2010 NISSAN Pathfinder reviews

Nissan Pathfinder Tekna 2010

Hi! I bought a new Tekna in June 2010 as I needed a reliable 4x4 with 7 seats. I absolutely loved the car, it’s so nice to drive, with excellent space for the family and enough room in the boot for a pushchair and shopping with 7 seats out. Then in May this year it made a clonking noise and stopped moving. The local dealer took it in and said there had been a major fault with the rear differential, which needed replacing which was done under the warranty. It had its annual service a month later where they told me they had found a severe leak (sorry can’t remember the details), so it went in and was fixed under the warranty again. Since the rear differential was ’fixed’ I had noticed that when setting off from standstill and going up hills the car would shudder a little until it moved into a different gear. When one of the rear door handle hinges broke last week I rang up the dealership and explained to them about the door handle and the shuddering. The car went in today and I was told that the front differential has now gone and that the engineer had reported it looked like ’driver abuse’ !!! The service rep first asked me if I was the only driver of the car, which I am apart from occasionally when my husband drives it, but he only ever really drives it when the whole family are in it. I asked the service rep what would constitute driver abuse, he replied driving really fast, wheel spinning and driving it like a rally car. I am a housewife who does the school run, pops to the shops etc. I am no rally driver! The service rep knows me from my very many dealings with him in the past and he said that he had told the engineer that I wasn’t ’the type’! He also asked if I always used it in 4x4. I leave it in Auto, which the salesman told me to do as the car should change automatically from 2-4wd depending on the terrain etc. - Is that right? So they have sent the details to Nissan to approve the warranty. What concerns me is if the engineer has written - looks like driver abuse, then they may try to get out of covering it. I’ve searched the internet for similar experiences of the 2010 model, but haven’t found anything yet. And even if they do fix it for free how many more problems will I face? Why have I had so many problems? I know that you get ’niggles’ with new cars - fair enough, but these are major faults and I really don’t want to be acussed of wrecking what should be a pretty robust car. The trouble is that I researched buying this car so thoroughly, it was the best car for us and I would be reluctant to buy a different make, but I’m thinking that maybe the best option in the near future. I’m Gutted!