turn signals, and available sport front and rear fascias and rear spoiler.”
The 2013 Sentra is built on a new platform that is lighter than the previous design, contributing to the new model’s more than 150-pound weight reduction.
Standard interior features include 6-way manual driver’s seat, 4-way manual front passenger’s seat, front and rear door pockets, front center console with padded armrest and cupholders, rear seat armrest with cupholders, air conditioning with in-cabin microfilter, tilt and telescopic steering column, power windows with driver’s one-touch auto up/down with auto reverse, power door locks with auto-locking feature, two auxiliary 12-volt power outlets, remote keyless entry and remote trunk and fuel-filler door releases.
A new Dual Zone Automatic Temperature Control (ATC) system is offered for the first time with Sentra, allowing the driver or front passengers to set their own individual temperature settings.
The standard audio system is an AM/FM/CD system with four speakers. Other available systems include a 6-speaker AM/FM/CD system with 4.3-inch color display, USB connection for iPod® and other compatible devices; and a Bose® Premium audio system with eight speakers and an amplifier that has been specially tuned to either the cloth or leather interior for best performance.
Also available is SiriusXM Satellite Radio (SiriusXM subscription required, sold separately) and Bluetooth® Hands-free Phone System.
Like the new Altima, the 2013 Sentra offers NissanConnect, with an all-new version of the Nissan Navigation system being available, too. NissanConnect℠with Navigation includes a Hands-Free Text Messaging Assistant that reads incoming text messages and allows drivers to reply without taking their hands off of the steering wheel.
The system also offers Pandora® radio capability, Streaming Audio via Bluetooth® and a large 5.8-inch touch-screen display. The Navigation System includes NavTraffic and NavWeather functions (SiriusXM subscription required, sold separately), along with POIs powered by Google™ and Google™ Send-to-Car functions. The Navigation’s map views now features warnings for curves and speed limit information.
Other available technology ranges from the RearView Monitor and Nissan Intelligent Key® with illuminated push-button ignition switch to the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) with Easy Fill Tire Alert feature. If air is being added or removed from a tire, the system signals the user when the recommended tire pressure has been reached by sounding the horn.
Power for the new Sentra comes from an all-new engine and CVT transmission. Now displacing 1.8-liters, Sentra’s advanced DOHC 4-cylinder engine offers a longer stroke than typical engines in its class, resulting in improved combustion speed and efficiency. The engine is equipped with a twin Continuously Variable Timing Control (CVTC) system which modulates both the intake and exhaust valve opening time (similar to that used on the flagship Nissan Maxima).
The new engine is matched with a new-generation Xtronic CVT® (a 6-speed manual is available in the base Sentra S model). Fuel economy is rated at 30 miles per gallon City, 39 miles per gallon Highway and a class-leading 34 miles per gallon combined with the CVT*.
The new Sentra also features an independent strut front suspension with stabilizer bar, torsion beam rear axle with integrated stabilizer bar, power-assisted vented front disc/rear drum braking system (4-wheel disc brakes are available), and vehicle-speed-sensitive electric power steering. Available wheels and tires include 16-inch steel wheels with full covers with 205/55R16 size all-season tires or 17-inch aluminum-alloy wheels with 205/50R17 all-season tires.
In addition to the Sentra S model’s long list of standard features, Sentra SV models add cruise control, two additional speakers, illuminated steering wheel audio controls, vehicle security system and premium cloth seating and door trim.
The Sentra SR adds a sportier appearance, starting with 17-inch forked 5-spoke aluminum-alloy wheels, sport front and rear fascias, sport front grille, lower body side sill extensions, rear spoiler with integrated LED brake light, fog lights and chrome exhaust tip finisher. Inside, the Sentra SR includes sport silver interior trim, premium sport cloth seats and driver’s seatback pocket.
The top-of-the-line Sentra SL adds 17-inch split 7-spoke aluminum-alloy wheels, Smart Auto headlights, fog lights, heated outside mirrors with integrated LED turn signals, Nissan Intelligent Key®, Bluetooth® Hands-free Phone System, 6-speaker audio system with 4.3-inch display, and Sirius XM Satellite Radio (SiriusXM subscription required, sold separately).
Additional Sentra SL equipment includes leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift lever knob, Maple wood-tone trim, Dual Zone Automatic Temperature Control (ATC), Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) with Easy Fill Tire Alert and more.
The 2013 Nissan Sentra is offered in S, FE+ S, SV, FE+ SV, SR and SL trim levels. All models come with standard Xtronic CVT®, except the base Sentra S that is available with a choice of 6-speed manual or CVT. Prices range from $15,990 for the Sentra S with a manual transmission ($17,260 with the continuously variable automatic transmission) to $19,760 for the Sentra SL with a continuously variable automatic transmission.