This is definitely helpful. Did you have the 2018 Altima? I had the 15’ and now the 18’. The 2013 through 2017 were all soft, and now they stiffened it for the last year of the generation for 2018.
You can adjust it on the Jeep? Jeezus.
I’m confused what to do…I love the look of the SL w/ Tech Package (blacked out housing), leather, Bose, navi, LED DRL and headlamps…but can’t stand the steering. If I could just soften up the steering…The leather wrapped wheel is annoying too and adds to the issue.
Admittingly, I made the mistake…I had the 15’ Altima for 3 years, and had driven the 17’ Altima (my friend’s) and figured it was exactly the same. In 16’ they did a small update to the current generation.
I was at the dealer for a long time, and wasn’t feeling great. The guy asked me if I wanted to Test Drive while I waited…and I mentioned it’s the same car and I just recently drove the 17’ (look exactly the same). If I knew the steering was “upgraded”, I certainly would have. My mistake of course.
If you go drive some sport cars/sporty cars you’ll notice that many have reduced power steering boost. The attempt there is to retain some of the road feel/road feedback and to improve handling. Older Hondas have so much power steering boost that you get absolutely no road feel. It’s kind of ridiculous how much boost they have and how disconnected they are to what you are driving on.
see the link below for an explanation of why excessive power steering boost is undesirable.
Not really sure on my options at this point. I’m going to keep driving it for now. At 1.5K miles, and plan to do the first service at 3K miles and get the alignment looked at as well. That also seems a tad off.
I guess I could try the lease trader sites, but I will give it some more time…I really do like the car a lot as it’s pretty much a maxed out model.
I was also curious on looking at payoff vs. website valuations, to see if it’s even remotely close. I’ll probably just keep it and be annoyed lol
You’re stuck at this point unfortunately. If you can’t stand it, maybe talk with your dealer to see if they could put you in something else without taking as big a hit and or cancellation fees.
I actually think if I can find a way for my hands to not slip off the wheel it would be better…are there any good steering wheel covers that do not look cheap/cheesy?
Check front tire pressure. Maybe they are low. If not, try overinflating by 5 psi. Should improve the steering
“However, higher inflation pressures usually provide an improvement in steering response and cornering stability up to a point. This is why participants who use street tires in autocrosses, track events and road races run higher than normal inflation pressures” .
So anecdotally, I have a rental Altima SL today and I do notice the steering is heavier compared to a Sentra I had as a rental a few weeks prior. I don’t find it cumbersome but it does feel different.
It’s very odd that Nissan just assumed that everyone would enjoy a stiff steering 100% of the time, having an electric steering that could easily be adjusted with a press of a button.
