Merch:
Under the correct track conditions and with the correct driver this front-engine front-wheel-drive 1994 nissan altima can keep up with a mid-engine supercar last name this is a 1994 nissan altima se it’s from a time before nissan gave the altima the second gen neon foie-gras treatment early altimas were lean and angry in the se trim they were overpriced
Over built and over engineered and look what engine it had ka24de yep the 240sx engine oh fine it’s not the ka24de it’s the ka24de aa4 altima so it makes a little less power than it would in the usdm 240sx because the relationship between the altima se and the 240sx was similar to the grand national mcore vet c4 in the 94 nissan altima se the 2.4 liter straight
For double cam with a timing chain not belt chain made 150 horsepower and 154 pound-feet of torque the engine is very smooth up a top unlike other single jingles of the honda’s which yell a lot more when they’re up this way this this is just buzzy i feel a lot of vibration through the accelerator pedal it’s almost motorcycle esque it got 22 miles per gallon you
Know 19 city 26 highway this is bone stock with a five-speed manual transmission although a four-speed automatic was also available suspension was a combination of struts and stabilizer bars at both ends to firm up the handling and provide consistent ride quality now we are on foot all the way down and around here wait till i get up at 70 miles an hour turning in
Break here yes freak give us some breakers now the altima as a product line was a spinoff of the nissan bluebird which was nissan’s best known sedan internationally having been in production since 1957 replacing the discontinued nissan stanza the altima first rolled off the assembly line in june 1992 making the birth of a car that would be manufactured exclusively
In the united states however these were sold not just in north and south america but also in australia and the middle east nissan or nissen felt in some regards that they could ride the wave of japanese imports into the 90s without having to rely on what had become an outdated model in the nissan stanza but you don’t go into the sales industry if you like to have
Control it’s mostly a guessing game like when you’re 10 and you think you’re the stoplight whisperer closing your eyes and pretending you’re using the force to change the light sometimes you open your eyes and it’s gone from red to green but most the time you’re staring solid red straight in the face at first the car was planned to be called the stanza altima to
The point that those very first models that storm the market in 1993 have stanza on the trunk lid just to the left of the altima badging putting stanza in front of the word altima was sort of a regulatory move since there was a concern that the average person would butcher the pronunciation of altima to the extent that materials yeah like pamphlets were distributed
To clarify which syllables were meant to be emphasized the altima did battle in the market with the toyota camry and the honda accord kicking off a legacy that would see the altima eventually become for better or worse the ultimate rental car roughly one-third of all nissan altimas would go to rental fleets hell tawny airlines was with us in austin and his rental
Car was an altima when you go to the rental counter altimas are more common than bogus scientific studies getting airtime on your late local news no sniffing farts won’t cure cancer and taking your coffee black doesn’t mean you’re a psychopath now in this 93 ultimate se the bushings were starting to go in the shifter so gear engagement wasn’t as crisp as it could
Be but the singing ka24de an engine that makes up for that by racing to its redline and asking for more steering and suspension was as good as a civic si from the same year i’m serious yes the ultimate se model was that good and no one remembers this doesn’t look like a performance car it’s an altima but it is of course it’s heavier than a civic hatch from 94 but
It has more displacement to work with the base model of this car is the equivalent of cheap takeout when you’ve come home late from work and don’t feel like cooking you’re not paying for top-of-the-line cuisine you’re paying for the freedom to not have to do anything you get an ultimate 94 and you don’t come into it with any expectations at least not with the base
Model it helps you get to and from your destination without noticed maybe altimas are not made to be noticed anymore than the final season of house of cards was made to be enjoyed man when you’ve rent an altima you’re not even taking the insurance it just screams disposability they don’t care if you scratch it they’ll just get another one from a box of cracker
Jacks timely reference if you work at hertz you have two hands and you’re not holding a single in either of them because it’s an altima who cares and so when you find yourself looking at the se trim from the early 90s this is something special watch this this is cell phone footage while we were filming this car as we were taking the ultimate sc around harris
Hill race where monica harrison is there driving the altima and she sees a ferrari 488 l on the track and being the hunter she is monica c’s prey okay this is a commentary thing going on we are filming a nissan altima but monica tracked instructor racecar driver is tailing a ferrari what is that already a ferrari 488 with a customer car just going for a fun ride
And right now they’re probably thinking they’re having the time of their life and behind them is a 94 altima just on their ass well not on their ass but clearly not getting smaller in the rear view mirror when we got off that track monica said i would have had that ferrari in three turns and it proves a point of two things given front-wheel drive a good engine and
Most of all a skilled driver a cheap car can be just as fast as an expensive car and it’s also down the harris hill because harris hill does not favor horsepower big horsepower cars aren’t gonna save you here we wanted to just turn her loose but we couldn’t that wouldn’t be safe the guy in the ferrari is a customer he just taken that car out from longhorn racing
Academy that would have been bad but there was a possibility there and i’m happy to have driven this altima sc from 1994 because this gives me another answer to a question that i get often i’m mister regular i’m in college or i’m in high school and i need a fun car that i can drive every day usually my answer is honda civic eh too but now i can confidently say
Nissan altima se from the early 90s because it was cast aside as a not quite honda and even at this top level trim early altimas didn’t sell well and it’s almost surprising that it even stuck around long enough to be as ubiquitous as it has because early origins didn’t suggest longevity what you had was a dated car that people weren’t raving about which means a
Lot of enthusiasts were missing out on a vehicle that at its top trim was capable keeping up with supercars twenty years into the future in a sense it was car culture’s best-kept secret and now we’re at a point where the altima in its sixth generation will be among the first nissan cars to offer semi autonomous driving cars can evolve beyond their humble dated
Beginnings and become things that if not better at least have more staying power than whatever came first people love talking about growth about progress and change but much like those with problematic tweets we saddle a car with the tag of being cheap and reliable and never consider that we might be missing out on something because the type of world we live in now
And doesn’t seem interested in allowing the opportunity for change fun isn’t taking a 24-year old car on a racetrack it’s finding something to get recreationally angry about people want to unearth past ugliness set the downfall into motion and make sure the target is buried deeper than the quotes of bertrand russell we shouldn’t excuse bad behavior but in a broader
Sense we have to at least give people the opportunity to show that they can learn and grow from their past mistakes rather than placing them in a box their mistakes built them never allowing them the chance to carve a doorway out and the same is true for cars if we’re going to condemn a car for being a lame or ugly or dated or even if we’re going to glorify a car
Sometimes we have to be willing to give it a second look a fresh perspective and a new pair of eyes sharpened by the passage of time because we’re all just out here in our prices right lives hoping that our plinko chip will land somewhere valuable these days my thoughts drift back to that old altamont that i’d have liked to with you and all the times i wish i had asked you to
Transcribed from video
1994 Nissan Altima SE: Regular Car Reviews By RegularCars
