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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  Disappointed - 2004 Nissan Pathfinder
  By PF - November 10 - 10:33 pm

  I find it to be very noisy. Wind noise especially from the sunroof is annoying. Rattling from defroster vents on the top of the dashboard is annoying and appears to be a poor design. Thats just me being a little picky with engineering problems that shouldnt be that hard to correct. My big disappointment is that with only 28,000 miles on it the evaporator cannister and vent control valve failed and cost me $550.00 to fix at the dealer. Im out of warranty because its over 36 months old. I contacted Nissan, but they have offerd me no consideration helping out with the cost of repairs. I wouldnt have expected components to fail at such low mileage.

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  not recommendable for city drivers - 2007 Nissan Quest
  By zambrano - November 8 - 11:26 am

  I live in the city, NYC, the bumpers get banged all the time and as a result it looks all beaten, the seat are extremely uncomfortable, my kids scream every time I hit a pot hole, the gas mileage in the city is too poor, it is way to expensive for city driving. Otherwise, ok.

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  Good car, very poor dealer & Mfr. backup - 2008 Nissan Versa
  By ABC - November 2 - 4:26 pm

  Car purchased strictly for economical driving to ranches on good highways. Cruise control very important accessory. Cruise control is the worst I have ever experienced. Resume mode is a joke. Driving on normal highways in flat South Texas is nightmare. Any little bump or slight incline causes cruise control to downshift from 2800 RPMs to 4200 RPMs. Nissan will not fix. Mileage poor because of cruise control (28-30 average).

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  95 nissan pathfinder - 1995 Nissan Pathfinder
  By Ryan - November 2 - 7:03 am

  I like the car over all, it will get me where I need to go, but the acceleration and top speed are pretty bad. I have to do alot of work to mine, iv had to replace the brakes twice, the brakes arent very good. Its peppy, but not a performance car in any way. The problems I have with the car are all small. Only big problem Ive had was with the headlights. The previous owner ran wires directly from the headlight wire to something else(havent followed wire) and the fuse would blow when headlights were turned on, I disconnected the wires and problem was gone. The safety issue was plastic burning when headlights were on, possible fire in steering wheel... wouldnt have been good. happy w/ car overall

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  Worst Vehicle Ive Ever Owned - 2007 Nissan Pathfinder
  By jem10 - November 1 - 6:34 am

  My family has owned many Nissan/Infiniti vehicles over the years and have loved them, until this one came along. We, along with many others, were faced with the dreaded transmission/radiator problem. We rebuilt the transmission, luckily had a warranty that paid for it. Then, 5 months later, the oil pump failed, which required a new timing chain tensioner along with many other simultaneous repairs, $1700 bill and 3 weeks in the shop. The TPMS light has been on for 1 year. I have had the system checked multiple times and the mechanics didnt know what was wrong with it. I have encouraged my entire family and all of my friends to choose something besides Nissans in the future.

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  Disappointed!!!! - 2003 Nissan Altima
  By pbattle - October 31 - 10:00 am

  We bought a new Altima (4 miles)in Mar 03. In June, the car would not start. The dealership sent a tow truck to pick up the car. The tow truck guy told us that we had to press on the gas while trying to start the car. He did this for 5 minutes and the car started. The dealership tells me that the keys lost their programming and thus the car could not possibly start w/o being reprogrammed. Nissan is full of crap. If the keys were the problem then the car should have never started. Anyway, the car couldnt start again in October. Nissan was not as accomodating this time, so I am getting rid of my Altima and never again will I buy a vehicle from Nissan.

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  Run From This Vehicle - 2004 Nissan Quest
  By questbegone - October 29 - 4:40 pm

  Had all the quality problems others talk about here, but the killer for us was the right front tire going flat. There is a problem with the tire pressure sensors and it could not be fixed. After eight attempts to fix it they finally replaced the entire tire and wheel. This worked for a while so I didnt go to arbitration which I probably should have. When the flat tire sensor came on again, my wife refused to drive the car ever again. I had to unload it. It had 8K miles, I got $21,5K in trade, and I bought an Escalade for its reliability and build quality. Is that irony? I lost the value of my trade ($12K, 2001 Honda Accord). Obviously this vehicle is a piece of crap and Nissan knows it.

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  Do Not Buy Nissan - 2004 Nissan Murano
  By Semirhage - October 27 - 6:16 am

  At 59,151 my transmission went out. The Murano has a very expensive CVT transmission and I was told the repair would cost over $6,000. The transmission should have been covered under the powertrain warranty (60 months, 60k miles) -but I was apparently 1 month past the 60 month mark. Nissan jerked me around for 2 weeks pretending they might honor the warranty (while I racked up rental car bills) but in the end they made it quite clear they did not care about me or the vehicle they built. After reading about other problems with the CVT, I think a recall is in order, but Nissan doesnt care.

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  wait until the 2005 comes out - 2004 Nissan Armada
  By chasmanz28 - October 19 - 2:00 am

  had a very bad resonance issue with my armada, tried 2 times to get it fixed and still had the problem, overall i think its a great idea from nissan just needs to get all the bugs worked out, the best thing about this suv is the drivetrain, unmatched if you ask me, thats what ill miss the most

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  Altima - 2002 Nissan Altima
  By Joe Molica - October 17 - 10:00 am

  Fast car but quality needs improvement desperately.