I rented one of these in August. I'd say that the mileage is by far the most impressive feature of this car. I got 40mpg over my first 200 miles (almost all highway), and about 35mpg overall for my 1000 or so miles of highway heavy driving. It was certainly comfortable enough. I do prefer automatic climate control which can be found on many similarly classed vehicles in the National fleet, and I do NOT like the setup of the bluetooth on Nissans. You can only pair a device by voice commands. I think there was something wrong in the microphone in my car because I couldn't get it to hear my voice commands for the first few days. Then, all of a sudden, it started working. I had resorted to an old 3.5mm aux cable to get my pandora working until that point. I agree the stereo isn't great - never found the balance that didn't make the sound feel "muddy". And while the handling could be classified as "easy to steer", the car drives a lot less "sporty" than it looks. I didn't feel much feedback through the wheel at all and it was not difficult for me to get the tires to squeal and the body to pitch going around a clover-leaf. I clocked the squealing up partially to new tires (only 4 miles on the odometer when I picked up the car) but after 1000 miles of wear I still didn't notice any improvement. Finally, I just don't find the CVT's pleasing to drive. Even in the Maxima, which has plenty of power, the CVT makes the car feel like a whining econobox regardless of how fast you actually may be picking up speed. The first time I drove the Maxima, I liked the torque and put it on the list - but it is actually the case that the more I drove it and got used to it, the LESS I liked it.

So, I'd say this is a great car for a reasonably comfortable and very economical rental. Around town or highway cruising long distances it will serve you well. But it's a utilitarian people hauler plain and simple - and don't think you'll feel like you're driving anything but.

Edited to add:
I can't quite pin it down without driving the two side by side, but it seems like I noticed the handling to be not as sharp as the outgoing model. It could just be due to the terrain I was on or a nostalgic memory, but I've rented the 2011-2012 model maybe a dozen times before the current Hyundai Sonata became my go to fuel efficient vehicle. Before I felt like the Altima handled pretty similarly to the Sonata, but maybe it is the new model or maybe I have gotten used to the Sonata - but now I'd say the Sonata handles better than the 2013 - and I wouldn't ever call a Sonata a sports car! I might have to rent the three back to back to back to see if I'm crazy.