Current state of Nissan Corp....good/bad/better/worse??

[Buzzman]

Been thinking for a while about the state of Nissan in the automotive world.
I look at their current product line, and think to myself, are they asleep at the wheel or what?
A lot of attention has been laid on the Leaf, and maybe rightly so, but the rest of the product line leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you see what the competition is doing.
The latest Car & Driver magazine for example, did a comparo on 6 econoboxes, including the new Versa. It finished dead last.
They gave it a brutal review, saying that Nissan looked like they came up with a vehicle price first, and then designed a car to meet that price, instead of building a better car, and then deciding how much to charge.
The rest of the lineup is also aging, quickly.
The Sentra and Altima are from 2007. The Pathfinder came out in it's current form in 2005.
The Murano is pretty much unchanged since 2003.
I have no idea how old the Xterra is, but it's always looked the same to me.
On top of that, not many people are buying the Titan or Maxima anymore either.
Even the 370Z has some serious performance issues (brakes mostly) and is selling very poorly.
Someone at the top of this company needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Just look at Hyundai as an example. They're kicking a**.
Another issue that maybe not all of you know about is the rust recall on the 1996-2004 Pathfinder/QX4.
Nissan has a serious PR problem on it's hands with this one, never mind a financial one.
One last gripe, Nissan seems hell bent on blindly pushing their CVT's into every product. Personally, I hate those things.
The CVT in the new Versa is particularly dreadful (Car & Driver).
Ok, so maybe I'm out in left field on all this, so I'd love to hear what others think.
I'm still super happy with my 2002 Pathfinder, and luckily I don't have the rust problem on mine, so I'm good for a while.
Having said that, I doubt I'd visit a Nissan dealership if I was buying a new car today. Kinda sad.
Thanks everyone.

[Bubba1]

Been thinking for a while about the state of Nissan in the automotive world.
I look at their current product line, and think to myself, are they asleep at the wheel or what?
A lot of attention has been laid on the Leaf, and maybe rightly so, but the rest of the product line leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you see what the competition is doing.
The latest Car & Driver magazine for example, did a comparo on 6 econoboxes, including the new Versa. It finished dead last.
They gave it a brutal review, saying that Nissan looked like they came up with a vehicle price first, and then designed a car to meet that price, instead of building a better car, and then deciding how much to charge.
The rest of the lineup is also aging, quickly.
The Sentra and Altima are from 2007. The Pathfinder came out in it's current form in 2005.
The Murano is pretty much unchanged since 2003.
I have no idea how old the Xterra is, but it's always looked the same to me.
On top of that, not many people are buying the Titan or Maxima anymore either.
Even the 370Z has some serious performance issues (brakes mostly) and is selling very poorly.
Someone at the top of this company needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Just look at Hyundai as an example. They're kicking a**.
Another issue that maybe not all of you know about is the rust recall on the 1996-2004 Pathfinder/QX4.
Nissan has a serious PR problem on it's hands with this one, never mind a financial one.
One last gripe, Nissan seems hell bent on blindly pushing their CVT's into every product. Personally, I hate those things.
The CVT in the new Versa is particularly dreadful (Car & Driver).
Ok, so maybe I'm out in left field on all this, so I'd love to hear what others think.
I'm still super happy with my 2002 Pathfinder, and luckily I don't have the rust problem on mine, so I'm good for a while.
Having said that, I doubt I'd visit a Nissan dealership if I was buying a new car today. Kinda sad.
Thanks everyone.

Well, I agree with a few things you gripe about, but I think you're putting too much stock in what Car & Driver writes. It's just one opinion.

I think nissan is still a very good brand overall, and several models in their Infiniti brand rank among the better automotive values out there.

As far as CVT, I also question Nissan's decision to commit so much of their product line to it, and it made me consider other brands for the car i bought this particular year. But it's really too early to conclude they suck. We'll soon see how well they hold up long term. And if they hold up well, then Nissan might have made a good decision.

i remember C&D complaining about the 370Z brakes failing one year on that lightning lap thing they do annually at VIR. But if you look at all the other magazines, and testing orgs like CU, the 370Z is well regarded and reliable, including their brakes. I wouldn't condemn a model because of one bad experience with one car by an automag that accepts ad money.
I'm not surprised Z sales dipped, as many other vehicles have during the economy's downturn. don;t forget the disruptions caused by that little tsunami and nuclear disaster in japan too. Nissan has fared better than other Japanese companies but they were affected. I also think you need to drive a 370z (on track) before condemning them. They're great cars and a performance bargain.

As far as the Altima not changing that much in the last several years. The car has been a perennial best seller, so why mess with success? call it evolution over revolution. Porsche has done pretty well with same formula for its 911. Nissan has improved the Alti over it's run. it's a much better car now than it was when it was redesigned in 2002. Same with the Murano (which is Altima based). The next gen Sentra is coming out this year. But Nissan has also announced theywill be aggressively revamping their lineup over the next few years, introducing a string of updated or new models, like one every 6 weeks. So I think you need some patience and let things unfold.

I have seen improvement in the Armada and Titan as Nissan seems to have worked out their gremlins. Problem is the market for those large gas gulping vehicles is shrinking with $4/gal gas.

The Leaf is not bad for a first try EV, but it needs a lot of work to become anything more than a niche short distance commuter. I think GM took a smarter route with the Volt, using a small gas engine to extend its range and prevent you from getting stuck. The Leaf's range is too limited and finite, Plus the long term battery replacement costs should be of concern.

I think if Nissan has a weak area, it's not their lineup, it's their marketing dept. they've made several big mistakes. the Maxima is a classic example, the murano convertible is another. I think Nissan could have easily tripled Maxima sales if they simply stretched it to compete with the Avalon (which began as a stretched Camry). Instead, all Nissan did was give it facelist, removed the manual transmission option, and oddly tried to market it as a 4 door sports car. Dumb.

As far as rust recalls, do you think Nissan's the only company to have had recalls over rust? And you think this one was catastrophic? Uh, no.

Overall, I think the state of Nissan is good overall with a pretty bright future. They have some good success stories and some not so good stories, but every car company has both.

[IanS]

^^/Thread

[Jesda]

The Altima comes with more rebates and incentives than free candy. Nissan also increased its fleet sales, so expect Altima resale values to plummet over the next few years. This is the same business strategy employed by GM prior to bankruptcy. If people won't buy your cars, give them away to keep the factories humming. Then turn around and brag about sales volume while ignoring diminishing per-unit profits. Eventually, the only people who will be left buying your cars are losers who put short-term discounts ahead of long-term ownership costs. There's a reason why GM was teased for building "mediocre cars for mediocre people."

The Titan was a great truck ruined by poor marketing -- I don't mean advertising, I mean product placement and configuration. Trucks are tools, and tools come in a variety of sizes and configurations to perform certain tasks. Nissan and Honda (with the Ridgeline) didn't seem to get it.

While it was a bargain in 2004, the Titan today is a poor value for money. Dodge offers 70hp more, with more standard features and fresher styling, for thousands less. Ford offers more technology.

While its core products have withered on the vine, Nissan has devoted its resources to building crossovers and tall wagons of every size. Results have been mixed.




Nissan will be fine if it can overcome its indifference to customer satisfaction and quality. On the plus side, Nissan's presence in China is growing rapidly. Again, that sounds like GM.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/01/autos/n ... /index.htm

[webmavin]

uhh if you think the rust recall on the front strut housing of the 86-04 Pathfinder is no big deal you should take a look at some of the pics of them. The wheel wells on my '97 Pathfinder are all rusted out with holes and perforations and the Nissan Dealer spray painted over the rust and says that the rust right on the strut housing is OK just needs a level one paint job to hide it until it falls apart. Also, you might not see the rust on your Pathfinder it's behind the front wheel you can't see it unless you take the wheel off.

[Jesda]

Are all Pathfinders and QX4s susceptible to this? I'm kind of thinking about one, but they put salt on the roads here.

4Runners are an option but the 3.4 V6 is prone to head gasket and sludge issues.

[Bubba1]

As info, the 02-03 Altimas in the same states had the same rust recall, no one went into panic mode back then. My Alti was included in the recall. Nissan ended up replacing a rear brace on mine, (which took them about an hour to do) and gave us a lifetime rust-thru warranty addendum which we never needed..

Webmavin, I'm sure there were owners that ignored all Pathy/QX4 rust recall notices and let the dangs things rot to that extent. Who do you blame at that point, Nissan or the owner at the time of the recall who ignored the notices?

[Jesda]

Well, on that one, I'd blame Nissan for inadequate build quality.

Maybe I'm conditioned by living in the northwest for so many years, but I don't often check the undercarriage for corrosion unless I'm buying a used car.

[Kompresshun]

Are all Pathfinders and QX4s susceptible to this? I'm kind of thinking about one, but they put salt on the roads here.

They're not all susceptible to it, but i've seen very few that didn't have the beginnings of rust issues. Our old 2002 QX4 looked gorgeous everywhere, but underneath it looked like a 20+ year old car. It could've been due to neglect, but we were told that the previous owner had it meticulously maintained at the Infiniti dealership there. I'm glad I dumped it honestly, there's a lot better choices out there for the money. They're gutless, even with the 3.5 and they absolutely suck on the interstate... ours felt like a brick in the wind above 65mph and felt like it was everything it could do to accelerate on any sort of incline on the highway. Off-road and in snow it was great though and it did fine around the city, but the fuel mileage sucked IMHO. Our Jeep Commander is bigger, weighs more, and is Full-time 4WD, but still manages to get better MPG than the QX4 did.

There's tons of SUVs in that price range that are much better. If you want something classy around that size, buy a Lincoln Aviator, Cadillac SRX, or a Volvo XC. There's nothing wrong with a 4Runner either, everyone I know that has owned one has loved theirs. In fact, I have a friend that has a VERY clean one up for sale right now, but it's in GA.

[Bubba1]

Well, on that one, I'd blame Nissan for inadequate build quality.

Maybe I'm conditioned by living in the northwest for so many years, but I don't often check the undercarriage for corrosion unless I'm buying a used car.

Living so long in the northeast we normally check rust most times the car is up on a lift. I agree initially that the manufacturer is blame for the inadequate build quality, but If the recall (the offer to fix it free) came out, and the owner chose to ignore all the notices, then i think that owner must then accept some responsibility.