| Pros | Cons | ||
| ✓ Comfortable ride | ☓ Lackluster driving dynamics | ||
| ✓ Spacious, straightforward interior | ☓ No high-MPG hybrid option | ||
| ✓ Still has an AWD option | ☓ No VC-Turbo model either, as of 2025 | ||
| ✓ Decent fuel economy |
2025 Nissan Altima Overview: If you don’t need or want an SUV, this is a well-rounded option.
While it’s larger Maxima sibling has rolled into the history books, Nissan’s Altima is still kicking and selling north of 100,000 examples each year. It isn’t flashy and thanks to the loss of the VC-Turbo powertrain for 2025, it isn’t quite as dynamic as it used to be either. That said, the latest Altima does make its case as a comfort, efficient and value-minded option for new car buyers who aren’t looking to spend an arm and a leg on, say, a brand-new crossover or SUV.
In my week with the 2025 Nissan Altima SR — the ‘sporty’ one — I settled in to a routine of no muss, no fuss driving as I went back and forth to the office, and took care of your usual range of errands in between. The brand’s now-flagship sedan makes a pitch as a solid all-around choice for folks who want all-wheel drive assurance and a decent range of technology that doesn’t require a PhD to use in an efficient, affordable package.
To its credit, the latest Altima, which has been on sale since the 2019 model year and saw a refresh for 2023, checks all those boxes with a sense of purpose — if not with gusto. With Nissan’s interesting variable-compression turbocharged four-cylinder out of the picture, all 2025 Nissan Altima models come with a single, 182-horsepower engine option, mated up to a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Front-wheel drive is still the default, though you can get AWD if you have to deal with dicey weather conditions.
Pricing for the 2025 Nissan Altima now starts at $28,140 for the base S model, rising to $28,570 for the mid-range SV, $29,970 for the sportier-looking SR, and $34,470 for the top-spec SL. All-wheel drive is only available on the SV and above, and will cost you another $1,500.
One other change for 2025: the SV Special Edition
While the SL sits a few thousand dollars above the other trims, you don’t necessarily have to buy the fully loaded version to get the features you want. Nissan introduced a new SV Special Edition package for the 2025 model year, bringing some of the most desirable features down into the volume-selling trim. That includes some exterior styling tweaks, a larger 12.3-inch touchscreen rather than the standard 8.0-inch unit, wireless phone charging and a WiFi hotspot.
The SV and SR trims also each get a “Premium Package” for $2,390 and $2,890 respectively. Again, the package adds in the larger infotainment screen, while you also get a power-sliding moonroof, dual-zone climate control, heated front seats, wireless charging and wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto integration, as well as more power adjustment for the front seats.
Our particular Altima SR did not have the Premium Package, but it did have the $670 bronze wheels, the $405 illuminated kick plates, $570 exterior ground lighting and a $420 rear spoiler, so there’s that.
The Altima’s interior is about as easy to use as you can get these days.
Do you guys still remember the last Maxima? Remember the bit where Nissan tried to pitch its full-size sedan as a full-on four-door sports car — and still does, even though it’s now gone? There’s a bit of that ambition going on inside this Altima SR, including the flat-bottom steering wheel, the shift paddles and the contrast stitching.
Look, with 182 horsepower (188 if you stick with front-wheel drive), 178 lb-ft of torque and a CVT in the mix, the 2025 Nissan Altima is not a sporty car. Period. You don’t even get drive modes, so that should be a clear enough sign right there of what you’re getting into.
What you do get, though, is a perfectly agreeable interior everything you arguably need, and nothing you don’t…okay, shift paddles notwithstanding. The steering wheel has your standard media and cruise controls, as well as navigation buttons for the instrument cluster menus. You get two completely normal stalks for the lights and the wipers, and a range of buttons for the infotainment display and the climate controls, and that’s the Altima. The larger 12.3-inch head unit does add in a few more bells and whistles like built-in navigation, but even then you still get a mixture of digital information and analog gauges. Higher-end models offer Nissan’s ProPilot Assist semi-autonomous system, and that’s about as fancy as things get. As part of its “Safety Shield 360” system, things like automatic front and rear emergency braking, lane departure warning and lane keep assist do come standard on all Altima models.
The 2025 Nissan Altima gets a no-frills back seat and a spacious trunk.
Both up front and in the rear, you get a decent amount of storage with ample cupholders and pockets throughout the cabin. With 39.1 inches of headroom up front and 36.9 inches on the back row, the Altima is fairly spacious for all, though it falls behind both the redesigned Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord with its 35.2 inches of rear legroom.
In the back, the 2025 Nissan Altima has a 15.4-cubic-feet trunk, which is still good enough for a few full-size pieces of luggage. It’s larger than the Camry’s cargo area, but again smaller than the Accord’s 16.7 cubic feet. You can also fold the seats down, but the only place to do it is through releases in the trunk, which is a more old-school design and annoying if you’re trying to open up as much space as you can get to transport larger items.
Under the hood, the 2025 Nissan Altima has an engine — who’d have thunk it?
In keeping with the whole “everything you need, nothing you don’t” theme, the Altima has that 2.5-liter naturally aspirated engine. Frankly, that’s all you really need to know, as it will sufficiently scoot you and yours down the road, and that’s more or less it. It’s not exciting, it isn’t particularly rev happy (thanks again, in part, to that CVT), and it doesn’t make any fun noises. In fact, it does sound a bit strained when you try and hammer it to 60 mph and beyond on a freeway onramp.
Speaking of 0-60, the Altima can manage it in around 8 seconds. That’s not horrendous, but it is slower than every other sedan in its class — mainly because all its rivals offer turbocharged engines or hybrid systems that have an electric motor helping the gas engine out under acceleration.
Where the 2025 Nissan Altima shines, even lacking a hybrid option, is fuel economy. Stick with front-wheel drive, and it manages 27/39/32 City/Highway/Combined mpg. That is remarkably good, and even going with all-wheel drive only drops it down to 25/34/28 City/Highway/Combined mpg. The SR and SL get 1-2 mpg worse than the base model, mainly due to their larger and heavier wheels.
Looking past outright acceleration, the rest of the Altima driving experience is fine, if not heart-pounding. The steering is decently direct, braking effort feels spot-on for a car its size, and overall it feels composed in everyday driving. Again, it’s a solid car: the 2025 Nissan Altima won’t set your hair on fire, but it also won’t give you all kinds of drama trying to navigate through a snow storm (as Tommy and Jen determined in the video below).
Verdict: When good (probably) isn’t good enough
In a vacuum, I would have no trouble at all recommending the 2025 Nissan Altima for anyone seeking a good all-rounder. But here’s the thing: Anything the Nissan Altima can do, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord can arguably do better. Even with improvements stemming from the 2023 refresh, it’s going into battle against the also-good-all-around Honda Accord, which is available as a pure-gas variant or as a high-mileage hybrid (its only major drawback is no AWD option).
Then there’s the Toyota Camry, and Nissan has a similar issue here that it does with its compact Rogue SUV competing against the RAV4 — Toyota just dominates the market. Again, part of that is offering a now-standard hybrid powertrain at an affordable price. The Camry is also coming off a complete redesign, though, so it gets a much nicer and feature-rich interior, on top of being a comfortable daily driver.
Even without the all-wheel drive Subaru Legacy in the picture anymore, the Nissan Altima doesn’t have to fend off its fellow Japanese rivals in this segment, either. The Hyundai Sonata and Kia K5 both offer distinctive styling, tech and multiple powertrain options, from your standard naturally aspirated gas engine to your hybrids to your 290-horsepower turbo models.
The 2025 Nissan Altima is as middle-of-the-pack as you can currently get — and that can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s still a good car and it’s a good value, especially with two years of complimentary oil changes thrown in, as Nissan does. Losing the turbo model does ding the fun factor a bit, and this is mainly the best available option if there’s just something that puts you off any of the others. Fortunately, if buying a Camry or a Sonata gives you the heebie-jeebies for some reason, Nissan is still here with a solid option for you.
As tested: $34,580 (Altima SR AWD); options include splash guards ($245), Bluestone Pearl premium paint ($425), mats/nets/trunk hooks ($375), illuminated kick plates ($405), exterior ground lighting w/ logo ($570), rear spoiler ($420) and 19-inch bronze aluminum alloy wheels ($670).
