Originally Posted By: NoNameJoe
I would never buy a Nissan again, especially an Altima. I would definitely go with the Toyota.
I've worked on enough Nissans to realize they're [censored] over the years and Nissan never owns up to their issues. You pay out of pocket for every defect.
* Defective intake manifold gasket on some model year Altimas that virtually everyone experienced? No recall, have fun paying out of pocket for that insanity where the engine has to be almost removed to get access to the intake manifold studs.
* Floorboards, front and rear subframes completely rusting out (even in California)? No recall, weld your own floorboards suckers.
* Melting dashboards in Altimas? No recall, in fact not even a warranty replacement until they got sued. Then they offered to pay all but 250 for their cheap, [censored] materials choice.
* Leaking oil coolers on multiple Nissan and Infiniti models due to poorly designed o-ring (that they superceded with a new part number by the way)? No recall, have fun losing almost half a quart over a few days, until you change it out yourself. Hope you're checking your dipstick too.
* Defective CVTs in virtually every model? I'm not aware of anyone who had a Sentra or Rogue that didn't have a CVT that exploded inside.
The kicker was all of these were consistent (as in virtually everyone experienced them) and they were safety issues. They turned into a [censored] company with [censored] business practices that I wouldn't give a dime to. I couldn't care less whether their recent cars are any good, their corporate credibility is shot in my book. Plenty of good brands to choose from.
I think they tried to compete with Toyota and Honda but could not beat them at their own game of making a simple high quality car, maybe there was not enough room in the market or they did not have good brand perception. I always thought of Mazda, Subaru and Nissan as second tier Japanese brands, better than Mitsubishi and Hyundai (Korean, I know) but not better than Honda or Toyota.
They went really flashy in the mid 2000s, and their V6 engines were seen as the best on the market. They probably had the best styling in the mid-late 2000s. I think they got really popular because they had good styling and powerful V6s for less than a comparable Honda or Toyota. I think the rode the popularity of the Skyline and 240 during the ricer era through the 2000s. Now I think they are back to where they started from, and trying to ride the wave of light duty diesel pickups with a truck that isn't really a light duty diesel truck.