Now that it’s getting close to eighty thousand miles ( and is sort of paid off ) we are increasingly having to put some money into it and given some of the things we do not love about it, we’re considering trading it in.

Here are a list of the major grumbles we have, followed by a list of things we do like.

* The glovebox is very designed. You get used to it, of course, but compared to our “nice” auto, a Toyota Avalon, it feels embarrassingly loud. * The 95 Altimas apparently have a timing chain GUIDE which tends to break and require fixing (a couple hundred bucks’ worth ). Naturally this is broke, though this appears to me to be a design flaw and something that Nissan should at least help out with. When ours made noise I had to do research on the web to discover why in the world our timing chain was noisy at 70,000 miles. * we have had to have 4 different oil leaks — in different places in the oil system — replaced over the last 2 years, and we change our oil each three thousand to four thousand miles! This gets dear. * To replace the struts, which we must have done this month, the back seat has to work costs. One estimate for both struts was $460. * The brakes squeak infrequently and no shop can ever figure out why.

* The vehicle overall handles well and does have some pep to it. * It has a map light in addition to the overhead dome light. * The dashboard ( except for the glovebox ) is curvy and makes the automobile appear more “expensive” than it is. * The trunk is pretty spacious for the automobile’s size. On trips I use a tiny lumbar pillow, but that’s normal. * the inside, a light grey, is pretty straightforward to keep clean. Without them, storage would be just about nonexistent. .

95 Nissan Altima

94 Nissan Altima