I know you wrote about it before but I think you might set a record for getting last year's models so late in the year (the Corolla and now this).

Having driven a few of these Altimas though, I'd pretty much agree with your assessments. I got myself really used to the proximity key, quite nice to not have to take it out of your pocket. I found it an adequate, inoffensive car generally. It has a familiar (to me) Japanese feel in riding and in the controls. None of the Altimas I had were optioned with anything notable, always felt very base. This made getting the car as YF kind of a joke because it used to be that a Specialty F would have some equipment in it, and these didn't even have a power seat or any other added comfort/convenience stuff.

Did you notice the CVT's engine brake effect going downhill? If you let off the gas on a significant enough downhill the CVT will choose lower ratios that simulate downshifting. This I found disconcerting sometimes when I had one at home (don't remember it when I had it in Vegas even though we drove out to the North Rim). It's much more aggressive than I would do in my own stick shift car. I find that to be a flaw in the CVT programming but otherwise I didn't find the CVT to be appreciably different than other automatics.

Anyway, like was said in the other thread, enjoy reading a good ride report and really appreciate your posting them. ^ I'd like to think I could contribute a few useful thoughts on the cars once in a while, but I'm really not much good at organizing them into a report like this. Or at least not good at finding the energy to do it.

PS Are you SURE you didn't accidentally trigger the fuel door? LOL I can't remember if it's right next to the trunk release in this car or not.