Oh, I see. Just like building a better product requires spending more on quality parts. Why do that when the repair cost can just be forwarded to the owners instead. It's this type of thinking that has given Renault the deserved reputation for building junk.

 

At least there are reserves. A recall will cost just as much and I don't know what reserves there are set aside for unforeseen recalls.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the mentally in the last 10 years (not just cars, I mean consumer products in general). It used to be that you could buy something and it was solid and reliable and when it broke, it was most likely user error or age of the product. Now, the product's lifetime is dependent on the quality of the material and parts used so it's more likely to break because of thinner plastic used, thinner wiring, less soldering, cheaper wood products or whatever the case may be. The idea being "well it's cheap enough that you can always buy another, right?"

Anyway, that was a tangent lol. I wonder if this is the result of the early Ghosn days. You and others may recall that there were a slew of brand new models when around the time he took reign - 2002 Altima, 2003 G35, 2003 Murano, 2004 Frontier, 2003 M45, 2002 Q45

 

You hit the nail on the head. When the CEO of one of the most unreliable brands (Renault) is now calling the shots for Nissan, that's when reliable started downhill. Like cancer, he spread out Renault management in nissan areas. The culture and the thinking at Nissan has changed for the worse in regards to reliability. Infiniti initially didn't follow Renaults lead so reliability didn't fall as hard as Nissan has. But the more that Renault's influence invades Infiniti, the worse reliability becomes a.k.a. Q50, QX60.
Today, when you buy a Nissan or Infiniti, what you are really buying is a Renault in disguise.

 

To be fair, the key area of unreliability that's plagued the JX35/QX60 (CVT) was JATCO's fault, Nissan's own captive supplier. JATCO was publicly criticized and new oversight had to be put in place.

 

Renault/Nissan has problems all over the place. The QR engine's self-destructing disaster. The once bulletproof VQ engine has timing chain issues, oil consumption issues, piston ring issues, head gasket issues, it's a mess. The AC units are junk, they fail expensively. The motor mounts are junk. Sensors are junk. Rusting is a disaster. In a few short years, Renault/Nissans become money pits
Look at consumer reviews of the 2002 Altima: http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/nis...2/single-page/

Regarding JATCO, even it has been restructured since Renault's influence in 1999. Taken from Wikipedia:
The modern JATCO was formed after Nissan spun off its AT/CVT (automatic transmission/continuously variable transmission) development divisions and its Fuji manufacturing plant into a company called TransTechnology, Ltd in June 1999.[1]

 

Really wasn't debating any of that, just pointing out the JX35/QX60 main issue. And really most of their post 2008 stuff has been holding up better than the dark ages in the middle/early 2000s. It's also worth noting that different versions of the VQ have different issues, so it's not like they've been constantly plagued by all the above in a consistent manner since the early 2000s. I'd also point out that back in the VQ30 days there might not have been any major engine issues, but they were certainly eating their transmissions with regularity.

Nissan was on my "quality watch" list with the then-DaimlerChrysler and VW group. They all suffered badly during the same time period...and have bounced back in differing degrees.

Perhaps I'm just jaded but...after you get past Honda/Toyota it's quite easy to uncover a littany of issues with almost any auto manufacturer that will make these Nissans seem quite normal. Outside of the rust I'm really just not all that surprised. Even Subaru has tons of engine failures and head gaskets lurking around with regularity.

EDIT: Really not giving Nissan a "pass" here, just not really phased by anything sadly.

 

Nissan has been hit or miss. The vq30 that you mention nevr had a bad spell with transmissions. You can pull up old issues of consumer reports and see that they had nothing but full red circles for transmissions paired with that engine. For the maxima, the first bad (full black circle) for the transmission came with, surprise surprise, the 2004 Nissan Maxima and it didn't even have the CVT as an option, only a 4 or 5 speed. Nissans reliability is nothing short of business decisions being triggered by Renaults influence as the "over quality" "problem" Renault saw with Nissan became something Renault saw that needed to be "fixed". Renault has never cared about quality, and they are doing the same with Nissan.

 

The VQ30 was extremely reliable, and as a previous 4th gen owner it did not have, nor have I heard of any known or cautions for the transmission. Just keep the fluids clean and drive on!

Unfortunately, not the case for their current line up.

 

You must not peruse the 5th gen Maxima forums- you can search 2-3rd gear slip among other things. Years ago I was looking for a nice, sporty-ish used car for my cousin and it was made clear these weren't the hardiest of transmissions. But yes the engine was the strong point.

 

That could very well be triggered due to marketing and perception issues.
We have done the same with our products under what we call "Meet Comp" strategy

 

but if wty is only for 5 years and cars last longer than that, it adds to the "legendary" tales.

 

warranty is certainly marketing, but you still have to pay for it... some manufacturers cant. Fiat and PSA have lowest warranties in Europe but they cant really raise them since cost would be too high.

 

That's what I had! It was a 1997 5-speed maxima. Awesome car. It was smooth, reliable, and surprisingly quick too.

 

people don't keep their car beyond 10 years??

am I in the 1% that still has a 12 year old lexus?

 

I would LOVE to run his statement in a Lexus commercial. If this was politics he'd be nailed.