Families are spending more time in their vehicles than ever and are looking for rides that are not only spacious, reliable, safe but that won’t put a dent in the college funds they’ve set up. The 2016 Nissan Altima has been a family favorite for a number of years and a company best seller to boot. And with a recent freshening up, the car is packing and aiming to please inside and out!

The Nissan Altima is really giving body-ody this model year with its strong, chiseled lines, bulging fenders, new grille, wider boomerang-shaped head and taillights and sporty, aggressive, big car styling. The Altima’s cockpit gets a nod– refined, well put together with soft-touch materials, the car’s innards is attractive which is a far cry from its once-upon-a-time dime store look. The trunk is also cavernous enough at 15.4 cubic feet to haul around everything you need. The famed Zero Gravity seating provides superb comfort (particularly lumbar support) and overall spacious cabin, makes the Altima the quintessential car for road tripping with the fam.

The five seater’s center console’s controls are consumer friendly with frustration-free knobs and buttons. On the techy front, there are a bevy of standard and optional features to keep owners happy such as a standard 5 or optional 7-inch color touch-screen with navigation and 3-D effect map views, NissanConnect suite of mobile apps, hands-free text-messaging assistant and Bluetooth connectivity are a cinch to operate.

Safety is covered all the way around in the Altima with such standards as antilock brakes, stability and traction control, front-seat side airbags and full-length side curtain airbags. Safety options on the midsizer includes a blind-spot monitoring system, rear cross-traffic alert, forward collision warning and mitigation systems (with automatic braking). The NissanConnect Services system for this Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ‘2016 Top Safety Pick+’ comes with automatic collision notification, emergency assistance and stolen vehicle locating services.

Off the line, the Altima (2.5 SL) offers a brisk start and stable, plush ride in an overall hushed environment, thanks to added acoustic glass and sound deadening to quiet the cabin. Surprisingly, taking road twisties results in a lack of pronounced body lean. The Altima’s steering is pretty well-weighted and offers good road feedback. There are seven trim models in the Altima line, folks can either flow with a 2.5-liter inline four-cylinder engine that generates 182 hp and 180 lb-ft of torque, or move up to the more potent 270 hp 3.5-liter V6 model with 251 lb-ft of torque. Fuel economy is also one of the highest in its class at 27 mpg city and 39 mpg highway.

If you’re expecting a drag-strip-winning performance from the 2016 Nissan Altima, then you’ll have to keep holding your breath. You will find however, that the sedan offers a roomy, comfortable and sure-footed ride that is certainly a cut above many of its other family-friendly hatahs-on-wheels (can anyone say Accord and Sonata?).

Prices start at $22,500. Need more info? Visit www.NissanUSA.com.

Keep up with Ruth (aka Car Chick) on Facebook. And for another take on the 2016 Altima, check out Casey’s review.