2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V review from North America

Trunk Seal (Warranty)

Clutch Sticks (Dealer could not replicate see below)

Intermittent Turn Signal issues (same as above)

Heat shield fell off of engine after recall (fixed myself, I was fed up with the dealer)

Severe engine malfunction (no resolution)

Heavy Oil Consumption 1qt 3-400 miles (no resolution)

Engine Control Module died @ 75mph (out of pocket)

Worn Interior - seats, shift knob, trim panels.

VERY POOR SERVICE FROM DEALERSHIPS - -10 out of 10.

I own a 2003 Nissan Lemon, I mean Sentra SE-R Spec V. It now has 93,000 miles on it.

I wanted to kick myself for trading in my 1992 240SX for this car. I traded it in with nearly 240,000 miles on it and it still ran very well. Over the life it needed maintenance, an electronic speedometer (which was NOT cheap) and tires. I actually felt great about buying a new Nissan.

Around 23,000 miles I hit a pothole which flattened my tire. Upon retrieving my spare out of the trunk, I realized it was nearly full of water from the rain that week. I took it to the dealer to have the seal replaced. It took several days to receive the car back, and I was told that they do not hand out loners or rentals. I had to borrow a car from my parents for the time it was in the dealership. I was only 20 at the time, and the service advisors continuously made me feel like a punk kid when I walked in even though I considered myself very well spoken and polite.

I received a letter for a recall with the hangers on the catalytic converter possibly causing an engine fire, and reprogramming the computer to fix a problem with the catalytic converter overheating. Once again, several days without a vehicle. When I got the vehicle back, it had a terrible rattle. In the recall, it said that the converter should be inspected for damage as it may cause heavy oil consumption. It was never pulled off the car.

3 weeks later, I find the heat shield sitting in the engine bay OFF the engine. I bolted it back on, and just forgot about it. It wasnt worth the trouble of telling them how stupid they were, I was just a dumb kid to them anyway.

I took the car to the dealer because the turn signals were acting up, and the clutch would stick after extended driving. Same story... several days, "hitch a ride buddy". They said they could not reproduce either problem, and nothing was done. My car had 1 mile more than when I left it with them. At that point, I decided the car would NOT see the dealership again.

At 63,000 miles, I noticed that the car was burning oil more heavily than I was used to.

At 79,000 I started to see that I was putting a quart of oil in the car about once every 2 weeks.

I started this ordeal at 91,000:

I called the 800-Nissan 1 number to report that my car burns a quart of oil every 300-400 miles. When I called, they notified me that there were 2 open recalls on the car, and they would get the dealer to run diagnostics as to why its burning so much oil. The two recalls involved a computer reprogram and removing a foam surrounding the computer. Okay, we're off on the right foot.

I took it to the dealership, they provided me a rental mainly because it was primarily recall work. I had the car back the next day. The service adviser (REALLY cool guy) said they had to change the oil to start the "Oil consumption test" and to bring it back in either 700 miles or when it's a quart low.

ONE WEEK LATER (to the hour of getting it back) : I am driving to work at 75 mph to keep up with Charlotte traffic and not get run over. The engine stalled, and would not start back. I had it towed back to the same dealership and they tell me that the computer is not responding to anything they do to it. It shows no signs of being fried, just stopped working. The service adviser said he tried to get Nissan to possibly assist the repair, but he was shot down at minute 1. I told him I would call Nissan myself. Rental car? HAHAHAHA! no.

I call them upon leaving the dealership. It takes a couple days for them to respond to me. Finally they do asking me where I took the car to get it serviced. "I'll call you back in a little bit".

I get the phone call in 2 days. They say there is nothing they are going to do about the car because its supposively 50,000 miles past the warranty period. Wouldn't this be covered under powertrain, making it 30,000 miles out of warranty? Also, didn't it break a week after your dealership messed with it?

They want a second opinion. I'll get a call back in a few more days. The MLK holiday passes, still without a car, and I get the same response back. I've already ordered a used computer from a scrap yard. I'm so mad about it already that my temperature rises a few degrees when I even hear the words Nissan, or Sentra, or computer. "The two are not related, so we will not be in position to provide assistance. Had the problem happened before the recall was done, we might could". So a problem surfaces, that's recall related 1 week after the recall work is performed? He keeps trying to tell me how simple and petty the work they did to the car was, and how it could not be related. Isn't that why the car was recalled? If it was so petty, why was it RECALLED!?

I haven't even gotten started on the oil problem yet, I'm still trying to get past the whole computer ordeal right now. As for Nissan, my lover was driving me around the week and a half that I waited for my car. We spent a lot of boredom time looking at what might be the "next car". Needless to say that Frontier he wanted is now out of the question.