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Nissan Quest 2004+

2475 messages,  Last post on Nov 04, 2011 at 3:34 PM

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What is this discussion about? Nissan Quest, Van

Messages Page 201 of 249

#1992 of 2475 My good fortune with the Quest by vinhphuc

May 06, 2006 (9:36 am)

Hi everyone,
I'd like to share with all of you, especially those in the market for a minivan, my good fortune story with the Quest. In May 2005, we bought a Quest O5 SE and since then, have accumulated about ~8500 miles. I, as the main driver, have used it mostly in city. For our conditions (70% city/30% freeway), the MPG is ~17, but this improves up to 26-28 MPG on the long trips we have taken. One word to describe how this van has performed for us: FLAWLESS! I've had a blast driving this van. In comparison one of my male friends having to drive a Toyota Sienna told me his friends at work teased him to be the most "un-sexy" dad! That's an issue for other forums, right? At least, I don't feel that way! Everybody, including my wife and 2-year old daughter, who rode in this van just LOVED it. They all loved the Quest from its styling to the spacious interior, the "stadium seating" of the 3rd row, the Skyview roof, the 2-screen DVD system, and let's not forget, the central pod. Yes, the central pod all the reviewers, including Edmunds's site, LOVE TO HATE. My one (maybe two) word to these people: GET LOST! My 2 sisters-in-law, my own sister and their kids love to call my van the "spaceship" with its pod and interior design. All, including my wife who's very critical on everything, think this is cool while retaining all the practicality. When we were shopping for a minivan, I as many other people, worried about the Quest for its assembly problems. Therefore we also looked at the Toyota Sienna XLE (w/ package #7 for comparable equipment). While Sienna is a finely built vehicle, the Quest edges it out for the following reasons. First, IMO the Quest exterior style is unique. All the other vans, including the Sienna even though just redesigned, have the same general form. Not appealing at all to me. For that reason, we didn't even bother to look at Honda Odyssey (has it even been redesigned?!!! ). Second, the Quest spacious interior is second to none. My head ALMOST touched the Sienna ceiling with the lowest seat setting, while I still have at least 2-3 inches in the Quest. The Quest "central aisle" allows my wife to go back and forth to tend to our daughter much easier than the Sienna. No 'stadium seating" in the Sienna either. Overall the Quest with its Skyview roof gave us an airy, comfortable feeling while we just felt claustrophobic or "being in the dark" in other vans. We have transported a few bulky items and the Quest never gave us any problem. The fold-flat 2nd row is extremely convenient because we can carry whatever big items to a destination, unload them, and with the seats back up, can now carry 7 people. The Sienna made you either roll the 2nd row seats up front (still taking some space vs the Quest fold-flat seats), or remove them completely (How do you carry people at your new destination, making them sit on the van floor?!!!). As for the "fewer" storage compartments in the Quest vs other vans (as some reviewers pointed out!), let me just say this. A few times we had 3 kids, 4 adults with all the luggages, DVDs, drinks, food, books, toys, etc. and NO ONE ever said a word about not being to store the things they want to carry along. Hum, that makes me wonder what they carried along when these reviewers test drove the Quest? Their whole house?! Move on... Finally our Quest has been ABSOLUTELY trouble-free. JUST FLAWLESS AND WE LOVE IT. We cannot ask for any better van. So my advice to the new minivan shoppers: Ask yourself this question, "Do I want to be in the same mold as everybody else or want to have something different?" If you'd rather eat vanilla ice cream ALL THE TIME, then all the other minivans are there for you, but if you like variety in your life, then you ought to give yourself a chance to look and test drive the Quest. My personal belief about the Quest failure to capture a wider audience resides in its assembly quality, and nothing else. I sincerely believe that Nissan either rushed the Quest out in the market too fast before conducting all the necessary tests to see if all the parts perform well in the longer-term tests. Or they slack up in their quality control at their assembly plants. However I also believe they corrected most of their assembly quality problems since most of the posts in these forums are related to the Quests 03 or 04, and not 05 (like mine) or 06. My final word: Quest is ABSOLUTELY a fine minivan in whatever aspect you choose to look at. As a new buyer, you make a HUGE mistake if you rule it out because of many complaints related to the 04 Quests. Remember, vanilla ice cream or something else?
Good driving to everyone,
Phuc

#1993 of 2475 Re: My good fortune with the Quest [vinhphuc] by exploder750

May 06, 2006 (3:28 pm)

Replying to: vinhphuc (May 06, 2006 9:36 am)
Excellent write up. My wifes loves our '04 Quest S. I stay on top of the recall and other nickel-dime squeek issues, and she's very happy.

#1994 of 2475 Re: My good fortune with the Quest [vinhphuc] by carzzz

May 06, 2006 (8:33 pm)

Replying to: vinhphuc (May 06, 2006 9:36 am)
I agree that Quest is a great van that has spacious interior, fun to drive (as a van), fold-down 2nd row, hidden storage, TPMS, Center Gauges, sky-view, etc...
However, it lacks some of the great features against the competitors. Hum... 2nd row up/down windows, full length side curtain, split fold 3rd row, spring assist 3rd row, head rests must be removed when fold flat (2007 has the spring assist and 2nd row fold down without removing head rests), HID or projector headlights, 4WD, 8 seats capacity, etc
Fact: honda sold 16850 Ody and Toyota sold 13912 sienna last month. Sadly. Nissan could sold only 2489 Quest. The sales for both sienna and ody went up while quest sales went down.
IMO, there are a few reasons behind this because of it lacks many features/contents (listed above) and many people can only peek the gauges through the steering wheel rather than move the eyes slightly down right and lastly the consumer report rated "POOR" on reliability. Hopefully, it will be redesigned on MY2009 and stay ahead on the competition.

#1995 of 2475 Re: My good fortune with the Quest [carzzz] by ivan_99

May 07, 2006 (12:42 am)

Replying to: carzzz (May 06, 2006 8:33 pm)
However, it lacks some of the great features against the competitors. Hum... 2nd row up/down windows, full length side curtain, split fold 3rd row, spring assist 3rd row, head rests must be removed when fold flat (2007 has the spring assist and 2nd row fold down without removing head rests), HID or projector headlights, 4WD, 8 seats capacity, etc
 
By full length side curtain do you mean extend to the third row?
 
I know my 05 SE has a full curtain to the 3rd row…and believe it was the only one available with it when I purchased it. I think…not certain, that the 06’s have them standard…and in 05 you needed to get the SE.
 
Most all of the other items you mention revolve around the 3rd row seat…I’ve folded mine down once and it worked and functioned perfectly. If every other day I was folding it down I may want the head restraints integrated so they move in to the floor.
 
2nd row windows…don’t care for them…have trouble with the kids sticking their hands out the rear windows as it is. Either I’m on the highway…so all windows are closed…or it’s either too hot or too cold to leave the windows open.
 
HID’s…not a deal breaker, would be nice.
 
4WD…don’t want it.
 
8 seat…ok…if they have a few engineers sitting around not doing anything they could work on this.

#1996 of 2475 Re: My good fortune with the Quest [ivan_99] by carzzz

May 07, 2006 (7:42 am)

Replying to: ivan_99 (May 07, 2006 12:42 am)
It does not have a full length side curtains, which cover from 1st row to 3rd row in full... go to nissanusa.com and click "safety", you can see the van has side curtain standard, however, the side curtains cover only about half both first row and second row. Yes, the 3rd row gets well protected.
 
What about trizone climate control, teloscopic steering wheel, more gear selections... i havent listed, but i found those thing are not as useful. The average buyer may want features i listed on post #1994! That's why they pick others over quest... also, i have 2 other points on the #1994 that also causes the poor sales. Lastly, many people describe it has too much hard plastic in the car! However, I like this interior a lot, IMO the interior is just as good as ody and sienna (my eyes are good and dont need an eye examination )!

#1997 of 2475 Re: My good fortune with the Quest [carzzz] by garandman

May 07, 2006 (5:24 pm)

Replying to: carzzz (May 06, 2006 8:33 pm)
head rests must be removed when fold flat
 
If you move the front seats forward a bit and the headrest is down, you can leave them onnow - we do it all the time.

#1998 of 2475 Re: My good fortune with the Quest [carzzz] by ivan_99

May 07, 2006 (8:22 pm)

Replying to: carzzz (May 07, 2006 7:42 am)
It does not have a full length side curtains, which cover from 1st row to 3rd row in full... go to nissanusa.com and click "safety", you can see the van has side curtain standard, however, the side curtains cover only about half both first row and second row. Yes, the 3rd row gets well protected.
 
Still don't see it...it shows all the areas where your head may come in contact covered by the side air bag.
 

 
"Side Curtain Air Bags*
Roof-mounted curtain side-impact supplemental air bags help provide enhanced head protection for front-, second-, and third-row outboard passengers."
 
Tri-zone...agreed...wouldn't quad zone be better. Front Passenger - 1 and Front Driver - 2, 2nd row seats - 3, 3rd row seats - 4

#1999 of 2475 Re: New Review [garandman] by claires HOST

May 07, 2006 (11:12 pm)

Replying to: garandman (May 04, 2006 9:15 pm)
Everyone's opinion is welcome, but it's limited to their opinions about cars -- not other posters. Because everyone's entitled to an opinion about cars, you're likely to see posts that bother you; the best way to deal with them is to pass over them without engaging the poster or acknowledging the post. If you have problems with the moderation of the Forums, I'll be happy to discuss it via email; doing so here only bogs the discussion down.

#2000 of 2475 Re: Hitch & Bike Carrier [dtownfb] by famof3kids

May 08, 2006 (6:31 am)

Replying to: dtownfb (May 05, 2006 11:02 am)
The hitch is a class III hitch, rated for 3500lbs.

#2001 of 2475 Re: Hitch & Bike Carrier [famof3kids] by ydchoe

May 08, 2006 (9:10 am)

Replying to: famof3kids (May 08, 2006 6:31 am)
Thank you very much for sharing. It looks great! Are you plan to install a Transmission Cooler as well?

Messages Page 201 of 249

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