My inital relationship was a good one with Nissan. I leased my first car from them in 1996. This car was excellent. Not the color I wanted but that is more of a dealership problem. I leased this car for three years and it never broke down. It went on road trips 400+ miles at a time. Everything was great about this car exept one item:

During an accident the passenger airbag failed. I'm thankful there was nobody in the passenger seat. Just books and things for school. The driver-side went off without a hitch. The velocity of the accident was slow enough that the only injury was from the airbag itself.

When the Sentra went in for body repairs my concern was what about my passenger (if I had one that day). Nissan's first response was to deny there was an airbag problem. "Since there was no passenger, the airbag shouldn't trigger."

But soon after the body work was repaired the mechanic told me that the passenger airbag should have activated in this situation. This brought forth all new problems. The car was held for an additional two weeks to repair the manufacturer defect. During this time I was still expected to pay Nissan Motor Corp. the monthly lease payment although it was their defect. During the time they had my car, no one knew why it was defective. I was told representative from Nissan Corporation would need to be flown in to research the car. When they couldn't help, representatives from Japan were then flown in. Finally, in the third week of repair to the airbag situation I was informed the repair was completed.

Within a few months the airbag light activated on my dashboard and wouldn't turn off. I had the car reinspected and within five minutes of clicking something within the door frame the car was "fixed".

To this day, I don't know if that car was ever fixed. Luckily, there was never another accident to test it out. If anyone is out there looking to buy a used 1996 Green Nissan Sentra... WATCH OUT!

Soon again, I had a new problem to deal with. This car just wasn't as powerful as the last one. Although it was almost identical as its 1996 counterpart, it just didn't have the horsepower. It's main enemy was a moderately steep hill. This same hill the 1996 Sentra conquered each day for over a year. The 1999 Sentra however wasn't as strong. The clutch soon had problems and in a month's time the brand new clucth burned out. Leaving it undriveable.

Immeadiately it was towed into the dealership I purchased the car. This visit I wasn't greeted so friendly. The mechanic I dealt with claimed this issue was a wear-and-tear issue. I don't know much about cars, but I do know that even a hard driven car shouldn't burn out the clutch in less than 50,000 miles. This was less than 2,000 miles.

The repair wasn't "under warranty", however they did give me a "good-will" repair job. Isn't that nice that the car they sold me, less than 2,000 miles and a month old, they would fix a shot clutch?

The worst is not over. The car is now less than 6 months old and under 9,000 miles and once again is showing signs of a worn clutch. It's currently in the shop and has been there for six days.

2 out of 2 Nissan Sentras I have owned have both had manufacturer's defects. Is this the kind of car that should be driven?

I'd love to hear from you. I will post both positive and negative stories on Nissans. Please send emails to: [email protected]