Oh man... I had to fix AC on one recently... was able to fix for $75 (new o-rings/vacuum system/new r-134a),.but can be absolute pita without proper tools or if dealership robs you, they're crooks over there at nissan. Def agree with you on camry/accord. Anyway, if she does want to keep it long here is what I'm talking about on the 2.5s especially Example of noise on long trip/hotter climates (sometimes less than 1 hour in Texas): Here's the fix: there's plenty of guides on nissan forums/more videos but this was quick example I found. Once you do this, go on amazon and buy the cvt trans fluid 1 qt in / 1 out using Castrol synthetic cvt fluid, the **** nissan uses costs like $10-20 qt, and you can buy 6 pack of better fluid for 6 qts for $36. You'll need like 15-16 qts to do a proper flush but it's really easy and the cooler costs $40-60 from reputable online place/autozone/O'Reilly's , if nissan adds it even though it's partially a recall (they're not admitting to) they charge customers $250-300+ not even including the flush. If you do the flush, and it's been whining you'll see burnt trans fluid coming out and eventually it'll change to the new stuff, it requires a helper to turn car on/off while line is off to flush, but there's plenty of guides/examples. I took 07 altima, from where I was about to tear into transmission to instead fixing for maybe $150-200, vs hours of work trying to rebuild from transmission book, as soon as flushed and cooler added it no longer whines or slips.
When it comes to cars about the only thing I can do to them is put in gas, I lease every 3 years, I get a new car with no issues or worries and get rid of it before it becomes boring. Its not for everyone but the payment is cheap and I have peace of mind and a new vehicle every few years. I get bored easily with my vehicle so that`s a plus
Man!!! 05 had its share of probs too.. Fortunately I haven't seen a lot on 13s yet w/ issues, so you should be good, see my post above for specific things wrong with 07-12 2.5 altimas. On 02-06 2.5 altimas it was their shitty engine design that would lead to the car destroying itself on the intake manifold or the exhaust manifold (on the intake it was butterfly valve screws sucked into engine and on exhaust side it was the precat sucked into engine as it broke apart). I recently (last year now ..) rebuilt top portion/headgasket on an 05, other than time ... fixed super cheap, then had to use red loctite on the butterfly valve screws (8 in total) and install a header (deleting the precat). But I think from what I've seen so far nissan got their **** together on the 2013+ models
There was this particular issue mine had that whenever I started the engine it wouldn't start smoothly always jumped a bit. Also while driving it would occasionally "jerk" near the front and also when i would be stopped at a light but that was more like something jumping under the hood. Difficult to explain without having someone in the car to experience it but I was glad to get $2,500 for it.
Good move, $2500 is great. So on there, there was also a stupid transmission/CPU module reprogram iirc 02-06 that was part of a recall that wasn't well communicated and it could have been that, or possibly vacuum leak/coils over spark plugs or.. Airflow sensor, regardless, you made a good move, and 2.5k is really good value..especially since you avoided the headgasket issue. Total pita on that one to fix, vs other cars.
Yeah, if you like leasing, like new, and don't want to own, it can make sense in some situations, I just like working on them because I grew up working on everything.
And this is perfectly acceptable since you want the perks of a lease: new car peace of mind and wanting a new car every few years. The key with a lease is to lease a car that's a good lease..not every brand and car is a good lease. Second is to negotiate a lease correctly. People who lease sometimes forget to negotiate the msrp, and money factor and get fixed on the monthly payment.
