Faults:

Intake manifold gasket went bad at around 70K - $400

Valve cover gasket is bad at 80K - maybe $200

Now the car is down - dealer says it needs new ECU (computer) and new Instrument cluster (gages) - estimated cost is $1800

Hub caps = loudest piece of crap.

Front bumper is loose - no easy way to fix it.

General Comments:

Buying this car has turned into a nightmare - after having it for 50K miles, the car is down and it needs close to $2000 to fix.

Maybe I got a bad car but one thing is for sure, I WILL NEVER EVER BUY A NISSAN AGAIN.

Faults:

Not one thing has gone wrong with this car!

Only things I put into it are tires, oil, filters, spark plugs, etc..

General Comments:

This car is far better than the "CIVIC". I get 28/30 mpg, and with the manual transmission, I stay with ANY import in its class... and some other SO called SPORT CARS!

I would not rule out getting another Altima.

Faults:

Replaced intake manifold gaskets.

Replaced both front power window regulators.

Replaced air conditioning compressor and dryer.

A few sets of brakes and front rotors.

General Comments:

A cheap car.

Noisy.

Poor pickup from light, OK at highway speed.

Ride OK, but not great.

Intake manifold gasket problem is due to poor heat dissipation around the gasket. It melted. You can expect to change the gaskets one or more times at $600 per change. A difficult job for an experienced mechanic.

You will also change two and possible all four window regulators due to cheap design. $300-400 per window.

Air conditioning compressor located under the car $1300 repair at 130,000 miles.

I told the Nissan rep that I have had three Nissans and this is my last. He said he would make a note of it. What does that tell you?

Faults:

At about 80,000 miles, whenever I would come to a stop, the car would try to stall. I would have to put it in P or N and give it gas.

$1200 later, I found out this is a common problem with the 2001 Altima (leak in the in intake manifold gasket.). SES light came on three or four times. Code said it was a misfire in the #4 cylinder once, and the other times it came on, it threw a no code. First mechanic charged $600 for little things, but couldn't find the problem. Took it to Nissan dealer and they told me exactly what I learned on the web. $6.00 intake manifold gasket replacement, for another $600.

Took car for "lifetime alignment". Would not align because tie rod frozen.

Seat belt rivets that keep seat belt from falling on floor, broke off seat belt.

Sun visor clip broke off.

Plastic wheel covers rattle and make tons of noise.

General Comments:

For buying the car used from Hertz rental car and having it for 7 years, it has been a good car for the money, up until now.

I do miss my 1981 Honda Civic Hatchback!

Faults:

The intake head gasket was installed incorrectly by Nissan and leaked causing a rough idle about 50,000 miles. This ran about $600 to have fixed.

The PVC valve is very costly to change. It is extremely hard to get to and you have to remove hard piped lines to get to it. Therefore it is never changed. The dealer said that it would take $400 to change the PVC valve and its associated hose.

The car developed a slight wobble at 64 mph and above. We thought it was bad tires or tires out of balance. However after changing tires 3 times the wobble still exist. Did an extensive maintenance on it because I like this car a lot. After changing out all the related parts except the control arms, engine & transmission mounts and wheel bearings, it still wobbles. Still looking.

The 6 changer CD broke and I had it removed.

The oil filter is some what difficult to get to.

General Comments:

My 2001 Nissan Altima GXE limited edition has been the best car I ever owned.

It gets 31 miles per gallon on the highway.

The A/C has done a great job.

The front disk brakes would last 150,000 miles and the rear brakes would last 200,000 miles. I change them anyway during my major maintenance at 140,000 miles. I used Nissan parts. Flushed the transmission, brakes, radiator and power steering systems every 75,000 miles.

Only used anti-freeze with distilled water in the radiator system. I never put tap water in my car, even the windshield washer with Rain-X.