2020 Nissan Altima

Pros: Good road manners; available all-wheel drive; performance of available turbocharged engine

Cons: Passenger room is average at best; stingy small-item storage space

CG Says: After last year’s redesign, the 2020 Nissan Altima adds standard Nissan Safety Shield (automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, rear automatic braking, lane-departure warning, blind-spot alert, rear cross-traffic alert, and automatic high beams) to the SR model and Safety Shield is newly available on the base S model. The base engine is a 188-horsepower 2.5-liter 4-cylinder and a turbocharged 248-horsepower 2.0-liter 4-cylinder with Nissan’s variable-compression-ratio technology is available. Both engines are paired with a CVT automatic transmission. All-wheel drive is offered with the base 2.5-liter engine. Available safety features include forward-collision warning/mitigation, lane-keep assist, driver drowsiness alert, 360-degree camera display, and Easy Fill Tire Alert. Also available is Nissan’s ProPilot Assist, a driver-assistance system that combines adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go capability, road-lane-marking recognition, and lane-centering automatic steering assist (though the driver’s hands must remain on the steering wheel). The Nissan Altima comes up a bit short in interior room compared to some midsize-sedan class rivals, but its tech features and available turbo engine make it a worthwhile competitor nonetheless. The availability of all-wheel drive is another strong draw in this segment; the Subaru Outback and Legacy, and the soon-to-depart Ford Fusion, are the only other class rivals that offer it.