6 sets? wow that is pretty harsh. Well, I still wish best of luck on your car. Even though you seem 100% dissatisfied with the Z, its still a kick *** car, Nissan or not.

Happy driving.

 

Satchel,
You may want to completely bypass the dealership and contact the Nissan Motor directly. EVERY time I have done this I have gotten satisfactory results. If Nissan does not at least make an effort to address your problem, I will be very surprised. Besides, if you are never going to buy another Nissan, why should you care about what they think? What do you have to lose...except the $$ it will cost you to send the letter by courier. (Never use regular mail for letters addressed to the VP's and CEO's.)

I can see them paying for at least one set of tires...just to try to retain your business. It's cheaper that the cost of those Nissan commercials.

 

thanks, I think I will try that

 

Oh yeah, by the way...throw in some reference to the drive to one million sales event going on. Sometimes companies forget that good press is cheap and bad press can be expensive.

The tone of the letter that I sent was less angry and more disappointed. My family has been driving Nissans/Datsuns since 1973. I know Nissan is sensitive to both first-time and long-time customers. They are spending millions and millions on changing their image from the mid 90's.

When you do write the letter(s), send them FedEx or Airborne Express addressed to the CEO and to the VP. (That's the office that will most likely call you back.) It would help if you know the names of all of the people that you have worked with at the dealership...in case you feel like naming names. Know that they will conduct their own "investigation" before they even call you.

Also, when they do call you, know WHAT you want them to do. They won't buy you a new car, but they mey ask what they can do to make it better. After all, 6 sets of tires...just be honest and reasonable. You can vent to us here on the boards!

Also don't forget about Nissan customer service. I have gotten good service from them as well. Good Luck!

 

You know I always heard "never buy a 1st year of the model run".

6 sets of tires! That's an impressive run.

Todays Consumer Reports Auto Issue has the 05 350Z "Recommended" but lists the 03 350Z in it's "Used Cars to Avoid" list.

 

They might have to expand that to the 04 model year as well.

 

I love my car, and as long as Nissan continues to fix these problems under warranty it isn't that big of a deal. I did buy an '03, first year model, so I kinda expected some issues, but not this many. It did take me about 3 weeks of haggle to get my free new front tires when the originals feathered at around 8k miles.

Here is my warranty work to date:

new front tires (feathering), new front left rim (bent/out of round), cup holder got jammed and had to be fixed, emergency brake had to be tightened... now it is "as tight as it goes" and still only works if it is all the way up, left rear tire transmitter/pressure guage had to be replaced because it was leaking, and now my brakes are squeeling at 23.4k miles and it grinds when I shift from 2nd to 3rd. Oh, and did I mention it makes a grinding noise every once in a while on start-up?

edit: oh and they claim to have done an alignment adjustment when they changed my tires which should "solve the problem"... but to be honest they still feather, just not nearly as much and by the time it became barely noticeable I had 15k miles on the new re040's and they needed to be replaced anyway. So that is "acceptable by Nissan" and I guess I can deal with that. I now have Michellin PS2's and at $1300 a set I hope they last longer than 15k miles, but I doubt it

 

15k is not bad. Hopefully you will get more with the Michelins.

 

I almost forgot, when my car was like 3 months old, I had problems with the CD player skipping excessively especially when cold outside, or within 10 minutes of starting the car in the morning. Supposedly they replaced the stereo/6 disk CD changer unit but the problems still persist. Now I have had the car for about 2 years, oh well. My passenger rear speaker (behind the head rest) is blown too. They are gonna love my visit tomorrow...

 

Satchel,
As was said earlier, NIssan is good to 1st time owners and long-time owners, due to hopes of repeat business. I suggest not revealing in your certified letter that you will never buy another NIssan. If Nissan reads that, they may loose their incentive.

I also recommend paying for a GOOD independent shop to do 4-wheel alignment after you get new frt tires.

 

nissan knows that this car is crap on the inside, so instead of recalling 40,000 (or more if you include 2004 model) nissan would rather settle with one big class action.

i hope nissan pays dearly and i know that i'm just a guy who got ripped off by nissan but if enough of us unite this will bring nissan down and give us a resolution. or at least bring this injustice out in the open.

****************************************************
suspension problem:
40,000 (2003 models) times 2,000 (low balling cost to change suspension to fix problem.

that equals 80,000,000 it would cost nissan to fix only the 2003models


of course nissan would not do a recall even though it could mean many deaths in the long term from faulty suspension.

shame on you nissan.

 

in my experience with class actions, the only people that really get compensated are the attorneys(which makes me sick) The consumer ussualy ends up with a set of coupons and a couple bucks if they are lucky. If you have a problem with any product or service, i suggest you work it out with them or hire your own attorney. Just my 2 cents and yes I have been involved in them before.

 

Then sell it ,and go buy something else that will most likely give you some type of problem as well. Iam tired of people joining my z is broken band wagon then jump on another forum and scream about how much they love the car. Porsche had the worst customer satisfaction for crying out loud Porsche. Sports cars arent meant to ride like daddys camry. Brakes wear faster then others, tires dont last, i agree that the tire feathering is a problem but if you feel this way then sell it and get something else.

 

That's kind of harsh, Volk. Let him vent. I agree with your points, Volk Z but take it easy on the other members who have not had the great experiences that you and I have had with our Z's. We just continue to give the benefit of our experiences for the edification/information of the members.

Bottom line, (IMHO) the Z is a great car...it's by no means perfect. Some 05's have more power and a better engine platform...kind of a bummer for the early adopters...but I have 28,800 miles of fun under my belt. I'd say I'm ahead of the power curve.

Ironmon75, sorry you feel ripped off. But punitive actions just don't apply here. I personally don't want to see Nissan "pay dearly". That's less R&D money for the next Z or GT-R...which I'm thinking about owning. I got screwed by a dealer before I bought this car. The answer was not a Malcolm X-style revolution, but a polite, factual, carefully-crafted, emotionally-neutral letter on HQ paper sent via FedEx to the VP of Nissan US. That stuff works!

 

Then I am sure you won't have a problem when you have to replace the front tires of your GT-R every 5k? Nissan didn't have to deal with it the first time, why fix it for the new cars? They arn't going to care until it hits them in the pocket book, they never do! 2-cents for ya

 

I have owned a 260Z 280Z Nissan KingCab 4X4 Pathfinder and now a 350Z, oh, yes my wife has a "KIA", and it's is very nice, and not to expect any different as to the Nissan vehicles. All have been well, Mine is a 2003 track and the dealership sent me a letter to bring it on soon as the feathering thing came out. I'm lucky I guess as not to go throught the feathering problem..."not yet anyway". And they did tell me if there was any problem, would be taken care of to 100% satisfaction. I'm happy with my situation, but if I did have a problem I would have been in there immediately and got the 100% service. Just my .02 worth.

 

You are right! I would have a problem. That's why I write letters to Nissan Corporate. Customers have a right to be upset when a product is engineered wrong. I am a HUGE advocate of letting a company know when they are wrong. My ONLY critique was of the method, not the merit. I find that letter-writing is the best way. It has worked for me and it has worked for my father. Between both of us, Nissan has cut about 6 checks for repairs that were duplicate or unwarranted.

Every time corporate gets involved my problem gets fixed; a great track record over the last 10 years. When she called, the Nissan VP told me that she wished more customers would express themselves in a calm and articulate way because it gives them the chance to correct the problem. (And correct it they did, 2 people got fired from the dealership because corporate came down very hard on them.) In this case, corporate found me a Z in 3 weeks. I was not even on the waiting list, but by 10/02/02, I was driving the Z I wanted. That's all I wanted: resolution of my problem.

This just my humble opinion. Companies just respond better to well thought out letters. Lawsuits are great as a last resort. I hope my experience can help my Z brothers and sisters.

BTW, Nissan called me to replace my front tires for free. Now my rear tires still wear faster than any other car I have ever owned...and I don't mind at all.

 

King Tut. Do you really think you have an idea why insurance rates are high? I'll give you two hints; 1.) Its not attorneys, and 2.) Its not the doctors.

Any guesses?

~AJ