What's With Infiniti Reliability These Days?
 

I've been really excited about the prospect of trading up for a G37 when it comes out, but I just read the article where Consumer Reports' reliability ratings show Infiniti dropped to 28th place from 7th. WTF? How many brands are there anyway? That's got to be near the bottom. They cited the FX35 and Q45 being two of the worst vehicles on the road. They said the M was doing well so far, but I'm more than a bit worried. I thought Carlos had worked things out. Nissan is nowhere near the top 10 either. Mitsubishi is in 4th place!

This isn't exactly going to help my resale either. :eek:

Yea, I saw the same report....

I thought I read that the poor quality ratings for Infiniti were mostly due to the QX56. To my knowledge, the G35s were not responsible.

Carlos is the biggest piece of shi+ ever. My last Nissan went through two trannys and 1 engine and numerous interior parts. Sorry I had to vent, I hate that douche bag.

meh.. who cares.. Our V6 runs just fine and until it starts acting up, CR can you know what... I'm enjoying every minute with this car even if it does leave a few things to be desired.

Consumer Reports has a good reputation: they don't accept ads for any one but themselves. And for the most part, they are decent at what they do: Evaluate Products.

CR will criticize a Corvette for having too firm a ride; a Prius for being too slow, and an Armada for being too difficult to park at the local Wal-Mart.

Problem is that car ownership for most of us is EXTREAMLY subjective. See all the BMW v IS v TL v A4 v Altima discussions.

When you consider their FACTS, consider where they come from. They come from READERS of Consumer Reports - they Poll their own readers. Are YOU a subscriber? I am guessing most of us are not, and less of us participated in a CR poll.

CR gives us “facts” based on people we have nothing in common with. Even the reliability polls are questionable. Sure, a blown engine or tranny is pretty absolute. But many of their other parameters are vague.

For extremely utilitarian items (stoves, refrigerators, Leaf blowers) the CR value is important; these are things that people could give a rat’s *** about. We need one, and they are all the same. Cars, Home Theater Gear, well, I think there is a bit more of an emotional aspect that CR just can’t capture.

I agree completely with the above post. I am a subscriber to CR and have participated in some of their polls. You are exactly right, what their polls fail to capture is the "emotion" involved with many items.

CR does, however, think highly of many Nissan products. The Maxima, Altima, 350Z, G35, Murano, FX35, Pathfinder, and Frontier are all marked as either "recommended" or highly "recommended" choices on their website.

Look at some of the others in the bottom ten. Porsche? As far as I know Porsche has not been outside the top ten for reliabilty in any report in the last 10 years. The Cayenne drug them down (they were rated WORST in CR), the same way the QX drug Infiniti down. It's a shame one model played such a big factor in the rankings, because it is not indicative of overall quality.

Also note the QX is the only American made Infiniti model, made in the same plant as the problematic Titan and Armada.

JD Power & Associates still ranks Infiniti well in the top 10 (I believe just below Acura) in terms of late model reliability. The QX56, Armada, Titan, and Quest have really drug Nissan/Infiniti down in terms of their shoddy reliability. The QX56/Titan/Armada (same chassis) have some of the worst reliability of any car on the road.

I think the G35 is a superb car and CR agrees. On thing I do fault Nissan with is thier choice of using that POS Asisn 6MT. Asisn can't figure out how to keep the tranny from breaking and making nasty sounds and vibrations. It's a real shame and it was the primary reason I went with the 5AT. If I was Nissan, I would have dumped Asisn back in 05 and went with Borg Warner 6MT from the Vette/Viper/Cobra.

I've been reading Consumer reports for years and the reliability ratings tend to be dead-on. I was always able to identify problem issues with the cars I owned, like rust on my old Celica and Corolla, brakes on my Altima, etc.

My current G has been outstanding, though my last G had brake problems, which CR identified as well. These are reports of various mechanical/quality issues from owners, so they tend to ring true. JD Power is not quite as reliable as a measure of true quality. The "Initial" quality ratings don't count nearly as much as more long-term measures used by CR. That's why the American brands fare so well in their ratings.

My real concern in addition to resale value, is that some of the newest cars from Nissan/Inifiti aren't doing well and there's not enough of a history on the M-series. I seriously hope the next G is still made in Japan. I do not like cars that have lots of problems, which is why I steered clear of Euro cars. There's no reason why Nissan/Inifinti should have any bad ratings. You don't see that from Acura, Lexus and Toyota. Evidently the new Accord isn't all that great either though.

I don't think Carlos Ghosn has anything to do with the reliability issues. Most of the cars that tend to have a poor reliability rating tend to be produced in US... All other Infinitis are made in Japan which have pretty good reliability (maybe the build quality and interior materials suffers a little with Ghosn's cost cutting, but there will be no Infiniti and no G35 if he didn't come in and save Nissan). It is just another stage that he had to do to revive the company and make better progress for the next production. Look at the difference between the last M45 and the new M45. It is him revive Nissan, improve on the complains, make better cars, and let us sit on the net and talk about our Nissan/Infiniti.

How can you Bash Carlos Ghosn?

He's the man that turned Nissan around 180 degrees. He brought back the Z, killed the G20 and brought the g35, and is now getting ready to unveil the Skyline to the US and the rest of the world.

I believe many great points are made in the thread.

--the Q56 is the weight that pulls down Infiniti QC ratings—I think it was one of the worst in the industry.
--the “VQ” V6 used in our G’s, the M35’s, 350Zs, etc. is an industry standard and that is well understood.
--CR is based on “reader” polls and we know some readers believe that low MPG, difficult ergonomics indicate “quality problems”. That said, brake issues, crappy buttons/switches have also been identified in CR…

Regarding the eventual G37s: yes, my biggest fear is that Nissan/Infiniti will rush the product to market. BMW, Audi, M-B are in an “arms race”, so they push the cars out the door and have to correct so many problems in subsequent model years, that people (like me) won’t even consider their vehicles. I hope Nissan avoids that trap—though I’ll keep our ’06 G35x for 5 years without a question and the (I HOPE!) G37x will have any bugs worked out.

To that, I just won’t buy a first year model. Even the 2005 Toyota Avalons have rattles and groans—if they aren’t perfect in the first year, no one else will be.

I don't think the G37 will be rushed. My only basis for that assumption is how well the G35 did and the fact that Infiniti has remained true to its 4-year schedule despite a steep loss of sales to the new IS/3-series. I think they are content producing a car that will create waves just like the G35 and will get them solid sales for 3.5 years rather than rushing a product out just to compete with offerings from other manufacturers as they're released.

As for it being built in Japan. I wouldn't even consider buying one if it weren't. The Canton plant has been a disaster for Nissan and I don't want to be part of their group of beta-testing car owners trying to work out the kinks.

It's the models that are made in the US (QX56) at the new Nissan plant in Mississippi that are dragging down Infiniti's reliability numbers. Nissan had to bring in a bunch of engineers from Japan to get things better there. Turns out backwards Mississippians can't be trained on how to build vehicles. The G Coupe is made in Nissan's best factory, Tochigi, in Japan. BIG difference! My G Coupe has been faultless- now at 17,000 miles. I won't buy a vehicle unless it has a MADE IN JAPAN sticker.