Can-do coupe operates in close quarters

Call it the monkey-see, monkey-do approach.

If Chrysler brings out a minivan and it sells, everyone in the auto industry rushes to bring out a minivan, hoping to grab a piece of the market.

Another monkey-see, monkey-do strategy finds automakers adding a coupe to their mid-size lineups. Enter the two-door 2008 Nissan Altima.

Nissan redesigned the mid-size Altima sedan last October and added its first Altima Coupe in May. The obvious reason was that Toyota and Honda have one.

"Toyota and Honda have had some success with coupes, and we decided to see if we could as well," said Nissan spokesman Scott Vazin.

The coupe is geared to twenty- to thirtysomething professionals without a family who want a car with above-average performance rather than a mileage-conscious appliance. It shares the same basic platform and powertrains with the Altima sedan, but the only similar body panel is the hood.

The coupe is 7 inches shorter and 2 inches lower than the sedan -- smaller and lighter so it's easier to maneuver. It has good manners when tossed into and out of corners and turns. The 17-inch radials and stability control help keep it stuck to the pavement.

Altima focused on new suspension geometry to reduce road harshness, minimize lean in corners and limit torque steer -- that sharp lunge to one side on a power takeoff -- in the front-wheel-drive coupe. But it forgot the larger side bolsters or at least cloth seats to help keep your body better planted along twisting roads at speed.

Open the trunk or slip into the back seat, and you wish all those inches hadn't been sacrificed.

The trunk isn't very spacious. The wheel wells eat into the sides and speakers in the parcel shelf behind the back seat dip into it from above.

Rear seat backs fold so you can slip golf clubs into the cabin through the trunk, but the opening isn't very big thanks to those wells and speakers. The seat backs fold flat only if front-seat occupants aren't very tall and don't push their seats far back.

Lift the levers on the front seat backs and the seats fold and slide forward to create a small aisle to the back seat. Holders along the cabin walls keep seat belts from acting like a fence to scale to get in back. But don't expect lavish room in back -- especially head room. Cup holders built into both cabin walls will hold the water to wash down the aspirin after you clunk your melon on the ride.