ArcaMax

Nissan's 350Z is a great sports car, but it has two practical strikes against it. First, it has no back seats at all, so forget about it if you are married, don't have a second car - or an understanding spouse. Second, it's rear-wheel-drive. Now, don't get indignant just yet. I'm as much a fan of breaking the tail loose and smoking the rear tires as the next guy. But the reality is that a RWD sport coupe is as out of its depth when the snow starts falling as Ned Beatty was in the Georgia backwoods. You may never get down to Aintree.

Some people have no choice but to take such things into account when shopping for a new set of wheels. They want a legitimate high-performance/RWD coupe. But they need something at least a little bit practical. Which is why the new Altima coupe may find much love out there.

It has back seats - cramped, but serviceable. And like the Altima sedan, it is front-wheel-drive - so it can deal with not-so-great weather more competently than the RWD 350Z (or any RWD sports coupe).

But these two concessions to year-round everyday practicality aside, the Altima coupe is much more than a two door version of an already-existing sedan.

WHAT'S NEW

The Altima coupe appeared last year as an all-new model, so there are few major changes for the '09 run.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

You can choose either a 2.5 liter four or a 3.5 liter V-6. The four is the same engine as found in the base Altima sedan and is good for 175 hp. The six, meanwhile, is shared with both the Altima (and Maxima) sedans, as well as the 350Z - just toned down a little bit, to 270 hp vs. 306 in the Z-car.

Six-speed manual gearboxes are available with either engine, too. Nissan's Xtronic continuously variable (CVT) automatic is optional.

The four offers enough power to make the credibility cut (0-60 can be achieved in about 7.3 seconds with the six-speed gearbox) while delivering almost economy-car gas mileage of 23 mpg city and 32 on the highway. That highway number is actually 1 mpg better than the highway performance of the subcompact Nissan Versa econo-box. And the Altima four's in-town mileage is only 3 mpg less than what the much smaller, far less fun to drive Versa delivers - which is really something.

Order the six and you'll get close to six (seconds) zero to sixty. And the mileage doesn't suck, either -  19 city and 27 on the highway. This is a couple notches better than the pump performance of the 350Z - 18 city/25 highway - and don't forget that you won't need another car to carry a third (or even a fourth) friend along for the ride.

How does all this stack up against the more direct competition? Well, the Toyota Camry Solara starts out with a much less powerful base engine - a 2.4 liter four that only musters 157 hp. The Solara's optional 3.3 liter V-6  also comes up short with just 210 hp - and it can't be teamed with a manual transmission, either. The two cars aren't really comparable beyond their basic mid-size coupe layout. The Solara is pretty much a chick's car; soft and feminine. Its "sportiness" begins and ends with its two-door layout. Other than that, it's a Camry through and through. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. 

The Altima coupe, on the other hand, is definitely a man's car - or a car for women who like a car that has a pair, anyhow.

So the real face off is with Honda's Accord coupe - which offers its own brand of muscular looks, potent performance and reasonable practicality. Its standard 2.4 liter four produces class-leading power - 190 hp - but the standard manual gearbox has just five speeds, not six like the Altima's. The Accord coupe's optional V-6 does offer the six-speed experience, but comes up 2 hp shy of the Altima's V-6 (268 hp vs. 270 hp in the Nissan).

The Altima coupe also brings a significantly lower entry price point to the table - $20,670 for the base 2.5S vs. $21,860 for the Accord LX-S coupe. The gulf widens further if you want six-cylinder power. An Altima 3.5 SE stickers at $25,070 - which is some four grand less than the  $28,310 Accord EX-L V-6. That latter figure is actually a couple of c notes higher than the base price of the more potent (and more serious) Nissan 350Z - which starts at $28,120. Maybe no one has noticed this yet, but if I were Honda, I'd be a little nervous about pricing the Accord that close to the  Z-car and other high-performance RWD sport coupes. It's one thing to accept some compromises of function/performance at the $25k level. But when the coin's about the same, that gets harder to swallow.

The Altima's gas mileage (either engine) is also slightly better than the Honda's. The Accord rates 22 city/31 highway for four-cylinder models and 17 city/25 highway for V-6 equipped versions.

RIDE & HANDLING

The Altima coupe rides on a shortened wheelbase relative to the Altima sedan it is based on (105.3 inches vs. 109.3 inches) and is about 70 pounds lighter overall, too. In addition to these basic architectural differences between the two cars, the Altima coupe gets specific suspension tuning that's more aggressive and firmer-feeling than in the sedan. It's not quite Z-car, but it's a lot more convincing than the marshmallowy wallowing of the Camry Solara when pushed.

It's a closer contest when the Altima faces off against the Accord coupe. These two deliver a very similar experience - with their chief weakness as sport coupes being the front-drive car's built-in nose-heavy weight bias. The faster you dive into a corner, the lighter the rear  end begins to feel. You can countersteer, of course - but having more weight up front and no ability to keep the back end planted by the steady application of engine power - are inherent and pretty much unavoidable limitations of the FWD layout. 

On the other hand, you stand a much better chance of not getting stuck in the snow. And the truth of the matter is that for average-skill drivers, the FWD layout is more forgiving and "accident proof." The front end tends to plow - instead of the back end whipping around suddenly.

It's true in the hands of an expert driver, a rear-drive car can be easier to recover. But loss of control is also usually more dramatic - and frightening, at least for the novice. In most street-driving loss of control (or near loss of control) scenarios, the FWD layout's understeer-prone handling dynamics are such that the average driver is more likely to retain at least some control, even if all he's doing is hanging on for dear life. It takes native skill, practice and training - and nerve that is not easy to come by - to do the counter-intuitive thing when the car begins to come unglued and keep your foot in it instead of stabbing at the brakes - which is sometimes the only thing that will save you in a RWD car at the edge of its grip. 

STYLING & UTILITY

The Altima coupe shares only one panel with its sedan stablemate - the hood. That's it. Every other piece is specific to the coupe - so it really is a different car and not just a two-door Altima.

Front and rear overhangs have been tightened up - which along with the shortened wheelbase reduces the coupe's overall length by 7.3 inches (182.5 vs. 189.8 for the Altima sedan). The rake of the front glass is much steeper - and the aggressive posture is further enhanced by a 2.5 inch lower roofline that sweeps back to a tucked rear end with a sightly up-canted bumper/tail-light treatment that gives the car a jaunty, almost-muscle car strut. Thank god there are no wings on this thing.

But there is a decent-sized (7.4 cubic foot) trunk and a serviceable three-across split-folding bench back seat with a lot more legroom than is typical in two-plus-two coupes - where the back seat cushions literally run right up to the front seat backs, with maybe an inch  or two of clearance to spare between them. Good for groceries, maybe. That's it.

Headroom is tight - unavoidable given the sharp roof line - but the back seat area can work for as many as three kids (even young teenagers) or two of your under six-foot friends.

Otherwise, the coupe's interior layout is similar to the sedan's. The coupe does get some dress up items unique to this model, including brushed aluminum trim plates as well as more deeply bolstered sport buckets up front and a pull-style handbrake. The door panels also get sculpted differently - and each has a deep/wide combination map pocket/beverage holder on the lower portion.

Because it's a bigger, wider car than the Z-car, the Atima coupe's cabin feels more spacious (although perhaps not as "dedicated"). For a weekend/fun car, give me the Z-car. But for an everyday car, I'd choose the Altima.

Techno-convenience features and equipment abound - from keyless ignition to Nissan's excellent "line of sight" GPS system to Bluetooth to a rearview/back-up camera. The only bad part is the way Nissan bundles many of these features, forcing you to buy two or three expensive things you don't epecially want to get the one feature you do want. For example, you can't order "just" satellite radio. To get it you have to order one of several packages that can carry add-on costs of anywhere from $2,000 (Technology Package) to as much as $3,200 (Premium Package). Granted, you get a lot of equipment with these packages, but some buyers (me included) ony want certainthings and would prefer to be able to pick and choose what we want - and skip what we don't. 

QUALITY/SAFETY

Nissans have been a good bet, quality-wise, for several years now. The Altima, specifically, has an excellent reputation - and so there's no reason to suspect anything but equally good things from this two-door version.

The coupe comes standard with ABS, side-impact and curtain air bags; V-6 models add VDC traction and stability control.

DRIVING IMPRESSIONS

Two less doors - and a much more exciting exterior shape - makes the already engaging Altima even more appealing. The four cylinder version makes a great commuter - stylish, powerful enough to be fun - yet almost as easy on gas as a purpose-built economy car. I found that very compelling.

V-6 versions are potent in a straight line - and credible in a corner, too. Sort of like having a couple of cheeseburgers and a regular-size order of fries at your favorite fast food joint. Ok, maybe it's not a triple Thickburger and Biggie Fries. But it's a helluva lot more satisfying than a salad, right?

One additional point - if you order the CVT automatic, expect to lose about 2-4 tenths' worth of acceleration, 0-60. The Nissan Xtronic CVT is considered one of the best such transmissions out there, but I'm still not a big fan. CVTs are thrashy and noisy and as the timeslips reveal, cost you performance.

On the other hand, some reviewers have complained about the six-speed manual's less than surgical quality feel - and a clutch that is either "on" or "off."  I agree it's not  M3 like (or even Honda Accord-like) but it's still a real-deal six speed with a real deal clutch - and I'll take that over a CVT any day of the week, warts and all.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Altima coupe does nearly everything the Altima sedan does - only with several notches more panache. It's a great way to have your fun without spoiling your relationship with your spouse - or ending up in a snowbank next February.

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www.ericpetersautos.com or EPeters952@aol.com for comments.