Thread: Altima SE-R vs LGT vs Altima 4 cyl

I've been heavily considering replacing the P11 with something a bit roomier, with real cup holders, and something beamless. P11 currently is making 230ish whp and gets 20/32 mpg consistently (so far 38mpg has been best). P11 has 6 speed, but being a turbo SR20 is cursed with vibrations from motor mounts. I can't have it handle good without it being too rough either, either major body roll of feel every single bump in the road. Having so many mods on a car we take on long trips kind of sucks too, Can't say I would trust the car with my wife on a long trip...

The cars I'm considering are 05-06 Altima SE-R, 05-07 Legacy GT, or getting an 05-06 Altima QR (more on this later). Manual is a must, ease to work on and okish highway gas mileage.

05-06 Altima SE-R's definitely roomy, but is huge externally, engine bay is pretty cramped and doesn't seem to come with LSD, is 6 speed and hovers around 2400 rpm @ 70mph. Gets 18/26 mpg. As for power it has 260bhp (~220whp), 0-60 is 6.1sec and 1/4m times at 14.8sec.

05-07 Legacy GT's are not much bigger then the p11, AWD + LSD is awesome, power is decent at 250bhp (~190whp) but you can at least put it all down to the ground. 0-60 is at 5.7 sec, 1/4m is at 14.3sec. Gas mileage is definitely nothing fancy at 17/23, but seems like lots of people get 27ish with light mods. Working on this guy is definitely more painful then on our cars, but doesn't look as bad as the VQ honestly (except for clutch work).

Last option I'm considering is getting a blown engine 05-06 Altima with a QR25. Dropping in a SR20 with a turbo, NEMU ecu, MAP (Screw Nissan MAF's), 6 speed and having an easy to work on roomy 30+ mpg (QR altima's weight 50lbs more then P11's) car with 250-300whp. I think it would be an awesome project, but then that's going to be even more custom then the current P11 is.

What do you guys think? I know this is an SR20 forum, but seeing how lots of us already switched over to Subi's (I already have an FXT too, but 21mpg sucks for long trips), wondering if it's worth beating around the bush with Nissan for a comfortable daily with power.

None of those cars, since none of those cars fit your prerequisites to begin with.

P.S. I will never switch to Subaru.

P.P.S Good luck., I prefer the last option but that is most involved.

P.P.P.S Stop modifying cars if you don't want the negative consequences associated with modifying a car!

Didn't know LGT's were that quick. But the gas mileage is horrible. Full size pickups do better than that these days. I like the Altima SE-R but just know that you can get the same speed out of the regular VQ Altima for cheaper albeit with a little loss in handling, which is an oops on Nissan's part. Low mileage 02-03 Maxima is nice too. But Kyle is right, none of those cars touch the P11 in gas mileage:overall performance ratio. More comfortable, sure. Gotta watch out for the Legacy's headgasket too. the 90's and early 00's were the worst but there are still problems with them today. Just a Legacy thing. Ask me how I know. The QR to SR altima idea seems like stepping backward. It's not a chassis for a DET in my opinion and the aftermarket is smaller than the P11's.

I vote 2012-2013 Impreza. 36mpg highway and decent size and safety for the wife.

Legacy GT - You will love the wagon, you get some more power but MPG is not that great. Just be careful on which mods you do as to avoid the issues leading you to this situation.

It's not like my P11 is not reliable, once I stopped cutting corners with cooling, she's been pretty reliable. Roller Rocker is a great little efficient motor, but it's just not built for boost, so I do worry about it, that's the main reason I don't 100% trust it. 6 speed has been treating me good in reliability department, just the shifting sucks (might be a bad shift assembly though!).

Three things that really make me want to get a newer car is cupholders, rear beam, and vibrations from engine.
- I already have JDM center console, but since it's meant for right hand drive, the cups are right under your shifting arm, pain in the butt to shift while you have anything more then 12oz can.
- Rear beam is a pain due to beam shift when lowering or raising it. I put stock rear springs in, and still have beam shift
- Vibrations are mainly related to 6 speed, which lifted the engine up a little bit, exhaust is touching it someplace.

Plus it would be nice to have something a little more modern, cough sunglass holder, and bigger glove box for my full sized pistols cough.

I drove an auto Altima 3.5s, I wasn't impressed by power, handling or comfort, but the interior space was awesome. Though it had a giant hood (wide car), thus I doubt it would be too fun mountain driving (I do that a lot).

A friend has an auto 09 Legacy 3.0r, it's not bad, but not 100% impressed by space (trunk or interior). But it is a fun car to drive around. I'm going to see if I can find an 05-07 legacy GT and test drive it. I know they have some issues with head gaskets, turbo ones seem to be more reliable.

My wife and I love the 04 Forester XT that we have, but it blows on gas mileage (15 city 21 highway). But since I side gapped the stock plugs the city mileage went up to 19mpg but highway is still at 21-22. Awesome to offroad in and take into back country. It's so smooth accelerating though, I could be at 5k rpm and not know it! But I think I'm starting to have an issue with wheel bearings or rear diff (whining at speed). Working on it is a bit painful though

My brother in law just got an 2014 Forester premium, 170hp with CVT, gets 33mpg highway, so freaking roomy too! He is trying to convince us to sell all of our cars and get one of those. Timing chain and an empty engine bay alone is almost worth it!

Not the 3.5 lol the timing chain tensioners goes bad and are a bitch to replace on a fwd.. Only thing holding me back from getting anything with a 3.5 in it.

I found the perfect car for Vadim.



EDIT: The mileage may not be there, but I am sure everything else is covered!

That's basically the dirt I'm looking for, and that makes me not want to bother with the 3.5L. Plus you have to remove the intake manifold to replace the plugs or do anything else on the car.

I wish Nissan had a 4 cyl AWD sedan, I think that's my biggest leaning point towards the Legacy. 250whp on a Legacy will be much more useful and faster from the dig then the same or more power from Altima or the G20. 2010 Legacy's are actually are as big as Altima's, but too new, pricey, and don't look as good as the 4th gen's.