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:

• 

  Buyer BEWARE ! - 2007 Nissan Altima
  By Don - November 23 - 11:50 pm

  Have you ever had to push your "new" car out of the garage so it could be towed to the dealer? 23,000 miles and we have done it twice. Key fobs and push button start are junk. Recalled with less than 900 miles to "remove" noisy heat shield. CVT has never felt just right to me. Road noise is horrific. I would not suggest the purchase of this vehicle. The fuel mileage is extremely over rated, city and highway.

• 

  What a disappointment! - 2006 Nissan Quest
  By quest2005 - November 13 - 8:36 pm

  In one year of ownership, weather stripping came off, wheels needed re- alignment, back hatch squeaks/sticks, need to resurface rotors x 3, something in front engine cracked, air conditioner hisses, CD stuck in player, recall on middle seats,and key stuck in ignition for a day. Service department terrible, nickle and dime every possible way, try to justify needed repairs with "Thats the way cars are made nowadays." Two negative response on customer survey given. No response from Nissan. Very sad. We LOVE the design and roominess. Will miss our van. Looking for new vehicle. Because of service department, will not buy Nissan, again.

• 

  frontier - 2002 Nissan Frontier
  By yagermichael - November 9 - 10:00 am

  noisy motor bad gas miledge

• 

  Nothing exciting - 2008 Nissan Sentra
  By kenosmom - November 6 - 6:13 pm

  Bought this car new for practical reasons (not a 4 door sedan type person), and overall a decent car. Smoothest engine Ive ever heard, bar none! CVT transmission works well and gas mileage averaged over 30 mpg. But overall a pretty boring drive. Handling is average, drivers seat too soft and lacks lumbar support, sun visor hits mirror when lowered, (bumper cover popped off, panels dont align well).

• 

  poor quality - 2011 Nissan Titan
  By rubrman - November 4 - 5:51 am

  After many trips to the dealer for a/c defrost repairs still not fixed. Sun roof works on and off would not recommend buy this truck way to many problems.To many to list

• 

  Great Performance-Lousy Interior Quality - 2005 Nissan Maxima
  By dandee - November 3 - 5:03 pm

  I have owned this car for over a year so I feel qualified for an evaluation of this vehicle. The overall performance i.e., steering, breaking, acceleration is remarkable however, the overall quality of the interior plastics is cheap. I have had the rear deck repaired to stop the vibration noise of the some components of the stereo system (it took 6 months for the dealer to repair) and the columns between the front and rear doors as well to the rear deck have been repaired or replaced. The gage that sensors the amount of mileage the cars has until empty is useless because it stops working when the tanks has less than 2 gallons.

• 

  Great Concept, Poor Execution - 2002 Nissan Sentra
  By SE-R Owner - November 2 - 2:00 am

  The 165 bhp 2.5 litre motor is a great concept. The Automatic Transmission has much to be desired. The Seats could use a little color and the A/C Center could use a lot more attention to detail.

• 

  major problems!!!!! - 2006 Nissan Pathfinder
  By lovebaby24 - October 31 - 5:45 am

  I have had my car 3 years and i am still making payments i have replaced the cadillac converters and one co2 sensor which has cost me 2200.00. Now i found out my tranmission is slipping which if you do research on it alot of people are having the same problem! No recall i guess nissan could care less about you after the sale will never own another one!!!!!!

• 

  Before you buy, read this! Trust me! - 2003 Nissan Murano
  By Chopper John - October 28 - 2:00 am

  Before you buy the Murano, test drive it and do this test! I guarantee you probably will think twice about buying the Murano. Go with the salesman and before starting out, roll down the back two windows, all the way down, leaving the front windows and the sunroof CLOSED. Drive past 35mph and LISTEN!!!! What youll experience is the worse case of in-cabin turbulence meaning your eardrums feel like theyre going to explode.

• 

  Not reliable - 2001 Nissan Sentra
  By Brendon - October 25 - 4:03 pm

  I got this car used, in mid 2015 (so nearly 15 years old) but with less than 120,000 miles on it. I liked this car, for the most part. Its loud (and not because of a large engine) and its no luxury vehicle, but it is fine. However, there are small things: the stereo is not very good (especially if you have to turn it up for reasons I will get in to), the arm rest compartment broke, parts of the interior rattle and vibrate at highway speed, the headlights are not great, and the tires wore out relatively quickly. Now on to the big things, the A/C went out and it was a multi-thousand dollar job (apparently the labor is complicated because of how the car is built), I did not get this fixed. As a result, I was driving with the windows down all summer, even on the highway, so if I wanted to listen to music I had to turn the stereo up high, and noticed diminished sound quality. The drivers window control does not always work. The sun roof broke, also a multi-thousand dollar job I did not bother with. Just recently, the ECM broke (so I couldnt even start the car), the neutral switch also broke, and my car is still currently in the shop because it is now idling too high, and the mechanics cannot figure out why. I also had to fix brakes, and brake calipers, suspension replacements, and a few other things. Having had this car for about 12 months, its been in the shop for nearly 10% of that, and has cost me a lot in repairs. I would not expect to have these problems until the 200k mark at least.