Overview & Reviews

Nissan was born in Japan, and like other marques from its homeland, the brand is known for crafting vehicles that place an emphasis on quality and reliability. The company's roster of products is broad, and includes sporty coupes, family sedans, minivans, trucks and SUVs.

The automaker got its start in 1933 as the Jidosha Seico Co., Ltd. The following year, this outfit merged with another Japanese manufacturer, and the new company was christened Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. Nissan initially marketed its vehicles under the Datsun brand, with the first Datsuns being built in 1934. Postwar, the brand made its presence felt worldwide, building a partnership with the U.K.-based Austin Motor Co. and establishing a presence in the United States. The first Datsuns hit American shores in 1958. Vehicles like the Datsun 1000 were based on Austin platforms.

The '60s witnessed Nissan's merger with Prince Motor Company, a union that helped the Asian manufacturer create more luxury-focused vehicles. In the U.S. it began offering its first vehicle styled for the U.S. market, the Datsun 510 sedan. By the end of the decade, Datsun had exported more than 1 million vehicles. Datsun rose to prominence in the 1970s on the popularity of its 240Z sports car. Powered by an inline six-cylinder engine, the car was coveted for its blend of style, performance and affordability. By the time the '70s drew to a close, the automaker's cumulative vehicle exports had surpassed the 10 million mark.

In 1981, Nissan shelved the Datsun name and began selling vehicles worldwide under the Nissan moniker. The '80s also saw Nissan's launch of a tuning division called Nismo for the development of performance-oriented vehicles and accessories. Nissan also brought its production to American shores, with the construction of a Georgia-based plant.

The early '90s saw Nissan's fortunes rise in the U.S. thanks to fun-to-drive cars like the 300ZX, Maxima and Sentra. But this trend didn't last long and by the late '90s Nissan's offerings consisted of anonymous vehicles. The company's future was uncertain.

After the turn of the new century Nissan bounced back, helped by a 1999 alliance with Renault that boosted the company's finances. Its redesigned Sentra and Altima boosted sales and consumer interest, as did new models like the 350Z sports car, Armada SUV and Titan pickup. Today the manufacturer is known for offering a wide range of well-regarded vehicles, including the popular Murano SUV, the incredible GT-R supercar and the all-electric Leaf.

User Reviews:

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  Whats up with the gearing ? - 2006 Nissan Titan
  By TOM - March 5 - 2:03 am

  This truck is very comfortable, quiet cab, nice controls etc... but what really makes this truck disappointing is the GEARING. Nissan posts the truck has 379 ft/lbs of torque and the lowest gears you can get are 3.36:1 with the big tow package. The best fuel miles Ive gotten are 16mpg on the highway. You cannot make this truck accelerate just because it has a 5-speed transmission. Go Drive a NEW Silverado with a 5.3L (smaller) engine w/ 3.73:1 gears, result - the Chevy will out pull, out accelerate this Nissan everyday of the week and twice on Sundays plus the Silverado gets 19- 20mpg on the highway because of its OVERDRIVE transmission. GEARING is EVERYTHING in a truck this heavy. GM wins.

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  2000 Nissan Maxima poor acceleration - 2000 Nissan Maxima
  By Bob Kat - March 4 - 5:00 pm

  This car wouldnt go 50 mph. Just dogged out. I changed plugs hoping for a fouled plug. no such luck. frightened to death of going to Nissan dealer after being slammed for ignition coil packs. $2000.00 I proceeded to local Autozone and asked Manager Dave of any possible symptoms. I had a bottle of typical injector cleaner. He told me to put the other back and buy Lucas fuel injector cleaner so I did. I drove down the local I 90 thruway 50 miles. This stuff had this 230 horse Maxima screaming again. I could not believe it. Everybody, before to start replacing all kinds of hopeful parts, spend $5.99. You might have the same luck. Again Lucas Fuel Injector cleanr. This stuff works. Big savings!

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  Great choice for around town use by family. - 2014 Nissan Leaf
  By Abhinav - March 4 - 10:48 am

  This vehicle is proving itself to work very well for the specific purpose we had in mind - to be used to get around our town, school PUDOs, sport, groceries ... all family oriented activity. Charging is really easy as we have a lot of options in the town we live in as well as at home. The range is even good enough for us to use it for short trips to nearby trailheads when were out hiking. The vehicle drives well, is compact so its very easy to park, and the interior is simple and comfortable. Plenty of storage in the back. ECO mode is our normal use case while we switch this off when we need a quick burst of speed. Were shortly going to be charging the vehicle from the new solar array on our house - so its a nice and complete scenario there!

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  If purchasing new truck check out Nissan - 2006 Nissan Frontier
  By G. Miller - March 2 - 10:10 pm

  Had a 2004 Dakota and was going to purchase a 2006 Dakota until on a whim I decided to test drive a Nissan. Never looked back. The Dakota Has more room, however the Nissan is quick and nimble, corners real well and gets better gas milage, and the Nissan V-6 has more horsepower than the Dodge 4.7 liter V-8 I owned a Nissan hardbody I purchased new in 1997 and it was a nice truck but it dosent even begin to compare with my new Nissan.

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  Great truck for the money - 2009 Nissan Armada
  By Brian - March 2 - 11:43 am

  I never thought I would buy a "full size" SUV, but the Armada is an awesome truck. Great quality, great ride/acceleration. My wife who is 411 has no trouble driving, thanks to power adjustable pedals and rearview camera. We got a great deal since we were coming off a lease on our Pathfinder. We bought the Armada instead of leasing again.

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  nice but - 2006 Nissan Frontier
  By Henry - March 1 - 8:50 pm

  I only had this car for a couple of days but I can tell you its a nice medium truck but its not all it could be. For example the ride its horrible,very stiff to the point that i thougth it had something broken. It doesnt help that nissan uses the worst tires in the market, Generals. The gas mileage is between two or three miles below their estimate so prepare for it. theres no excuse that we are in the year 2006 and this car has these flaws

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  I love Frontiers - 2001 Nissan Frontier
  By mutants-dad - March 1 - 7:53 am

  I love this truck. Ive had no maintenance problems with it. It hauls what I need it to haul. The price was right and it got great mileage for a truck. It was built so tough that when I was involved in an accident with a dumb kid driving a Sequoia my little truck got the better of that big SUV.

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  40 mpg inexpensive commuter - 2009 Nissan Versa
  By Friederich - March 1 - 3:33 am

  I bought this car last December. I have a blue 1.6 sedan, manual transmission; AC & ABS. That is all you need!!!...In this consumer oriented society, we have gotten used to wasting money...well I commute every day 37 miles each way...in city traffic. My Versa just turned 3K and my fuel average is 40 mpg!!! so on a cost per mile basis this is as good as it gets...sure I had to spend $200 bucks to install a nice CD & HD radio, but the car already came with 4 speakers and antenna pre-wired. So far the car has been absolutely trouble free...yes I have to exercise my arm just a bit to manually lower the window at drive thrus and garage gates...and I had to manually adjust my side view mirror

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  2003 Altima 2.5s - 2003 Nissan Altima
  By John - March 1 - 1:26 am

  I just bought my Altima used. After having the car for a month now I can say that all works very well with the power, handling and comfort. I love the power moon roof and the stereo is very good too. I found out that the turning radius is not all that good so you need to do a 3 point turn for many U turns that you need to make. The big problem I found is even a simple snow fall makes the car handle very badly and is quite dangerous even with good tires.

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  Sadly wont recommend. - 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid
  By Michael - February 26 - 5:06 am

  First the good - test drove plenty of cars even in class above the Altima and kept coming back to this car. I went back and forth between the performance of the V6 and sensibility of the hybrid. Finally chose the hybrid and, while it is certainly no V6, this car has plenty of spunk and still fun to drive. Live in San Diego and drive 50/50 city/highway. The on board message center says I am getting 38 mpg but based on mileage and gallons I am putting in it is more like 32. The bad - I have had the car 2 months, 2900 miles. It has been in the shop over 20 days as of now and still is there.