1993 Nissan Altima GXE from North America - Comments

The car only got 13 miles per gallon!

Air Conditioning/Heat fan level selector only worked on levels one and four.

Weather stripping was pealing off everywhere.

Something was wrong with the fuel pump under hard acceleration (The revs would suddenly fall and would lose power then they would go back up)

Car would shake and shudder under initial acceleration.

Visors would not stay up any more (against the roof)

There was no clear coat left on the

paint.

All four hub caps fell off (those are pricey)

Struts needed replacement.

Cruise control did not work.

A bunch of squeaks and rattles.

The '94 Nissan Altima would have been a great car brand new, but when I bought it we had nothing, but problems. I bought the car from a friend in the neighborhood who gave it to us for a reasonable price. When we first bought it the paint quality was good, but it quickly deteriorated. The car never achieved over 20 mpg, and averaged around 13-15. This was completely unreasonable for a four cylinder. I tried changing the air filters, but nothing changed. In addition the car had no passing power (I timed the 0-60 and it ended up being over 12 seconds), had trouble getting up hills without down shifting to an unreasonable rpm level, and was just overall mechanically unsound. In contrast, the road handling was above par and the ride was comfortable. I don't know if the car that I bought just ended up being a lemon, but I would not recommend this car to anyone.

I think you're expecting too much out of a car that's over 10 years old with over 100k miles on it. As long as you don't have expensive repairs to make (i.e. motor, tranny) it's not a bad deal. Out of all your complaints I think the gas mileage is the only one that holds any weight with me. Of course you could also do more than just change the air filter to improve that.

I bought my 93 Altima on Jan 94 and I personally believe that your friend either sold you a lemon (with or without knowing) or you drove the car to the ground.

The car only got 13 miles per gallon! ==> I get at least twice that much mileage over my car. Maybe you are stepping on the gas pedal too hard and doing hard stops which can affect your gas mileage. Another thing is maybe your car is not properly maintained.

Air Conditioning/Heat fan level selector only worked on levels one and four. ==> this happened to me around once (1999). Level one did not work so I got this repaired and it is still currently working.

Something was wrong with the fuel pump under hard acceleration (The revs would suddenly fall and would lose power then they would go back up). Car would shake and shudder under initial acceleration. Visors would not stay up any more (against the roof) Cruise control did not work. ==> I do not have this problem either. Again maybe this can be attributed to proper care or the lack thereof.

There was no clear coat left on the paint. ==> My car has been parked outside for the last 10 years at least with snow and road salts during the winter months and very hot weather during the summer months. My car is still shiny so I'm not sure what happened to yours.

All four hub caps fell off (those are pricey) ==> I agree with this. This car has a knack for losing its hubcaps especially the front passenger side. What people are not telling you is that you have to hit something hard for the hubcaps to loosen up. For you to lose all your hubcaps that again means that you probably drove your car either through humps/potholes without braking or you took your car off-roading which again might lead to these symptoms ==> Struts needed replacement. A bunch of squeaks and rattles.

All in all, I have had my reliable car for over 13 years and I have taken cared of it by having it regularly maintained, washed and driven with care. You cannot constant abuse a car and expect it to be in pristine condition.

I would definitely recommend this car

Just my two cents.