Faults:

The radio display stop working. And the release for the gas tank broke.

General Comments:

I love this car.. I bought this car with 40 some thousand miles, and now it's at 117,000 miles and going strong.. minus all regular wear and tear.

Faults:

The mass air flow sensor turned bad at 132,000 miles.

I got new struts ($800) at 131,000 miles.

The rear brake caliber holds the rotor, and all are rusted.

General Comments:

I bought this car with 130,000 miles on it, and only paid $3000 for it. I really don't consider it's high mileage on a VQ engine; I know Nissan engines, and I have seen vehicles with 400,000 miles on them. The engine is virtually bullet-proof. I think Nissan makes the best V6 engine, bar none. I really don't like the transmission; it feels like shifting a semi truck. I guess I need a 'short shifter'.

The car is very fast; it can reach 60 Km/Hr in 6 sec flat. Because of the straight ram air intake, the car is pretty easy to work on.

The only major downfall is the MPG; I get 25 MPG highway, even with a Fuel Saver. I was hoping to get better gas mileage on a 5-speed but I cannot. My Mom's automatic transmission Maxima gets better gas mileage, even without a Fuel Saver.

Faults:

All sensors failed around the 120k mark, otherwise the car was very reliable and a blast to drive.

General Comments:

The 5 speed manual made this car stand out. It was very fast with good handling (sport suspension with 16 in wheels on the SE model) while providing luxury and a nice ride. Not too many sedans at that price could run from 0 to 60 in under 7.0 seconds.

Faults:

Replaced shocks at 200,000km due to soft cornering on mountain roads, which are regularly travelled.

Replaced knock sensor at 209,000km - was occasionally performing like 2.0 litre car and was picked up by on board computer - surprisingly cheap repair at $300.

Replaced bushes on front lower arm mounts - had chewed out, probably due to plenty of travel on country roads with gravel surfaces and lots of potholes and corrugations.

General Comments:

Car is unbelievably reliable - have never had such a reliable vehicle - even the brake rotors are original - a surprise if you knew how hard I drive this car.

Performs very well - strong and quick.

Extremely well spec'd for a NZ new model.

Reasonable fuel consumption for size and performance - long run average 9.5l/100km over 125,000k - can do 800km on a tank when treated gently, or 550km when thrashed.

Still no rattles or clunks in the cabin.

Front passenger seat is uncomfortable on the odd occasion that I sit there - possibly due to the fact that that seat is seldom used.

Faults:

Since I bought the car in 2003 (as used), I had a steady problem. The dash light for Service Engine Soon was on and off all the time, but mostly on. Finally I solved this problem that drives crazy a lot of Nissan owners. If one uses only Premium gas (91 octanes) as prescribed by the owner's manual, the light will go off. As soon as one uses lower octane fuel, the light will come back on. The explanation is simple! The ignition and anti-pollution system on the Nissan has been set for the use of Premium gas and as soon as on uses a cheaper gas, the mixture of air/fuel changes thus signaling the oxygen sensors more carbon dioxide than normal. When one uses the proper fuel the combustion mixture is lean resulting in a lesser CO2 emisssion. It is also possible that the oxygen sensor are burned, but please try first using the prescribed type of fuel before going to the dealer who will gladly replace all 6 coils, oxygen sensors and spark plugs for hundreds and hundreds of dollars and not telling you to use proper gas. That would be unproductive for his wallet!

General Comments:

Great car, as they say as good as a BMW, but much cheaper!