Is there such a thing as an unreliable U.S. new car today?

[WeyounDS9]

Pretty sure the guy you responded to is basing his entire opinion of Nissan off of the Xterra, which along with the Frontier and maybe Cummins Titan are the only reliable Nissans.

My current Nissans are an Xterra and a Pathfinder
I also have owned a Sentra SER SPEC V that as a younger man I flogged on the autocross every other week was at 145,000 miles when I crashed it, only thing that ever needed replacing outside of brakes/shocks, were the wheel bearings (lots of autoX), a G35 ( also a Nissan) when I sold it had 172,000 miles on it. Did not use a drop of oil and drove fantastic, soudned great.( I should have never sold it!). Only thing that ever broke on that was the window regulator, a radio button and the trunk release (all relatively low dollar repairs)
I could go on, but those are my high mile excamples from my drivnig history. My low mile trade ins will not sound impressive for being trouble free, since they were low mile.

PS: The 2k2 to 2k5 generation maxima has not been sold as new in nearly 20 years.

 

[John105]

Exactly. Try taking any new car to 500,000 miles like my 20 year old Sequoia did.

Hoping my 2006 LS430 sees that but it’s only at 137k now so time is a severe foe at this point…

 

[John105]

Ouch. Seems early to lose a cat? Maybe it had a lot of misfire codes? hopefully not a dreaded timing chain related event.

Ironic. A 'nox with NOx emission problems... how obnoxious.

Seems common with at least the Traverse platform and 3.6….

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

My current Nissans are an Xterra and a Pathfinder
I also have owned a Sentra SER SPEC V that as a younger man I flogged on the autocross every other week was at 145,000 miles when I crashed it, only thing that ever needed replacing outside of brakes/shocks, were the wheel bearings (lots of autoX), a G35 ( also a Nissan) when I sold it had 172,000 miles on it. Did not use a drop of oil and drove fantastic, soudned great.( I should have never sold it!). Only thing that ever broke on that was the window regulator, a radio button and the trunk release (all relatively low dollar repairs)
I could go on, but those are my high mile excamples from my drivnig history. My low mile trade ins will not sound impressive for being trouble free, since they were low mile.

PS: The 2k2 to 2k5 generation maxima has not been sold as new in nearly 20 years.

I had a ‘96 Maxima, ‘99 Maxima, ‘01 Xterra, ‘02 Maxima, and ‘03 350Z. The 90s and early 2000s Nissans were more reliable than modern ones. No major issues with the 90s Maximas aside from oil burning. The Xterra died from a blown head gasket at 155k. The ‘02 Maxima was a manual, luckily, but had some electrical gremlins and oil leaks. It ran ok for 80k mi we had it.

I would not buy a new Nissan given the information I’ve seen. Their CVTs are not something I’m interested in. Maybe a new Frontier, but the jury is still out on them.

 

[linuxology]

modern ones. No major issues with the 90s Maximas aside from oil burning. The Xterra died from a blown head gasket at 155k. The ‘02 Maxima was a manual, luckily, but had some electrical gremlins and oil leaks. It ran ok for 80k mi we had it.

I would not buy a new Nissan given the information I’ve seen. Their CVTs are not something I’m interested in. Maybe a new Frontier, but the jury is still out on them.

It seems Nissan took a turn for the worst when they joined Renault in an alliance. Wish they would get back to the Datsun roots.

 

[John105]

I had a ‘96 Maxima, ‘99 Maxima, ‘01 Xterra, ‘02 Maxima, and ‘03 350Z. The 90s and early 2000s Nissans were more reliable than modern ones. No major issues with the 90s Maximas aside from oil burning. The Xterra died from a blown head gasket at 155k. The ‘02 Maxima was a manual, luckily, but had some electrical gremlins and oil leaks. It ran ok for 80k mi we had it.

I would not buy a new Nissan given the information I’ve seen. Their CVTs are not something I’m interested in. Maybe a new Frontier, but the jury is still out on them.

My 1998 Maxima SE was my first new car and it's first issue, literally, was the exhaust rusted at 9 years old. Then my lower rad collapsed at about 12. The body rusting and emissions did it in. It hadn't started in 3 years, and this year, I applied a jump pack/no battery, and after about 5 tries, it started and ran. Off to the salvage yard it went...

 

[John105]

modern ones. No major issues with the 90s Maximas aside from oil burning. The Xterra died from a blown head gasket at 155k. The ‘02 Maxima was a manual, luckily, but had some electrical gremlins and oil leaks. It ran ok for 80k mi we had it.


It seems Nissan took a turn for the worst when they joined Renault in an alliance. Wish they would get back to the Datsun roots.

Used to be it was sportier than the rest. I got a brand new '18 Maxima rental (8 miles on the odometer), nothing sporty about it. For many years people would say why get a Maxima over an Altima...

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Most new cars in MY experience are problem and trouble prone - but not un-reliable per se.

I never have owned a modern Jag or Fiat or Maser or Alfa Romeo though!

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

My 1998 Maxima SE was my first new car and it's first issue, literally, was the exhaust rusted at 9 years old. Then my lower rad collapsed at about 12. The body rusting and emissions did it in. It hadn't started in 3 years, and this year, I applied a jump pack/no battery, and after about 5 tries, it started and ran. Off to the salvage yard it went...

That gen Maxima was such a great car. I got over 30 mpg on the highway with that 3.0 liter. I miss them.

 

[I<3oil]

Pretty sure the guy you responded to is basing his entire opinion of Nissan off of the Xterra, which along with the Frontier and maybe Cummins Titan are the only reliable Nissans.

I definitely concur

 

[John105]

That gen Maxima was such a great car. I got over 30 mpg on the highway with that 3.0 liter. I miss them.

Funny thing....when I started her up with the jump pack earlier this year, ahead of the wrecker coming to get her, and I turned on stereo, I was thinking, this Bose sounds better than the stereos in the other cars ...(my wife has a GM 9 speaker Bose and it sounds terrible)

 

[Lapham3]

My wife has summer driven her 350Z to only 75k miles but the only problem was the crank sensor a few years ago. It was an easy R+R.

 

[J Dubbs]

modern ones. No major issues with the 90s Maximas aside from oil burning. The Xterra died from a blown head gasket at 155k. The ‘02 Maxima was a manual, luckily, but had some electrical gremlins and oil leaks. It ran ok for 80k mi we had it.


It seems Nissan took a turn for the worst when they joined Renault in an alliance. Wish they would get back to the Datsun roots.

I 100% agree. It seems like when a French automaker buys out another automaker, the purchased company takes an immediate nosedive towards the bottom of the barrel

 

[John105]

I 100% agree. It seems like when a French automaker buys out another automaker, the purchased company takes an immediate nosedive towards the bottom of the barrel

My 2nd car was a 1978 Volvo 264 GLE , top of the line. 6 cyl with the PRV engine. P is Peugeot, R is Reneault, V is Volvo.

It was such a lousy engine and difficult to work on. So what did I do? I stepped up to a 1979 264 GLE in all my wisdom. Had the flush six panel tails which I liked, and (25?) finned aluminum wheels. Drove her 1990-1998. Saw a lot of the northeastern USA from the passenger seat of an AAA Plus flatbed!

 

[2019CRVlx]

I suspect even a newer Nissan CVT would last if maintained and gently used.

 

[nomas]

People love to gang up on Nissan but we have owned several and I drive one today . They have all been very reliable .

 

[Trav]

I suspect even a newer Nissan CVT would last if maintained and gently used.

I doubt it, my niece bought one in a Versa, she drives like an old lady and serviced the car and CVT regularly, at 60K it had gone through 3 of them all under warranty. Then she jumped from the frying pan into the fire and bought a new Hyundai Palisade that has had quite a few engine problems.

 

[wpod]

They are all garbage some less that others.

 

[2019CRVlx]

I doubt it, my niece bought one in a Versa, she drives like an old lady and serviced the car and CVT regularly, at 60K it had gone through 3 of them all under warranty. Then she jumped from the frying pan into the fire and bought a new Hyundai Palisade that has had quite a few engine problems.

Well that's disheartening.

 

[ET16]

Oh yes definitely. Stay away from dual clutch transmission, Jatco (Nissan) CVT with large engine, Hyundai / Kia with engine problem, Tesla if you are annoyed by little things breaking and have to wait for parts and service tech to repair, etc.

What's the issue with dual clutch transmissions?