2008 Nissan Altima from North America - Comments

@The above comment: The Fusion is made in Mexico, and the quality problems Nissan/Toyota/Honda might have are not what GM's problems are. With a GM product, the car will fall apart after a few years, like my last Oldsmobile did. Some initial glitches like you might get with a Japanese car are not like poor engineering you get with a GM product.

I have a 2008 Nissan Altima 3.5. Hands down the best car I have driven. My last car was a Ford Mustang with ton of problems, so you shouldn't say Japanese cars aren't as good as American cars.

I own a 2007 Altima and by far it is the best car I might have driven to date. I live in the Middle East. The car handles the roads perfectly. No overheating problems, excellent A/C. Excellent road handling, the car holds itself well onto the road. Good work Nissan!!

Our 2008 SL has had a number of problems related to the electronics system NOT the engine. The most annoying problem besides the touchy foot brakes (which cannot be fixed re the dealer even if he fully replaced them) is a trunk that opens on it's own anywhere, anytime. This can happen even when the "key" is not anywhere near the car.

Yeah, my Altima does that too. What seems to be happening is that the "key" has buttons that can be too easily pushed accidentally. So you can be 100 ft away doing something and have your trunk open because the button got pushed. Another fun issue is the panic button doing the same thing. I'll often be putting my kids to bed and lean on the fob. Suddenly I'll hear the car honking in my garage. Nissan needs to seriously look at redesigning that thing! Otherwise the car is great.

I own a 2007 Nissan Altima 3.5 SE. It currently has 17,000 miles on it. I kinda have a heavy foot and drive it at rather fast speeds.

To date the only issue I had was a small crack in my drivers side leather seat. I took it to the Nissan dealership and they promptly replaced the seating cushion with no questions asked.

I get my vehicle serviced and rotate my tires regularly. I am very pleased with the way it performs. The car definitely has some get up and go.

I would definitely recommend the Altima (3.5 liter models) to anyone looking to buy a reliable family sedan that accommodates the driver and passengers with up to date, and some would consider upscale, extras (leather seats, Bose stereo system, GPS, heated seats and outside mirrors, review mirror light dimmer, outside lamp signal lights, fog lights, sunroof etc.).

In my opinion the Altima is too large of a vehicle to come in any form of a 4 cylinder.

I've got an Altima 2.5SL. 175hp is enough to spin the tires at takeoff and to get it to 60 in 8 seconds. For those of us who want the mileage, the power loss is acceptable.

If you having problems with accidentally pushing buttons on your remote key fob, I have seen ads in the back of some of the car magazines for inexpensive little rubber pieces that slip over the key fobs. That should make it harder to accidentally hit the buttons.

"I've got an Altima 2.5SL. 175hp is enough to spin the tires at takeoff and to get it to 60 in 8 seconds. For those of us who want the mileage, the power loss is acceptable"

175 HP is quite respectable, and a couple of decades ago 0-60 in 8 seconds was considered VERY fast. People in this country are OBSESSED with horsepower when in reality most 4 cylinder vehicles sold in the U.S. are MORE than adequate in performance. It's ironic that the first Mustang GT (1982) had only 157 HP, and it was regarded as one of the hottest cars around at the time. Where in the U.S. (other than a private race course) can you actually USE 300+ horsepower??

The last comment about 175 HP being plenty is dead on. It is just crazy how all the car magazines over emphasize horsepower. Even Consumer Reports, who you think would be more sensible, goes over board on that.

My Monterey minivan has 201 HP, and with six adults in it, going up the steepest long hills we have around here, does 80 mph and still has reserve power, and I have read in car magazines (Consumer Guide) that it doesn't have enough horsepower. I don't think they even tested it before making that comment.

One of the car magazines (probably either C/D or Motortrend since I read those almost every issue), reports 0-60 times by revving the engine as high as they can and then slamming it into gear. They try every combination they can to get the fastest time they can. If you read every issue carefully, you will read that they occasionally mention that is what they do. And if they find something they think is really cool like they can get a faster time by skipping first gear entirely and slamming it straight into second, they report that like it is an important discovery. How they think that is that in any way relevant to how I would ever treat a car I own myself is beyond me. They just come across like irresponsible teenagers.

"If you having problems with accidentally pushing buttons on your remote key fob, I have seen ads in the back of some of the car magazines for inexpensive little rubber pieces that slip over the key fobs. That should make it harder to accidentally hit the buttons."

Wow! Thanks for the idea.

Is anyone having trouble with 2008 Nissan Altima muffler covers falling off? On my third one in less than a year.