The Car Connection Expert Review
Likes
- Competitive value
- Sporty lines
- Good safety scores
- Fuel efficient
Dislikes
- Dull performance
- Bland cabin
- No hybrid
- No more turbo option
Buying tip
features & specs
The 2025 Nissan Altima is a fine value amongst midsize sedans, thanks to its refinement, comfort, and great safety tech.
What kind of vehicle is the 2025 Nissan Altima? What does it compare to?
The Altima fills the midsize sedan slot in Nissan’s range, and it’s available with all-wheel drive. Competitors include the Subaru Legacy, Honda Accord, and Toyota Camry.
Is the 2025 Nissan Altima a good car?
Yes. It’s short on thrills, but the 2025 Nissan Altima is spacious and a good value. It earns a TCC Rating of 5.7. (Read more about how we rate car.)
What's new for the 2025 Nissan Altima?
The Altima is trimmed down to just the base engine, and the formerly optional turbo-4 is culled from the lineup. A new SV Special Edition package comes with the optional 12.3-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless smartphone charging, gloss-black wheels, and a rear spoiler. Finally, Nissan now includes three free oil changes with the purchase of an Altima.
Though detailing is fairly sedate, with a wide grille and LED headlights up front, the side profile wears sporty lines for a somewhat misleading athletic physique. Inside, the cabin is conservative bordering on dull, with decent styling executed in mostly mediocre materials.
The Altima features an inline-4 engine rated at 188 hp, paired with front-wheel drive and a CVT. Acceleration is adequate, but fuel economy is where it shines, with ratings up to a combined 32 mpg. With all-wheel drive, the combined rating drops to 28 mpg. Handling isn’t fun or sporty, but the Altima has a plush ride.
This Nissan has plenty of space for up to five passengers, with particularly comfortable front seats, and the trunk has plenty of storage space.
The 2024 Altima earned top scores from the NHTSA that carry into 2025, though revised IIHS crash-test scoring reveals some flaws. However, Nissan supplies plenty of driver-assistance tech, including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitors, rear cross-traffic alerts, and lane-departure warnings. The brand’s ProPilot Assist system, which provides limited hands-off driving, is available across most of the lineup.
How much does the 2025 Nissan Altima cost?
The 2025 Altima starts at $28,140, including a $1,140 destination charge, for the base S trim. Our pick is the SV for $28,570, which adds a bigger touchscreen, smartphone integration, and 17-inch alloy wheels. The SR costs $29,970, and the top-tier SL costs $34,470. All but the S trim are available with all-wheel drive.
Where is the 2025 Nissan Altima made?
It’s built in Smyrna, Tennessee, and Canton, Mississippi.
2025 Nissan Altima Styling
Shapely lines help the 2025 Altima look sportier than it is.
Is the Nissan Altima a good-looking car?
Yes, it’s pleasant enough, with mildly sporty styling. The exterior earns a point above average, for a 6.
The Altima wears a wide grille with complicated detailing, flanked by LED lighting. The side wears clever lines that add a sporty look, then flow into a simple taillight design. The SR looks the most dressed up with its 19-inch alloys, though the new-for-2025 SV Special Edition package adds gloss black alloy wheels, a rear spoiler, and inside, a faux carbon-fiber finish on the center console.
Generally, the cabin lacks the Altima’s exterior flair, particularly in base S trim with a 5.0-inch touchscreen. The SV’s 8.0-inch screen and optional 12.3-inch touchscreen are much better. Interior color options are limited to shades of beige and black.
2025 Nissan Altima Performance
Don’t expect excitement from the 2025 Nissan Altima.
Is the Nissan Altima 4WD?
Front-wheel drive is standard, and all-wheel drive is available for all but the base trim.
How fast is the Nissan Altima?
It’s not. This year, Nissan scraps the 2.0-liter turbo-4 option and outfits every Altima with the same engine. It’s a 2.5-liter inline-4 rated for just 188 hp and 180 lb-ft of torque. In its standard configuration, it’s matched with front-wheel drive and a CVT. It’s fine in most driving scenarios, but has some trouble maintaining speed over hills or when all five seats are full. With optional all-wheel drive, ratings drop to 182 hp and 178 lb-ft.
The Altima has a smooth ride, regardless of configuration. The mid-level 17-inch wheels offer the best balance between comfort and handling, though even the optional 19-inchers result in a passable ride quality. Steering is bland, but accurate.
2025 Nissan Altima Comfort & Quality
With plenty of room to stretch out in the 2025 Altima, the miles fly by.
The Altima is more spacious inside than you might expect. It earns a point each for front- and rear-row space, for a 7. Higher trims might earn another point for interior finish, if evaluated separately.
At a length of nearly 193 inches, the 2025 Altima is on the bigger side of midsize four-door sedans, and much of that is allocated to passengers.
Up front, the seats are soft and supportive, wearing either cloth or leather upholstery. In SV trims, the driver gets a power-adjustable seat, and in higher trims, a power-adjustable passenger seat is available, too. Front seats can be heated in most trims, though cooled seats aren’t available.
Rear passengers get good width for two, and three across will work if necessary. There’s also good rear legroom. The cabin offers plenty of places to store small items, and the Altima’s trunk offers above-average cargo capacity of 15.4 cubic feet.
SV models fitted with the new Special Edition package wear faux carbon-fiber trim on the center console, though otherwise materials in base trims are just average. Softer surfaces dress up higher trims.
2025 Nissan Altima Safety
Good safety tech helps offset mixed crash-test scores in the 2025 Nissan Altima.
How safe is the Nissan Altima?
It has good standard safety features, plenty of available safety options, and top NHTSA crash-test scores. A “Poor” rating for the 2024 model in the IIHS’s updated side impact test subtracts a point, for a total of 7 here. Tests for the 2025 model aren’t yet available.
The 2024 Altima did well in other IIHS crash tests, and it earned a five-star overall rating from the NHTSA.
The Altima comes standard with blind-spot monitors, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, rear cross-traffic alerts, and lane-departure warnings. Also available are adaptive cruise control, active lane control, rear automatic braking, traffic-sign recognition, a driver-attention monitor, and a surround-view camera system. The ProPilot Assist driver-assistance tech, including limited hands-free driving capability, is available for the SV and included with the SL.
2025 Nissan Altima Features
Skip the entry-level S trim for the 2025 Altima’s best value.
The 2025 Altima lineup earns a 5 for features. Though it’s a decent overall value, it lacks standard smartphone integration. With a 5.0-inch touchscreen and 16-inch steel wheels, the base Altima S is really base, and it starts at $28,140, including the $1,140 destination charge.
Nissan’s 3-year/36,000-mile warranty is typical, though for 2025, Nissan now includes three free oil changes.
Which Nissan Altima should I buy?
Step up to the SV for just $430 more. It gets an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a power-adjustable driver seat, keyless start, and 17-inch alloy wheels. This version is also available with the Premium package, which adds a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wireless smartphone integration, heated front seats, a sunroof, and Nissan’s ProPilot Assist suite of driver-assistance technology. It’s a value at $2,390. For $1,090, the SV is also available with a new Special Edition package, which adds wireless smartphone charging, but drops the sunroof, seat upgrades, and safety gear. Budget another $1,500 for all-wheel drive.
How much is a fully loaded Nissan Altima?
The 2025 Altima SL, $35,970, features leather upholstery, heated front seats, the 12.3-inch touchscreen, remote start, the ProPilot Assist package, 9-speaker Bose audio, and 19-inch wheels.
2025 Nissan Altima Fuel Economy
For a non-hybrid sedan, the 2025 Nissan Altima has good fuel efficiency.
Is the Nissan Altima good on gas?
Yes, despite the lack of a hybrid in the Altima lineup. It’s a 4, thanks to front-wheel-drive versions’ EPA ratings of 27 mpg city, 39 highway, 32 combined. With more features and bigger wheels, ratings for SR and SL trims drop to 27/37/31 mpg.
With all-wheel drive, the Altima is rated for 25/34/28 mpg. All Altimas run on regular fuel.