I have a 1996 automatic 2.5 Nissan Altima that I'm planning to keep for a long time. I want to make it better by improving it's performance. Any suggestions?
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anyone knows about cars?
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Yes, don't. Performance "improvements" and long-term reliability rarely go hand in hand. If you plan on keeping it a long time, just rust-proof it and do timely maintenance on it as needed. Keep it clean on the exterior and interior and it will give you a lot of happy miles before it dies or you sell it.
Change the oil when it gets bad. Have the transmission flushed if its a A/T. Change the spark plugs and wires every 100k or so. Make sure the timing belt is changed with in it's scheduled time (usually 90k miles or 60k miles). And as others said, keep it clean, don't drive the balls of it. It should last a long time.
Also, new brakes work wonders. When getting new tires, replace all at same time and get wheel balancing and alignment done.
I suggest a few stickers, a huge wing, and a 12" exhaust tip. That should make it faster than a Corvette. If it's in your budget, green neon lights will make it rival a Veyron. 
More seriously, there are not many mods out there that wouldn't effect the vehicles reliability that much. And for the ones that don't, you don't get a big HP gain from them.
More seriously, there are not many mods out there that wouldn't effect the vehicles reliability that much. And for the ones that don't, you don't get a big HP gain from them.
I do change the oil every due date. Is there anything under the hood that I can spice up? Does anyone know what breaks to get?
not sure if there's much after market support for that year Altima but I supposed you could go for a quality airbox (if you think the extra 1 hp and slightly deeper induction noise is worth it ).
Honestly, like others have already said, the best thing you can do for that car is to stay on top of the maintenace. As for brake pads, I would avoid anything that has "long lasting" on the box...those will usually eat the rotors a bit quicker.
). Honestly, like others have already said, the best thing you can do for that car is to stay on top of the maintenace. As for brake pads, I would avoid anything that has "long lasting" on the box...those will usually eat the rotors a bit quicker.
A 1996 model is rather old and it is equipped with a 2.5 L inline 4 engine driving the front wheels. As previous posters have suggested, a sensible way to go about this is do regular maintenance, hand wash / paint protection (wax, glass coating, and/or etc), and keep the "performance improvements" less intrusive (ie. tinkering around the edges).
If I were you, I would just keep a 1996 Altima clean with proper hand wash and glass coating while saving money for a performance car (such as the Nissan Z, the Infiniti G, and etc).
If I were you, I would just keep a 1996 Altima clean with proper hand wash and glass coating while saving money for a performance car (such as the Nissan Z, the Infiniti G, and etc).