2002 Nissan Altima SL review from North America

I bought my 2002 Altima 2.5 SL brand new in Jan. 2002. Until 110,000 km it was regularly serviced by Nissan dealerships. All recalls were done and everything else that they recommended was done. Until 80,000 km they replaced 6 times brake rotors (every time under warranty). Since I wasn’t getting any explanation after the 5th time I asked them why, what is the reason for that. I was told I should wait for the car to cool before I take it for wash. I was thinking that he was joking with me, but he was dead serious.

I experienced the start up issue and jiggle issue many times but that is not the worst. About 110,000 km “SES” came on and I took it to Nissan. They told me that the catalytic has to be replaced. Again they didn’t tell me what caused it to go bad and what else could be wrong. I paid $800 to replace it.

A few months after that I noticed that engine doesn’t sound right. There wasn’t any warning light on. I checked the oil and when I pulled out dipstick, the oil level was below the minimum. I immediately changed the oil and kept checking it regularly. Each day I was commuting about 200 km, mostly highway drive. Every 1000 km I had to add 1 L of oil.

I took the car to the Nissan dealership for oil consumption test. After few weeks of testing they determined that the engine has to be replaced ($5500). They didn’t have an explanation what caused it!? Because I was putting so many kilometers each day I didn’t want to throw money and buy a new vehicle. Also I was afraid that the new catalytic will die if I didn’t replace the engine soon. So I decided to replace the engine; big mistake. Since I don’t trust Nissan anymore I had the engine replaced at an independent certified mechanic. Brand new engine was put at 150,000 km for $3500. For some “reason” Nissan sold the engine for $2000, at half price. They gave 1 year or 20,000 km warranty.

Right from beginning I noticed that the new engine was burning oil, I had add a half of litre of oil every 3000 km. My mechanic started to be suspicious, but he was also thinking that it could be because the engine was brand new and I am driving at high highway speeds. After putting 15,000 km on it I took it to Nissan again to check consumption. They recorded that there is some oil consumption but they explained that is within normal range.

After 20,000 km the “SES” light came on, it says that catalytic is bad again. There is no warranty on catalytic converters. Nissan also told my mechanic when you replace an engine you should replace the catalytic at the same time. Now after 35,000 km (185,000 km total) and $6000 spent on the car in the last 6 months I have a new oil burning engine with a new bad catalytic. Of course Nissan doesn’t want to do anything about it. On top of that, I cannot start it every time I want it.

Conclusion:

Don’t buy Altimas, their good looks and performance are not worth the big headaches.

Don’t buy any Nissan car, because Nissan is the worst dealership to deal with.

Very good performance.

Good gas consumption.

Average comfort, a lot of road noise

Very bad reliability, problems with the engine, catalytic, brake rotors.