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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  Dealer/MFG BOO BOOs - 2007 Nissan Versa
  By harry - February 1 - 7:53 am

  On date of delivery, left air bag cover on dash was raised. Took 4 weeks to replace-factory did not have part available. TPMS is very sensitive ie 1 lb of air pressure and light goes off. And there is NO manual reset. Left front passenger air bag light goes on and off intermittently-cant seem to find a cure so never know if passenger is protected or not. Front end alignment was off-had to bring back to dealer twice to repair. 1st time car was so new-dealer did not have specs for alilgnment. Seems dealer was more interested in volume as opposed to service after sale. But car is fuel miser and rides good for a small car.

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  Buyer Beware - 2002 Nissan Altima
  By 02 Nissan Altima - January 31 - 4:56 am

  Ever since i bought the car the clutch would stick down in the bottom but it never happened frequently enough for the problem to get resolved and they always claimed that there was nothing wrong with. At 114000 miles my engine started to knock and i later found out coolant was leaking into my engine through a bad head gasket. $3000 later a used engine was installed and now Im looking to repair a head gasket issue on this newly installed engine at 160000 miles. Never again will i purchase and Altima!!

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  Standard Econobox - 1998 Nissan Sentra
  By Snakey - January 31 - 4:16 am

  I have owned this car for 3 years, well just over, and it has been a great car for me (read: college student, poor, etc.) I put 64k miles on it in the first two years and with basic maintenance its been wonderfully reliable, starts every time and stops just as well. Here are the negs: not very peppy, even with a manual and after-market intake (had to try SOMETHING to speed it up!), the interior is noisy at 70MPH+ but thats expected, cup holders are self defeating as they block radio and climate control, STD comes with NO frills, and I mean NONE! Oh, and the stereo bracket might as well have been made for stereo theives, so easy to take. Good car for college and High School students.

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  Did Not Last - 2008 Nissan Rogue
  By Lisa - January 21 - 1:30 pm

  My 2008 Nissan Rogue was great the first 2 years I had it. Into my second year of owning this vehicle, the transmission died. There was a 60,000 mile warranty on the transmission originally, but Nissan upgraded the warranty to 120,000 miles due to the problems these transmissions were having. Nissan replaced the transmission, but the car was never the same. The car couldnt handle a 40 mile trip without losing power. After driving about 40 miles and exiting the freeway, the car did not want to accelerate. After that, the air bag light began blinking. found out that this repair costs about $1600. This car seemed to have problems every couple months. I ended up trading my 2008 Nissan Rogue for a 2013 Ford Edge.

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  repeating brake problems - 2004 Nissan Titan
  By dbrockner - January 19 - 8:10 pm

  AFTER 5000 MILES FRONT BRAKES STARTED PULSATING AND SQUEALING. HAD TRUCK IN FOR FRONT BRAKES 3 TIMES. TOTAL OF 15 DAYS DOWN TIME. NISSAN COULD NOT SUPPLY THE PARTS. OCT 04 MORE BRAKE PROBLEMS. 19000 MILES. REARS WERE SHOT. THEY WERE GOING TO CHARGE ME TO REPAIR THEM. AFTER MUCH COMPLAINING THEY REPAIRED UNDER WARRANTY. THE REARS WERE DOING ALL THE WORK WHEN THE FRONTS WERENT WORKING. ALSO POWER WINDOWS IN FRONT MALFUNCTION ALL THE TIME. 4 WHEEL DRIVE SWITCH REPLACED TWICE.

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  Could have been better... - 2003 Nissan Sentra
  By Chad - January 16 - 10:13 am

  Bought the car new and had lots of problems within the first three years of ownership. The SE-R has a lot of issues that were never properly recalled such as a faulty pre-cat, poor MAF sensor, wheel hop, exterior paint, and a few other things. Had my engine replaced under warranty at 30,000 miles due to screws breaking off my intake runners and blowing up my engine. A simple locktighting of the screws would fix that issue. Aftermarket modification like motor mount inserts and header will get rid of some of the mechanical problems. Also, the plastic undercarriage pieces will gradually fall out. After dealing with those issues the car has gone strong the past 3 years

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  Nissan "Slowgue" - 2017 Nissan Rogue
  By Bran gro - January 15 - 10:48 pm

  I test drive the 2017 Nissan Rogue SL. It had lots of nice tech features inside, and panoramic roof was amazing. I hated the lack of power from the sluggish 4cyl and cut transmission. The "mini van" body roll when making sharp turns was horrible. I ended up getting a 2017 Mazda CX-5.

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  A good thing gone wrong. - 2003 Nissan Sentra
  By random - January 15 - 10:00 am

  The Nissan Sentra Spec V looks great on paper, and it does drive very well at first. After about a month after buying the car, the transmission became clunky and it even grinds gears during shifts when it is cold out. The car can take up to 15 minuets for the transmissioin to loosen up. Multiple dealers have told as that this is normal operation, but the operation changed after I got it. There were some cosmetic problems with the paint, body molding, and trunk and engine lid that was all fixed under warranty. Mold in the AC system was fixed on the 3rd try. I would not recomend this car to anyone. Build quality is very poor.

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  Rear bumper is plastic and is unsafe - 2007 Nissan Quest
  By Plastic bumpr unsafe - January 12 - 4:06 pm

  Someone rear-ended me and I got a horrible whiplash and the rear was bent badly at 30 mph. Turns out that the rear bumper is made of PLASTIC, not a steel bumper like the Toyota Sienna. Also, the headrests are ergonomically wrong because they are too far back so it does NOT protect you from a whiplash. The Nissan Quest also rides too low to the ground so it tends to scrape things and the long wheelbase got me scraping the pavement which took out a baseball size hole in my the vans body. The wheelbase is too long so turning radius is huge so you cant make a U-turn and parking is difficult because it always require backing up and forth.

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  Not a Bad Car - 2004 Nissan Sentra
  By OK car - January 10 - 9:26 pm

  Have had gas issues,were it wouldnt take gas,just spit it back out.Bought my car with 22 miles on it, and so far so good. It is a 2004 and has 54,000 miles on it.So far just the gas issues and it does take 2-3 times to start most of the time. It is a reliable car,drove back and forth from Pa to Vegas and it is great. Very good on gas.