Time once again to buy a sedan, but already the decision has been made to take a step up from the economy lines; the goal here is to buy a main line, high-quality sedan. So in a market full of examples for the intelligent car buyer, the choice is clear – the best way to examine which one to purchase is by comparing competitors in the class he’s looking for. Two good choices here are the Nissan Altima SR, and the Toyota Camry SE.
The two cars certainly have some similarities; being high class sedans, they both have a very significant amount of room for passengers. The total volume for passengers between the two is negligibly different; 100.7 cubic feet for the Altima SR, and 101.4 cubic feet for the Camry SE, numbers so similar they may as well be the same. With regard to exterior dimensions, the two are also incredibly similar, only the Altima getting a slight noticeable edge in ground clearance, 5.4 to 5.1 inches off the ground.
As for features, the two cars again feature very similar features. One difference is that the Camry has a CD changer for more than one CD – but even better, on the Altima there’s an onboard HDD for storage of all kinds of audio. The two cars get similar gas mileage, estimated at 19 MPG in the city for both and a slight edge for the Camry on highway mileage. They’ve got very similar amounts of power in their engines, as well, with 3.5L engines powering both vehicles.
There are some fairly stark differences, as well. The Altima is Manual, while the Camry has an automatic transmission. However, the payback comes with the fact that the Altima engine, even though it’s the same size as the Toyota’s, pumps out more power. It has the edge in both horsepower and in torque, 270 and 258 to 268 and 248. The Altima has the edge in cruising distance, as well, going 380 miles on a tank in city driving as opposed to the Camry’s 351.5 miles. Thanks to its larger gas tank (20 gallons to 18.5 gallons), the Altima has a slight edge on highway distance as well, 520 to 518 miles.
The big difference maker, though, is the price. The Altima and Camry looked at had fairly different costs: the Altima at $24,520 and the Camry at $25,840. For some examples of Altimas to look at, visit this web page.
