Hi. I'm new to the board and currently own a 2001 Focus SE Sport and I'm thinking about trading it for a 2002 Altima. The thing I don't get, is that you can get a bottom of the line Focus hatch for about $12,000 with standard alloy wheels, but a $20,000 Altima 2.5S has chintzy plastic wheel covers. I suppose they have to cut corners somewhere, but c'mon!
Why does a $20,000 car come with plastic wheel covers?
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stop comparing a ford to nissan.....
engines are da bomb in nissan's ..and ford i don't think so
engines are da bomb in nissan's ..and ford i don't think so
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Wisky said:
(jumps behind these two, puts head between legs, hands over ears)
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Buy the Altima 2.5S with the Convenience pkg.
No prob Bob, if you want an Altima with alloy wheels, buy the 2.5S with the Conveience pkg. It is true, that with an automatic transmission, the 2.5S is about $19,,400, but that is MSRP, and if you pay MSRP for a basic Altima, that's crazy. The 2.5S with the Convenience pkg. and automatic transmission is about $21,500 MSRP, but could probably be had for about $19K. Then you have to look at it quite differently. The Altima is a great deal larger than the Focus, plus the engine is the basic Altima is better than the top engine for the Focus. They are in completely different classes. The Focus is a compact, although a fairly roomy one, while he Altima is almost a full size sedan, just a few cubic feet behind the Avalon. If you think it's outrageous to have an Altima for $20K without alloy wheels, check you local Toyota dealerships, I looked at a Camry SE I4, they wanted $25.5K for it, and guess what, it had wheel covers on it too. The Avalon, a car that starts at about $25k has ugly 15 inch wheel covers. The Honda Accord LX and LXV6 both have wheel covers, although the Accord LXI4 is cheaper than the Altima 2.5S. The Mitsubishi Galant ES and ESV6 have wheel covers, and the VW Passat GLS and GLSV6 without the luxury pkg., which starts at about $19K has wheel covers as well, even the Taurus starts off with wheel covers, but it too is cheaper than the Altima. The Impala base has wheel covers as well. The Point you ask? Well, I see it like this, Nissan thinks, well if Toyota can offer the car with cheap wheel covers, so can we. I will say though, the new Altima looks a great deal better than any focus, although that is just my opinion. Wheel covers are the last thing I am really worried about though, the relaibilty plays a big role in my car buying decisions, and for that reason, I would take the Altima 2.5S without the conveinece pkg. over say the Chevy Impala or Ford Taurus with alloy wheels for that reason alone.
Although I do agree, for the money for these new cars, alloy wheels should be standard. Why not write Nissan or call them. I have already called them and written them about the interior.
No prob Bob, if you want an Altima with alloy wheels, buy the 2.5S with the Conveience pkg. It is true, that with an automatic transmission, the 2.5S is about $19,,400, but that is MSRP, and if you pay MSRP for a basic Altima, that's crazy. The 2.5S with the Convenience pkg. and automatic transmission is about $21,500 MSRP, but could probably be had for about $19K. Then you have to look at it quite differently. The Altima is a great deal larger than the Focus, plus the engine is the basic Altima is better than the top engine for the Focus. They are in completely different classes. The Focus is a compact, although a fairly roomy one, while he Altima is almost a full size sedan, just a few cubic feet behind the Avalon. If you think it's outrageous to have an Altima for $20K without alloy wheels, check you local Toyota dealerships, I looked at a Camry SE I4, they wanted $25.5K for it, and guess what, it had wheel covers on it too. The Avalon, a car that starts at about $25k has ugly 15 inch wheel covers. The Honda Accord LX and LXV6 both have wheel covers, although the Accord LXI4 is cheaper than the Altima 2.5S. The Mitsubishi Galant ES and ESV6 have wheel covers, and the VW Passat GLS and GLSV6 without the luxury pkg., which starts at about $19K has wheel covers as well, even the Taurus starts off with wheel covers, but it too is cheaper than the Altima. The Impala base has wheel covers as well. The Point you ask? Well, I see it like this, Nissan thinks, well if Toyota can offer the car with cheap wheel covers, so can we. I will say though, the new Altima looks a great deal better than any focus, although that is just my opinion. Wheel covers are the last thing I am really worried about though, the relaibilty plays a big role in my car buying decisions, and for that reason, I would take the Altima 2.5S without the conveinece pkg. over say the Chevy Impala or Ford Taurus with alloy wheels for that reason alone.
Although I do agree, for the money for these new cars, alloy wheels should be standard. Why not write Nissan or call them. I have already called them and written them about the interior.
Ford can afford to put alloy wheels on the focus because it is simply cheaper to manufacture a 15" inch wheel as opposed to the altimas 16" wheel and more so there are dozens upon dozens of features that the focus lacks that the altima has.In an edmunds.com report the focus lost out to the sentra in a compact sedan comparission test, so please don't even try to compare it to the altima
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who gives a **** what car he is comparing it to. he has a point. 20G car with hubs...ohh please thats ****ed up. when my mom was buyin her 3.0CL, i didn't see any of them with hubs on instead of alloys. that guy is new to this site, he asked a question and instead of answer he gets dised by you. WTF
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The 2002 Altima is in a different class than the Ford Focus. The Altima first of all is a much larger car. This explains the price difference.
Second, pricier cars don't necessarily come with alloy wheels. Especially the entry trim levels are designed to get you car but not all the options that come on higher trim levels. Case in point...did u know early bmw e46 3 series came with silver steel wheels? There weren't even any hub cabs! Pretty ghetto eh?
Second, pricier cars don't necessarily come with alloy wheels. Especially the entry trim levels are designed to get you car but not all the options that come on higher trim levels. Case in point...did u know early bmw e46 3 series came with silver steel wheels? There weren't even any hub cabs! Pretty ghetto eh?
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I don't think you'll see a $20K 2.5S with plastic wheel covers. You might see a $17K base model with wheel covers, but in order to make the 2.5S a $20K car you'd be adding the Comfort and Convenience package, which adds 16" alloys among many other things, so there ya go...
Nissan offers a lot of car for the money. They choose to put the money into better R&D, nicer interiors, more substantial engines, etc., rather than sink it into appearance options on base models.
Nissan offers a lot of car for the money. They choose to put the money into better R&D, nicer interiors, more substantial engines, etc., rather than sink it into appearance options on base models.
Ford vs. Nissan
I am a ford convert, just sold my mildly modded 1999 Svt Cobra convertible and got the '02 Alty, the Nissan is tighter, roomier and more economical and half the payment, I wont miss the insurance payments but you cant compare ford to nissan, ford has no quality and their dealers have acute headupauass syndrome.
I am a ford convert, just sold my mildly modded 1999 Svt Cobra convertible and got the '02 Alty, the Nissan is tighter, roomier and more economical and half the payment, I wont miss the insurance payments but you cant compare ford to nissan, ford has no quality and their dealers have acute headupauass syndrome.
A 2.5S with Auto lists for $19,626 at my local dealer. Pretty close to $20K. With the comfort package (alloys) the price is $21,300 .The point I am trying to make is the 2.5S is NOT the base model. And why can't Nissan put alloys on this car when Ford puts them on their cheapest car. I am not directly comparing these two cars.Creature said:
And these features would be?KP117 said:
Here's a short list: 2001 Focus SE Sport
Paid $15,300
Tilt and telescope leather steering wheel
A/C
A/T 4 Speed O/D
CD player, removable face, speed sensitive volume
60/40 rear seat
Steering wheel mounted cruise
15" ALLOY WHEEL (ZTS and ZX3 have 16" alloys)
Remote keyless entry with trunk release
Alarm system
Power windows and locks
Height adjustable drivers seat
etc.,etc,etc,
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they're painted silver
They look like metal to me. Silver = Metal. Who cares if it's concrete, marble pound cake or plastic underneath.
You'll be thankful when you and your Altima are trapped in a dire situation where you have to melt down your plastic hubcaps to form crude weapons or mold it into a net for catching fish. It's much harder to melt down metal. The best you could do it use the metal hubcaps as shields or make shift snow sleds. But where's that going to get you when the %$#! hits the fan?
They look like metal to me. Silver = Metal. Who cares if it's concrete, marble pound cake or plastic underneath.
You'll be thankful when you and your Altima are trapped in a dire situation where you have to melt down your plastic hubcaps to form crude weapons or mold it into a net for catching fish. It's much harder to melt down metal. The best you could do it use the metal hubcaps as shields or make shift snow sleds. But where's that going to get you when the %$#! hits the fan?
Not an Altima thing
Putting steel wheels with plastic hubcaps is pretty common across the board with Japanese manufacturers.
Josaredo19 mentioned this earlier and it seemed to fall on deaf ears (blind eyes?), so I'm reiterating his point.
The recent Car & Driver family-sedan winning Accord LX V6 came equipped with lovely plastic hubcaps for $23K. (This is the car, by the way, that beat out the Altima and the new Camry in this test.) Virtually all four- and six-cylinder Camrys come equipped with hubcaps unless you pony up a few extra bucks for the alloys, either by themselves or in an option package.
$20K Galants come equipped with steel wheels and hubcaps. You can run down to the local Mazda dealer and plunk down $20K on a 626 with... you guessed it, four plastic hubcaps. The same goes with the domestic manufacturers in this price class: the Taurus and Intrepid, among others, offer alloy wheels only as options.
Bottom line: I agree it's cheap with a capital "C" to equip most any car with steel wheels -- especially those north of $20K -- but you've got to have model differentiation. If Nissan stuck the 17-inch alloys on the base 2.5 model and sold it for $17K, how many people do you think would be clamoring for the 2.5S and 2.5SL models? Not nearly as many, so there goes the *huge* profits Nissan makes on the uplevel trim and option packages sold on those cars.
Jarrod K. Wright
'02 3.5SE 5-speed
'98 SE 5-speed
Putting steel wheels with plastic hubcaps is pretty common across the board with Japanese manufacturers.
Josaredo19 mentioned this earlier and it seemed to fall on deaf ears (blind eyes?), so I'm reiterating his point.
The recent Car & Driver family-sedan winning Accord LX V6 came equipped with lovely plastic hubcaps for $23K. (This is the car, by the way, that beat out the Altima and the new Camry in this test.) Virtually all four- and six-cylinder Camrys come equipped with hubcaps unless you pony up a few extra bucks for the alloys, either by themselves or in an option package.
$20K Galants come equipped with steel wheels and hubcaps. You can run down to the local Mazda dealer and plunk down $20K on a 626 with... you guessed it, four plastic hubcaps. The same goes with the domestic manufacturers in this price class: the Taurus and Intrepid, among others, offer alloy wheels only as options.
Bottom line: I agree it's cheap with a capital "C" to equip most any car with steel wheels -- especially those north of $20K -- but you've got to have model differentiation. If Nissan stuck the 17-inch alloys on the base 2.5 model and sold it for $17K, how many people do you think would be clamoring for the 2.5S and 2.5SL models? Not nearly as many, so there goes the *huge* profits Nissan makes on the uplevel trim and option packages sold on those cars.
Jarrod K. Wright
'02 3.5SE 5-speed
'98 SE 5-speed
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So I guess we gonna see alloys on sentra's before we will see anything that has to be done to the altima.apex said:
Dave
We actually considered a Focus as well (we drove a lot of cars -- compact, midsize, small SUVs). We were actually quite impressed with the Focus--a lot of room, drives very well. In performance, room, comfort the Focus has the Civic, Corolla, etc beat hands down. Really. BUT...reliability of the Focus has been LOUSY. Comparing prices--yes, you can get a cheap ZX3, but pick a comparable 4 door model (ZTS) and you're at 15K. We paid 18 for our 2.5S. Yes we got the wheelcovers instead of alloys, but we got a lot more car overall for the extra 3K.
As for the wheel-covers themselves--I was planning to get some aftermarket alloy wheels, but I'm not sure I'm going to bother--the 2.5S wheel covers are pretty decent looking actually.
As for the wheel-covers themselves--I was planning to get some aftermarket alloy wheels, but I'm not sure I'm going to bother--the 2.5S wheel covers are pretty decent looking actually.
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