Nissan is pushing harder for the sedan sector in Canada. I saw it on the Montreal Autoshow last week, and now it is officially available anywhere in Canada. The 2019 Nissan Altima AWD is here. Great move Nissan! Now, let's take a look at what is specifically going on:
In Canada, since 2007, the sales for the Altima have been declining. Many alternatives like the Accord, the Camry and even the Civic, are getting way more accepted by Canadian drivers when it comes to sedans. On the opposite, and mostly because of the different meteorological situation, the Altima has an outstanding record of sales in the U.S., where more than 280,000 new units are delivered every year.
That's why Nissan is going forward with a terrain, usually only in the hands of Subaru, some specific cases and high-end vehicles: All Wheel Drive. They call it, "the next wave Sedan" (10/10 for the marketing slogan guys!)
The New Altima's AWD System
The new trim level line of the Altima spreads as follows:
- 2019 Altima S - starting at 29,908CAD
- 2019 Altima SV - starting at 33,408CAD
- 2019 Altima S - starting at 36,908CAD
- 2019 Altima S - starting at 37,908CAD
The good news is that Nissan's Intelligent All-Wheel Drive system comes standard on all Altima models, starting from the base S. Main features, as specified on the official Nissan Canada page:
- Active Ride Control: The system controls both the brakes and engine torque to smooth the drive on top of road imperfections.
- Intelligent Trace Control: While you steer through corners, it applies brakes individually to balance the curve turn.
- Hill Start Assist: When climbing a steep hill, the system takes care of avoiding the backward roll that may occur when starting from a stopped position.
- ABS System: The popular pump that allows you to break while still maintaining control of the wheel and steer away from obstacles.
- Vehicle Dynamic Control: When a specific wheel, or two, or even 3, fall into an oversteer or understeer situation, the VDC system re-balances engine torque to balance it up with the rest of the wheels.
- Advanced Weight Breaking: An Electronic Brake-force Distribution system identifies when there is additional weight in the vehicle, such as passenger or a loaded trunk. It helps to apply braking more force on the back wheels that in the front one if it comes to an emergency brake situation.
