Honda/Nissan/(Mitsubishi) merger

[Rob S.]

My wife barfed into the dashboard vent...

You know what we say here at the GS Resources...show us the pics or it never happened.

Definitely intrigued by your wife.

[Rob S.]

I bought an '09 Infiniti G37 Sport/Auto. I was seduced by that 328 HP and the chassis and brakes. The price was good at 35K out the door. It only has about 95K miles on it now, and it has been pretty solid, but there are issues.

First is a harshness in the engine on any cool day, say 60 or so. It runs like it's got a bag of rocks in it, prob running on 5 cylinders. 10 minutes later when it is warmed up, almost on the dot, it cures itself. It's been to the dealership for diagnosis, and self-proclaimed Nissan/Infiniti VQ experts, and nobody can find anything wrong. I cleaned the throttle body after reading that may be the issue. Nope. That sux. Worse than that, the interior has disintegrated. The dashboard has turned into a fly-trap, i.e. a big gluey mess that defies cleaning. All the LED dashboard lights have poofed out. To replace those is not for the faint of heart, or wallet. I make do with an LED light shining on them, haha. Oh, all the thin rubber coating on interior surfaces lasted about 2 years, then turned into a mess. Jeez. Mechanically I had to replace the rear axle seal as it was making noises, and the heater hose behind the engine, which was not fun. Not bad, it's strong mechanically for sure. I just donated a few ounces of knuckle meat putting in a new starter, hey $80 vs over $500 to have it done is worth a bit of blood!

So no problems? "Pretty solid"?

[oldGSfan]

Had a 2002 Nissan Frontier 4x4 crew cab longbed. My first new vehicle I ever bought. Really liked it. Had it for 13 years. Ran great mostly, till one thing after another started to go. All in all, a solid truck. I really liked the bold styling, compared to the others in the category at the time: Taco, Ranger. Nissan really seems to have softened on the styling since then IMHO. The later gens seem pretty bland to me now. We had a Pathfinder for a few years too. Also a solid vehicle. IIRC we traded that for a minivan because that was more practical for us at the time. Fuel economy on both Nissans was not great. Doesn’t seem like they’ve improved on that. Checking the numbers in the newer trucks shows they’re about the same. That’s over 20 years of development with practically no improvement in fuel economy. Doesn’t seem right. Once had a Rogue as a loner for a few days. I think it was when their CVT was still new. I hated that transmission. Couldn’t really pinpoint why. Just didn’t like anything about it.

Yes I agree, that's what I was sort of alluding to earlier, when Renault got involved it seemed the cars got really ugly, and really cheap. Sure, maybe they solved financials but dang, the cars looked awful. I had a Frontier too, a '98. I bought it new at such a discount that I sold it for a profit a year later. Never been done! My wife barfed into the dashboard vent and I had to sell it, on a cold day. On a hot day it smelled like an A's burger's burrito and would kill the sale LOL. Other than that it was pretty good but I was so cheap I bought a single cab, much too small. To my eternal regret, to buy it I sold a really clean '71 F250 Camper special with a 390 because it had a rear main seal leak I didn't want to fix, and I didn't want it soiling the driveway of the house I had just bought. What an idiot! I paid $1K for it and made a profit, but it was super clean.

[rustybronco]

Iirc Yamaha was the supplier for intakes on the taurus SHO. Complex hq casting.......all plastic now......

Yamaha made the early 3.0 and 3.2 SHO engines.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Had a 2002 Nissan Frontier 4x4 crew cab longbed. My first new vehicle I ever bought. Really liked it. Had it for 13 years. Ran great mostly, till one thing after another started to go. All in all, a solid truck. I really liked the bold styling, compared to the others in the category at the time: Taco, Ranger. Nissan really seems to have softened on the styling since then IMHO. The later gens seem pretty bland to me now. We had a Pathfinder for a few years too. Also a solid vehicle. IIRC we traded that for a minivan because that was more practical for us at the time. Fuel economy on both Nissans was not great. Doesn’t seem like they’ve improved on that. Checking the numbers in the newer trucks shows they’re about the same. That’s over 20 years of development with practically no improvement in fuel economy. Doesn’t seem right. Once had a Rogue as a loner for a few days. I think it was when their CVT was still new. I hated that transmission. Couldn’t really pinpoint why. Just didn’t like anything about it.

[oldGSfan]

I bought an '09 Infiniti G37 Sport/Auto. I was seduced by that 328 HP and the chassis and brakes. The price was good at 35K out the door. It only has about 95K miles on it now, and it has been pretty solid, but there are issues.

First is a harshness in the engine on any cool day, say 60 or so. It runs like it's got a bag of rocks in it, prob running on 5 cylinders. 10 minutes later when it is warmed up, almost on the dot, it cures itself. It's been to the dealership for diagnosis, and self-proclaimed Nissan/Infiniti VQ experts, and nobody can find anything wrong. I cleaned the throttle body after reading that may be the issue. Nope. That sux. Worse than that, the interior has disintegrated. The dashboard has turned into a fly-trap, i.e. a big gluey mess that defies cleaning. All the LED dashboard lights have poofed out. To replace those is not for the faint of heart, or wallet. I make do with an LED light shining on them, haha. Oh, all the thin rubber coating on interior surfaces lasted about 2 years, then turned into a mess. Jeez. Mechanically I had to replace the rear axle seal as it was making noises, and the heater hose behind the engine, which was not fun. Not bad, it's strong mechanically for sure. I just donated a few ounces of knuckle meat putting in a new starter, hey $80 vs over $500 to have it done is worth a bit of blood!

I have a friend who got a Lexus IS350 (more money) at the time. I regret not buying it, but I didn't fit. I know any car can have issues, but the rate at which the interior disintegrated and the unsolvable engine issue is a real thorn in my side. Bye Bye Nissan. Similarly, my 92 Ford Taurus ownership, with the 60K transmissions and brake pulsation which they never addressed have turned me off ever dealing with them again as well.

[Nessism]

Nothing wrong with deviating from the title out of interest in Nissan's wholesale investment in CVTs. Not sure how much their use of trashy CVTs accounts for any of their financial woes, but I doubt they helped much.

I'm pretty sure it hurt Nissan. It cost them a lot of money in warranty claims, and many people won't buy a Nissan with CVT, based on reputation.

[GS1150Pilot]

Nothing wrong with deviating from the title out of interest in Nissan's wholesale investment in CVTs. Not sure how much their use of trashy CVTs accounts for any of their financial woes, but I doubt they helped much.

[argonsagas]

Looks like everyone prefers arguing about cvts instead of the thread topic..

Oh, well....nothing unusual there.


Authors of these articles have their own opinions but may still give enough good information to help with understanding differences between conventional automatics and CVTs

https://www.motortrend.com/features/cvt-transmission-vs-automatic/

https://www.torquenews.com/14093/truth-about-cvt-transmissions-reveals-reliability-and-costs-having-one

EDIT
I do not know why the screen says access denied as the link works.

[GS1150Pilot]

Just thought all us had figured cheaper fo mfg. My point was meant to be toward the consumer. Is anybody going to say the consumer is better off owning a CVT because it's a better product and cheaper to repair or replace when they go bad.

They are not cheaper to repair-you just replace them.

[rphillips]

Just thought all us had figured cheaper fo mfg. My point was meant to be toward the consumer. Is anybody going to say the consumer is better off owning a CVT because it's a better product and cheaper to repair or replace when they go bad.

[Nessism]

I already said they were cheaper. Better? No.

How do you know they are cheaper? And assuming you know the financials, how much cheaper?

It's easy to be a critic.

[Cipher]

I already said they were cheaper. Better? No.

Totally oblivious as usual. If cheaper how much so? Got numbers? put up or shut up!
The CVT is used to achieve an engineering goal. Better? Yes if they meet the goal of the design specification.

If you had any sense you'd know that instead of spewing your usual barber shop curmudgeon nonsense.

[GS1150Pilot]

Is anybody going to say the CVT's are any better, or cheaper, than what we've had previously?

I already said they were cheaper. Better? No.

[Cipher]

I have no experience with opening one up to see how it ticks..or tocks.

As I understand the theory, CVTs offer many, possibly very many, possible gear permutations, and that may allow better vehicle performance.

In reality.....whatever the manufacturer sees as best for its bottom line has been the deciding factor for many years.
Front-wheel drive is probably the biggest single example as it was brought in to reduce weights and allow manufacturers to meet CAFE .requirements.but it was sold to the public as a safety measure and then a secondarypsupport of possibly being better in slippery conditions.

Next came the four-wheel drive nonsense about improved safety year round....

One problem with both of those things is that once the vehicle begins to slide/skid they tend to go totally out of control and this is often because drivers seldom...even rarely...actually.know how to correctly deal with a front-wheel skid, whether their vehicle is FWD of 4WD.

The number one real reason for the 4WD push.....it increases profit.

No theory just a fact. They work incredibly well in snowmobiles. Many newer ones pack a punch. The rubber wears off in proportion to the thumb aggression of the operator.