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I know this isn't even Subaru related but I thought I'd see if anyone had any opions. My brother just got a new job and is going to getting a new car soon. He was originally thinking the 3.5 Altima but is thinking insurance might be a little hindering. So I suggested getting the 2.5 and upgrading it. Doing suspension, engine work, etc. So what do you all think. Does anyone know how moddable these cars are or have any general opinions? Clearly Subaru is better , but what can I say, everyone's always said I was the smart one. Thanks.

Sorry, I don't have an answer to your main question. I would really suggest trying the Mazda6 though. It's probably not as fast in a straight line, but it feels a whole lot sportier. The interior blows every else out of the water too. I've rented just about every 4cyl, 4 door sedan available, and the Mazda6 is my favorite.

Do you know how it holds up to milage and wear and tear?

umm, I don't. Mine seemed to hold up pretty well and i beat the shit out of it, but that was just 600 miles . Both the latest Altima and the 6 are fairly new so you're going to have a hard time finding accurate data on relibility. I'd feel confident with either the 2.3 or the 2.5, both are in many cars.

My brother is looking at getting a car that's 2-3 years old, I should have mentioned that initially.

FWIW, I totally outhandled one of those mazda 6's, all I've got going on is used gr-2's, stock springs, and a 20mm rear bar.

THAWA wrote:FWIW, I totally outhandled one of those mazda 6's, all I've got going on is used gr-2's, stock springs, and a 20mm rear bar.

on a country road, the car probably doesn't mean much. I've walked away from bmw M's, and been ditched by a suburban(:oops:), on the same stretch of road (which was on a closed course, of course).

Going back to the original thread, I would go with the 3.5 . As you can't get the 2.5 to come close with Mods. The Altima 3.5 is pretty much a Maxima with different skin. I really don't think the engine difference will cause that much of an insurance hike.

Thanks, I didn't realize the 2.5 was that limited in mods. An engine swap isn't out of the realm of possibility but my brother is like me, brakes and suspension come before power. Anybody else have any input?

The 2.5 shouldn't be limited in mods, as it's the same engine that's in the Sentra Spec-V. But even still... the 2.5 starts out at 165hp stock and the 2.5 has 240hp stock. Not without serious motor work/FI will the 2.5 reach the 3.5's performance potential...

The VQ35 is awesome.

What about suspension and handling? Can the 2.5 hold it's ground or be made to hold its ground with upgraded struts/springs and perhaps a few other things such as endlinks and bushings?

Good info guys, keep it coming and thanks on behalf of my brother.

Well, any car of that calibur is going to perform better once you upgrade your handling characterisics. From what I've heard, peeps don't f*ck with the new Altimas.. everyone gets spanked.
If he's set on Nissan, really do check out the Sentra Spec V, those things have the engine of the Altima, but are lighter for sure.. take a look at the body! Plus, I believe they come with turbo, but don't quote me.
It all depends on what he's looking for in a new car, though; if he wants baller-style, comfort, and amenities, go with the altima. If you just want to be able to wipe people off the street with speed, get the Sentra.


just my .02

Awesome info, basically he's looking for a car that has a little bit of room, so definately 4 door, a good bit of power and handling, he's got a 95 ford aspire right now, he wants to move up . He's also looking for a nice interior, don't think he needs leather, and he wants something that he won't have to do a lot of maintaince to. My dad has a 95 Altima and it's been a good car so that's why Andrew was thinking Nissan, and the new Altima's are definately nice. I'll have him check out the Sentra though.

A 3.5 Altima made my TW feel pretty slow one day, though he'd had at least an intake, if not more. They're very fast.

One problem with any FWD car exceeding 250hp is wheelspin. An LSD will help it, but hooking up is hard to do. A 2.5 would give him a price break, maybe an insurance break, and the headroom to do mods without worrying too much about not being able to transfer power.

The VQ is a baaaad engine, and if he's wanting to keep it relatively tame, it's definitely the choice.

The GF has an 05 2.5 Altima. I convinced her to dump her lemon of a truck and get a car. We had it narrowed down to the 6, a Legacy, or the Altima. Putting aside my Suby bias the Legacy was still the nicest of the three, and the Alt/6 were pretty even (IMO of course). I had her convinced to get the Legacy but the sales people at the Suby/Mazda dealer were such jackasses that she picked up the Altima. I think it felt a bit under powered and the Suby and 6 had much more athletic handling. My suggestion is for your buddy to find a low miles used Maxima and raid the Stillen catalog and let the Torque steer begin. A good friend has a 97 Max that we put the Stillen intake and y-pipe on, and it has some snort. The intake noise is awesome, only rivaled by the auditory orgyproduced by another friends 91 M5.

I used to sell Nissans.

The 2.5 is a slightly workedover Spec-V motor. SO, all NISMO Spec-V boltons will work for the most part (headers, cams, etc). You can run the NISMO cams on the stock ECU.

You won't get much power out of it without forced induction.

The 3.5 is pretty spicy, but still no terror. It's a docile car that is expensive to open up. 350 cams SHOULD fit, though you'll need some form of engine management. Obviously, 350z headers don't work, nor do any of the other cool bolt ons. And the 350z has much more traction potential to be able to handle the power. The Altima does not.

The only Altima that is a Maxima in a different skin is the SE-R, and your looking to spend 30k on that (MSRP). That thing sounds like a 350Z and comes with Potenza S03's stock wrapped around forged wheels. Kinda cool. Gutless though, very little low end.

The 3.5 gets better gas mileage on the highway.

The Sentra SE-R does NOT come with a turbo, and the turbo kit is expensive and aftermarket. The only SE-R worth considering is the Spec-V with the Brembo package. It's almost a track car, no ABS, wideish sticky tires, light wheels, and fat brakes. No guts to back it up, and it's hard to pimp out in a Sentra.

At the end of the day, I'd rather get a new 2.5i Legacy than any Altima.

I've been out backpacking past few days so I haven't been around to say - THANKS on behalf of my brother. He's definately rethinking the altima now.

I own a SE-R Spec V and it responds to mods pretty well. I have an intake and exhaust as well as a shifter and motor mounts and it is excellent in the twisties. It has wicked low end torque. With the bolt ons available (intake, header, exhaust, etc) you can seee around 200HP at the wheels. Not bad for a Sentra

The one reason I would suggest an SE-R Spec V over a 2.5 Altima is the LSD. That is a $1k piece of essential hardware that you don't have to worry about purchasing or installing to put the power down.

Also, the stock suspension in V is pretty stiff and handles well. SCC did a test and it had the highest slalom speed out of every car they tested, including the EVO and STi. It's a pretty quick car for the price. I like it.

IIRC the suspension settings of the Spec-V are almost identical to that of the Maxima SE. Pretty stiff for such a light car, which is kind of fun. Low-pro tires help also.

One thing, the transmission in the SER sucks. It takes a LOT of rowing for the car to feel like it can float. Coming from a torque monster like my SS, and driving a Spec-V, I feel like I am driving a shopping cart. Aftermarket is there, but I have yet to see anyone break below a 14 while N/A.

At the end of the day, the SRT-4 is a better choice than the Sentra. At least the SRT-4 has SOME power to back it up. The Sentra is slow in every version you can get.

But they are good cars if speed isn't what your after. The 05's have a much better shifter setup than the 04's (which feel like you are shifting in a cardboard box), but it's still sub par.

If you want to pimp, the Altima can be pretty cool. But I would still choose a new Legacy over one. After selling them, I feel like it's hard to justify the cost when there are better alternatives to Nissan out there.

I definitely agree with BAC5.2. There are better alternatives out there. But the Sentra was definitely not made for a straight line. It handles way better than it goes down the 1/4. I have an 02 which was subject to the horrible 1st and 2nd gear ratios which have since been changed. But i got mine for about 18k whcih isn't bad for the package you get. And that was the only car that offered an LSD from the factory at the time and that was very attractive.

Yea, the 02's had the horrible ratios. 03 changed for the better, but 04's had the cardboard box shifter (when you'd throw it into gear, it feels like it stops in a cardboard box), and the gates were so close together if you shifted how you would normally shift a 5-speed, you'd throw it from 2nd to 5th. 05 fixed the cardboard shifter, and the car would swing through the gates a little easier, and the Brembo Spec-V would be an auto-X machine for super tight courses. The SRT has to much lag to run tight courses, but for long tracks, the SRT would own it.

I think this is slightly off-topic, what exactly is he looking to do with the car?

If he want's to pimp, get the 3.5 Altima. If he want's to just have a roomy car and be comfortable, the 2.5 is a good car. If he want's power, go elsewhere. Look to the WRX, the EVO RS, or the SRT. Those will all run under 25k if you can haggle.

You can get a Legacy 2.5i, a used G35 (if your lucky), or some form of Lexus ES/GS/IS for around 25k, and you can pimp around in all of those.

I was looking at buying a 2002 BMW 330xi with a 5-speed, and the going rate seemed to be around 26k with reasonable mileage (under 25k).

Basically he's looking for a sedan that has some room, so 4-door. And he's also wanting something that has some power and agility. He doesn't need it to be 'pimp' and I don't think he's looking for anything flashy. Reason he's thinking newer is that he doesn't want to have to mess with much maintance and doesn't want to have to do too much to get the power. I'd say anything around the 250hp range would please him. Again though some agility is desired because he's like me, if you grow up on mountain roads you want to be able to drive them. I think he's looked further into the Mazda 6 but not sure what he's currently thinking. I'll let him know he's got some more responses to read.

The Mazdaspeed 6 would be a good choice, though a little expensive (around 30k), and even stock, the injector setup it uses (Direct port injection) can't keep up with the upper revs. Modding would likely be a little difficult with that setup.

Other fun cars would be something like an IS300. You can get them used and if your lucky can find a manual for under 20k. I would be driving one right now if the Silver 2003 I found was a manual instead of an automatic. They are FUN cars to drive, and you can do STUPID stuff to get mad power (several 600 to 700whp variations running around locally).