Review & Photos by: Len Ingrassia
Automotive columnist

The 2025 Nissan Altima has rolled the dice – taking away a powerful turbo while adding a value-package filled with goodies. Will it be enough to woo people away from class leaders’ Toyota Camry and Honda Accord?

Hard to say with Nissan’s plans to discontinue the Altima at the end of this year as the company shifts focus to electric vehicles at its Canton, Mississippi manufacturing facility.

Still, there is plenty of reason to cash in on a value packed sedan this year. Last year’s turbocharged 248 horsepower engine is gone and replaced, in all Altima’s, with a base 188 hp naturally aspirated, four-cylinder – non-turbo powerplant.

The new engine is more efficient but lacks forward acceleration while mated with a continuously variable transmission.

On the flip side, it delivers a combined 28-39 miles per gallon city/highway travel with nearly 500 miles between fill-ups. This year’s sedan is part of the sixth generation Altima introduced in 2019.

The target audience may find the new engine meets their expectation for normal city driving and casual highway travel. The four-door sedan reached 60 miles per hour from a dead stop at our restricted track in a leisurely 8.1 seconds and panic stopped from 60 to zero in an average 122 feet.

The midsize sedan is available in base S trim followed by SV, SR and SL with prices ranging from $28-$34,000. All-wheel drive is available in all but the base S trim

Our SV tester was equipped with the new Special Edition package that adds gloss black wheels with seventeen-inch alloys setting off the mid-priced SV while adding a sporty look and feel with its lowered cowl and hood.

The package also includes an easy to navigate 12.3-inch touchscreen with redundant knobs below for the screen challenged, wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and phone charging pad, a rear spoiler and remote engine start.

Four USB charge ports front and rear accommodate type A and C cords. A 60/40 split fold down rear seat has good leg and headroom and the trunk holds 15.4 cubic feet of cargo, a bit larger than Camry but smaller than Accord.

Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection is standard on Altima as is rear automatic braking. It applies emergency stopping while in reverse if people or objects are detected.

It works seamlessly with radar-based blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, high beam assist and available ProPilot, a system that combines adaptive cruise with lane keeping assist to keep the car lane-centered.

The Altima delivers a compliant ride with firm braking and little roll in cornering. We did notice some steering precision lacking and suspension that allowed some rough surfaces to infiltrate the cabin but, overall, the Altima is a well-rounded sedan with lots of value-added features.

A new Nissan Care program includes three pre-paid oil changes within two-years or 24,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

We’d recommend a test drive in the Altima to check out its numerous value-added features compared with Camry and Accord.

Contact independent automotive columnist Len Ingrassia at editor@ptd.net

What was reviewed:

2025 Nissan Altima SV

Engine: 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder – 188 horsepower

MSRP/as tested: $28,930 / $32,520

EPA rated mileage: 25 city, 34 highway, 28 combined

Assembled: The Nissan Altima is assembled in Canton, MS. U. S/Canadian parts content – 50 percent, major source of foreign parts – Mexico, 15 percent. Country of origin, engine – US; transmission – Mexico.

Crash test ratings: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rated the 2025 Altima its highest rating of ‘Good” in small overlap crashworthiness, downgraded moderate overlap to “Marginal” and side crash protection downgraded to “Poor”. In addition, front crash prevention – vehicle to vehicle – rated “Poor” and front crash prevention – pedestrian – rated “Marginal”. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gave the Altima five stars, its highest rating overall for overall safety; side crash and rollover protection and four stars in side crashworthiness.

Warranty: 3-year/ 36,000 mile basic; 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain. Three oil changes within 2 years/24,000 miles. No scheduled maintenance.