2019 Nissan AltimaDerek McNaughton / Driving Franconia, N.H. Robert Frost, the great American poet who died in 1963, was famous for taking the road less travelled, perhaps even coining the phrase with his line, Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”That difference lured him to Franconia, New Hampshire, where Frost and his family lived full-time from 1915 to 1920, and spending 19 summers at his picturesque farmstead. One look at Frosts view from his farmhouse in Franconia explains why: the green expanse of the White Mountains is as alluring as it is captivating, the mountains beauty a force that pulls as strongly as a rivers current. Its partly why we venture here every year to explore these forests, despite the pathetic U.S. and Canadian Dollar exchange rate. This year, a 2019 Nissan Altima was our horse for the journey.And what a frugal beast she turned out to be. Averaging 6.7 L/100 kilometres at a constant speed of 120 km/h, the Altimas 2.5-litre four cylinder engine consumed roughly $100 in fuel to travel just over 1,400 kilometres. At the U.S. gas station in Littleton where I stopped to fill up, the clerk asked how much I wanted pre-charged to my credit card. Eighty dollars? I ventured. Puzzled, then glancing outside at the Altima, he said the Altima wont take more than $40. Oh right, cheap U.S. gas!Indeed, US$39 later, the Altimas 61-litre tank was full, though the cost per gallon was only US$2.59 (about 90 cents a litre), and having travelled 760 kilometres on one tank, with another 39 to spare. By lowering our average highway speed to 100 km/h, and with some simple hypermiling, 1,000 highway kilometres on one tank should be possible. Who needs a diesel with gasoline fuel economy like this?That economy is especially good, considering all Altimas in Canada are AWD. The system works invisibly at all times, normally sending 100 per cent of power to the front wheels, but able to send 50 per cent to the rears if theres any slip up front. It will even divide the split 70 front, 30 rear when cornering to help with dynamics and feel in a car that tracks quite well around corners. I mostly forgot we had AWD.While the Altimas longer-term average of urban and highway driving showed 7.3 L/100 kilometres on the trip computer, the downside of such frugality, of course, is a paucity of power, the Altimas 185 horsepower and 178 lb.-ft of torque adequate for most normal driving situations but lacking real hustle anytime real speed is required. Passing on two lane highways requires prudence. Engine refinement is good but not stellar, although the continuously variable transmission makes itself endearing by mosty remaining out of sight and sound, beavering away quietly in the background. Perhaps a sport mode would help. In fact, most of the cabin is the same way: noise is well controlled, other than a bit of growl from the engine now and then. The cabin is remarkably simple too, a clean and uncluttered estate with everything easy to find, see and operate, a proper volume knob for the half-decent Bose stereo. An eight-inch touchscreen on the Platinum delivers good graphics with excellent haptic feedback. Instrumentation is equally clear, legible and bright. Its an excellent interior that wont frustrate its users. The zero gravity front seats are indeed supportive and comfortable, but they wont stop all the cramping that comes with old age on a long drive with few stops. Excellent seat heat to the back certainly helps, however.Rear seat legroom is massive about 88 centimetres of legroom and the 60/40 rear folding bench opens to an equally large trunk that happily consumed all our luggage, hiking gear and multitude of coats for the ever-varying weather. For a midsize sedan that starts at $28,000 $35,000 as-tested the trunk is bigger than plenty of more expensive full-size sedans.Nissans ProPilot Assist was interesting on this trip, too. Its supposed to reduce stress through adaptive cruise control and lane centering. But the lane centering wasnt always able to keep up and wanders off line now and then, acting overly busy at other times. The adaptive cruise would sometimes brake a little harshly if the system felt we were getting a little too close too quickly to a car ahead. The two technologies can be used separately or together, but it was simpler to leave the task of driving to myself. What I did appreciate, though, was the Altimas parking and safety aids especially rear intelligent safety braking, which detects objects while backing up and will apply the brakes before hitting it.After a week of hiking the White Mountains with the Altima getting us to and from the trails, we came away with an appreciation for its incredible fuel economy and quiet purpose. The 2019 Altima may not have the spirit or poetry of a more expensive luxury saloon, but it sure gets the job done efficiently and without much fuss a
Origin: Road Trip: Ontario to New Hampshire in a 2019 Nissan Altima