Rent Nissan Altima 2020 in Dubai

Pick a midsize sedan when you want a quiet hour on Sheikh Zayed Road, room for four adults without anyone's knees in a seatback, and a boot that swallows the airport run. The Nissan Altima 2020 does that job well in Dubai, and we rent it from age 18 when most of the market won't hand you the keys until 21. It's the relaxed cruiser in the lineup: comfortable, roomy, easy on fuel for its size, and honest about being soft rather than sporty. This page is about who that suits, and who should spend their money somewhere else.

Why the Altima makes sense for couples and small families

The Altima is built around comfort, not corners. The cabin is genuinely wide, so two adults up front and two or three in the back travel without negotiating space. For a couple living in Dubai for a month, or a family of four doing mall runs and weekend trips, it's the kind of car you stop thinking about, which is the point.

The boot is where it earns the booking. At 4,900 mm long the Altima is a full midsize sedan, and the trunk takes two large suitcases plus a couple of cabin bags without you playing Tetris at the kerb. A DXB or DWC airport run with a family's luggage is no drama. If you're collecting four adults and their cases at the same time, the rear seat gives a bit, but the boot still copes where a compact sedan would force a bag onto someone's lap.

The CVT and the way it drives

Here's the honest part. The Altima pairs its 2.5-litre four-cylinder with Nissan's XTRONIC CVT, and that gearbox shapes the whole character of the car. Pull away gently and it's smooth and unobtrusive. Floor it to merge or overtake and the revs flare while the speed catches up a beat later, with that elastic feeling CVTs are known for. Around town and at a steady 120 on the E11 it's calm and quiet. Push hard and it never feels eager.

For most renters that's fine, because most of the time you're cruising, not chasing. If you actively enjoy a sharp, responsive drive, the Altima will leave you cold, and you'd want to step up to a Maxima or look at a sportier sedan. But for airport runs, long highway stretches, and a comfortable seat under you in traffic, the soft tuning is a feature.

Specs at a glance

The numbers that matter to a renter are the tank and the economy. Expect roughly 9 to 12 km per litre in real Dubai city driving, and the 61.3-litre tank gives you a working range north of 900 km. In practice that means one fill covers a normal week of commuting and errands, and you're not hunting for a petrol station every few days. Drive mostly highway and you'll see the better end of that range; sit in stop-and-go Marina traffic with the AC blasting and you'll see the lower end. Either way it's an easy car to keep fed.

Living with it in Dubai heat

A parked Altima bakes like any car here, and a June afternoon at 45°C means the first minute is unpleasant. The front vents pull hard once the AC catches, and a cabin this size cools to comfortable within a few minutes of moving, faster if you crack the windows for the first stretch. There are rear vents, so back-seat passengers aren't left to suffer, which matters on a family car. It's a solid, conventional cooling setup. Don't expect a parked car to be cold in thirty seconds, because no car in Dubai is, but the Altima gets there without complaint.

A few rental basics worth stating plainly. Salik tolls run on your account, and any RTA fines during your rental pass to you, so watch the speed and the toll gates. Seat belts are mandatory in every seat, and children under four need a child seat.

Parking and everyday manoeuvring

At nearly five metres the Altima is a big sedan, and you feel it in a tight multi-storey. Marina and older mall car parks have snug bays, and you'll want the reversing camera and a bit of care on the swing into a corner space. On the road it's an easy car, with light steering and a soft ride that shrugs off speed bumps despite modest ground clearance around 124 to 137 mm. The clearance is fine for ramps and bumps taken at sensible speed, but this is a road car, so keep it off sand and rough tracks.

Who should rent it, and who shouldn't

Rent the Altima if you want a comfortable, spacious cruiser for a couple or a family of four, do regular airport runs, and value a quiet highway and a big boot over a quick one. It's one of the easier cars in this size to live with for a week or a month in Dubai.

Skip it if you're driving solo and want to spend less, in which case a compact sedan does the city job for a lower rate. And step up if you want real pace or a sharper drive, where a Maxima or a turbocharged sedan rewards you in a way the soft, CVT-tuned Altima simply won't. Match the car to how you actually drive, and the Altima is an easy one to recommend for the relaxed end of that range.