Nissan Reliability

brendansmith

Hi

You always hear about Japanese cars being very reliable but the main guys listed are Toyota, Honda and Mitsubisi.

I also notice nissans are generally cheaper (maybe imagining that)

Do people feel that Nissans are as reliable as the above makes?

Cheers

jaffa20

*coughs

and Mazda

brendansmith

Yeah yeah and subaru.

Im asking about Nissans though.

mathepac

brendansmith wrote: »

... I also notice nissans are generally cheaper (maybe imagining that)...

Nissans are no longer Japanese cars they are made in Sunderland, England by the same people who bring you R/H drive Peugeots - junk in other words.

Mazda are Fords, *cough*, *cough*

Guy:Incognito

mathepac wrote: »

Nissans are no longer Japanese cars they are made in Sunderland, England by the same people who bring you R/H drive Peugeots - junk in other words.

Mazda are Fords, *cough*, *cough*

Is assume Toyotas are rubbish too seeing as they are built int he UK and Turkey among other places iirc?

I'm sure other Japanese cars are built outside Japan too now.

brendansmith

mathepac wrote: »

Nissans are no longer Japanese cars they are made in Sunderland, England by the same people who bring you R/H drive Peugeots - junk in other words.

Mazda are Fords, *cough*, *cough*

I didnt know that at all.
Peugeots are indeed junk.

mathepac

Stekelly wrote: »

Is assume Toyotas are rubbish too seeing as they are built int he UK and Turkey among other places iirc?

I'm sure other Japanese cars are built outside Japan too now.

Assume what you like, OP asked about Nissans.

Guy:Incognito

mathepac wrote: »

Assume what you like, OP asked about Nissans.

Well done :rolleyes:

If your going to spout rubbish, at least be prepared to be called on it.

L1011

mathepac wrote: »

Nissans are no longer Japanese cars they are made in Sunderland, England by the same people who bring you R/H drive Peugeots - junk in other words.

Mazda are Fords, *cough*, *cough*

*sssh*if you're going to go down that line, tell them Nissans are Renaults

mathepac

MYOB wrote: »

*sssh*if you're going to go down that line, tell them Nissans are Renaults

I was trying to break it to them gently, now they'll all have nervous breakdown, well breakdowns in any case

Nissan doctor

All the japanese brands became less reliable when they moved out of japan and began alliances with other manufaturers.

The latest Nissans are definatly not like the Japanese built cars of times gone but they still aren't bad. They do suffer some common issues but they don't number anything more then any other manufacturer.

and yes Nissan and renault have an alliance, but the only major Renault technology you'll find in Nissan cars is the DCI engines, All the petrol engines and cars designs come from Nissans own design studios in Japan, UK and the US.

Guy:Incognito

Nissan doctor wrote: »

cars designs come from Nissans own design studios in Japan, UK and the US.

Some see that as the major issue.

Nissan doctor

Stekelly wrote: »

Some see that as the major issue.

I might be inclined to agree on some cars. In general the smaller city type cars are still designed in Japan(micra aside). The bland almera and primera as well as the micra and the hideous micra c+c are UK designed while the best looking of the current Nissans IMO, the Navara/Pathfinder, 350z are US designed.

mathepac

Nissan doctor wrote: »

... while the best looking of the current Nissans IMO, the Navara/Pathfinder, 350z are US designed.

The best-looking current model Nissan is the GT-R, IMHO, which is Japanese designed by the maestro himself, Kazutoshi Mizuno.

Nissan doctor

mathepac wrote: »

The best-looking current model Nissan is the GT-R, IMHO, which is Japanese designed by the maestro himself, Kazutoshi Mizuno.

He works out of Nissans San Diego studio.....
And the GTR was a joint design exercises between the US, Europe and Japan as its the only current Nissan to be sold as the same design worldwide. Most other Nissans are designed for specific markets.

johnos1984

Nissan are cheaper due to the fact that they made boring mainstream cars up until recently which lacked a demand on the used market.

This has changed with the more recent models.

People however have been surprised about how happy dealers are to fix faulty electrics, diesel engines and other issues on Japanesse/Franco cars of late on their currently sought after Quashqui models........

.........as Nissan make nothing currently that appeals to the mainstream buyer apart from that one model.

seriously tho, the Micra has been off the boil for a long time with many sales through fleets making their way to private buyers, their 4x4's are not in demand, they have no saloon apart from the TIIdious which is no longer available.

Yes the 350/370Z is a great car but its not going to keep the company afloat.

The range is poor and the tie up with Renault does little for the reputation.

A Renault with Nissan technology and build sounds great but does a NISSAN WITH RENAULT TECHNOLOGY AND BUILD SOUND AS GOOD......NO

mathepac

Nissan doctor wrote: »

... And the GTR was a joint design exercises between the US, Europe and Japan as its the only current Nissan to be sold as the same design worldwide. ...

According to Nissan Coporation's principal creative executive, Shiro Nakamura who is Mizuno-san's boss, American and European designers contributed the rear quarters and roof-line of the vehicle. The balance is Japanese-designed, strongly reflective of Japanese culture with body lines influenced by their rather chunky in-house production machinery. Sony Japan even chipped in with the dash-board MFD from the designers of Gran Turismo.

ianobrien

Nissan doctor wrote: »

.

but the only major Renault technology you'll find in Nissan cars is the DCI engines,

The funny thing is that the electric headlight aiming motor has a Renault badge on the casing in my '05 Almera......

no1beemerfan

T'would be interesting to compare my 1998 jap built march against a sunderland built micra.

I bought my 1998 march in the middle of 2000 when it had 8,000 miles. It now has about 82,000 miles on it.

It still has all the orginal components on it...ie...alternator belts, brake pads/shoes, disks, exhaust system etc.

Its never once failed to start or given any trouble what-so-ever. And its not failed the nct.

fonecrusher1

There are 2 sides to the renault ruined nissan! rant. Yes seemingly nissan are nowhere near as reliable as they used to be but they wouldn't be around at all if it wasn't for renault. Nissan were up sh!t creak around 1999/2000 & were on the verge of utter collapse. Renault came along, bought a hefty percentage of the company & basically threw them a life line.

pajo1981

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Yes seemingly nissan are nowhere near as reliable as they used to be

Are there any stats to prove this, or is this just pub talk?

fonecrusher1

pajo1981 wrote: »

Are there any stats to prove this, or is this just pub talk?

If you knew anything about cars you'd know what im talking about. Nissans of the 90's were famed for they're reliablility. Can you say the same of the current nissans?

I pretty much gaurantee you, the failure rate for 00's primera's/ almera's is a lot higher than the 90's versions of either. Used to own a 1st gen 1.4 almera - bulletproof, well made car. 2nd gen? Never owned one (test driven one), but from what ive heard over the last few years they're average. Certainly not a patch on the older version for build quality.

johnos1984

I had a salesman in a main dealer tell me himself the newer Nissans weren't as good as the older stuff.

Niggly faults and major issues on diesels were the most issues however he reckons Nissans goodwill gestures have kept customers happy and helped them keep a good rep

Under A Funeral Moon

I've had a lot of Nissans over the years and can honestly say they're bulletproof. Well, all of the ones I owned were anyway.

Nissans I've owned:
92 Micra 1.0
93 Sunny 1.4
96 Pulsar 1.6
98 Almera 1.8
94 Silvia 2.0
93 Skyline 2.5
00 Primera 1.8

I've had Hondas and Mitsubishis too, but keep going back to Nissan. The Nissans I've owned have all been great cars in their own rights. Once you service a Nissan regularly, it's highly unlikely to cause any problems. I've never had any serious issues with any of the cars I've owned.

I don't have any experience with newer Nissans, but the older ones are extremely reliable.

Guy:Incognito

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

If you knew anything about cars you'd know what im talking about. Nissans of the 90's were famed for they're reliablility. Can you say the same of the current nissans?.

There was nothign in a 90's nissan to break. Times move on though and with more and more electrical components and features and whatnot, come more things to break. If they were still 4 wheels, a body and a speedo they'd be great reliability wise but who the **** would buy one?

Ferris

Stekelly wrote: »

There was nothign in a 90's nissan to break. Times move on though and with more and more electrical components and features and whatnot, come more things to break. If they were still 4 wheels, a body and a speedo they'd be great reliability wise but who the **** would buy one?

300zx
Skyline
S13
S14
S15
GTi-R

Who'd buy any of these?;)

ianobrien

As for Nissan's reliability, we have had loads over the years and we've had the following:

1988 Sunny (new) - as much as I can remember, boringly reliable.
1991 Primera (new - Sunny replacement) - I remember leaky door seals and that's about it
1991 Micra (new) - Boringly reliable, even after I practically wrote the thing off!
1995 Primera (new) - I recall that the car was never tracked during PDI and resulted in front tyres gone at a crazy low mileage. I don't recall any other problems.
1996 Micra (bought in 1998) - now that was a car we could not kill! Three learned to drive in it. We put about 160k miles on the clock and it took one clutch, one set of rear shoes, two sets of pads, one set of shocks and oil, filters and plugs every 6k. It set out night navigation trial routes, was driven flat everywhere. We should never have sold it....
2000 Primera 1.8 (new). We still have it with over 100k on the clock. All that went was the crank sensor, which naturally went on the day that we got the letter from Nissan informing us of a recall of the sensors....
2000 Micra (bought in 2004) - we still have it, with over 90k on the clock. Not the greatest car, with window winder problems, eating shocks, dodgy central locking in the cold.....
2005 Almera (bought in 2007 with 19k, now on 150k). All that's gone is two heater motor resistor packs and a sticky caliper. Still on original clutch and shocks. Now that car gets a hard life from me. Just last Saturday I was driving farm lanes and I was glad of the high ground clearance. Goes through front tyres, but is more likely because of the way I drive.

So, all in all, I've found Nissans to be reliable transport with very little problems. We generally keep cars until they have 75 to 80k miles on the clock.

Nissan doctor

TBH this conversation can be had about any modern cars, all car manufacturers have lost their individuality, the Germans have the rep of being solidly build and yes, in general, they do feel more solid then the japs, but almost without exception, all mainstream german cars from the 2000's are unacceptably unreliable and, due to their 'premium' pretences, are expensive to repair. Long gone are the days of a merc or bmw racking up maybe 400k + without issue. The same is true of the Japanese makers, however they are still vastly more reliable and cheaper to maintain then the Germans.

Myself and the other mechanic in work(he's obsessed with german cars) began to take a count of jap v euro cars which come in with faults/breakdowns approx 3 weeks ago. The count is currently japs = 4, euro = 39, of which German marques make up 34!!

So in general, if you want to feel like you have a solid reliable car, buy german, if you want a car that is actually reliable, buy Jap.

Guy:Incognito

Nissan doctor wrote: »

TBH this conversation can be had about any modern cars, all car manufacturers have lost their individuality, the Germans have the rep of being solidly build and yes, in general, they do feel more solid then the japs, but almost without exception, all mainstream german cars from the 2000's are unacceptably unreliable and, due to their 'premium' pretences, are expensive to repair. Long gone are the days of a merc or bmw racking up maybe 400k + without issue. The same is true of the Japanese makers, however they are still vastly more reliable and cheaper to maintain then the Germans.

Myself and the other mechanic in work(he's obsessed with german cars) began to take a count of jap v euro cars which come in with faults/breakdowns approx 3 weeks ago. The count is currently japs = 4, euro = 39, of which German marques make up 34!!

So in general, if you want to feel like you have a solid reliable car, buy german, if you want a car that is actually reliable, buy Jap.

What are you countign as Jap cars though cos according to mathpac Japanese cars built in Europe are not japanese cars..:-)

Nissan doctor

Stekelly wrote: »

What are you countign as Jap cars though cos according to mathpac Japanese cars built in Europe are not japanese cars..:-)

I'm talking Japanese companies, the mechnical design and electronic componants of the vast majority off japanese brands still come from Japan, although they are assembled in europe/us.

And for german I was counting merc/bmw/vag group/ford/opel..

mathepac

Stekelly wrote: »

... Japanese cars built in Europe are not japanese cars..:-)

That's right Dougal; they'd be European cars, a bit like the "Smoked Irish Salmon" vs. "Irish Smoked Salmon".

In all the furore we forgot that uber-relaible 80's tank beloved of taxi-drivers and hated by Nissan / Datsun, the one and only Bluebird.

Mr.David

Its all globalised now in terms of supplier base and manufacturing.

I think the thing that defines a car in terms of it being 'german' or 'japanese' is the philosophy and approach behind it.

pajo1981

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

If you knew anything about cars you'd know what im talking about. Nissans of the 90's were famed for they're reliablility

I'll take that to be a no then.

And btw, its spelt 'their', not 'they're'.

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Can you say the same of the current nissans?

Without stats, you can pretty much say anything.

BrianD3

Looking at a few old and recent ADAC Pannenstatistik reports, I've come to the conclusion that 90s Nissans were reliable, they went downhill somewhat for a while in the early 00s but since about 05 are back to being some of the most reliable cars. For instance, the Note is close to the top of its class as is the Micra post 05.

To those who say that the Japanese manufacturers have somehow been "infected" by involvement with the Europeans - of the Japanese marques, Honda has little relationship with Europeans yet the Civic has been consistently near the bottom of its class for reliability since the current model was introduced (previous Civics were much better) And the Jazz has a patchy record in recent years.

Reliability of the Toyota Avensis, Yaris, Auris and Verso seems to be about average but like the Jazz can be patchy. The most consistently reliable Toyota looks to be the Aygo which is one of the best small cars. Must be the Peugeot influence. Maybe Honda should follow suit and ask the Europeans for help on how to produce a reliable modern Civic.

All of this is based on stats from thousands actual callouts, breakdowns and problems. As opposed to pub talk or tales of woe from mechanics.

BrianD3

BrianD3 wrote: »

Honda has little relationship with Europeans .

They have a huge plant in Swindon though

BostonB

We've had a couple of older Micras pre 99 all very reliable. Had a 99 Primera GT and that ate bushings and control arms and alternators and starters. Most unreliable car I ever owned. Though in fairness it was one of the best handling cars I've ever driven.

The dealers however were woeful and very expensive I wouldn't get another for that reason alone.

BrianD3

RoverJames wrote: »

They have a huge plant in Swindon though

True, and its possible that QC in the plant is not what it should be. But you know what I meant. Cars such as the Civic are Honda designed on a Honda platform with a Honda engine etc.