2012 Nissan Quest Long-Term Road Test


Edmunds.com spent the past year with a 2012 Nissan Quest. How did the Minivan hold up?
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Edmunds.com spent the past year with a 2012 Nissan Quest. How did the Minivan hold up?
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Well that title is BS lol... it seems like most of your testers actually preferred its stand out driving dynamics ... and just the fact it had some differences in styling love em or hate at least there are differences. I am curious who will be the first to throw a diesel in a mini-van. Maybe Chrysler since they are already putting one in the Grand Cherokee... who ever does this will be who earns my business.
I will go to sleep tonight with fear that someone has made something worse then the 2005 Uplander/Montana SV6/Relay/Tasmanian or whatever that quadruple atrocity the now thankfully former management at GM let creep onto dealerships and into the fears of millions. Some things are best left forgotten.
Unfortunately, now after three years and about 32k miles, I regret my decision. The Quest still rides great, but the CVT seems to get worse with age. The throttle tip in and CVT operation is so sporadic it is nearly impossible to drive smoothly from a stand still. You either lurch terrible or you take off so gently that the CVT "upshifts" to soon and you have to get back on the throttle abnormally hard. I am a very picky "car guy" so this is driving me crazy! Also, this winter is really getting the best of the Quest. This van is the worst vehicle for winter roads I have ever owned! Bar none. The traction control and ABS calibration are awful. It is almost like Nissan wants the van to slide through every intersection. The traction control makes a ton of noise during wheel slip but does almost nothing to correct it. Couple these gripes with the terrible stock tires and this vehicle is a disaster waiting to happen on snowy roads. The tires are pretty much worn out after 32000 miles, despite being rotated at almost every oil change. The front doors are so flimsy you can see the bottoms of the doors "bounce" when you close them. The headliner is made from the cheapest material I have seen in any vehicle since the 80's, and the seat foam is starting to break down on the drivers seat already.
Initially, the vehicle seemed like a good choice, but after owning one for a lengthy amount of time it is obvious why Nissan has such terrible resale values. I am so sick of this vehicle I tried to trade it in and discovered that I am stuck with it because it has deprecated so much. Apparently I am not the only one who does not want to buy another Nissan product.
I put Nokian WRG2s on the van when we moved to the UP. Still didn't help a lot in the winter, but it did much better in the wet.
Good luck with the rest of the time you are stuck with it.... We would up getting a used Grand Caravan when the Quest hit 200k and starting having more frequent issues. The AC leak was the last straw. That said, I'm sure the kid who got it is still driving it.