Description

Still among the top midsize sedans on the market, the Nissan Altima is one of the affordable family cars that continues to hold its own in the current down economy. The Altima, which got a complete makeover two years ago, returned for 2009 with only a few minor changes, including a new automatic door-lock system. Beyond the stylish redesign, Nissan also virtually eliminated the sometimes-annoying torque steer that owners had complained about on the previous model. Steering was improved to give the car more of a sport feel, Nissan said. Torque steer is the tendency of front-wheel-drive vehicles to try to turn in the direction of the wheel that's getting power, and it's present to some degree in almost every vehicle that has front drive. In the redesigned model, power of the V-6 was increased even as torque steer was reduced, a difficult feat for the Altima's engineers.