Thread: P11 Thoughts

Hey everyone. My parents are going to be in the market for a newer car as my 92 Sentra XE that my dad drives will no longer pass emissions. Props for it making it to 238,000 miles before that happened though.


Anyhow, I've been researching cars and well I'm not too happy with current selections.

I was going to recommend something maybe like 2-3 years old, because of warranty reasons. An automatic transmission is a must.

My car list was the following
Nissan Versa
Honda Civic
Toyota Corolla
Honda Fit
Toyota Yaris
Mazda 3

I just don't like what I'm reading about some of the problems that are showing up on these newer cars.


Is the P11 Automatic a largely trouble free car? I'd appreciate any info you guys have on the subject. I know the car would be out of warranty but hey if its of good quality then warranty isn't really needed.


Let me know what you guys think of the 99-2002 P11 Automatic. Pros and Cons would be great.

I'm leaning toward a 2002 because I think I can find something with lower mileage.

I daily a 02 P11 and I will say the car is 100% trouble free. It gets great gas milage and is very comfortable.

Only downfall is that the car is very under powered and it has no cup holders. I just pump gas change oil and drive. I bought the car with thirty thousand miles and it now has 104,000 and the only thing I had to replace was the starter.

Overall it's a decent car.

Sweet. Thanks SE-Rican. Ownership of 70,000 miles and trouble free is great to hear.

Dead slow, but for most parents it's good enough. 00+ Auto trans are weaker then the previous years. Kinda funny that 00+ manual transmissions are one of the strongest. Guess Nissan spent on the money on the manual transmissions .

I got 29-30 mpg highway, and 16mpg city. Most people should have much better city MPG's because mine consisted of a 3 mile trip and lots of stop lights (so lots of driving while car is not warmed up).

00+ have bad/weak mafs, as soon as the car looses power or starts getting horrible gas mileage, you can bet that it's the maf.

IACV's are crappy too, mine went out from hitting a curb :o . Luckily I have a parts car. Otherwise $100+ fix.

Transmissions go into safe mode fairly easily. One way is to be low on ATF, another is to have a weak battery. If your battery voltage dips below 10v when your starting, the auto trans stays in 3rd gear until you restart the car.

Engine overall is much weaker, avoid rev limiters, but should be fine for normal driving.

Transponder keys, $180 to get a new one at the stealership. Key system is much better then on the Sentra's, so IMO transponders are not a must on these cars.

Now onto the good

4cw crank and roller rockers make the car feel really torque down low. Low the way it feels when just trying to speed up, so so mid-rage power range and crappy top end though.

Should get good gas mileage due to great aerodynamics, and fairly low friction engine (roller rockers/ 4cw crank).

AC works better then any of the Sentras (maybe B15 is as good?).

Great sound system, and fairly quiet cabin. Bose sound system is fairly good, didn't even bother with replacing it.

My favorite thing about my P11 is the Bose sound system!