Nissan gets a little too sexy with its family car

Sometimes, I just want to get to where I’m going. I don’t want to make an impression. I don’t want a car that’s fussy or overly precious. I just want to get there in something that is the motorized equivalent of a good pair of jeans.

That means the car has to fit and feel right. A hot-looking exterior, when I’m in that mind-set, doesn’t matter. I just want to be comfortable in a car that is pleasant and easy to drive.

That, unfortunately, is why much of what Nissan Motor Co. has done to its 2005 mid-size Nissan Altima SE-R sedan is lost on me.

I like the upgraded 3.5-liter, 260-horsepower V-6 engine; and I’m quite pleased with what has been done to improve the car’s already good handling. It’s the exterior styling that bothers me.

“SE-R” has long been Nissan’s designation for its high-performance, pocket-rocket version of the compact Nissan Sentra sedan. The SE-R package -- aggressive front fascia, larger wheels and exhaust pipes, flying rear spoiler -- is OK on that model. It’s what Nissan had to do to turn a rather mundane economy car into something that would siphon more cash from the pockets of the young and the restless.

But that approach misses the mark in the Altima, which until this iteration, has always been a mild-mannered, reliable, affordable family car.

I suppose that Nissan came up with the “aggressive” Altima notion to compete against Subaru’s popular 2005 Legacy 2.5 GT sedan. That competitive urge is understandable. But Subaru has a rough-and-tumble, go-anywhere, do-anything, sporty all-wheel-drive image. Nissan -- in its family-car lines, the Altima and the Maxima -- does not.

Slipping behind the steering wheel of the Altima thus evokes a feeling of phoniness, of being in a car that is trying too hard to be what it isn’t. There is a disaffection here, which interferes with the psychology of the drive.

Luckily, there are other versions of the 2005 front-wheel-drive Altima that hew more closely to the car’s original mission -- to transport families and their things in a safe, relatively fuel-efficient, high-value sedan. They include the base Altima 2.5, the 2.5 S, the 2.5 S with SL Package, the 3.5 SE (my favorite, and the one I recommend) and the luxury 3.5 SL.

All of the new Altima models have upgraded interiors, both in terms of materials and overall ergonomics, for 2005. In that regard, Nissan has heard and favorably responded to the pleas of customers demanding that the company get rid of the cheap-feel stuff that characterized previous Altima cabins.

In 1998 and again in 2002, Nissan made great strides in improving the safety of its Altima line. That progress continues in 2005, primarily through optional offerings -- head and side air bags and traction control. Unfortunately, stability control, which has been proved to help reduce the incidence of single-vehicle crashes, is not offered as standard or optional equipment on the new Altima.

That brings up a point: Automakers have in their minds “price points,” essentially price-tag flash points they believe will attract or repel consumers shopping for specific models.

To keep those price levels in the perceived favorable column, the companies often do some unfavorable things, such as sticking very useful safety equipment on the options list. Shopping for a safe car becomes something like shopping for medical care: If you can afford the best you get it. If you can’t, you get what you get.

That is a fundamentally silly approach to vehicle marketing, and it is manifest in the Nissan Altima SE-R. Pricey but no-real-value-added features such as the aggressive front fascia, the bigger wheels and tailpipes, the flying rear spoiler and a power moon roof are sold as standard equipment. But if you want something that could save your life, you are asked to pay extra.

It doesn’t make sense.