2025 Nissan Altima SR Premium: TEST DRIVE+FULL REVIEW

Hey guys, Willy here with WTF Car Reviews and today we're going to be reviewing the all new 2025 Nissan Altima SR Premium. And a big thanks to Red at Courtesy Nissan in Tampa, Florida for helping make this review possible. I'll leave a link to their inventory below and if you're looking for a new car, SUV or truck in the Tampa area, I would definitely recommend checking these guys out and ask for Red. And for those of you guys who don't know, the Altima has been Nissan's midsize sedan since 1992. The 6th generation Altima that you see here was released in 2019, facelifted in 2023, and for 2025, Nissan ditches the 248hp 2.0L turbo, leaving us exclusively with a 2.5L naturally aspirated power plant, which cranks out 188hp for the front wheel drive and 182hp for the all wheel drive models, which are an additional $1,500. The SV now gets an available special edition package, bringing along similar styling to the SR that we have here, and similar interior options as the SL, offering the best of both worlds, while still sitting cheaper than the SR. The 2025 Altima is available in four trims, ranging from the $27,000 base S, up to the $33,000 top of the line SL. The SR that we have here sits at $28,000, plus $2,800 for the premium package. What else do we get for that money? Let's jump right in. So up front, we get LED projector headlamps with a high and low beam, halogen turn signal and LED daytime running light, some smoked chrome for the V-Motion grille, gloss black for the grille itself, updated Nissan badge, and some black styling in the corners. We don't get fog lights, and we don't get functional airflow in the corners. I really like this blue metallic paint color too, I'll leave a link right here to show you the exact name of it. Hopefully you pick up the sparkles here in the Florida sun, and hopefully we enjoy the Florida sun while it's still a little bit here, because we are supposed to be getting a tropical storm in the next 24 hours. I also appreciate the black headlight housing I didn't mention. The wheels, we get these black and silver contrasted 19-inch rims, wrapped in Bridgestone Torenza all-season tires, dimensions are 235-40R19s. Really liking the design here, but again, you gotta go up to the SR to get this upgraded 19-inch wheel, even the SV with the new special edition package, although it gets the black wheels, they're only 17s. I like the body-colored trim for the wheel well area, and rocker panel side skirts, making this vehicle look a lot more premium. Splash guard in the front and in the back, we'll check that out in the window sticker, see what those go for, and I'll take a step back, hopefully you guys can pick up the side profile on this very elegant and premium-looking, economy-level midsize sedan, with a pretty friendly base price, as you'll see on that window sticker. We get black mirrors, no LED turn signals on them, and we don't get blind spot monitoring on the glass, but we do get blind spot monitoring just on the inside part of the mirror. We get black trim for the top part of the window trim, some shiny chrome down below, smart access for the driver and the front passenger, and we also get some nice body lines for the front part of the door area. Hopefully you can pick up the sunroof, subtle shark-fin style antenna, the window sticker for the 2025 Nissan Altima 2.5SR front-wheel drive sedan. The $28,830 base price, if you guys can pause, take a look at all the standard features, is three years of scheduled oil changes are included now for two years, or 24,000 miles, whichever occurs first, that's also new for 2025. $240 for the splash guards, as you mentioned, $425 for the premium paint, $375 for the floor mats, trunk mat, hideaway nets, and the dual trunk hooks, trunk organizer tray for $195, if that was English, $2,890 for the SR premium package, giving us the power moonroof, leather pointed sport seats, carbon fiber look, IP trim finisher, if whatever that means, premium sport interior finishers, heated front seats, dual zone, automatic climate control, two-way driver power lumbar, four-way power passenger seat, that's a premium touch, Nissan Connect for the 12.3-inch HD color touchscreen display with wireless Apple CarPlay, and wireless Android Auto wireless phone charging pad, remote start, and intelligent climate control plus. $1,140 for the destination charge totaling us out, a tick over $34,000, 31 combined MPGs, 27 in the city, 37 on the highway. And although this engine, it says 188 horsepower, 180 pound-feet of torque with the CVT, it's surprisingly peppy. Car and Driver tested this vehicle with the all-wheel drive version, which makes a little bit less power than the front-wheel drive, at 7.6 seconds for the 0-60. That's no joke, of course, it's not blowing you away, but for a sub-$30,000 base price, this is a pretty surprisingly quick economy car. We don't get a pushed open gas cap, some subtle gloss black trim in the rear fender area, no LED taillights, but they're an incandescent for the brake light, turn signal, and reverse light, which is a halogen. We get a gunmetal gray Ultima badge, red SR in the corner, rear parking sensing, shout out courtesy Nissan of Tampa for helping make this review possible, pretty aggressive and sporty diffuser with the dual exhaust tips. And speaking of the dual exhaust tips, let's fire up this naturally aspirated 2.5-liter 4-cylinder, and hear how she sounds. Alright guys, that was the sound of the 2.5-liter naturally aspirated 4-cylinder sold by Nissan for the 2025 Ultima, and it sounds okay, cranking out a pretty decent amount of power at 100 horsepower, 188 horsepower, 180 pound-feet of torque, made it to an X-Tronic CVT transmission. You can expect 0 to 60 in the mid to high seven-second range, which is no joke considering the price point. You can see the engine is a little bit towards the front of this engine bay, but we do get strut tower braces, which should help the handling quite a bit. We'll see all that when we take it out for a drive. What we see is, based on what we get, we can shut this hood right down, take a step back, walk around this 2025 Ultima SR Premium one more time. And let's take a step inside and see what we get with a really well-loaded 2025 Ultima. So up top, we get soft-touch materials, aluminum door handle, aluminum for the center trim, a little bit of hard plastic in the center, and a nice, gushy, soft material for where your arm will actually rest, with a gushy, soft arm rest. Orange and white contrast stitching, auto one-touch driver, window, power windows for the passenger, four-way adjustable mirrors. We get a very solid audio system, too. It's not the Bose. It says on the window sticker that it is a six-speaker system, but you guys can count them yourself. We got speakers on all four of the doors. We got three speakers in the front cluster alone, and then we get two additional speakers out rear. So I'm not exactly sure where they're getting the six speakers from on the window sticker. Just know that it's a very solid system. I was listening to it on the way to this parking lot. We don't get a step-in plate. We get the Ultima SR-specific floor mats, and we get the leather-appointed seats here in this SR Premium, with the orange and white contrast stitching, subtle quilts, nice stiff bolsters, and a very soft back and bottom area. We get lumbar control two-way. You can recline, drop, lift, and slide the front seats. But taking a step inside, you can really check it out. So foot on the brake, engine start, stop, and everything fires right to life. So as you guys notice, this is a premium interior. We get a nice steering wheel, decently thick, solid 10-in-2 bolstering notches, 9-in-3 fits perfect in your hands. We get the flat bottom. The horn area is hard plastic. The horn, not the loudest or most aggressive. We'll do a window check, see if we get dual panes. We do get dual panes, so it'll be a very quiet interior. We get genuine carbon fiber trim, too, looks very premium all throughout this interior. Hopefully, you can pick up the carbon on camera. The steering wheel controls, we get volume and skip on the left side, adjustments for the infotainment. That includes the audio, fuel economy, trip computer, song that's currently playing, advanced safety features, settings, and right back to where we started. Beneath that, you can see the gear we're currently in, fuel level, tach goes to about 6,400 RPM, speedometer goes to 140, fuel level beneath the speedometer, coolant temperature beneath the tach. The stocks have a very satisfying click, auto headlamps, no auto high beams, and no auto rain sensing wipers. The stock and the adjustment for the intermittent function in the center. We get a tilt and telescoping steering column, trip reset, interior brightness, and trunk release. We have a hood latch release in the left corner, gas cap release, parking brake. Hopefully, you get a good look at the pedals. We have a soft touch dashboard up top. It's a little bit of a harder material for the dashboard itself, but it's still soft touch all throughout. 12.3-inch touchscreen that we get with the premium package. Our home screen shows a song that's currently playing, connections for Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, clock, and more info. You can shortcut to the music, phone information, regular information, home screen, and notifications. No standard navigation on the SR. You got to go up to the SL to get the standard navigation, so I'll leave it here in the home screen. The backup camera, the gear slider control, and the Xtronic CVT that we can throw in reverse. Not the greatest resolution, but it does the job, guidance lines, and trajectory. No 360-degree camera, but the rear parking sensors should help a lot. Throwing right back in the park, we immediately return back to the home screen. Shortcuts beneath it in gloss black aluminum outlining it. Air vents, hazards in the center, we mentioned the carbon trim, more aluminum beneath it. Some hard plastic for the bottom part over here. Dual-zone automatic climate control, heated seats, that's included on the premium package. Same with the wireless phone charger, USB-A and C port, 12-volt, and some leather-stitched trim for where your knee will often hit. Cup holders will fit 24-ounce bottles. Nice area for keys over here in the center area. Wipe off some of the water that I spilled when I was drinking earlier, but we get orange and white contrast-stitched leather for the armrest. It's pretty soft and very spacious. I'd expect you to fit eight to 10, 12-ounce cans. The glove box, let's check it out. It is damped, not lined in felt, but massive. You're fitting at least 30, maybe 35 license plates. I'd expect you to fit like five or six Harry Potter books in there, easily fitting two pairs of shoes. Just about a frameless rearview mirror, but it's not auto-dimming. You've got to pull this floppy thing to dim it. The interior lights are not LED. We get the sunroof here, too, part of the premium package. Opens up decently quickly. We can poke our way out of here. So far, pretty nice day today in Tampa, Florida, sunny and 86 degrees. Not super sunny, but compared to what it's going to look like in about 24 hours, I don't even want to speak on it. We get a sunglass holder up top, too. I'll leave this shade open so when we hop out back, you guys can see how much light is brought into the cabin, but that's about it for the front seat, at least, of the 2025 Altima. We also get paddle shifters that we'll check out during the test drive. Let's hop out back to see how much space is offered back there, as well as the overall quality of the material. So up top, hard plastic, pretty consistent with the segment outside of Hyundai and Kia. You get some soft touch in the center and a very gushy, soft armrest. We get an additional one of our six speakers, but as you guys saw, there's at least eight or nine speakers in this car. I'm not quite sure what Nissan classifies as a speaker. The leather rear seats continue. You get a little bit of cloth for the insert of it, but it goes all the way out to the door frame, so very couch-like and a solid bolster. Leg room, that's why you go with the midsize sedan over the compact sedan. A little bit extra width and a lot of extra length. I have like eight inches of knee room, head room. I have about two, three. So if you're under 6'6", 6'7", you'll comfortably sit in the back of an Altima. I do wish at $34,000 after destination that we had rear air vents. No map pocket behind the driver's seat, but we do get one behind the passenger. The lights back here are not LED. We have a grab handle for both of the rear passengers, but we don't get a hook, so you're going to have to hook it to the actual grab handle. The center cubby armrest, there's no rope, but you can jab your hand into it. It's nice, soft leather. A 24-ounce water bottle should fit. That's about it though, guys, for the backseat of this 2025 Altima. Very spacious and pretty premium overall when it comes to the materials. Let's hop out towards the cargo space, see what we got going on back here, and then take this car out for a drive. So there is a button to open up the rear trunk, but it doesn't really give you a hydraulic chute, so you're going to have to use some strength to actually open it up. And the hinges aren't covered, so if you're going to load up your trunk, make sure you're conscious of where they land or you're going to crush your cargo. The wheel wells give you a pretty decent gap, so I would expect you to lay down at least two, maybe three golf bags, and you can stack them up pretty high too. You'll just be able to fit at least two or three more diagonally. Very spacious cargo space. I'll leave a link right here to show you exactly how much there is with a massive-sized opening. The wheel wells, they give you a pretty decent opening for the second row of fold-downs. I'd expect you to fit a 55, 60-inch TV through there. The latches to fold the seats down are up top. We can shut this trunk right down, take a step back, walk around this 2025 Nissan Altima SR Premium one more time. It is a beautiful sedan, spacious, loaded with features, and as you'll see when we take it out for a drive, it is surprisingly quick. Speaking of quick, let's take this 2025 Altima SR Premium out for a drive and see what it's got. All right, guys, now we're just about seeing everything we need to see with the inside and outside of the all-new 2025 Nissan Altima SR Premium. Let's take it out for a drive and see what it's got. My first impressions, just like the sixth-generation Altima has been since its release, the steering feels really sharp and direct. Post-facelift, it got a lot better, especially with this new steering wheel design, but it's always been a good overall feel, definitely has not changed with this 2025 model. The brakes feel really good. You can also check it out in sport mode on the transmission. There's a button, if I didn't mention, but throttle response in normal mode is very solid half-throttle. It takes you about 4,500 RPM. You look down and you're moving. It's quiet, too. Over the bumps, yeah, great ride quality, good body composure, and we're on concrete pavement. We still don't really hear anything. I'm sure with the 17-inch wheels, the SR Special Edition package will be even better when it comes to ride quality, but this, or not SR, SV Special Edition, but this SR Premium still rides really well. You try it out in the sport mode, the transmission immediately downshifts you. You try the paddles. Pretty snappy, but I'll press and hold so they can go back. It's just regular drive. Body roll, barely any, and the turning radius is sharp. Not bad at all. Then you can take a step back out here on the gas. Whoo! Yeah, this thing can get up and go. We can try one out off the line. Brakes feel solid. Off the line, sport mode, on the gas. Puts the power down, and it shoots you forward. There you go. I don't like how it does the artificial shifts in normal mode, but when you gun it in sport, it holds you in that red line. You can noticeably feel an increase when it comes to power. I really don't like it when the CVTs do those artificial shifts. I understand why they do it. It's so customers feel like they're in a conventional automatic car, but then just sell the car as a conventional automatic. If you're going to do the CVT, it is quicker and more efficient to not have the artificial shifts. Throwing it in quicker than we should, good handling, light throttle in sport. It doesn't really increase the throttle response like crazy. The shift points do get a little bit more aggressive, but really nothing that you couldn't deal with every day. It will compromise your fuel economy, though. You're not going to be getting over 30, 35 combined MPGs in that sport mode. For daily driving, I would recommend just leaving it in normal, which I just did back in normal mode. We can take a step out onto this multiple lane road. Good response still on the gas. Yeah, gets up and goes pretty well. We can try out a real world turning radius test. Brakes still feel very good. Turning radius, sharp, and on the gas. Good response. That was only about half throttle. It shoots you up in the rev range pretty decently, but as soon as you let off, you immediately fall back down in the revs. Just cruising along now on some darker asphalt. Listen, so quiet in here. Nissan knocked it out of the park by adding dual pane windows onto this car because when it comes to road noise, isolation, wind noise especially, it is so ridiculously quiet. I'm not quite sure why the voice command started yelling at me, but through the turns, steering feels really good, even in normal mode. It's just a really premium feeling car. The steering feels good. Handling is great. It's spacious, loaded with features. The sound system is surprisingly good. Nissan calls it a six speaker, but I've counted at least eight or nine. Brakes feel good. Check out the handling. I'll throw it in a little bit quicker than we have been on the gas. Yeah, it handles well, keeps the power put down, traction control light never even went off. I didn't hear any tire squeal. It's a sporty platform, 0-60 in the mid to high seven second range. You really are getting a lot for the money. Now with the new SV Special Edition package, how it's loaded, basically the same as this SR with pretty similar styling cues, just without the 19 inch rims you get in the 17s, which a lot of you guys would actually prefer because with the smaller wheels, you get better fuel economy and you get slightly better ride quality. Not like this doesn't ride well, but if you're looking for a more premium looking, better feeling economy midsize sedan, but you don't want to spend more than 30,000, 35,000 bucks, this 2025 Nissan Ultima SR Premium gives you a lot for the money. Leather seats, good sound system, updated tech, and very premium while still sporty driving dynamics. If that's what you're looking for, guys, I would definitely recommend checking one of these out. And a big thanks to Red and the rest of the management and staff here at Courtesy Nissan in Tampa, Florida for helping make this review possible. I'll leave a link to your inventory below and if you're looking for a new car, SUV, or truck in the Tampa area, I would definitely recommend checking these guys out, and that's for Red. And a huge thanks to all you guys for watching, I had a great time making this video. If you're new to the channel, please subscribe. If you're already subscribed, thank you so much. You guys know the channel is just not possible without you, and I really appreciate the constant support. But again, if you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe. Leave a like too, it really helps me out with the YouTube algorithm, that's how these videos get promoted to new people. Leave a comment, let me know what you like, let me know what you don't like. Leave a comment, let me know if there's any specific cars, SUVs, or trucks you want to see reviewed on this channel, and I'll definitely try getting those videos for you ASAP. But other than that, again, thank you guys so much for watching, and I hope all of you have a great day.