Nissan Altima Hybrid – Review: She drove a white Prius, and my, did she ever want to race. Kept revving her engine. Rolling, forward and back and glaring over. So when the light changed, we were off, both cars inching off the line, neither wanting to be the first to start their engines. It was exhilarating: five, 10 and up to 30 mph, until she accidentally goosed the throttle, the Prius coughed to life and took off, leaving just the memory of its “Hillary” bumper sticker behind. Sure, the Nissan Altima Hybrid may not make a statement like the Prius, it may be noisy and overpriced, but it's still one of the more fun and comfortable hybrids on the road, at speed or in silent racer mode.

If you're gonna drive a hybrid, you may as well do so in southern California where Prius – is it Priie? – roam in packs. To make it even better, our Altima Hybrid was decked out with all the best stuff: leather (kind of), Bose audio, sunroof, reversing camera w/navigation, and more. Though we did not have a window sticker, we did a price check and found the hybrid to cost a whopping $32,625, including $615 destination charge and two main option packages: Technology, for $7,250, and Convenience, for $1,300. Without the extras but with the destination, an Altima Hybrid would cost about $25,015. Good luck with that, however. Nissan is only building a few of these and in “green” states, and most will be optioned to the nines.

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