The new 07 Altimas are now in dealerships and being a previous owner of a
1999 Altima GXE I am considering buying a 07 model so I took the 2.5S with CVT out for a test drive.
The car itself is nicely appointed, this one had the S and SL package, leather, sunroof, Bluetooth, automatic air.
What I found, which was somewhat disappointing, was the 2.5 engine was noisy under acceleration, it had a pronounced 4 cylinder roar/growl, if you backed off of the throttle the car itself was very quiet. I thought that it might be just "that" car, so I went to another dealership and took another car equipped the same way for a test drive. Same condition. I also took a 2006 Altima 2.5SL with the 4 speed automatic for a test drive to compare the 2 cars. The 2006 was definitely a quieter car.
The salesman acknowledged that the 07 Altima engine was somewhat noisier than the 06 model but was not able to explain why. I am wondering if its to do with the CVT, as this transmission allows the engine to "free rev" more than a car equipped with a conventional transmission.
Anybody else taken a 2007 4 cylinder with CVT out for a test drive or owns one, please post your impressions or experience.