New member here considering a 2010 NAH base with 39,000 miles. Price of the car is $16,500, we're trading a 2007 gmc Acadia with 56,000 for which we are getting $17,000.
Some questions:
-Is the lack of activity on this website a good thing or a bad thing? What I mean is there is a lot of threads that are incomplete, people have problems or concerns and then never follow up to describe how the problem was solved. Did they get rid of the car because of the problem, did they get it fixed, etc.

-should I worry about the carbon build up thing

-called the dealer and Nissan and they couldn't find any info that it had a warranty on the hybrid components, both just said there was a 6yr warranty on the drivetrain.



The reason we would be gettIng the NAH is purely for mpg reasons. One kid in college and one in 11th, no need for the big suv, plus the Acadia averages 17 mpg. I would really like to hear from those who have owned this car for a while.

Thanks

 

I might add, my wife would be the primary driver, she puts on about 10k a year. Doing basically an even up trade for this vehicle was appealing as it would be pure gas mileage savings, less money out of our budget for fuel. But any savings would be quickly lost due to costly repairs to the hybrid system on the Altima. Although for sure our Acadia would need some sort of repairs over the next 4 years or so too.
So there's my dilemma.

 

Or would I be better served going with a new 2.5s, heard they're giving good deals on them right now. Any comments I'd appreciate, gotta make a decision in a couple hours, thanks.

 

I bought a 2011 NAH in February of '11 and love it. I'm averaging 34-35 mpg, mostly in town. It's an absolute joy to drive. The only drawbacks are the small trunk and the back seat doesn't fold down or have a pass-thru. If that's not a problem for you (it's not for me), I say BUY IT!

 

My mother has an leftover 07 NAH that was bought new in the beginning of 08. It has <20K miles on it, so we can't say much about high mileage reliability or the carbon build up issue.

If you didn't know, the transmission warranty on the '10 NAH was extended. See http://www.nissanassist.com/vehicles.php?menu=5 and http://www.nissanassist.com/ProgramDetails.php?menu=2. I'm surprised they did it since the power split device (transaxle/CVT) is COMPLETELY unrelated to any of the belt and pulley CVTs used in Nissans. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same unit that comes in Camry Hybrids of that era. Heck, the inverter under the plastic cover has a Toyota barcode and part number on it.

Without me looking up the price, that sounds pretty good. I think you'd pay about the same or more if you tried to get a used '10 Prius w/the same mileage. (I've owned my Prius since January 06).

The lack of activity here is very annoying/discouraging. I unfortunately don't know of any other good resource for NAHs. It seems like hybrid enthusiasts (along w/mileage enthusiasts and engineers/geeks) flock to the Prius and to a lesser extent Honda hybrids. For anything else w/lower unit sales, who knows?

Just look at Priuschat.com, in comparison. Also w/EVs (and PHEVs) now becoming more available, some of those folks have gravitated towards the Volt and the Leaf (check out mynissanleaf.com).

If you purely want it purely for mileage reasons, better off getting a Prius. See http://web.archive.org/web/200812311...-206/index.htm (this covers the 2nd gen (04-09) Prius) and http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2...cars/index.htm (covers 3rd gen and 3 of the 4 Prius family members).

I will say that when driving my mom's NAH, it's almost a rocket ship compared to my Prius. I like its acceleration a LOT better. (Yeah yeah, I know the Prius is slow.... I used to also own a 287 hp 04 350Z. My Prius replaced my 255 hp 02 Maxima.)

I would NOT buy ANY Honda hybrid, BTW. It seems they can't get their battery management act together. I can post more about that, if you care.

 

Most folks come online to vent and complain about issues. And to ask advice. Given this is a small volume sales car, and not really a car enthusiasts sub-model, it is not unexpected that the post volume in any Nissan Hybrid form is all that high.

Realising the original poster probably has already made their mind up, I will reply in general in case others come looking for the same info.

I picked up my 2007 NAH as a 2-year old second hand car with 24k miles already on it. Other than a door ding from a sideswipe that was already repaired, car had no mechanical issues or repair record. Car was just around $17.5k if i recall correctly. My car has the convenience pack but not he sunroof. I have gotten mileage ranging from 30-39mpg on the car, depending upon the tires i had on at the time and the way I was driving. Low Rolling Resistance tires can make a 2-5mpg difference, but the OEM tires were really not acceptable so I have since swapped to stickier safer tires, dropping mileage by 5mph alone. Combined with a mostly freeway commute, my overall mileage has dropped into the low 30's. But that 198hp and nice torque make it fun to drive, making it all that worthwhile to me.

I have not had any carbon build up issues though rough cold starts did happen occasionally until i started doing the occasional hard accelerate onto the freeways, something we used to do with my old plymouth to "blow out" the gunk. Seems strategy has worked so far.

Only complaint has been the reduced cargo space in an otherwise spacious car. But it has worked fine even with luggage and all for 4 people and some pre-planning, even to go skiing and such. A roof rack for equipment certainly has helped but i've done that with all my cars so nothing unusual there for me. I use it to deliver cases of goods to my clients now and so far it has been pretty reasonable so long as I use the interior space and trunk space wisely.

Based on the original poster's quoted price and expected use of the vehicle, I would say it should be a great choice provided the cargo space is not an issue.