If you're thinking of getting your hands on a Nissan Almera VL N-Sport, you're out of luck. Nissan Philippines Inc. (NPI) has quietly discontinued the top-of-the-line variant of the Almera. Instead, the company has replaced it with the (slightly) more affordable Almera VE N-Sport.

Retailing for a cool PHP 1,049,000, the new VE N-Sport is PHP 49,000 cheaper than the VL N-Sport. However, it still comes with a distinct body kit that consists of an N-Sport grille, N-Sport bumpers, N-Sport chrome door handles, N-Sport badges, and stylish 16-inch alloy wheels exclusive to the N-Sport variant.

While the exterior looks relatively the same, the interior loses some features that were only available on the VL. For starters, it now only gets black fabric seats instead of black leather upholstery. It also no longer has the rear center armrest and the 60:40 split-folding rear seats. On the flip side, the VE N-Sport still comes with the soft panel dashboard carried over from the VL N-Sport model.

When it comes to safety, Nissan kept the Intelligent Mobility features for the VE N-Sport. These include the 360-degree around-view monitor, forward autonomous emergency braking, hill-start assist, and vehicle stability control. Unfortunately, the VE N-Sport now only comes with dual front airbags instead of four which was standard on the VL N-Sport.

As before, the sedan is powered by a 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder that puts out 100 PS at 5000 rpm and 160 Nm of torque between 2400 – 4000 rpm. Power is then sent to the front wheels via a CVT. The VE N-Sport comes with an automatic start/stop system to save on fuel while idling.

For those that still prefer more affordable variants, the Almera is also available in the following;

1.0 VE Turbo CVT – PHP 999,000

1.0 VE Turbo M/T – PHP 949,000

1.0 EL Turbo M/T – PHP 779,000