IndyStar.com's view

At Nissan Motor Corp., USA, success begets success – witness the new 1998 Nissan Altima.

The ’98 Altima, a second generation front-drive Nissan luxury-type sedan, builds on the previous Altima with increased size, new sheet metal, new interior, upgraded power, and revised suspension.

That qualifies for a redesign of an automobile if there ever was one, and Nissan not only does it with this American-built sedan, but adds a lower price.

The volume-leading Altima GXE automatic has an manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $17,990, compared to $19,498 for the equivalent 1997 version.

Other models are the entry-level XE ($14,990), the sporty SE ($18,490), and the fully equipped, top-of-the-line GLE ($19,890). The cars went on sale at Indianapolis’ Nissan dealerships in July.

Working under the philosophy that bigger is better, designers modified the Altima’s platform and made exterior specifications longer, wider and higher, while retaining the same 103.1-inch wheelbase. The length is 183.1 inches, the width 69.1 inches, and the height 55.9 inches.

Platform rigidity has been increased 20 percent, and this enabled engineers to move the front and rear wheels outward 1.6 inches. Those moves substantially improve the new Altima’s handling characteristics.

I’d say the styling tends to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The shape obviously was influenced by the wind tunnel to achieve maximum aerodynamic efficiency. Despite the increase in frontal area, the flush-mounted headlights, steeply raked windshield, and curving lines have produced a co-efficient of drag of 0.32. The Cd of its predecessor was 0.34.

Specific styling cues have been maintained, such as thick bases of the A and C pillars. The large greenhouse with its vast expanse of glass creates the feeling of a large car.

Inside, the driver’s cockpit layout is state-of-the-art, with a center console that mounts the shift lever for a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission. A center pod rises from the front of the console to house audio and climate controls.

Nothing too exciting here, just good, basic engineering.

The rest of the interior, however, tells a different story. Switches and controls are located to complement a driver and passenger’s natural movement. All operating controls are positioned so that a driver uses a minimum of hand movements to activate them.

The instrument panel uses a series of connected arcs to house gauges and air ducts. The layout places two round analog gauges, speedometer and tachometer, directly in front of the driver. Two relatively small temperature and fuel gauges are located in the lower right hand section. The speedometer and tachometer are surrounded by rectangular shaped warning lights.

Among the interesting touches are the large storage pockets installed in the door panels. These are big enough to hold 8 1/2-by-11-inch packages. And new dashboard and console compartments can stow frequently needed items.

The h eart of the ’98 Altima is a refined version of Nissan’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. This 145-cubic-inch motor with its dual-overhead cams and four valves per cylinder develops 150-horsepower, just a bit above the performance benchmark figure of 1-horsepower per cubic inch. Torque is rated at 154 foot-pounds.

The power shows up best in five-speed form, where 0-60 mph for the XE model comes in at 8.9 seconds. Using an automatic increases 0-60 mph times by a full second.

It would seem that some of Nissan’s management may be a bit faint-hearted, as top speed is electronically controlled at 112 mph. That probably won’t sit too well with the hot-shoe types, even though they never go that fast in the first place.