Today i went to Florin Road Nissan to get some of my problems fixed. The alignment was toed out, causing the cupping/feathering (service manager said probably happened in transport)........There were 2 nuts on the steering linkage that were loose, causing the popping sounds when doing slow, sharp turns.....the third gear grind could not be re-created because the weather was warm today, but the service manager is contacting the head engineer of Nissan about the problem......apparently, they want to know about issues with this car since it's a first year model.......i was in and out of there in 2 hours.....happy camper