Ownership Verified: 2010 Nissan Altima 2.5SL, Why?

[SchumacherM]

CVT.

 

[thomas]

Why? Because you wanted something called "SL", just admit it.

 

[CraigB]

CVT.

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The CVT has a "sport" mode where it simulates gears. I've used it a couple times and it's not bad.

Why? Because you wanted something called "SL", just admit it.

Well it is SLow...

 

[Perc]

The simulated gears make it slower, if anything.

 

[CraigB]

The simulated gears make it slower, if anything.

But on a twisty road it's nice to be able to use the engine to use some engine braking.

 

[ninjacoco]

Why? Because you didn't read coco's Failtima thread!

j/k--hopefully you have better luck with that 2.5 engine than I did. Supposedly there were fixes later, so hopefully they're on your car.

 

[CraigB]

That's what I'm hoping. I knew the early 2.5s and 3.5s had issues.

 

[CraigB]

Since we bought the car in January we have put 10k miles on the car, but we are on a trip to Galveston and south eastern Louisana this week. First time we have ventured this far with the car. So far it's doing good, averaged 28 on the way down. I think it would have cracked 30, but the 75 mph highways in Texas have taken their tolls on the fuel economy.

Here's the car on the Bolivar-Galveston ferry.



And then the best photo I've taken off the car...



From 5 floors up, so you don't have to see some of its ugliness.

 

[CraigB]

Well the car is over 55k miles now. No major problems as of yet. Though I did have to replace the brake light switch, a common problem on Nissans, due to a no start situation. If I pulled the old switch and put it back the car would start, but it was getting more frequent.

Gena and I are on our 10th anniversary trip in Arkansas this week and we took the Altima over the Focus because I knew we'd end up on some fairly nasty gravel roads.

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Honestly it does well climbing some of these gravel mountain roads, but lacks suspension travel and ground clearance. I'd like to see how a Subaru XV Crosstrek would do on the same roads.

 

[CraigB]

Well, Gena backed the car into a pole today. Looks like the thing will need to spend some time at the body shop.

 

[CraigB]

Update on the backing into a pole saga:

Estimate for damage was $1,420, so I turned it into my insurance. They sent a check within a few days and this Tuesday we dropped it off at a friend of mine's auto body shop. Here's some photos he sent me just a bit ago:





We go to pick it up tomorrow. Then I can have my work truck back that she has been driving.

 

[Perc]

Ouch fuck. That sucks.

 

[CraigB]

All straight and painted again.





I dropped it off to her this afternoon, jumped in the work truck and it has a bad miss that got worse I drove back to the track. I think the fuel pump that was replaced a year or so ago is on it's way out or something. It has no power...

 

[Dr_Grip]

Looks good, but a shame about the green truck.

 

[CraigB]

I'll get it fixed, it was bound to happen at 182k miles. It's been a great truck with little problems.

 

[CraigB]

About a month ago Mrs CraigB got backed into at Walmart by a lady that then gave false insurance information. Need to get it booked into the body shop to have this repaired. Hoping this week.



Today I did an oil change, put in new spark plugs, tire rotation and brake check. She had complained of squealing brakes sometimes. Pads were good, so I put a light coating of anti-sieze on the back of the pads. Hopefully that stop the annoying noise, from both the brakes and her.





Plugs looked good for nearly 90k miles and came out without a fight.



Celebratory ice cream after the plugs. I was afraid that I would be in for a heap of trouble with them.



The amazing hover Altima!

Overall this is still a good car. Needs more power and a real transmission, but the missus likes the car. Who am I to judge...

 

[thomas]

That quarter panel can't catch a break, can it? If you wanna mix things up, feel free to bump into my Cadi's rear left and make your insurance pay for that . They should know how it works by now . But I think that might actually cause more damage than there actually is currently..

 

[CraigB]

Yeah, I hope that my body man doesn't run into any issues while re-repairing that quarter.

You know, something to consider would be leaving the car with me one time and letting my friend who runs his own body shop to repair the car. There's a direct flight from Joplin to Dallas (looks like they are about $150 if booked far enough in advance). He was a body guy at a Chevrolet/Cadillac dealer before striking out on his own.

 

[Spectre]

The damage to the rear of the Caddy is actually confined to the bumper and the plastic tailfins. The sheetmetal proper isn't actually damaged.

 

[CraigB]

The damage to the rear of the Caddy is actually confined to the bumper and the plastic tailfins. The sheetmetal proper isn't actually damaged.

He could still could fix it, then I could drive the Cadillac to Dallas.