CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2014-2017 Nissan Versa Note has an expensive CVT transmission failure defect that shows up plainly in our complaint data from earlier model years for the same generation.
Because many owners commonly drive 20,000 miles/year or more, Versa Note owners experiencing CVT transmission problems may find they are not covered by this settlement due to the mileage limitation.
I bought this car certified pre-owned from Enterprise Car Sales, in large part because of their 109-point inspection and 12 month powertrain warranty. The warranty is worthless, because the Nissan dealership cannot find a problem: the engine light is NOT on, the car does NOT misbehave for the mechanic, and it throws NO codes. Yet . . . when I'm accelerating, particularly from a stop or low speeds, to 50 mph or so, quickly, all hell breaks lose -- but only intermittenly: the car surges, lurches, bucks, and shakes violently as it tries to shift gears.
I have called Nissan to see if I can get the CVT worked on. The dealership wants to charge $138 for diagnostics that probably won't show anything, and that gets me nowhere. The warranty doesn't cover diagnostics. Where is the consumer protection in all this?! I'm totally in a Catch-22, and screwed.
And Enterprise . . . it turns out that in their 109-point inspection, they don't actually inspect the transmission fluid (which is one relatively low cost thing that could be causing problems, if it's dirty, due to very rough driving by previous owners of the rental car; usually it doesn't need to be drained and replaced until 60K), unless the transmission has obvious problems (is throwing a code), or is leaking. Furthermore, is seeing if I could sell the car back, 8 months after purchase ... I would lose $2500 in the transaction! The warranty sounds nice -- but in a situation where the CVT problem can't be diagnosed until I've actually had a crash or something . . . it's worthless.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought this car certified pre-owned from Enterprise Car Sales, in large part because of their 109-point inspection and 12 month powertrain warranty. The warranty is worthless, because the Nissan dealership cannot find a problem: the engine light is NOT on, the car does NOT misbehave for the mechanic, and it throws NO codes. Yet . . . when I'm accelerating, particularly from a stop or low speeds, to 50 mph or so, quickly, all hell breaks lose -- but only intermittenly: the car surges, lurches, bucks, and shakes violently as it tries to shift gears.
I have called Nissan to see if I can get the CVT worked on. The dealership wants to charge $138 for diagnostics that probably won't show anything, and that gets me nowhere. The warranty doesn't cover diagnostics. Where is the consumer protection in all this?! I'm totally in a Catch-22, and screwed.
And Enterprise . . . it turns out that in their 109-point inspection, they don't actually inspect the transmission fluid (which is one relatively low cost thing that could be causing problems, if it's dirty, due to very rough driving by previous owners of the rental car; usually it doesn't need to be drained and replaced until 60K), unless the transmission has obvious problems (is throwing a code), or is leaking. Furthermore, is seeing if I could sell the car back, 8 months after purchase ... I would lose $2500 in the transaction! The warranty sounds nice -- but in a situation where the CVT problem can't be diagnosed until I've actually had a crash or something . . . it's worthless.
- Cheryl M., Blauvelt, NY, US