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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  2009 Nissan Titan - JUNK!!!! - 2009 Nissan Titan
  By freddock - September 2 - 10:39 am

  This is a horrible truck. It is pretty to look at but not built very well. At just 117K miles it needs an all new rear end due to a known problem that Nissan is aware of but does nothing about. The pumpkin on the rear axle heats up and destroys the gears inside. A $4000 repair on a three yr old truck. They apparently made the truck look nice but didnt care what they were putting under the hood. Run dont walk away from this one! Go for something reliable like Ford. I would never buy or recommend a Nissan ever again. This is just an expensive piece of junk.

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  Wont buy another nissan - 2006 Nissan Sentra
  By conradj87 - August 31 - 2:10 pm

  Bought the car used in 2008 with just under 30k. Since then the radio has quit working (twice). It was the upgraded fosgate one. The transmission has squeaked, nissan wouldnt cover it under powertrain warranty, rear wheel bearing went out, fuel pump, and the belt has squealed on and off since we got it. Exhaust started leaking around 50k miles. The engine is loud when your in the car, and there is a ton of road noise. Car has overall been a nightmare, full of problems. Completely dissappointed. Not at all what I expected from a modern, name brand car. Wont ever buy a nissan again.

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  Nothing but issues - would never purchase a nissan again - 2008 Nissan Rogue
  By melanie30 - August 30 - 11:57 pm

  Purchased used from Alta Nissan late 2011. Found out it wasnt reconditioned from Orangeville Nissan who checked it. Returned to Alta for them to rectify, then there was transmission issue, could not get out of park without the shift lock. All this within the same month of purchase. They adjusted the gears rather than replacement. Never fully solved the issue as in winter it acts up. Had to replace drive shaft, tie rods, door handles, wheel bearings continually. These are Nissan parts yet fail miserably. All highway driven and not abused but yet now 40K outside the increased 200K warranty for the KNOWN CVT transmission issue the transmission is gone. They will not fix it under good will..

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  Transmission Failures - 2005 Nissan Xterra
  By chrisb - August 30 - 10:00 am

  2005 Nissan Xterras and Pathfinders have a known and fairly widespread problem with radiator failures. When the radiator fails, it dumps engine coolant (antifreeze) into the transmission. This of course ruins the transmission. Total repair cost is over $5,000. Nissan has not issued a service bulletin on this problem and according to senior person in "Consumer Relations" he had never heard of this problem before.

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  Altimas are not reliable and Nissan does not support customers - 2009 Nissan Altima
  By kathy90 - August 13 - 4:06 am

  The air compressor clutch failed on my Altima with only 52,000 miles on it.The cost to repair it is $1000.00 and Nissan has refused to cover the cost of repair because they say that my car is "outside of its warranty parameters." Two reputable mechanics have informed me that it is unheard of for a car with such low mileage that has been impeccably maintained to have a air compression clutch failure.Nissan is not willing to look beyond the warranty parameters and see this as an ethical, good business, customer service issue.They are basically saying that even if the mechanics of the vehicle fall apart after the warranty period, Nissan will not stand by its vehicle.

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  Bad Start - 2000 Nissan Xterra
  By Mrdegu - August 12 - 10:00 am

  This thing was trouble as soon as i got it. I had maybe 5K on it when the A/C compressor goes on me. Little things in the car were breaking rather easily, such as the handle to move the angle of the seat. The distributor cap craked on me at 13K and then the distributor then went 2k after that. I was left stranded on the highway twice because of this. The 4wd would not work properly all the time. The dealership was not very helpfull either. Over all i had a very bad experience with the truck, the dealership and Nissan all together....i will never buy Nissan again.

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  Cheap, not inexpensive - Could this be the "throwaway car" of our generation? - 2015 Nissan Versa Note
  By jobone - August 4 - 4:17 am

  This car is victim to three factors: 1) Nissan design, 2) Poor manufacturing QC and 3) Poor dealer networks. Fit and finish issues all over. Locations of things (like 12V power, USB) are poor and subject the connections to accidental contact and theyre far away from the dash. Just really bad engineering as if the designers take the bus to work. The car could have been a Honda Fit/Toyota Yaris-killer but they just dont take the extra few moments to do it right. Initial quality has been the worst of any vehicle Ive ever purchased. Considering Ive been buying new cars for 30 years, thats pretty sad.

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  27,000 miles and always in the shop - 2015 Nissan Altima
  By Tyler Johnson - July 31 - 7:14 pm

  Ive owned Nissans my whole life. Ive loved them and the company until I bought this car. Ive had so many problems, though, I took a loss just to give it back to Nissan. I submitted three buy-back requests through Nissan and they denied me all three times. The car was still under warranty when I had all the problems, but that warranty was nearing its end and Nissan wouldnt work with me, so I was too scared to keep it. In the first two years and 27,000 miles, the radio backlights flashed like there was a short and the radio kept restarting itself. The dealer replaced the radio and the new one kept doing the same thing. They wouldnt replace it a second time because they couldnt duplicate it. The steering wheel controls stopped working intermittently. Again, couldnt duplicate the problem. The O2 sensor stopped working correctly and the car started running rough. It was working fine and I accidently reset the check engine light before they could fit me in... so, couldnt duplicate the problem. The transmissions computer stopped working correctly and wouldnt go into higher gears. They replaced the computer but the second computer is doing the same thing. And heres the best one... When youre out of windshield washer fluid, the blind spot monitors and lane departure warnings wont work. I researched it and its a known bug. I mean, it makes sense. Why would you need to check your blind spots if your windshield washer fluid reservoir is empty? The car is stylish and comfortable. And thats pretty much where I end the positive. Dont buy this - or any Nissan. I get that every manufacturer has bad days and makes a lemon or two, but I would expect them to take responsibility for the problems. They wont buy back and they wont fix documented problems because they cant see them in the shop. I had videos of the malfunctions proving they were happening but it didnt matter.

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  HeLLOOOOO Nissan- Can you hear us? - 2008 Nissan Rogue
  By Anne Luchetti - July 26 - 9:08 am

  I have same frustration and negative review of CVT as most owners here...I have owned this vehicle from 0 to current 128,000 miles. I had NO indication of a problem with the transmission. Yesterday I got in the car, put the car in gear and it will not move. Like it is in neutral. The engine just raced. Towed to Nissan. Service manager says "its your trannie--it will be $3,952 to install a rebuilt one." Seriously! Dealer said that was the best he could do. How can there be so many problems with this particular CVT Transmission and Nissan not have a better plan to deal with this particular defect. I then had it towed to a transmission shop....since it is NOT covered under warranty anyhow I am going to give them a shot. At least they are offering a 12 month warranty on their job! When you take care of your vehicle It should not fail in this manner.

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  First Mini-van - 2006 Nissan Quest
  By badtime - July 23 - 8:16 am

  Air compressor was frozen on the first trip (350 miles away). Spend your own money on hotel and food if you dont buy the Security+Plus package.