2010 Nissan Altima 2.5 Rental--Experience

[Tdbo]

Just got back from vacation about 10 days ago. We flew out to Vegas, rented a car, drove through Yosemite. We spent 3 days in SF and went up to Napa Valley. We then drove Rt.1 from Pacifica to Pismo Beach, stopping at Monterey. We then continued through St. Luis Obispo and stopped at Simi Valley and saw the Reagan Library. We then drove to LA and spent some time there before flying out.
This trip was kind of a new experience for us because it was the first time that we had ever used Priceline. When I was pricing rental cars, I got a case of sticker shock (generally $800-1200 for a full size car for 8 days.) Understanding the drop fee was the major charge, I got on Priceline and found one for $309.29 for the same period of time with Avis(staying @ the Trump in Vegas for $95/night was nice too.)
The car turned out to be an Altima,(obviously) w/21K on it and it was a California car (in Vegas, thus the savings.) It was comfortable, fun to drive, good seats, with lots of hard, cheap looking plastic. It had great pick up as long as it was on flat ground. Got this car up into Yosemite, and I thought it was going to blow up. I'm still unsure if the car was underpowered or the Transmission shifted strangely, but it absolutely would not pull even with the engine revved up. However, we made it. Gas mileage was ok. It consumed 59.468 gallons over 1494 miles for an average of 25.12 mpg. Stops were as follows:
Las Vegas - Circle K- 7.305 gal @ 273.9
Bishop, Ca. - Bishop Paiute Gas Station -8.894 @ 297.9
Pinole, Ca - Valero - 13.231 @ 309.9
S. San Francisco, Ca - Costco - 7.337 @ 299.9
San Luis Obispo, Ca - Chevron - 13.220 @ 313.9
Los Angeles (LAX) - 76 - 9.481 @ 305.9
I tended to fill up whenever I saw a good price and needed a break behind the wheel. (Durango: I know what you mean about Ca gas prices now. You can pay about any price you want to pay. Saw a lot of $3.00-$3.50 with a $4.76.9 on Route 1. Felt strange paying some of these prices when I paid $2.45 in Ohio the day before I left.)
Impressions on the car: nice but I don't think I'd ever buy one. Even though it was a rental, it had a lot of squeaks and rattles and performance in the mountains was poor. However, great rental at a great price. It was a great trip. To those of you who live in Nevada and California: you live in beautiful areas.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Impressions on the car: nice but I don't think I'd ever buy one. Even though it was a rental, it had a lot of squeaks and rattles and performance in the mountains was poor. However, great rental at a great price. It was a great trip. To those of you who live in Nevada and California: you live in beautiful areas.


The Altimas have a CVT transmission that works extraordinarily well on the V6, but not on the four cylinder. The CVT in our Altima V6 is fantastic and I rarely need more than 2,200 rpm to pass cars on the highway. There is no "rubber band" feeling at all with the V6's CVT.

So far, at 4k, we have not had any squeaks or rattles. Hopefully it stays that way. However, I do not have a good feeling about the car for some reason. Although nothing has broken so far, I have a gut feeling that something is going to break and it'll be expensive. But in the meantime, the Altima is still a decent car with the V6-- the sport suspension and the V6 makes it an incredibly fun car to drive despite its size.

Your fuel economy seems low for a four cylinder. Perhaps its because you had the car loaded? We average 22 mpg on every fill-up with our V6, and that's mostly shorter trip city driving. On highway trips, we average upper 20s on regular fuel.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Impressions on the car: nice but I don't think I'd ever buy one. Even though it was a rental, it had a lot of squeaks and rattles and performance in the mountains was poor. However, great rental at a great price. It was a great trip. To those of you who live in Nevada and California: you live in beautiful areas.


The Altimas have a CVT transmission that works extraordinarily well on the V6, but not on the four cylinder. The CVT in our Altima V6 is fantastic and I rarely need more than 2,200 rpm to pass cars on the highway. There is no "rubber band" feeling at all with the V6's CVT.

So far, at 4k, we have not had any squeaks or rattles. Hopefully it stays that way. However, I do not have a good feeling about the car for some reason. Although nothing has broken so far, I have a gut feeling that something is going to break and it'll be expensive. But in the meantime, the Altima is still a decent car with the V6-- the sport suspension and the V6 makes it an incredibly fun car to drive despite its size.

Your fuel economy seems low for a four cylinder. Perhaps its because you had the car loaded? We average 22 mpg on every fill-up with our V6, and that's mostly shorter trip city driving. On highway trips, we average upper 20s on regular fuel.


You share the same feeling that I do about that car. It never gave me any reason to think that it would break down but never instilled any confidence that it wouldn't. I kind of felt that something happened after Yosemite. The car acted differently after going through that terrain. On mileage, I wish I would have kept it in segments. Even though we did quite a bit of city driving, that figure did seem low. On the highway, I used the cruise continuously and never set it over the speed limit. The car wasn't especially overloaded with two people and one large suitcase with two small carry ons. I'm not sure I would want to own one when it gets up in years (and miles.)

 

[SLCraig]

You probably would have loved that car if it had the 3.5.

The 2.5 is close to 100 less horsepower, and a lot less fun.

Anyways glad you had a great trip! I want to go there someday too.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
You probably would have loved that car if it had the 3.5.

The 2.5 is close to 100 less horsepower, and a lot less fun.

Anyways glad you had a great trip! I want to go there someday too.
+1

The 3.5 is the best experience and so smooth IMO.

 

[panthermike]

Hmmm, 25.12mpg doesn't seem very good for a 2.5 4cyl. Was it alot of mountains or hard on throttle, etc? Glad you had a good trip BTW.

 

[ClarkB]

Wait a second, people are expecting someone driving a rental car to return good MPG? Sure, a 4-cylinder Altima should get ~30mpg but does anyone really expect that he drove it like it was his own car? Or that the many previous drivers treated it nicely? 25 isn't grand but considering the conditions I'd call it very acceptable.

Clark

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: ClarkB
Wait a second, people are expecting someone driving a rental car to return good MPG? Sure, a 4-cylinder Altima should get ~30mpg but does anyone really expect that he drove it like it was his own car? Or that the many previous drivers treated it nicely? 25 isn't grand but considering the conditions I'd call it very acceptable.

Clark


It depends how hard you drive it. Recently, Edmunds took their long-term GMC Terrain on a trip to Las Vegas and averaged 21 mpg on a vehicle that is EPA rated for 32. Truth is, a four cylinder is going to work harder on the hills which will cause fuel economy to drop significantly. And whether or not the previous renters treated it nicely should not have ANY effect on the fuel economy.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: panthermike
Hmmm, 25.12mpg doesn't seem very good for a 2.5 4cyl. Was it alot of mountains or hard on throttle, etc? Glad you had a good trip BTW.


Lots of mountains/hills especially Yosemite, San Francisco and Rt.1. Didn't push it any harder than required to keep up with traffic. Used Cruise whenever practical and did not go over speed limit. Like I said, this thing couldn't pull worth a darn in the mountains. Not sure that the transmission set up did it any favors, either.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: ClarkB
Wait a second, people are expecting someone driving a rental car to return good MPG? Sure, a 4-cylinder Altima should get ~30mpg but does anyone really expect that he drove it like it was his own car? Or that the many previous drivers treated it nicely? 25 isn't grand but considering the conditions I'd call it very acceptable.

Clark


Drove it like I would my own car. I paid for the gas.

 

[mechanicx]

My brother bought a new 2-door 2.5 Atlima S in '08 and at first liked the car a lot even the CVT, but after about a year he couldn't stand the inconsistiency of the CVT and traded it in on a new Accord 2.4 EX 2-door.

The Altima from the amount of time I drove/rode in it was very quiet and nice riding compared to the Accord, and except for sportiness more like the '02 Grand Am GT 2-dr that the Altima replaced. It did have touchy brakes, and somewhat jerk, luggy CVT and with artificial creep. That was the only things really wrong with it and otherwise I liked it better than the new Accord. A lot of people say the interior has cheap plastic, but I didn't think it's that worse than an Accord's interior (which seems to get high marks) and considering the Altima was a couple grand cheaper and got better gas milage. I remember it had like a 20 gal tank though and could go like 500 miles on it or so lol.

 

[mechanicx]

Quote:
Las Vegas - Circle K- 7.305 gal @ 273.9
Bishop, Ca. - Bishop Paiute Gas Station -8.894 @ 297.9
Pinole, Ca - Valero - 13.231 @ 309.9
S. San Francisco, Ca - Costco - 7.337 @ 299.9
San Luis Obispo, Ca - Chevron - 13.220 @ 313.9
Los Angeles (LAX) - 76 - 9.481 @ 305.9


I just did a quick run over the gals and miles and it looks like it went ~1800 miles and used ~60 gals, and were getting ~30 mpg. Some of your logs were close to 40 mpg, ie, Las Vegas - Circle K- 7.305 gal @ 273.9. You only got under 30 mpg a couple times in Cali, and it's possible you were driving in the mountains, stop n go, or maybe even a crooked pump. Is there any change you miscalculated?

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Quote:
Las Vegas - Circle K- 7.305 gal @ 273.9
Bishop, Ca. - Bishop Paiute Gas Station -8.894 @ 297.9
Pinole, Ca - Valero - 13.231 @ 309.9
S. San Francisco, Ca - Costco - 7.337 @ 299.9
San Luis Obispo, Ca - Chevron - 13.220 @ 313.9
Los Angeles (LAX) - 76 - 9.481 @ 305.9


I just did a quick run over the gals and miles and it looks like it went ~1800 miles and used ~60 gals, and were getting ~30 mpg. Some of your logs were close to 40 mpg, ie, Las Vegas - Circle K- 7.305 gal @ 273.9. You only got under 30 mpg a couple times in Cali, and it's possible you were driving in the mountains, stop n go, or maybe even a crooked pump. Is there any change you miscalculated?


I think that I calculated it right. I am going by the Avis receipt that I received at checkout. Car had 21135 miles when I picked it up in Vegas w/ a full tank and had 22629 miles when I checked it in at LAX w/ a full tank. We drove out to Hoover Dam and did some driving in Vegas and filled up @ Circle K on the way out to town. The last fill @ LAX was prior to turn in. If I got close to 40, maybe my next car needs to be a 2.5 Altima.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Quote:
Las Vegas - Circle K- 7.305 gal @ 273.9
Bishop, Ca. - Bishop Paiute Gas Station -8.894 @ 297.9
Pinole, Ca - Valero - 13.231 @ 309.9
S. San Francisco, Ca - Costco - 7.337 @ 299.9
San Luis Obispo, Ca - Chevron - 13.220 @ 313.9
Los Angeles (LAX) - 76 - 9.481 @ 305.9


I just did a quick run over the gals and miles and it looks like it went ~1800 miles and used ~60 gals, and were getting ~30 mpg. Some of your logs were close to 40 mpg, ie, Las Vegas - Circle K- 7.305 gal @ 273.9. You only got under 30 mpg a couple times in Cali, and it's possible you were driving in the mountains, stop n go, or maybe even a crooked pump. Is there any change you miscalculated?


I think that I calculated it right. I am going by the Avis receipt that I received at checkout. Car had 21135 miles when I picked it up in Vegas w/ a full tank and had 22629 miles when I checked it in at LAX w/ a full tank. We drove out to Hoover Dam and did some driving in Vegas and filled up @ Circle K on the way out to town. The last fill @ LAX was prior to turn in. If I got close to 40, maybe my next car needs to be a 2.5 Altima.


I think I may have figured out the confusion:the info after the @ in my post is fuel price not mileage on a tank of gas.

 

[mechanicx]

LOL I didn't even really notice they all ended in .9

. I must have thought that was 1/10s of miles not cents. Funny that it "added" up to 1800 miles.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
My brother bought a new 2-door 2.5 Atlima S in '08 and at first liked the car a lot even the CVT, but after about a year he couldn't stand the inconsistiency of the CVT and traded it in on a new Accord 2.4 EX 2-door.

The Altima from the amount of time I drove/rode in it was very quiet and nice riding compared to the Accord, and except for sportiness more like the '02 Grand Am GT 2-dr that the Altima replaced. It did have touchy brakes, and somewhat jerk, luggy CVT and with artificial creep. That was the only things really wrong with it and otherwise I liked it better than the new Accord. A lot of people say the interior has cheap plastic, but I didn't think it's that worse than an Accord's interior (which seems to get high marks) and considering the Altima was a couple grand cheaper and got better gas milage. I remember it had like a 20 gal tank though and could go like 500 miles on it or so lol.


In fairness, the texture of the plastic is what made it look cheap (a wipe down of the dash with even a substandard protectant probably would have made it stand out less.)
I think my big issue with the car was with the CVT. Put a normal 4 or 5 speed automatic in it and I think it would be a heckuva car.
I forgot to mention the brakes. It took awhile to get used to those also.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

I had a 2.5 Altima as a rental when I was in Ca in January. The main thing I did not like about the car was the emergency brake. It was constantly in the way of where I wanted to rest my foot.

I missed the nice growl of my 3.5L engine...the 2.5 was a little buzzy. Gas mileage seemed to be OK but I didn't really measure it.

 

[panthermike]

Originally Posted By: ClarkB
Wait a second, people are expecting someone driving a rental car to return good MPG? Sure, a 4-cylinder Altima should get ~30mpg but does anyone really expect that he drove it like it was his own car? Or that the many previous drivers treated it nicely? 25 isn't grand but considering the conditions I'd call it very acceptable.

Clark


That's why I asked if there were lots of mountains, etc. To which he replied yes, so that explains quite a bit.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: 2002 Maxima SE
I had a 2.5 Altima as a rental when I was in Ca in January. The main thing I did not like about the car was the emergency brake. It was constantly in the way of where I wanted to rest my foot.

I missed the nice growl of my 3.5L engine...the 2.5 was a little buzzy. Gas mileage seemed to be OK but I didn't really measure it.


The ride is also MUCH stiffer on the 3.5, stiffer than an Accord with 17s. The growl is present, but not nearly as noticeable as on a Maxima. Still, I feel that the higher-end Nissan vehicles generally contain an excellent engine, above average suspension, and average to below average components for the rest of the vehicle.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: 2002 Maxima SE
I had a 2.5 Altima as a rental when I was in Ca in January. The main thing I did not like about the car was the emergency brake. It was constantly in the way of where I wanted to rest my foot.

I missed the nice growl of my 3.5L engine...the 2.5 was a little buzzy. Gas mileage seemed to be OK but I didn't really measure it.


The ride is also MUCH stiffer on the 3.5, stiffer than an Accord with 17s. The growl is present, but not nearly as noticeable as on a Maxima. Still, I feel that the higher-end Nissan vehicles generally contain an excellent engine, above average suspension, and average to below average components for the rest of the vehicle.


The transmission was certainly below average. No wonder there are so many 2.5s in rental car fleets.