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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  WHAT A LEMON !! - 2002 Nissan Altima
  By Ty01453 - June 11 - 2:40 pm

  bought this car 6 months ago (used) and it already needs a new motor. What a waste of my $$. For your own sake stay away from 2002 used altimas.

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  I Hate IT! - 2001 Nissan Sentra
  By Michelle in AZ - June 6 - 2:00 am

  I spend more money on repairing it, and time fighting about the warranty then I could ever imagine. I would never buy another one. I am not sure I would ever buy another Nissan.

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  Love this car, but man it cost me. - 2011 Nissan Leaf
  By Zac Held - June 1 - 11:57 pm

  Its a great car. The car itself is completely vanilla, but I love how smooth and quiet it is. At stoplights I think my other gas car has something wrong with all the vibration. The acceleration is linear and totally smooth. Not visiting gas stations is awesome. Its fun to sneak up on people in parking lots. The range anxiety went away after a month of owning the car, although its starting to come back. The BIG HOWEVER, I have had the car for over five years now, it has less than 60k miles and my battery capacity is now half of what it was when new. I was a responsible battery charger, and live in a mild climate. Since it is just out of warranty (4 years) its up to me to cover the cost of the replacement battery. I can currently go about 40 miles if I dont use the heater, and my work is about 40 miles roundtrip. I know all batteries degrade over time, and I was comfortable of having to replace it. What totally caught me by surprise is the cost of a new battery; quoted by my dealer is $8000. A quick blue book value of my car is about $6000. The horrible depreciation of the car combined with the cost of a replacement battery, completely make the economics of owning this car a terrible deal. For $8000 I could buy nearly twenty thousand gallons of gasoline! At 25 miles per gallon I could travel 500,000 miles! All these leafs are going to have to be converted to golf carts in retirement to get any value out of them. Update 2-18. Car has about 68,000 miles now. Still gets me back and forth to work, but due to battery degradation the heater is only allowed for small spurts to defrost the windows in the winter. It is a great car durability wise since I have only had to change the tires so far, and drives like the day it was new. We tend to drive it less miles now because the range anxiety of driving to new places is resurfacing. Bad news is that battery degradation and the cost to replace it is crazy. Buying a used one that doesnt need to go very far makes sense. Today a 2011 leaf in my area goes for 5000-7000. Not sure what a battery costs today, if its still $8000, no way that makes sense. The battery needs to be closer to $1000 to even think of changing it.

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  Give me back my Honda. - 2012 Nissan Altima
  By Robert - June 1 - 5:36 am

  If youre considering an Altima, specifically a V6 model, check out other offerings by Honda, Toyota, Chevy, Hyundai, Ford, or even Chrysler/Dodge. I bought my Altima certified pre-owned with 16000 miles on the clock. I enjoyed and loved the car since it had every feature and option available. Well at about 18000 miles when I brought it in to the dealership for numerous rattles while driving. Not too long after that, the car started to shudder when taking off after a stop, as well as hesitating. I took it back to the dealership where they said that the transmission was defective and had to be replaced, at 20000 miles. The car seemed to drive fine for a while but then, it started getting horrible gas mileage and hesitating again along with my brake light flashing and my traction control light illuminating. Took it back again at 22500, which they said my master cylinder was bad, brake booster was bad, and the car had a bad head gasket which was causing the coolant to leak into 2 cylinders causing them to misfire. Also, it had a bad motor mount and the exhaust had a leak. They replaced and repaired everything under warranty. Drove it until about 29000 miles and the replacement transmission started to shudder and hesitate again, as well as making a loud whining noise from 3000 rpm to redline. Took it back and the dealership said the replacement transmission had an internal failure again and needed to be replaced. Now for the pros of this ultra reliable crap mobile: the seats are comfortable, the ride is pretty smooth when it wants to be, and when the car isnt having any issues, the acceleration is great. Better than any car Ive owned. But Id gladly sacrifice some features this car has to go back to my trusty V6 Accord. Too bad it cant happen, since Im upside down on this Altima. UPDATE: The replacement tranny replaced at 29k started exhibiting the same issues as before around 33k. I decided to trade it in despite the fact it wasnt worth anything and I still owed a lot. Needless to say, Im glad to be out of the Altima and into a Honda Accord.

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  04 Quest has known problems - 2004 Nissan Quest
  By Bryon Brelsford - May 27 - 1:13 pm

  One week after we bought the car the drivers window was making a noise. We had numerous rattles which were fixed then made noise again. The brake pedal made a squeaking noise. Clamps broke under the car that held the exhaust pipe in place, causing more noise while driving. The rear windows dont go down. You have to really slam the hatch sometimes to get it to close properly. Our radio was replaced after 6 months when it wouldnt turn on in cold weather. With the heat and air conditioning on their highest setting the air dribbles out. Finally, I called Nissan Corp. and they were willing to do nothing for all the times I had to bring the car in to be fixed. I got rid of it!

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  BEWARE of Premature Rusting of Rogue - 2016 Nissan Rogue
  By Concerned Customer - May 26 - 6:22 pm

  Do not let sales staff convince you otherwise. do your homework and Google it... Nissan hid behind the letter of the warranty and not the spirit of it.. --shame

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  Transmission blew after 30 miles!! - 2006 Nissan Altima
  By wils424 - May 26 - 5:20 pm

  After 30 miles of driving the car (2.5 Special Edition, brand new), the car began jerking and chugging all over the road, revving up to 5000, and was very loud! The dealership claimed it was only a small computer chip that needed replacing. It happened a second time, and then a third time, and when I finally got to 900 miles, the entire transmission blew and needed total replacing! Nissan replaced the transmission but denied my claim for a new car. In the one month Ive owned it, its been in the shop 3 times and Ive been in a rental 3 times! Never once did Corporate Nissan offer me any compensation for my terrible distress. Im now forced to pursue legal action. Its been a nightmare!!

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  Big Big Big Problem - CVT - 2013 Nissan Altima
  By ebch - May 22 - 3:56 pm

  Hello future buyer, If you are willing to go Nissan service center at least once a month, you can buy this car. Please go Nissan forum first and check what are problems of this car. [HTML removed.] My case is RPM suddenly down to 800 RPM at 20-30 mph range, it feel like loosening power. Not always. 800 RPM means car stopped at the road with engine running. Extremely nervous situation because car bounced with bang sound from power train. Nissan have to step up to recall for CVT problem.

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  At 60K miles I need a new transmission - 2012 Nissan Rogue
  By Nupsie Exantus - May 19 - 11:42 am

  When i first started car searching for a pre owned car, my dream car was the Nissan Rogue...which was completely out of my price range. I was, at the time, looking for a 5k-8k car....after many failed attempts at purchasing a liable car, I decided to finance a car at Napoli Nissan in Milford CT. Of course, I purchased the Rogue. I was estatic! Loved my choice... A few months into it, it was driving a little weird so I was told it may be my tires. I bought 4 Brand new tires....No big deal. Not long after, the weird feeling came back...brought it back to Napoli...they told me it was my TRANSMISSION....at this point my car only had about 60k miles....Napoli told me it would be costly and advised me to reach out to NISSAN Headquarters for support. MY NISSAN ROGUE IS A 2012 WITH 60K MILES. I reached out to Nissan on several occasion, asking for any financial support - I was turned down because my car was a few miles off of warranty and BECAUSE they said, I never brought my car to NAPOLI for any services... so I was not a "loyal customer Sorry mam, theres nothing I can do. 25 year old female with a Nissan Rogue for about 6-7 months and in need of new TRANSMISSION... for the record, I got my new tires at NAPOLI, bought it back and left it on 2 different occasions for service needs but SHE CLAIMED i was not a "loyal customer" and therefor, could not be helped.... NISSAN used to be my dream car, not its just a headache sitting in my sisters driveway because a new transmission will cost me about $3500... I work with under served High school students who read at a grade 3 or 4 level...$3500 is a lot of money that I do not have... especially when I just spent nearly $500 to get new brakes. I bought the car back to Napoli a 3rd time, begging for help...they told me all they could do is trade it in....I have student loans already...they trade in value was crap...they ran my credit 11 times without my permission and I left there with my car and no solution. I have no intention of going back to NAPOLI INDOORs nor do I ever plan on buying another Nissan after getting rid of this...thank you so much.

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  Learn from others mistakes - 2004 Nissan Armada
  By Grapes - May 16 - 3:43 am

  Purchased this vehicle new in DEC of 2003. I knew it was the first model year but it was a Nissan. So how many problems could it have? Ill tell you how many, more than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. This vehicle is a piece of junk and I felt the exact same way as another reviewer. Nissan should be ashamed of themselves! Problems?, exhaust, window, levelers, brakes, overhead console, electronic powertrain module, oem tires, and squeaks, rattles and shakes that are by far the worst of any car Ive ever driven. And Im 53. Dont know if things changed this year but the armada was rated one of the 5 least reliable vehicles for 5 years running.