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Nissan has gone from being a sought after sports car brand to the second worst manufacturer in Japan. They are lucky that Mitsubishi makes cars in that respect.
by S_A_P 8y ago
Nissan has gone from being a sought after sports car brand to the second worst manufacturer in Japan. They are lucky that Mitsubishi makes cars in that respect. After Infiniti took the near premium market, Nissan went down market and now makes cars that are sold to subprime buyers en masse. I remember when the early to mid 90s 300zx turbo came out I put that car on a pedestal as a semi attainable near super car. Now they just make commodity crap cars that all look exactly the same. Sad to see this decline.
- Bahamut 8y agoFWIW, Infiniti is owned by Nissan.
- orbitur 8y agoThe parent is saying Nissan handled segmentation wrong with Infinti.
- RankingMember 8y agoI agree except that I don't think they were ever in a different position despite some iconic sports cars; Toyota and Honda have always been on top. Well, maybe there was one change- Subaru got their shit together starting in the early 90s and, at least in my opinion, are definitely preferable to Nissan at this point.
- hydrox24 8y agoBut Subaru certainly hold a slightly more luxurious segment of the market than Nissan. Are you talking about raw quality or value for money?
- RankingMember 8y agoI don't see how they're more luxurious considering Infiniti is an arm of Nissan and I consider them to be much more luxury-oriented than Subaru, but I'd say my perception is based on brand strength and perceived quality. Subaru's brand has a bit of a halo over it due to their charitable, environmental, and subversively social efforts (e.g. their gay-friendly ad campaign), as well as the typically less painful dealership experience. Well, all of that, plus, as a car guy, I have some positive fuzzy feelings for them because they finally brought some modern turbo-charged AWD rally cars over to the US at a time when there weren't a lot of interesting fast cars (early 2000s).
- ihsw2 8y agoAre they crap because they all look the same? Altimas may look bland as hell but they're built to last.
- S_A_P 8y agoNot saying that bland styling is making them crap. That is just to make them commodity cars. They are crap because they took away any sporting premise that they brand was built on by forcing CVT transmissions as the only option for most of their line up. Maybe the altima will run a long time, but it will also run with faded and sagging plastic parts, it will be a rattle trap with cheap plastic interiors and several generations old technology inside. Cars made by Kia and Hyundai that were laughed at a decade ago now FAR SURPASS nissan in quality and fit/finish.
- cityofdelusion 8y agoNissan has had a lot of issues with their CVT transmissions failing early. The cars are fairly reliable otherwise, but the CVT is a black stain.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- neogodless 8y agoTo expand on this, the 2003 Z really did usher in an interesting period for Nissan. The early Infiniti G series based on the same platform and sharing the VQ engine was lauded. Even the Sentra got a cool SE-R Spec V (albeit awkwardly named!) But... then design got weird (Cube, Juke, later Rogues, all the angles on Nissan/Infiniti sedans). They threw away the G and M names and moved to the generic Q naming. They replaced their steering with an electronic system, dispensing of all driver's feel. What happened to "Nissan. Driven."?? Of course, this is all from a car person/driver perspective. But they never reached Toyota/Honda levels of reputation for a great appliance vehicle, and they let their "fun to drive" reputation dissolve almost overnight.