So back in 2008 or so, my best friend bought an Altima sedan. As someone who used to work for Nissan finance, I have always held a lot of brand loyalty to Nissan, and was very jealous of him, almost covetous.

Well, one night we were out and he felt he had one too many drinks and asked if I minded driving him home. Well, as I had never driven the new Altima yet, I jumped at the chance.....and then it terrified me in a single moment.


As we were pulling out of the restaurant parking lot, an idiot decided that the stoplight that was and had been red for a while wasn't really meant for him, forcing me to hit the brakes. Well, as anyone will tell you, your foot instinctively pushes as hard as it can on the brake pedal. What I didn't know was that Nissan went to digital brakes and there was no resistance on the pedal as a normal cable actuated brake would have, and thus I nosedived the car. HARD. Scared me to death to where I was extremely timid with the brakes for the whole 3 mile drive home.

I've heard rumors though that Nissan did away with that system, while others say it is still in place. I myself have a 2004 Xterra and have the cable actuated brakes....lovely resistance feelings. But can someone confirm or deny that the brakes on the Altima coupe are digital or cable?

Welcome to NICO Club!

I checked the Factory service manual for 2008 (first coupe) and 2013 (last coupe) models and assumed those in between are all the same. The brake pedal has a rod that pushes the diaphragm in the brake booster and master cylinder (normal brakes). No digital motors or actuators until you get to the ABS part of the system (normal ABS).

Sounds like you gave sudden inputs and got sudden results. That's pretty good imho. Test drive your prospective new car, sober, in the daytime, longer than 3 miles and while calm (not wound up after a close call). The brake feel is pretty normal.