[Dr. Laplace]

On Feb 03 I received my Altima Coupe.

I found a few problems with the car that I want to share with the rest of the forum here.

1) Headliner is loose: There is a large gap between the moonroof and the headliner. This causes the headliner to rattle and squeak all the time. If I push the headliner with my finger, where the light dome is, the thing moves up about 2 inches.

2) The trim on the door zone module (DZM) on the passenger side is not completely seated: There is a line, perpendicular to the door panel that meets the padded handle on the door. Here, a sensible "lifted" area on this trim is felt and seen. On another altima coupe 3.5 that the dealer had on the showroom I notticed the same issue, this time on the driver's module.

3) The little door on the central console, close to the shifter, rattles: this was not observed on another altima coupe, 3.5SE that the dealer had in the showroom.

4) The stereo continues to produce sound even when it's off: When the car is running, or on ACC position, there is an audible hissing sound from the speakers. This could be a poorly grounded wire.

5) The garage shift is rough: when shifting from P to R, and D to N, the car shakes. This could be low transmission fluid or a loose mount.

6) There is a loud clicking noise on the brake pedal: during the travel of the pedal there is an audible and sensible clicking noise. The dealer says it's "normal" because there is a switch in there that it's actuated by the pedal. I said B.S. because that noise and clicking feel to the pedal makes you think that the thing is not working properly and might cause an accident.

7) Vibration on the gas pedal: feels like a damaged wheel hub bearing, when at certain speeds a vibration and rough feel to the pedal is present. I know that this car is drive by wire, but there should be no vibration or roughness on the pedal.

8) Rough Idle after engine warm: A very soft sputter is felt after driving the car for a while and then coming to a stop. The dealer has not said anything about this. In another thread, Plee52 said that a mechanic was able to adjust the idle on the car. I am still waiting on the dealer to find out if they took the roughness away.


There are some areas of opportunity for Nissan on this car:

1) The design on the seatbelts: The mating part of the seatbelts is very poor, since it's only a metal plate with the buckle on it. This design causes the whole thing to oscillate like a leaf spring when you undo the seatbelt. Adding mass to the metal plate will fix the problem.

2) The seatbelts rattle: The position where the buckle on the belt itself is makes the thing clang and bang against the interior trim. This drives me nuts.

3) The vacuometer should include a readout to see the average fuel economy while looking at the instantaneous performance (the moving orange bar). I recently bought a 2008 Lancer GTS and it has that gauge. I love it! Also, having the scale decreased would help...

4) It should have a memory function for seating and mirror position. Also, It would be nice if at least the driver's seat would back up automatically when you turned off the car and opened the door.

Other than that... I love my car!
I'm just picky...:)