Anyone who has been here for a number of years will have read many times how MT is pure garbage. Well WOW, that perception has now changed dramatically with this incredible review favoring the Camry. Very timely review for Toyota, they needed that. The new leper is now CR which for some reason went and rated the Altima #1 both in the 4 and V6 version, and if I recall correctly most if not all Nissans are now recommended, what's happening to CR?
I think this may be a matter of how the rankings were made. From what I understood, MT basically asked their testers to rank the cars in terms of midsize sedans, they didn't do a point-based ranking. This could mean that the Camry fit better with what the testers expected out of a midsize sedan, large, convenient and boring. CR is more point-based, like 10 points for acceleration, 10 points for ride, etc... Sure, this doesn't avoid bias, there tends to be a logo bonus for brands with good reputations and a penalty for those with bad reputations, but it does allow to compare cars better.
Reading the article, it seems MT ranked the Altima last for two reasons: a somewhat smaller back seat and the lack of certain convenience features. Otherwise, in terms of handling, performance, comfort and fuel economy (well, the ratings, not the one obtained in the test), the Altima did well, as they said. If their ranking was point-based, the Altima would probably have lost a few points for the negative points, but would probably have ended with a lot of points for all the things it got right, it could have ended up in the top 3.
The fact is, they didn't say much negatively about any of the cars, so that indicates a pretty close field.