A mini-parade of gen1 and gen2 Altimas, back when they were…what size were they exactly back then? A tweener? Slotted in between the compact Sentra and the “standard sized” Maxima? When the Altima appeared in 1993, it didn’t have any direct competition from Toyota or Honda; kind of a clever strategy. And these Altimas was pretty fun to drive. Well, the Altima took the great leap forward with the gen3, making the Maxima rather superfluous. Oh well; I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time…
They were either ‘bigger’ compacts or ‘entry’ mid-size. Altima sold well from 1993-97, but the 1998-2001 tanked since it was an odd size for the market. For 2002, there was a chance that the Maxima line would have been expanded to have a base 4 cylinder model to compete with Camry. But, instead it was named Altima, and old Maxima carried over.
Same thing happened with Ford Contour. Arrived just when Camry and Accord grew to mid size, and buyers usually buy cars by inches and feet.
The real tragedy here is lack of proper manual transmissions! CVT only on Altima+Maxima. Even the Sentra only gives you a 6MT on the most base model.
Unfortunate
I appreciate Ford letting us special order a 6MT on the Fusion SE. I understand dealers don’t want to stock them, but what’s the harm in special order availability?! Charge me more…I don’t care. Just give us the option back!!
+1. The missus and I have been kicking virtual tires while looking for something to backstop her ’09 Civic. Said vehicle has to be larger and quieter; unfortunately, Nissan didn’t make it past the first cut account not being able to match a manual transmission with the ‘right’ engine/trim level.
Nissan has backed itself into a corner with the Maxima. They can either significantly enlarge it (over 100 cubic ft of passenger space) which would make it a truly LARGE car as compared to the Altima’s “big midsize”. They could make the Maxima a special option package on the Altima and try to figure out some things that people would pay more for. (Perhaps Recaro seats, an honest to god manual trans, and a HP bump for the V6 – sort of like a Nissimo Altima.) Or they can just throw in the towel all together and cancel the sucker.
Right now the Maxima is a car with no reason to exist.
What’s wrong with making the next Gen a little smaller? Keep the trim levels, reduce the NVH and increase the mpg while keeping it the same price. After all, Ford did quite well for itself when it went from the 1973 Broughmstang to the 1974 Mustang II which did all the above – it was called a little jewel because the NVH was so reduced. They experienced quite an increase in sales, too – partly due to Oil Crisis I.0 and the fact that their 4 cyl would get 30 mpg, while the Camaro was stuck with 800 more pounds and a 250 Six that got 20.
The Altima was JUST redesigned is now bigger than the Maxima inside. The Maxima can’t go DOWN in size because the Sentra just got redesigned and was made HUGE inside. The Versa was just redesigned too. The Maxima is now the odd man out. There’s no where to go but up or death.
BTW a 4cyl Altima now gets 35mpg or so.
Those old Altimas were tough cars. Every now and then a distributor would have to be replaced, but otherwise pretty solid.
I don’t care much for the new ones because I don’t like the feel of a CVT. I think the Mazda 6 is a better choice. A lot of Mazda dealers will at least stock one 6 with a manual trans.
93-97 “Altys” are tough as nails, and outlasted B13 Sentras around here in salt/rustville. The 1998 versions seem to be disappearing quicker.
Still see quite a few still kicking, even with a little rust. Another tough Nissan is the first versions of Quest/Mercury Villager. But there are also cockroach 90’s Maximas sticking it out.
For a daily beater, you’d be hard pressed to do better than a Mk I/II Altima. Fortunate that they have that quality about them, as to my eyes the sheet metal and facia looked dated very quickly.
I think we had these as Bluebirds NZ skyliner will be along soon to prove me wrong but I think we get Altimas soon to match the release in OZ. Only unlike OZ Im fairly sure we already have em with other badges.
You are correct that we had these as NZ new named Bluebird with the SR20DE, and in the lowest grade of 4 featuring the SR18DE.
We also got floods of used imports with engines ranging from the GA16DE right through to the SR20DET. Also there was a pillarless sedan version in Japan badged Bluebiird ARX, which was the same model, but all different outer panels.
We will be getting the Altima, but we haven’t had it before here (unless people have rebadged Bluebirds.
You’re 100% right Bryce, the Altima’s popping along soon to replace the Maxima. Nissan believes that the Maxima name equates to old folks, so they want to replace it with something they hope will appeal to a younger demograph. I find it amusing, because the Maxima was initially a 6-cylinder Bluebird, yet the Altima has now grown to be bigger than the Maxima. It’ll be interesting to see how it performs here – especially if they bring in the 4-cylinder models.
The first-gen Altimas were pretty robust; the remaining ones around here may be weathered, but are pretty rust-free. The second-gen tended to get rusty fairly early here in the heartland.
When the ’93 debuted, I thought they (and the Toyota Previa) looked like potatoes on wheels. I appreciate them more now, along with the Infiniti J30. Their lines were smooth, but still had a clear identity–unlike many of today’s silver jelly beans.
I really like the gen 1 shape, but I cannot stand the J30 (received here in NZ as used imports badged “Nissan Leopard J’Ferie” – I kid you not). To me the J30 always looked like a Bluebird that had blown up too much and sagged simultaneously.
That’s probably because I was more used to seeing the Bluebird long before the J30’s started arriving, so was more used to the proportioning of the Bluebird.
Yep, those were ugly as hell. Bluebirds were fine little cars, but really, really… Give me a twin-turbo Y32 Gloria or V8 AWD Cima any time…
I’m with you on the J Ferie…! We did get one NZ-new J-Ferie, it was on trademe just before Christmas. It was special-ordered new from Nissan NZ.
Ooh, very interesting. I’d say it probably wasn’t a special order for a retail customer, more likely an evaluation car, or a company car for the top brass, who were usually imported from japan themselves back then.
Yes, sounds about right. The vendor said it was the previous owner (a retired car dealer) who said it came via Nissan. I didn’t actually believe it, but carjam confirmed it was NZ-new on 18 Feb 1993. Shame it doesn’t still wear the ’93 plates! (RW3767). I’ve still got the auction link, I’ll check it when I get home.
You probably know we got a few (4?) Infiniti Q45 sedans new too – presumably as evaluation cars, maybe via Australia. One of them was on trademe last year, another occasionally parks near my work (I carjammed it to confirm it was NZ-new). A friend had a JDM Q45 a few years ago, he couldn’t sell it no matter how hard he tried. Once the gearbox blew, it sold quickly, presumably for the engine to be transplanted into something else. I liked it, but my overwhelming memory of it was zero foot room under the front seats, meaning rear seat passengers were cramped. A strange oversight from Nissan!
Very interesting…..
Yes, I knew there were a few NZ new Q45’s, I’m not sure the story on them, but at least one of them was owned by JAL, but whether that was the original owner I don’t know.
At least as of last year, I’m pretty sure that you can still get an Altima coupe with a manual, but not the sedan.
I came close to getting one of these Altimas used back in 2000, but it was automatic, so I got a new 5 speed manual Sentra instead. A decade later, and I now have a 2012 Altima, because it has a CVT. I do a lot of driving, in traffic, with a bad knee, so my manual trans days are over, at least in my daily driver . Personally, I like the CVT better than the 6 speed autos the others are pushing. I mean, it’s always in the right gear.
Totally agree on this; anyone who trashes the CVT because of something they read or felt years ago hasn’t driven a new Nissan with it. Edmunds has a long term test blog and they just loved the CVT in the new Quest.
What the 93 Altima lacked in size it more than made up for in styling and performance, at least compared to Accord and Camry. That KA24 was pretty rough without balance shafts but had 150HP IIRC. Sold much better than the Stanza, even though it had orange wood in the interior! The 98 seemed like a rush job reskin.
Kind of cool both of those old Altimas in the pic had spoilers and alloys!
Yes. I have owned a Malibu with the 6 speed auto, and have test driven 6 speed autos from others, and I really can’t stand them. They never want to downshift, they take seconds to decide what gear to use when they they do, and they spend more time shifting gears than they do in one gear. It’s very tiring to live with if you drive in traffic a lot.
The CVT that Nissan uses is the best (in my opinion) terms of driving performance and efficiency in this world of CAFE standards. It keeps the revs low in normal driving, but it’s always ready to rev with no delay if you dump the throttle a little. And the latest ones seem to be lasting as long as the Nissan’s normal automatics did anyhow (knocking on wood :)).
The last Maxima I drove here had the CVT. Hated it, it sounded like a vacuum cleaner, and when accelerating from a standing start it was at the redline the whole time – I enjoy hearing an engine’s revs build through the range, not just sit at redline until illegal speeds arrive.
The top trim sold here had a heads-up display which required a special windshield that cost three times the standard version to replace, something like $1500 in 1993. That must have hurt.
My wife had a 2000 for many years, it was boring but tough.
“Oh well; I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time…”
I actually think Nissan’s strategy worked just fine. The pre-04 Maximas were all imported V6 cars, but probably didn’t really sell for much more than US-made Accords and Camrys, many of them with fours. From 04 on, both Max and Alt share a US-made platform that must be cheaper to build. The upsized Alt is now at the “Chevy” heart of the market and the Max is a kind of modern-day tarted-up Cutlass. High volume plus high margin out of the same factory, why not?