Altima Coupe is rehash of 1995 Toyota Celica!

[Ranga14]

Yeah, so I was in for a car wash the other day and this cute girl at the counter I was talking to told me that she loved my car. I was like well thanks! Then she proceeds to tell me it looks EXACTLY like her old 1995 Celica she used to own and how she loved that car.

Resemblance?

[srwong]

i don't think they look that similar

[mmx23z]

i Don't See It?!

[nig1]

it's funny but I've been thinking about the Celica in relation the the Altima Coupe for some time. Where they compare is how unappreciated they are amongst many people. Example, the Celica is a cute sporty compact car that stood beneath the almighty powerful Supra. The Altima Coupe is a cute sporty compact car that doesn't have the same appreal as the Z's. Also, both cars are pretty much ignored in commercials/marketing and in the tuning aftermarkets. The Celica was discontinued a while back and it wouldn't be surprising if the AC had a similar fate. Body-wise, both cars are different but u can think of the Celica as a precursor to the AC in terms of autos above avg. but below "sports" cars.

[Ranga14]

it's funny but I've been thinking about the Celica in relation the the Altima Coupe for some time. Where they compare is how unappreciated they are amongst many people. Example, the Celica is a cute sporty compact car that stood beneath the almighty powerful Supra. The Altima Coupe is a cute sporty compact car that doesn't have the same appreal as the Z's. Also, both cars are pretty much ignored in commercials/marketing and in the tuning aftermarkets. The Celica was discontinued a while back and it wouldn't be surprising if the AC had a similar fate. Body-wise, both cars are different but u can think of the Celica as a precursor to the AC in terms of autos above avg. but below "sports" cars.

You have some good points.

[XXplosive990]

based on looks, i dont see it lol. maybe just the roof shape

[SHIFT_COUPE]

ummm no! hell no!

[Rmuth25]

Hmm I can kindof see where she is coming from. The Celica and A/C do have similar shapes when you look at it from the side at an angle. But if you see it straight on it sclear the celica at least appears to be smaller as far as the hight of the roof and the hood looks longer

Regardless A/C > Celica. Although those celicas are nice.

[KilaDragN]

yea i kinda see it, they both have headlights, and wheels and seats. etc.....rightttttt. u should've just slapped that girl. LOL jk

[RicerX]

it's funny but I've been thinking about the Celica in relation the the Altima Coupe for some time. Where they compare is how unappreciated they are amongst many people. Example, the Celica is a cute sporty compact car that stood beneath the almighty powerful Supra. The Altima Coupe is a cute sporty compact car that doesn't have the same appreal as the Z's. Also, both cars are pretty much ignored in commercials/marketing and in the tuning aftermarkets. The Celica was discontinued a while back and it wouldn't be surprising if the AC had a similar fate. Body-wise, both cars are different but u can think of the Celica as a precursor to the AC in terms of autos above avg. but below "sports" cars.

I wouldn't consider the Altima Coupe unappreciated. Perhaps underappreciated (at a stretch), but not unappreciated.

The Celica met its demise because it was too niche and didn't evolve with the competition. It wasn't relevant to any particular class at all. By 2006, the Celica was up against... what? For MY2006, the FF 2+2 coupes available in the market that the Celica originally competed with were the Mitsubishi Eclipse (which moved to a midsize coupe by 2006, the next class up from the Celica, classified as a compact coupe) and the Honda Civic Si Coupe (which, by this point, ran circles around the performance capabilities of the Celica for the same money). You could even throw in the Cobalt SS Supercharged Coupe during this model year (as well as the Ion Redline), which the Celica couldn't hang with performance-wise either. There was no competing Nissan in this class during this model year, as the 240SX died in 1998 (even though it was a FR, it was still seen as a competitor to the Celica), and the closest thing would've been the B15 (2002-2006) Sentra Spec V Sedan, which offered better performance numbers for a much less expensive price-tag (but was nowhere near as good looking, I'll admit, which was the Celica's ONLY asset besides fuel economy by MY2006 anyway). The only other thing that was classified as a compact coupe in its class was its own worst enemy - the Scion TC. It was fresh, had many more trinkets for the "tuner boys" at which the Celica was targeted (MP3 Pioneer stereo options with SUBS, lol), and for considerably less money. (well equipped TC was around $18,000 vs the Celica's steeper $23,000 well equipped price tag).

Also a point - the final generation of the Celica never stood in the shadow of the mighty Supra, whose mightiness left us in 1998.

Yes, perhaps some of the lines of a 1995 Celica are similar to the AC, but a rehash? Let's not be silly. The AC is a midsize coupe (primarily competing against the current Eclipse, Honda Accord Coupe) as well, NOT a compact. When was the last time you saw a Celica with almost 300HP?

The Altima Coupe does have aftermarket parts, as will ANY vehicle that sells in the numbers that a vehicle like the Altima sells. The Altima Coupe was NOT designed to be a true sports car. Nissan has one already. It's called the 370Z. The Altima Coupe was brought into the lineup to solidify the Altima lineup as DIRECT competition to the Honda Accord (also offered in both Sedan and Coupe form, with both 4cyl and 6cyl powertrains available in each). Last I checked, I wasn't able to test drive a Celica Sedan. The Celica also didn't evolve from a previous sedan version of itself (the Altima was born into the world exclusively as a sedan). For enthusiasts, perhaps the AC is seen as being "in the shadow" of the Z. Perhaps, in the case of many AC buyers, they see it this way bc they couldn't afford the Z and had to settle for an AC instead. In any event, in the real world, the AC and the Altima lineup aren't "in the shadow" of anything in its class. The car is strong enough to survive on its own in the sales market, and quite honestly, the Altima to Z ratio on the road is probably about 10:1. The Altima doesn't need the Z and the Z doesn't need the Altima.

As long as the Accord Coupe exists, so will the Altima Coupe. It is a relevant FF touring sport coupe. It is not a track star, nor will it ever be targeted that way. The car has a decent selection of aftermarket parts, but will NEVER have the aftermarket following of the Z. As for the AC being ignored in the tuning aftermarket? That's a bit ignorant. Ever heard of Stillen? Their Altima Coupe project car was their bread and butter for 2008. Stillen isn't exactly a bottom-feeding tuner company. Ok, so HKS doesn't have anything for the AC, or a couple other big-fish Japanese tuner companies. The AC is NOT a JDM vehicle (but the Celica was, and was actually JDM only during its last year of production) so perhaps that's why you view it as ignored. No company, ESPECIALLY during a recession, is going to import a car that is not sold in its home market to R&D parts that it would only be able to sell overseas.

As far as marketing - the Altima is quite heavily marketed, actually. There are ALWAYS commercials for the Altima. It's Nissan's biggest volume selling vehicle, actually. Hell, if anything, at the rate Nissan sells the Altima, they could probably scale back on advertising without suffering a hit to sales. The vehicle is immensely popular. The Coupe might suffer a bit of stolen spotlight syndrome from brother Sedan, but it is still hanging around on every Altima commercial you see, and selling just as well when you figure in production proportions.

Basically, Marketing 101 could have prevented this whole thread. The end. /RANT

[toxik]

^ someone has a lot of free time lol...

hehe nice post tho, i read all of it

[RicerX]

I didn't intend on writing all that. It just started spilling out. haha

[mcheddadi]

still nice post, I too read all of it

[RicerX]

Word. Thanks gents!

Mehdi, I need to take some pics of my new red leather for you.

[Jonnyess09]

I didn't intend on writing all that. It just started spilling out. haha

Your analysis was pretty much spot on. My last 3 cars were Celicas: gens 4,5 and 7. {Never got what they were thinking with the gen 6 - which coincidentally..was the basis for this thread!} Hard to believe this car was in production 31 years!

My experience with each was very positive as regards to durability, low maintenance, and decent trade-in / retail value (or salvage value for my most recent). Toyota kind of lost the way in the engineering jungle over the past decade, and yet it's amazing how they retain a fair share of market without having a coupe or sports car in production right now. The Solara was supposed to compete with our AC and the Accord for '08 release, but someone at Toyo decided to pull the plug, probably due to tepid sales before any re-design was even considered.

As a brand new member of the Nissan family, so far I'm very impressed with the overall Nissan mindset when it comes to design, layout, and execution. {My biggest gripe so far is the tone of the horn. Who's Aunt Mildred in Nissan engineering dept thought ..."yep...this is the one for the Coupe..."??!!}

As long as durability isnt an issue, I might be a convert for life, especially considering what Toyota is going through, and Honda corporates egregious inability to man up and admit they have brake component issues with the new Accord...

[RicerX]

I don't anticipate durability being an issue for you. I have had wonderful luck with Nissan products, along with several friends of mine. My buddy just rolled over 300,000 miles on his 93 Maxima, and the only things he's replaced that weren't routine maintenance are a starter and radiator. If you take care of them and do the proper maintenance, Nissans can last a very long time.

[mcheddadi]

Word. Thanks gents!

Mehdi, I need to take some pics of my new red leather for you.

I love red leather. I hope somone has it at carlisle so I can see lol