Is the Nissan Altima hybrid a lemon?
Either works great or terribly?There are a few hybrid cars that owners often complain about when it comes to fuel economy, such as the Lexus RX400h hybrid and the Toyota Highlander hybrid. These two hybrids, unlike the Prius hybrid, were designed as a balance between fuel economy and performance. This has led to fuel efficiency disappointment with some owners. Of course, other owners love these vehicles.
The hybrid complaints regarding the Nissan Altima hybrid, however, take the hybrid lemon cake. Now, many Altima hybrid owners love their car, but a significant percent of Altima hybrid testimonials indicate that owners are having serious problems, as their hybrids are falling far short of EPA estimates. One of the biggest problems, the EV light only comes on when fully stopped.
Just as bad as these problems, Nissan dealerships, according to these owners, seem completely oblivious to the problems and unable, or unwilling, to help. It's bad enough these hybrid buyers are having problems, but, once again, dealerships are coming up far short.
More hybrid reviews and testimonials.
Labels: Hybrid Vehicles, nissan altima hybrid
posted by Dahcredyns at
10:24 AM
22 Comments:
I've had my 2007 for 38k miles with not a single issue. Runs in EV mode up to 42 MPH on level roads. No, it does not meet the claimed EPA mileage for an '07, but I beat the '08 estimates and get ~37-38 highway in these warmer months. My son also has one with similar experiences.
It looks like big hybrid cars e.g. Camry and Altima are not really efficient unless you drive at least 20 miles a day. Perhaps, it is concerned with engine volume and time needed to warm it up.
i don't know that i can make such a generalization based upon my experience. if i drive short distances, its always stop and go and my fuel economy is always above estimates in my camry hybrid. i could imagine, however, that if you're just cruising 5 miles down the freeway at a constant speed, the hybrid powertrain probably doesn't offer much gain in fuel economy. so i think driving conditions play a huge role.
It is exactly the Camry hybrid. If I drive five miles after several hours break, it gets only 30-33mpg. In fact, on a freeway it gets more!!!! However, if I drive 40 miles in highway-city mixed cycle, I easily get 38-40mpg. This is a mistery :-)
BTW, start-stop is definitely worse than a highway where you go with an optimal speed of 55-60 mph. I think that estimates that favor city driving has been obtained under assumptions that the highway speed is 65-75 mph. At this speed, the hybrid is about 10% less efficient.
This post has been removed by the author.
I suppose that Altima-hybrid that is about as big as Camry hybrid might have the same problem. As I noted before, one of the possible reasons is that that until the engine is not warmed up properly, it is not efficient. So, it takes less time for Prius with it 1.5 liter engine (vs 2.5 in Camry or Altima) to warm up.
your engine assumptions make a lot of sense. i have more experience in a prius than a camry hybrid, to which i'm fairly new, so i'm not as sensitized to all the driving conditions that you've experienced in the camry hybrid. to me the camry hybrid is almost a whole different experience, but i really like it, especially the much better lumbar support, which i desperately needed.
still, the problems with the altima hybrid seem a bit different, especially the far number of drivers that don't ever seem to get into EV mode - makes me suspect some kind of software issue.
I've heard nothing but good things about the Nissan Altima Hybrid.
Not me. About a third of the Altima hybrid owners leaving their testimonials on this site are pretty disappointed with their hybrids. The other two thirds love the vehicle.
I don't think Camry hybrid has the thermo bottle to store hot coolant to reuse in the next cold start up.
Prius in the US has this feature as standard. During cold weather (40 deg F), thermo bottle bring this up to 70 deg F. This speeds up the Prius warm up process and get great MPGs quicker.
See it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjdUr2BD6R4
paulldvd,
~37-38 on the highway is low. You must be driving very fast (~80 MPH?).
I do not drive on flat roads on the highway. There are many elevation changes which hurts the mileage somewhat. I drive right around 70 to go with the flow. My son gets just about the same MPG and he drives a similar route to work as well. I am quite happy with that MPG for the size vehicle it is.
My Altima Hybrid with 20 miles on it is back at the stealership for a second time. Battery failure again. No one from the stealership will take/return a phone call...my only contact has been with corporate.
"stealership" - great word, although i'm sorry for your troubles.
nissan altima hybrid 2008 12000 miles idols rough in morning and night coolant leaking into engine recently found problem a new engine is required on a 1 yr old car this car is suppose to be new not having these type of problems also EV mode levels always vary . I'm very unhappy with this purchase I'd never buy a Nissan again service is horrible. first day i brough car home I went outside to show a friend my new car, car battery dead this was embarassing car stealership had to come tow car back to lot first day, this should have been the sign to me. my tire pressure always is bad. this is so disheartening my car was to be the car I retired with but guess what it's not. unhappy owner I hate Nissans.
i think i would try to demand a new vehicle. i know of at least one person that Nissan did a total vehicle replacement after numerous problems with their hybrid. since they have to replace the engine and you're having other problems, i think you might have a chance at making the case.
still, you'll almost certainly have to go over your dealer's head and get Nissan corporate involved.
I had my 2009 Altima Hybrid for 3300 miles and I had to bring it to the dealer with engine problems.s
I am about to buy a new '09 Altima hybrid but having read of troubles with engine rev, EV lights, battery... I am very much conserned. Can anyone say that Nissan has correctly diagnosed and fixed these problems as well as addressed their less than admirable customer service at dealership level?
Well, most of the people that have complained about their Altima hybrid performance on this site have not returned to discuss how well Nissan responded to their problems.
Most Altima hybrids seem to be working fine, but there are bugs. Moreover, how much does Nissan really care? This isn't really their hybrid powertrain, and it will probably be replaced by Nissan's proprietary powertrain eventually.
So, you are taking a little risk it seems to me.
I just bought a NAH 2009. At 700 miles on the odometer, I lost all power in the gas engine when I was driving on the freeway. The next day, the car would not go into drive and had to be towed to the dealership. They did the "tests" and said that nothing was wrong with it. I am not confident with the dealership's service and I am afraid the same problems will arise.
I've heard of that problem before, and it is very reminiscent of an early software bug that affected early 2nd gen Prius hybrids.
One would assume that software was updated when given to Nissan, unless Nissan just used the technology and wrote their own code.
I bought my hybrid back in may 08. Within the first few days, the battery died on me. I had to have someone help me spark the battery. I took the car to the stealership and after telling them the battery wasn't working, they found nothing wrong. After coming back home dissapointed, it died on me again. I then towed the car back to the stealership and after another test, they replaced the battery.
I am not getting any of the EPA millage that the car is "suppose" to be getting. A few months ago, the radio and the lights inside the car would stay on for about 30 minutes after i turned off, ,and turn on the alarm. They have not found a problem with that either. Now, my car is at the stealership because I was on the frwy and when I pressed the gas peddal, the car would not accelerate. When it did, the speedometer went up to 80 mpg, and I know I was driving at most 30mpg. I wonder whats going to happen next. I already contacted Nissan Corp and the Better Business Bureau and Im thinking of looking into the Lemon Law and getting an attorney to start a case.
2008 NISSAN hybrid. 18k in shop for 6 weeks because of carbon on the heads. The car is crap. when I got it back today it was dirty. Grease all over the motor compartment. It took me all afternoon to clean the car up. They can not explain why it happened or what to do about it. I guess i will have to plan on a rebuild once a year.
Post a Comment
<< Home