Last Sunday, I helped my mom purchase her new ride: a 2010 Nissan Altima 3.5SR V6.
Here's a lousy picture that I took with my phone:
While I had a long thread in Auto/General topics, I decided to write a summary of the entire experience for those who do not want to read through the long thread.
Originally, we had hoped to find one with the sports package-- which includes HIDs, moonroof, spoiler, etc since my mom wanted this car to have a moonroof. However, since my mom wanted the car now and she was dead set on a white/blond color combination, it was impossible to find the perfect car.
We found a few Altimas that matched the color combination, but they were all equipped with the premium and tech packages. We really did not want those packages since my mom does not like leather or navigation, but we went ahead with the purchase anyway since we wanted to get a car. Of course, the deal fell through-- my salesperson (someone I know from the VWVortex forums) had to dealer trade for the vehicle, but the dealer that had the vehicle did not want to trade it.
So, we stalled for a few days. Now it was January 2nd-- meaning it was no longer the end of the month and I would not qualify for the sales tax deduction or any crazy end-of-month deals. At this point my mom decided she just wanted an Altima V6 in white/blond without leather or navigation and she no longer cared about having a moonroof.
So now the search resumed. I texted my salesperson, and he was able to find me an Altima 3.5SR V6 in white/blond with only mats and aluminum kick plates. The vehicle had just arrived on 12/28, so it was "factory fresh." He did the dealer trade and I was able to pick up the car next day. And even though it was the beginning of the month, he sold me the car for nearly $700 under invoice + $1500 in factory incentives, so we paid $21.5k + TTL with a drive-out total of just under $24,000.
Sure, I may have saved another $500 if I had done the deal on the 31st, but hey, we got the car and my mom is happy. Besides, the dealer was honest and did not play any games in the finance office nor did they try to upsell me anything. In fact, they even threw in a free lifetime powertrain warranty. Plus, the dealer is 115 miles away, and if they had given me a bad time after driving all the way out there, that would have been a very, very bad situation.
Now as for the car, it's quick. It actually has decent low-end torque that is usable in day-to-day driving, unlike the Honda 3.5 in the Accord Sedan. As for the CVT, it actually isn't too bad. The CVT is very responsive and is well-mated to the V6. When you want to accelerate, it instantly picks the correct ratio and the car just goes-- no fuss. Unlike the CVT in the four-cylinder Altima, there is no rattle, no chainsaw-like noises, no buzzing-- I think it is because the V6 actually has enough power to allow the CVT to work well.
Also, as part of the 2010 refresh, Nissan has retuned the V6 to run on regular fuel. As part of the retuning, the highway mpg also increased by one mpg-- to 27 mpg. This was a big selling point, since my parents did not want a car that required premium. Lastly, Nissan recently doubled the warranty on the CVT to 10-years/120,000 miles, so that removes most of the worry about the CVT.
Overall, my mom is pretty happy with the purchase. It will be a great car for her and is a huge upgrade to the cars that she has owned in the past. In fact, she likes it so much that she has parked it until the Weathertech Digital Fit Floor Liners come in since she does not want to dirty up the interior, lol!
Here's a lousy picture that I took with my phone:
While I had a long thread in Auto/General topics, I decided to write a summary of the entire experience for those who do not want to read through the long thread.
Originally, we had hoped to find one with the sports package-- which includes HIDs, moonroof, spoiler, etc since my mom wanted this car to have a moonroof. However, since my mom wanted the car now and she was dead set on a white/blond color combination, it was impossible to find the perfect car.
We found a few Altimas that matched the color combination, but they were all equipped with the premium and tech packages. We really did not want those packages since my mom does not like leather or navigation, but we went ahead with the purchase anyway since we wanted to get a car. Of course, the deal fell through-- my salesperson (someone I know from the VWVortex forums) had to dealer trade for the vehicle, but the dealer that had the vehicle did not want to trade it.
So, we stalled for a few days. Now it was January 2nd-- meaning it was no longer the end of the month and I would not qualify for the sales tax deduction or any crazy end-of-month deals. At this point my mom decided she just wanted an Altima V6 in white/blond without leather or navigation and she no longer cared about having a moonroof.
So now the search resumed. I texted my salesperson, and he was able to find me an Altima 3.5SR V6 in white/blond with only mats and aluminum kick plates. The vehicle had just arrived on 12/28, so it was "factory fresh." He did the dealer trade and I was able to pick up the car next day. And even though it was the beginning of the month, he sold me the car for nearly $700 under invoice + $1500 in factory incentives, so we paid $21.5k + TTL with a drive-out total of just under $24,000.
Sure, I may have saved another $500 if I had done the deal on the 31st, but hey, we got the car and my mom is happy. Besides, the dealer was honest and did not play any games in the finance office nor did they try to upsell me anything. In fact, they even threw in a free lifetime powertrain warranty. Plus, the dealer is 115 miles away, and if they had given me a bad time after driving all the way out there, that would have been a very, very bad situation.
Now as for the car, it's quick. It actually has decent low-end torque that is usable in day-to-day driving, unlike the Honda 3.5 in the Accord Sedan. As for the CVT, it actually isn't too bad. The CVT is very responsive and is well-mated to the V6. When you want to accelerate, it instantly picks the correct ratio and the car just goes-- no fuss. Unlike the CVT in the four-cylinder Altima, there is no rattle, no chainsaw-like noises, no buzzing-- I think it is because the V6 actually has enough power to allow the CVT to work well.
Also, as part of the 2010 refresh, Nissan has retuned the V6 to run on regular fuel. As part of the retuning, the highway mpg also increased by one mpg-- to 27 mpg. This was a big selling point, since my parents did not want a car that required premium. Lastly, Nissan recently doubled the warranty on the CVT to 10-years/120,000 miles, so that removes most of the worry about the CVT.
Overall, my mom is pretty happy with the purchase. It will be a great car for her and is a huge upgrade to the cars that she has owned in the past. In fact, she likes it so much that she has parked it until the Weathertech Digital Fit Floor Liners come in since she does not want to dirty up the interior, lol!
