What is the Altima?
In existence since 1993, the Altima is now one of four sedans offered by Nissan. Larger than the Versa and Sentra but smaller than the even longer-running Maxima, the current Altima finds itself in the middle of the fiercely competitive midsize sedan segment. Even though sedan sales have been on a long, slow decline (thanks, SUVs), there's no room for error or complacency with choosy sedan buyers.
When it was introduced in 2019, this-generation Altima represented a welcome and sizable improvement from the previous version. Available with front- or all-wheel drive and your choice of two engines, the Altima is easy to drive, comes with plenty of advanced driver aids, and is fairly fuel-efficient.
Thanks to some spy photography, we expect the front end of the 2023 Altima to get a mild refresh to bring it in line with Nissan's other newish models like the Rogue and the Pathfinder. Beyond that, we don't foresee any substantial changes to the interior or powertrain options. We'll keep our fingers crossed for the optional turbocharged engine to be made available with all-wheel drive, but we're not going to hold our breath.
As generally agreeable as the Nissan Altima is, it resides in the bottom half of our rankings for midsize sedans. Competitors such as the Hyundai Sonata and Toyota Camry offer better visibility and more features, while the highly rated Kia K5, Mazda 6 and Honda Accord are loaded with refinement and exude a premium look and feel the Altima can't match. Among its pluses, the Altima is among the few cars in the class to offer all-wheel drive.
