The Nissan Altima is a mid size car manufactured by the Japanese automaker Nissan, as a continuation of the Nissan Bluebird line, which began in 1957. The Nissan Altima is more powerful, and more luxurious than the Nissan Sentra. The Altima could seat four adults comfortably. The second generation of the Nissan Altima was an American market only version, and was styled by Nissan's California design centre.
All Altima models used Nissan's 150 hp (112 kW) KA24DE I4 DOHC engine supported by a 5 speed manual or 4 speed automatic transmissions. This combination provided the fastest performance among all 4 cylinder competitors, the suspension was composed of struts with stabilizer bars and provided sporty, satisfying handling and all wheels were 15 inches. The trim lines consisted of the stripper XE, mid line GXE, sporty SE, and luxury GLE. The Nissan Altima came with small cupholders under the radio and a small glovebox which were improved in the 1998 redesign and many changes were made for the 2000 model.