Used 2012 Nissan Altima Consumer Reviews

An Awesome value, no diubt about it

This car is really awesome. Of course is not a porsche or a Jaguar, but is a lot of fun to drive. I have 2 young kids, and they love the space in the back seat. My wife loves the dual climate control, and I love the comfort (i am 6" tall) and the Bose sound, which is pretty awesome. The ipod integration is superb, I get 26 mpg with 90% city driving, is so quiet in the highway, and the trunk is enormous. The CVT transmission feels weird, so make sure it doesn't bother you, but it drives great. There is NOT a lot of power, is is a fuel-efficient 4 cylinder, but still feels great.

Gas Bill is not believable

It is impossible to believe but ill give it to you straight! I filled to Full at Qt making sure Gas was 100 percent topped off to 20 gallons, Left QT drove 1.3 miles away and already burned about half a quarter tank of fuel. 60,000 Miles on car no issues at all! This 3.5L Altima can guzzle gas 2 times faster than a V8 motor, This altima has amazing HP but not worth even enjoying cause it drinks gas like you cant believe. The Interior is really nice, black dash and carpet, steering wheel has controls and hands free phone and high gloss black leather steering wheel, It has navigation and bluetooth and bose system.. Really nice car although my biggest complaint is the front seats and how uncomfortable they are. The back seats are very comfortable. this car has 9 cup holders and not sure why. My wife has a 2.5s and it gets the complete opposite fuel economy. She gets like 40Mpg even close to 60mpg when on freeway best i ever seen! 2.5s best fuel economy i ever seen even than honda's 3.5 SR worst fuel economy i ever witnessed in my life seriously!!!!! How does these 2 altimas are so un-alike??? Makes no sense at all! I will never buy a V6 again with name SR Altima on it! Most Altimas Bumpers are always falling off i have noticed! The inside was a great design and comfort is good just not cloth seats outside is not stylish

Car wont start

We leased this vehicle... Got a great deal.. But the car now wont start and has to be towed to dealer hopefully they fix it... The dealer we got the car from is very good and the service guys are very nice and helpful... The car at high speed with weight in the back passengers is very unstable. The car has a nice design and interior but over all its a cheap built... In the snow its unsafe and as good as rear wheel drive. MPG is OK but not great. Seats are very comfortable and the dash is nice. The push button start has recently failed and the car will have to be towed...

Silver Bullet

This SR has every possible option available..It topped out at $33,000 MSRP. probably too many options for most, but when you get behind the wheel, well you will understand. It excelerates like a F-16 taking of the flight deck of the Nimitz. handles like it is on rails..great car.

2012 Nissan Altima

Dashboard melted on the 5th year. Paint pealed on the 5th year. Windows all held water within 2 years, no wrecks. It did get great gas mileage, leather seats looked and felt excellent. Very comfortable.

Want my 02 SE back

Had and 02SE that was totalled. Just replaced it with this car. CVT is horrible, sluggish and noisey. Bose radio is rotten compared to my 02. On the positive side, interior materials are great. Care feels heavey and bolated to drive. Steering is numb. Tailpipes are uneven and one stick out further than the other. Trunk is crooked one side is rubbing the bumperskin. There are burrs around the lip of the wheel wells. There is a paint defect in the middle of the roof that looks like Nissan painted over a 2 inch worm. I can not wait to get rid of the car and it has a little over 300 miles on it.

Surprised by quality issue

I recently sold my 03 Maxima and bought the 2012 Altima 3.5. Good looking car on the inside and out. I've had the car for 3 weeks and have driven 1,050 miles. 2 issues: 1.)According to the MPG information in the dashboard, I'm only getting 25.6 miles per gallon. Since 70% of my miles have been on the highway, I'm surprised at the low mpg. (my 03 maxima got 32mpg on the highway). 2.) When you first drive the car, it makes a gridning noise when shifting (at about 30 MPH). It only happens during the initial driving. After you pass 30 MPH, the sound doesn't happen again...until you turn the car off, start it again, and drive. The car is currently at the dealer to identify the problem.

My fourth Nissan

Bought this car used with only 12k miles. I have had it for two years. The drive is solid and there is nothing fancy about it. Hate the interior. Seats hang onto dog hair for dear life. Random pieces of plastic are found floating around the interior (figured out where two of them belong but can't get them back on the place they should be). The cloth on the rear passenger door handle has come off and will need an upolstery person to fix it. The interior is very cheap feeling and looking. I am the type that buys a vehicle and drives it until the wheels fall off but have arranged for my husband to take this one off my hands until my son starts to drive. My next car will be a Mazda or Honda.

Nissan altima

This cat is very reliable with space for legs

Love this car

Great car all around! It says it gets 22-31 mpg but the meter on mine says I've been averaging 35-40 mpg

Noisiest car I ever had

I bought my new car ~ 2 months ago. Since the beginning it made a loud "grinding" engine noise. I think it sounds like a loud diesel car. Took it to the dealer and they could not find anything "unusual". You could hear it over the radio, which is not very good. This car is noisier than the Civic 2001 it replaced! On gas milegae, I was looking forward to getting at least 30. No such luck. With the car brand new it gave me 27 and now it is down to 25. It does not have a USB port, which comes standard with cheaper cars. In short, not the new car experience I was hoping for. Do yourself a favor. DO NOT BUY AN ALTIMA. There are plenty of good cars out there. Many are priced lower than this

Great Car, Great Value

Happy Customer

Solid car so far. Purchased it on 12/31/11 and have put a little over 2000 miles on it. Averaging 26 mpg combined driving and a respectable 32 mpg on highway. As previous owner noted, it is simply styled on the inside (mine came without a radio) but very functional with good quality materials and comfortable seats. This is my first Altima. I'm trying it based on the super great performance and reliability of my Nissan King cab pickup (1987 model) I owned for over 10 years and 225,000 miles. We like what we have seen so far from the Altima.

Great Family Sedan

This car is not very fun to drive, as it is a 4 cylinder with a CVT transmission. Having said that, the manual shifter, steering feel and comfort, make it a very appealing choice. If you don't care about the fun, and want a comfy, reliable, good looking, long lasting family sedan, look no further. The accord don't measure up, the camry of the malibu neither. This car drives great, is very quiet inside, the Bose sound I got on this trim is absolute marvelous, the bluetooth works great, is good on gas (22.5 city, 34 hwy), and overall, you can't go wrong with it at all. Is a veeeeery smooth drive, very smooth.

Love it !

It's a great dependable car, rides smooth and very comfortable seating.

Go with a 2015 altima, i found out until then

I bought a used 2012 in may 2016 with 46,000 miles, they ripped me off bad, i didnt understand why it was so slow, drove like a truck, the 2.5 uses a lot of gas and handles so poor, i ask the dealer today and they said up til 2015 it weighed 2500 pounds more then it should, that explains why i hate driving it, you wont enjoy it at all

Know this!

Overall great car. Would buy again. Some complaints. Road noise is excessive and hard for people to hear you over blue tooth phone calls. Lack of more and placement of 1 usb port is annoying. Would not buy paint shield, leather protection, or warranties.

Catching fire

That I was driving down the highway and all of a sudden my car started slowing down and I didn't know what was happening, I started seeing smoke coming from under the hood, I couldn't even stop the car, it continued until it stop doors locked and on fire, it was blazing , if it happened been for a passer by ,I would have died in that car on January 5 2017

7 times to the dealership to get 2 items repaired

I have had serveral new cars in my life time, but never a Nissan, thought I would give them a shot, bad bad bad bad move, a simple replacement of the 2 rear speakers turned into 5 trips to the dealership for one reason or another, simple tire rotation, left one of my lug nuts in the rim. These are simple items to repair or replace and it seems like this dealership can't get it right, but my car has only 5000 in 7 months, these items should not have been broken to begin with, horrible horrilbe car, buy a Ford, never had an issue with any of them, stay away from NISSAN! I also have 2 friends that work at the plant there, again stay away!!!!!

Cherry shot

I love my new car. It has everything that I wanted.

only 24.6 mpg on highway so far

We just bought our first new car in 40 years. We had not planed to but the 2010 Altima we bought on June 4th we trades back in 10 days later because you could hear the lifters, there was fuel in the oil and it was only getting 21 mpg. We were told this was a lemon not typical for an Altima and they gave us a good deal on a 2012. We wanted a car that would provide us with the best gas mileage possible so we choose an Altama. So far that is not what our new 2012 is doing. Maybe it takes time to break in. We have only had our 2012 since June 23.So far it is getting 24.6mpg on the highway and overall only22 mpg About 440 miles per 20 gal tank. We are not happy. We do like how it looks & handles.

Love this car

Love this car extremely quiet and smooth decent gas mileage and once I replaced the stereo head unit I loved the stereo

Original Owner

Purchased the 2012 Altima 3.5sr model brand new in January 2013. The current mileage is 78,000 with very minimal flaws. During this visit to the dealership the car has a leaking axle shaft seal. And both lower control arms have to be replaced. Really the only issue with the vehicle. We will replace the parts and continue to enjoy the vehicle. Oil changed every 5,000 miles with Mobile1 synthetic, and every 3 years we change the fluids (transmission, brake, coolant, power steering). The upper motor mount (torque rod mount) has to be replaced due to the separation of the rubber.. and the blue paint is starting to lose its luster/clear coat but that is expected when we live in the Nevada Desert 🌵 I’ve read the horror stories about the car going into limp/safe mode, I never had that issue, because I didn’t neglect the vehicle. I always check fluid levels, tire pressure every week, top off fluids as I need to… very minimal oil burn also. I use shell gasoline 89 octane. Yes there is that initial start up noise, when the rattle of a jar of marble sound but it’s a hit and miss.. I tried the ester oil from Nissan, I’ve tried Penzoil Platinum Synthetic, and the Mobile1 to try to quiet that start up noise, but that’s just what that VQ does. The character of the VQ I guess. For the most part, I really like the car, just need a 6speed manual transmission in the sedan.

Great road car

Bought my '12 Altima 3.5SR new, great car. Has all the packages on it. I was amazed with the great acceleration. Punch itdiwn and its like taking off the flight deck of the Nimitz.

Piece of junk

The clear coat fell off within 2 years no recall the electronic dash has almost all but quit working only if it's real cold will it work the stereo gets hot as all get out just electronic nightmare leaks oil all the time no

Great car bought new only 60k in 2025!

No problems great car that last. Change the fluids and it will run forever. Oil change every 5k. Replaced the factory tires with new tires in 2022, 3rd battery, new air and cabin filter. Changed the coolant and brake fluid and front pads in 19 ect. Wax it every spring so the paint is nice.

Excellent vehicle

Loved this car. I had for 6 years. I got it used and never had a problem with it. I'm currently in the market for another.

Low Miles 🙂

Bought it Brand new in 2012, and this vehicle has been a great car. I think that 48,000 miles is pretty good for being almost 9 years old!

2012 Nissan Altima-Low Mileage, Excellent Conditio

2012 Nissan Altima Coupe automatic (with manual option) in great condition, low mileage and well maintained. The car is equipped with: - Premium,​ Leather and Technology packages - Leather heated seats - 8 way power seat - Steering wheel audio controls - Cruise control - Power Glass Sunroof - Bluetooth - Keyless entry - Button start/stop - Xenon High Intensity Discharge Headlights - Rear spoiler in the back with lights - AM/FM/MP3 Audio System - Bose Audio - Bose Speakers - Auxiliary Audio Input/USB Port - Satellite Radio System - DVD Entertainment System - Exterior Mirror Mounted Turn Signals - Rear view camera,​ - Auto-Dim Rear View Mirror - Illuminated Vanity Mirror(s) - Cargo Area Floor Mat - Carpeted Floor Mats - Leather Shift Knob Trim - Leather Steering Wheel Trim - Rear Floor Mats - Multi-Zone Climate Control - Automatic Delay Off Headlights - Automatic On/Off Headlights - Front Fog/Driving Lights All accessories came equipped from Nissan and were pre-installed. I have changed the tires,​ battery and brakes recently. The prior owner was an employee at Nissan showroom from where I bought the car. The car is well maintained and serviced timely. Serious interests please. ​