2023 Nissan Altima Interior and Cargo

You only have access to a total of two interior colors for the Nissan Altima - and only on some trims. The base S has cloth upholstery in Charcoal and that's your only choice. Its fake carbon-fiber trim finishes on the doors and center console look completely out of place in such a non-sporting trim. The SV replaces the carbon-fiber effect with smudge-prone piano black, but it does look a lot classier. The seats are still upholstered in cloth, but now also gives you the choice of gray, while trim materials are upgraded with a stitched instrument hood and door armrests. The SL replaces the piano black with Dark Teak wood-tone trim, while both the steering wheel and seats are trimmed in leather, the latter in a choice of Charcoal or gray. The two SR trims get sporty interior treatment, both in Charcoal only. The SR gets red stitching on the instrument hood, door panels, cloth seats, steering wheel, and center console, while the SR VC-Turbo also gets leather upholstery and fake carbon fiber on the dashboard.

In terms of trunk space, the Nissan Altima once again beats its Maxima stablemate - and the Camry - with a figure of 15.4 cubic feet, but the Accord still has the biggest trunk volume of the lot. The capacity of the luggage compartment can be expanded by folding down the rear seats - which can only be done through the trunk - but they don't fold completely flat. Nissan doesn't provide a figure for the trunk with the rear seats flat, but it's good enough to fit around 17 carry-on suitcases. In-car oddment space is adequate and the front door pockets are quite deep, even if they're narrow. There is an additional storage tray ahead of the center console where the wireless charging pad also lives in trims so equipped, two rather shallow cupholders in the center console that can't keep tall bottles upright, and a small storage nook behind the gearshifter - which disappears and is replaced by the electronic parking brake in the top two trims. The rear seats also get door pockets and there are two cupholders in the fold-down center armrest. SV and up gets front seatback pockets.

The S is clearly the entry-level trim, and that's obvious inside, thanks to the small infotainment screen and lack of features. It comes with keyless entry, normal air-conditioning, power locks and windows, cloth upholstery, and manual adjustment for the tilting/telescoping steering column and seats. However, it comes with a lot of driver assists this year, including Safety Shield 360, so items such as automatic forward and reverse braking, pedestrian detection, rear parking sensors, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert are all standard, even at the base level. Few extras are offered on the S, and you have to opt for higher trims to get access to useful extras and packages. More standard features are added as you move up the ladder, with things such as a heated steering wheel and seats, power front seats, leather upholstery, a sunroof, an upgraded infotainment system with a larger screen and more features, and additional driver assists becoming standard or optional.

Various different variations of infotainment system are available, depending on the trim. The system in the S is lacking, because it has a small seven-inch touchscreen with Bluetooth, voice recognition, and a six-speaker audio system, but it lacks smartphone mirroring. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are only added from the SV and SR trims onward, with them also getting a slightly bigger eight-inch touchscreen, more USB ports, and SiriusXM with a three-month subscription. Only the SL and SR CV-Turbo get the large 12.3-inch touchscreen with navigation, extended SiriusXM services, a Wi-Fi hotspot, wireless smartphone mirroring, a wireless charging pad, and a nine-speaker Bose audio system. The 12.3-inch infotainment system (without the Bose audio system) and wireless charging pad are optionally available on all trims except the S.