Really hoping this doesn't turn into a Boeing-McDonald Douglas -style merger, where Honda's quality falls due to influences of Nissan. I know Nissan isn't the worst brand out there. But still.
Really hoping this doesn't turn into a Boeing-McDonald Douglas -style merger, where Honda's quality falls due to influences of Nissan. I know Nissan isn't the worst brand out there. But still.
Nissan is a garbage brand and I would never own one. I really hope this doesn't tank Honda's quality; I've owned 3 of them and planned to buy more in the future when the need arose, but now I'll...
Nissan is a garbage brand and I would never own one. I really hope this doesn't tank Honda's quality; I've owned 3 of them and planned to buy more in the future when the need arose, but now I'll be wary.
Not trying to discredit your experience but I think there might be a difference in quality between their ICE and EV lines. I’m leasing an Ariya and it’s been great.
Not trying to discredit your experience but I think there might be a difference in quality between their ICE and EV lines. I’m leasing an Ariya and it’s been great.
What models and issues have you had? They aren't my favored brand by a long shot, but over the years I've had multiple Sentra, Altima, Maxima, Z, 240SX, Pickup, Stanza, Cube, and 510 models. The...
What models and issues have you had? They aren't my favored brand by a long shot, but over the years I've had multiple Sentra, Altima, Maxima, Z, 240SX, Pickup, Stanza, Cube, and 510 models. The only thing I've been disappointed with as a whole was the Versa as it was a bottom of the barrel econobox that made me want to walk instead of drive. None were perfect, every car has its quirks, but nothing that would flat out turn me away from the brand entirely, except anything they make with the shit JATCO CVTs.
I’ve owned a number of Nissan cars, both electric and gas. They’ve all been perfectly respectable cars. Not great, and some of them not even good, but all of them have been working cars with...
I’ve owned a number of Nissan cars, both electric and gas. They’ve all been perfectly respectable cars. Not great, and some of them not even good, but all of them have been working cars with minimal problems. The only one I have had issues with is one my husband bought used, which had issues with the air intake system, but that wasn’t a Nissan problem. It was caused by the previous owner installing aftermarket “upgrades” that tuned it down.
(The previous owner of that car also removed the catalytic converters. My husband really should have returned the car to the dealer because that “upgrade” made it illegal to sell in the state.)
In the USA Nissan dealer networks decided to aim downmarket in their financing. As a result Nissans have developed a bit of a reputation for attracting reckless drivers, being poorly maintained,...
In the USA Nissan dealer networks decided to aim downmarket in their financing. As a result Nissans have developed a bit of a reputation for attracting reckless drivers, being poorly maintained, and having generally terrible quality of service at the dealer. Bought new they’re probably fine but you’d have to be desperate to buy used.
One time a young woman in an Altima allowed me to zipper merge and I was literally amazed it was so unexpected.
Dodge did the same thing, like Nissan they finance anyone with a pulse. Kia and Hyundai decided they wanted to move upmarket, a market void needed filling. That said, the downmarket cars...
Dodge did the same thing, like Nissan they finance anyone with a pulse. Kia and Hyundai decided they wanted to move upmarket, a market void needed filling.
That said, the downmarket cars specifically (Sentra, Altima) I owned long ago before Nissan decided to shift to an underserved segment and I never buy a new car. Most of the vehicles in that list are pre-21st century with only the Maxima and Cube being from this side of 2001.
Altimas with paper plates are practically a meme in car circles now, I avoid them like the plague if I see them on the road. About to get worse too since Nissan is slated to kill the Altima like they did the Maxima, so their buyers are probably going to be in something larger and more dangerous like a Kicks or Rogue. That is unless Honda pulls Nissan's high-risk financing policies.
:waves: Hi, I'm the Tildes resident car enthusiast/mechanic (which is really all the explanation needed). Simply put, I like pretty much anything with an engine and cars are cheap if you know how...
:waves:
Hi, I'm the Tildes resident car enthusiast/mechanic (which is really all the explanation needed).
Simply put, I like pretty much anything with an engine and cars are cheap if you know how to fix them. Some in that list (Sentra, Altima, Cube) were merely commuters/appliances, others were fun. Cars I really like I keep (like the Z), others I typically buy, fix, tune, experience, then sell when something else that I want comes along. That list is just the Nissans.
Maxima was a 3.5L V6, 6 speed manual, sleeper that with a little work (headers, exhaust, supercharger, nitrous) put about 400hp to the ground and embarrassed cars at the drag strip that had a monthly payment more than I bought the car for.
240SX is a light RWD sporty car for tall people that don't fit in a Miata.
D21 Pickup is a good small pickup that gets the job done in an age of monstrous trucks used by salespeople to commute from their apartment to their cubicle job and back.
Stanza is just funky.
510 is a classic that I intended to keep, but once it was running someone else made me an offer that I couldn't refuse.
Gotcha, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation! I love overlanding, where you are essentially driving around old mining roads in mountains for 1-2 weeks at a time, and caving, where you...
Gotcha, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation!
I love overlanding, where you are essentially driving around old mining roads in mountains for 1-2 weeks at a time, and caving, where you occasionally have to traverse a rock path to reach the entrance. Wranglers tend to be some of the more durable vehicles that can handle terrain that rough. Sure, you will see many tacoma-class trucks and subarus, but on the trails that require more rock crawling to pass through, there are very few non-solid axle vehicles on the other side
I also like the way they look, and appreciate that they are not too bad to work on. I did way more work on my 1995 however (even rebuilt the AX-15 manual transmission)
I want to make the "They owned so many because they keep breaking down!" Joke answer but if you look at those models, a lot of them are older so odds are they've been buying and replacing them in...
I want to make the "They owned so many because they keep breaking down!" Joke answer but if you look at those models, a lot of them are older so odds are they've been buying and replacing them in 3-5 year intervals and likely consider any cars in the family as cars they've 'owned.'
Many of those models are also from back when Nissan made 'good' cars and such.
Admittedly, I've not owned any beyond the family Stanza/Altima in 1993. That said, I've owned numerous Fords and Honda's of a similar vintage and none of them have been as rattly and full of...
Admittedly, I've not owned any beyond the family Stanza/Altima in 1993. That said, I've owned numerous Fords and Honda's of a similar vintage and none of them have been as rattly and full of vibration and broken plastic as the Nissan. Then you've got the CVT's, the general reputation for poor build quality and the frequent use of crap Renault parts, which are poor quality.
I don't consider a 510 Datsun part of that and the trucks and old BOF SUV's seem to be ok with relatively minor issues such as cracking exhaust manifolds on the Xterra's. That said, Nissan would never be my first choice of vehicle were I buying one today.
I agree with your assessment. We had a Nissan ICE vehicle that we traded in after less than 6 months of owning and with negative equity. It was awful from every angle, and we had owned multiple...
I agree with your assessment. We had a Nissan ICE vehicle that we traded in after less than 6 months of owning and with negative equity. It was awful from every angle, and we had owned multiple (older) Nissan's before that one. Our friends that have EV Nissans love them.
I have some complex feelings about this merger. I don't like mergers among big corporations. Even if these companies are so relatively small they won't overtake Toyota, they're still huge...
I have some complex feelings about this merger. I don't like mergers among big corporations. Even if these companies are so relatively small they won't overtake Toyota, they're still huge industrial players. What will come of this merger is to be seen, but I can't help but think we'll just lose all three of these companies identities, replaced by something new wearing their skins, which is much like how I view any of Stellantis's brands. I'm particularly sad to lose Mitsubishi. While I've not personally owned any of their vehicles (and their US presence is very sad these days), I love them. They make some simple but peppy cars that I hear are pretty easy to maintain and fix. But sadly they're already small enough that they feel like a footnote in this announcement.
On the other hand, it's going to be very good for Honda. I have a really good perception of Honda and their quality though I have also never owned them - they've generally been to expensive for me, even in the used market due to their good reputation. They really desperately need help modernizing to the future car landscape, what with their single battery electric option for all of their consumer car brands, debuting just this past March. Unfortunately they took the hydrogen route just like Toyota did and that bet did not pay off. A quick internet search does not lead me to believe that H2 adoption is going well in their domestic market either.
I've owned a lot of Nissan cars, and while I think generally their cars are pretty decent, I hope that this synergy leads to higher quality Nissan branded vehicles. Nissan doesn't make bad cars by any means, but it would be nice to have a car at Nissan prices but Honda quality.
The Japanese government pushed for this merger because Nissan is on the verge of death and they’d rather keep the assets, customers, and employees in Japan and making cars. If nothing else, the...
The Japanese government pushed for this merger because Nissan is on the verge of death and they’d rather keep the assets, customers, and employees in Japan and making cars.
If nothing else, the alternative is not that Nissan continues to run, but that Nissan dies and is sold off piecemeal to people with claims.
Over the long term I think the EV transition is going to dissolve the company’s current identities anyway since it’s such a different way of building cars. The engineering culture must change, and...
Over the long term I think the EV transition is going to dissolve the company’s current identities anyway since it’s such a different way of building cars. The engineering culture must change, and with it everything about the brand ID is likely to as well.
What this actually suggests to me is that Honda is having trouble making a viable EV platform and Nissan has one, while Honda’s reputation for reliability and quality is impeccable and Nissan’s has dipped below the Korean brands.
Little bit off-topic, but I am happy that https://nissan.com still has a photo of Uzi Nissan instead of the company getting it. At the very least, Uzi (and his next of kin or benefactors) held out...
Little bit off-topic, but I am happy that https://nissan.com still has a photo of Uzi Nissan instead of the company getting it. At the very least, Uzi (and his next of kin or benefactors) held out longer than Nissan was an independent company.
Wow, I vaguely knew that Nissan was having difficulties but I didn't see this coming. Both companies make a good vehicle (my second vehicle ever was a Nissan Frontier and I loved that thing), but...
Wow, I vaguely knew that Nissan was having difficulties but I didn't see this coming.
Both companies make a good vehicle (my second vehicle ever was a Nissan Frontier and I loved that thing), but I can't help but be a little disappointed that there's one less option in the marketplace. Competition is always a good thing for consumers, and now there will be slightly less of it.
What you guys have already said about the sadness of corporate mergers etc is spot on. But from a simpler standpoint I think this merger makes sense, in that these brands are complimentary. Honda...
What you guys have already said about the sadness of corporate mergers etc is spot on. But from a simpler standpoint I think this merger makes sense, in that these brands are complimentary. Honda is known for industry-leading quality but doesn't make trucks except the Ridgeline, which is really just an SUV wearing a truck's skin. Meanwhile Nissan is one of the few foreign players managing to compete in the US truck market, though RIP Titan. And Mitsubishi does quality economy cars in a way that neither of the others do, while also bringing some historical enthusiast credentials as well.
(I've never owned a car from any of them, though my partner has a Mitsubishi Mirage that she loves (adorably named Rain Drop). It's probably overly optimistic to think that this merger could retain the best of each company, but if anyone could pull that off I'd bet on the Japanese.)
...so when i was growing up, my family owned an oldsmobile, a pontiac, a datsun, another oldsmobile, another pontiac, a mercury, another oldsmobile, another pontiac, a geo, a plymouth, an isuzu, a...
...so when i was growing up, my family owned an oldsmobile, a pontiac, a datsun, another oldsmobile, another pontiac, a mercury, another oldsmobile, another pontiac, a geo, a plymouth, an isuzu, a mitsubishi, a saab, and two hondas...
...i guess what i'm saying is that i should've seen this coming, because that went really well for british leyland...
Really hoping this doesn't turn into a Boeing-McDonald Douglas -style merger, where Honda's quality falls due to influences of Nissan. I know Nissan isn't the worst brand out there. But still.
Nissan is a garbage brand and I would never own one. I really hope this doesn't tank Honda's quality; I've owned 3 of them and planned to buy more in the future when the need arose, but now I'll be wary.
Not trying to discredit your experience but I think there might be a difference in quality between their ICE and EV lines. I’m leasing an Ariya and it’s been great.
I own a 2016 Nissan Leaf and it has been nothing short of excellent.
Maybe so, I don't have any experience with their EV's and am just familiar with their ICE vehicles from the last several decades.
What models and issues have you had? They aren't my favored brand by a long shot, but over the years I've had multiple Sentra, Altima, Maxima, Z, 240SX, Pickup, Stanza, Cube, and 510 models. The only thing I've been disappointed with as a whole was the Versa as it was a bottom of the barrel econobox that made me want to walk instead of drive. None were perfect, every car has its quirks, but nothing that would flat out turn me away from the brand entirely, except anything they make with the shit JATCO CVTs.
I’ve owned a number of Nissan cars, both electric and gas. They’ve all been perfectly respectable cars. Not great, and some of them not even good, but all of them have been working cars with minimal problems. The only one I have had issues with is one my husband bought used, which had issues with the air intake system, but that wasn’t a Nissan problem. It was caused by the previous owner installing aftermarket “upgrades” that tuned it down.
(The previous owner of that car also removed the catalytic converters. My husband really should have returned the car to the dealer because that “upgrade” made it illegal to sell in the state.)
In the USA Nissan dealer networks decided to aim downmarket in their financing. As a result Nissans have developed a bit of a reputation for attracting reckless drivers, being poorly maintained, and having generally terrible quality of service at the dealer. Bought new they’re probably fine but you’d have to be desperate to buy used.
One time a young woman in an Altima allowed me to zipper merge and I was literally amazed it was so unexpected.
Dodge did the same thing, like Nissan they finance anyone with a pulse. Kia and Hyundai decided they wanted to move upmarket, a market void needed filling.
That said, the downmarket cars specifically (Sentra, Altima) I owned long ago before Nissan decided to shift to an underserved segment and I never buy a new car. Most of the vehicles in that list are pre-21st century with only the Maxima and Cube being from this side of 2001.
Altimas with paper plates are practically a meme in car circles now, I avoid them like the plague if I see them on the road. About to get worse too since Nissan is slated to kill the Altima like they did the Maxima, so their buyers are probably going to be in something larger and more dangerous like a Kicks or Rogue. That is unless Honda pulls Nissan's high-risk financing policies.
Respectfully, why so many different cars? I've had two over the past 16 years (both Jeep Wranglers; started with a 1995, and now drive a 2015)
:waves:
Hi, I'm the Tildes resident car enthusiast/mechanic (which is really all the explanation needed).
Simply put, I like pretty much anything with an engine and cars are cheap if you know how to fix them. Some in that list (Sentra, Altima, Cube) were merely commuters/appliances, others were fun. Cars I really like I keep (like the Z), others I typically buy, fix, tune, experience, then sell when something else that I want comes along. That list is just the Nissans.
Maxima was a 3.5L V6, 6 speed manual, sleeper that with a little work (headers, exhaust, supercharger, nitrous) put about 400hp to the ground and embarrassed cars at the drag strip that had a monthly payment more than I bought the car for.
240SX is a light RWD sporty car for tall people that don't fit in a Miata.
D21 Pickup is a good small pickup that gets the job done in an age of monstrous trucks used by salespeople to commute from their apartment to their cubicle job and back.
Stanza is just funky.
510 is a classic that I intended to keep, but once it was running someone else made me an offer that I couldn't refuse.
Why Wranglers?
Gotcha, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation!
I love overlanding, where you are essentially driving around old mining roads in mountains for 1-2 weeks at a time, and caving, where you occasionally have to traverse a rock path to reach the entrance. Wranglers tend to be some of the more durable vehicles that can handle terrain that rough. Sure, you will see many tacoma-class trucks and subarus, but on the trails that require more rock crawling to pass through, there are very few non-solid axle vehicles on the other side
I also like the way they look, and appreciate that they are not too bad to work on. I did way more work on my 1995 however (even rebuilt the AX-15 manual transmission)
I want to make the "They owned so many because they keep breaking down!" Joke answer but if you look at those models, a lot of them are older so odds are they've been buying and replacing them in 3-5 year intervals and likely consider any cars in the family as cars they've 'owned.'
Many of those models are also from back when Nissan made 'good' cars and such.
Admittedly, I've not owned any beyond the family Stanza/Altima in 1993. That said, I've owned numerous Fords and Honda's of a similar vintage and none of them have been as rattly and full of vibration and broken plastic as the Nissan. Then you've got the CVT's, the general reputation for poor build quality and the frequent use of crap Renault parts, which are poor quality.
I don't consider a 510 Datsun part of that and the trucks and old BOF SUV's seem to be ok with relatively minor issues such as cracking exhaust manifolds on the Xterra's. That said, Nissan would never be my first choice of vehicle were I buying one today.
I agree with your assessment. We had a Nissan ICE vehicle that we traded in after less than 6 months of owning and with negative equity. It was awful from every angle, and we had owned multiple (older) Nissan's before that one. Our friends that have EV Nissans love them.
I have some complex feelings about this merger. I don't like mergers among big corporations. Even if these companies are so relatively small they won't overtake Toyota, they're still huge industrial players. What will come of this merger is to be seen, but I can't help but think we'll just lose all three of these companies identities, replaced by something new wearing their skins, which is much like how I view any of Stellantis's brands. I'm particularly sad to lose Mitsubishi. While I've not personally owned any of their vehicles (and their US presence is very sad these days), I love them. They make some simple but peppy cars that I hear are pretty easy to maintain and fix. But sadly they're already small enough that they feel like a footnote in this announcement.
On the other hand, it's going to be very good for Honda. I have a really good perception of Honda and their quality though I have also never owned them - they've generally been to expensive for me, even in the used market due to their good reputation. They really desperately need help modernizing to the future car landscape, what with their single battery electric option for all of their consumer car brands, debuting just this past March. Unfortunately they took the hydrogen route just like Toyota did and that bet did not pay off. A quick internet search does not lead me to believe that H2 adoption is going well in their domestic market either.
I've owned a lot of Nissan cars, and while I think generally their cars are pretty decent, I hope that this synergy leads to higher quality Nissan branded vehicles. Nissan doesn't make bad cars by any means, but it would be nice to have a car at Nissan prices but Honda quality.
The Japanese government pushed for this merger because Nissan is on the verge of death and they’d rather keep the assets, customers, and employees in Japan and making cars.
If nothing else, the alternative is not that Nissan continues to run, but that Nissan dies and is sold off piecemeal to people with claims.
I drive an older Honda hybrid and I love it
Over the long term I think the EV transition is going to dissolve the company’s current identities anyway since it’s such a different way of building cars. The engineering culture must change, and with it everything about the brand ID is likely to as well.
What this actually suggests to me is that Honda is having trouble making a viable EV platform and Nissan has one, while Honda’s reputation for reliability and quality is impeccable and Nissan’s has dipped below the Korean brands.
Little bit off-topic, but I am happy that https://nissan.com still has a photo of Uzi Nissan instead of the company getting it. At the very least, Uzi (and his next of kin or benefactors) held out longer than Nissan was an independent company.
Feels like victory for the little guy
Wow, I vaguely knew that Nissan was having difficulties but I didn't see this coming.
Both companies make a good vehicle (my second vehicle ever was a Nissan Frontier and I loved that thing), but I can't help but be a little disappointed that there's one less option in the marketplace. Competition is always a good thing for consumers, and now there will be slightly less of it.
I just landed in Japan, who do I speak to so I can suggest them naming their merger NiHon?
/joke please
What you guys have already said about the sadness of corporate mergers etc is spot on. But from a simpler standpoint I think this merger makes sense, in that these brands are complimentary. Honda is known for industry-leading quality but doesn't make trucks except the Ridgeline, which is really just an SUV wearing a truck's skin. Meanwhile Nissan is one of the few foreign players managing to compete in the US truck market, though RIP Titan. And Mitsubishi does quality economy cars in a way that neither of the others do, while also bringing some historical enthusiast credentials as well.
(I've never owned a car from any of them, though my partner has a Mitsubishi Mirage that she loves (adorably named Rain Drop). It's probably overly optimistic to think that this merger could retain the best of each company, but if anyone could pull that off I'd bet on the Japanese.)
...so when i was growing up, my family owned an oldsmobile, a pontiac, a datsun, another oldsmobile, another pontiac, a mercury, another oldsmobile, another pontiac, a geo, a plymouth, an isuzu, a mitsubishi, a saab, and two hondas...
...i guess what i'm saying is that i should've seen this coming, because that went really well for british leyland...