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ROAD TEST: Quicker payback with the Altima hybrid

Tom Incantalupo | ROAD TEST

April 25, 2008

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Is a hybrid car right for you? The question is easier to answer in the affirmative if the hybrid in question is the Nissan Altima.

Nissan's first hybrid is almost as enjoyable to drive as either of the two conventional Altimas, and it's just as pleasant to ride in, although the extra weight of the hybrid componentry adversely affects the handling a bit. And the battery pack eats up some trunk space.

The hybrid Altima starts at $25,695 with freight and quite well equipped, with a continuously variable (sometimes called "stepless") automatic transmission, AC, power windows and locks and antilock brakes with stability control.

Nissan says the Altima hybrid costs about $4,000 more than a comparably equipped four-cylinder Altima. If you drive 15,000 miles a year and if gas stayed at the current price, it would take you almost eight years to recover that premium.

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But there's still a federal tax credit of $2,350 for the Altima hybrid to help reduce that payback time - something no longer available on either the Toyota Camry or Prius hybrids because of how the federal law providing them was worded; to encourage the introduction of new models by more manufacturers, it reduced and ultimately eliminated the credits when an automaker's hybrid sales reached 60,000.

Two competing hybrid family sedans, the Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Malibu, each are eligible for $1,300 tax credits.

Here's how the Altima payback time is calculated: The Altima hybrid averages 34 mpg in combined city and highway driving, by EPA estimate (and so did my test car). A conventional four-cylinder Altima averages 26 mpg.

So it would cost $1,654 to drive the hybrid 15,000 miles, at yesterday's Long Island average of $3.751 a gallon for regular gasoline. That compares withconventional Altima costs of $2,164. The savings: $510. So, dividing $4,000 by $510 indicates a payback time of just under eight years.

But reducing the price premium by the $2,350 tax credit leaves a premium of only $1,650, thereby reducing the recoup time to just over three years.

The higher the price of gasoline, the shorter the recoup time. But it takes longer to recoup your outlay if you drive less than 15,000 miles a year or if, as Nissan concedes is possible, you have difficulty finding an Altima Hybrid whose price hasn't been inflated by options you don't want. It's a seller's market for hybrids right now.

Of course, there are other factors to consider besides the dollar savings: From the first mile you drive, you'll be doing something to help save the planet, and you'll have 23 more horsepower under your foot - a total of 198 - than if you had opted for the conventional four-cylinder Altima. And, perhaps most deliciously, every time you drive your hybrid you'd be, in effect, protesting the oil companies, the commodities speculators, the OPEC nations, the federal government and whomever else you'd like to blame for rising gasoline prices.

Driving the Altima hybrid is pretty similar to driving any Altima except for an electric (rather than hydraulic) steering system that offers somewhat less feedback to the driver; and for the slight shudder as the gasoline engine, which shuts down at stop signs and red lights, restarts as the driver presses the accelerator.

The hybrid system is likely to be as reliable as Toyota's because it is Toyota's, which Nissan purchases and mates with its own four-cylinder engine.

Two final notes: Although Altimas are among Consumer Reports' "recommended" models for their reliability and performance, Nissan and its dealers have scored below average in J.D. Power and Associates' most recent surveys measuring dependability and customer satisfaction.

Back on the upside, the Altima has an excellent, five-star, rating from the federal government for its protection of occupants in front and side-impact crashes and a rating of "good," for both from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.