radin2son

1. Mr Olaf's paint? 2. The Boxer Rebellion inside the NV? 3. Rick's solution for the GPS-Bluetooth conflict? 4. The NV too big to garage? 5. Stuck in park and places to go? 6. 3x the charm to replace the steering assembly? 7. The polite service consultant's phone call? There have to be more.

What's up with Truck Trend picking on Nissan for a second April Fools in a row? Don't they know their story about the GT-R Titan Edition obscures the new NV, the Nismo-Patrol, a factory 4x4, diesel or gas with too many to mention shared Titan parts and options. The Nismo-Patrol developed to be a support/follow vehicle for off road truck racing will be available on 4/1/16. "The Euro vans can't do this. NV can!" Source: April F.

On at least one occasion, we have had a similar problem, but we're able to get it out of park. Not sure if this is related to the problem or not, but we had been driving using the shift button when we stopped and switched drivers. My wife couldn't get it to shift out of park. I turned the engine off/on, "mashed" the brake pedal, then pushed the button at the end of the shift lever and was able to get it to shift. Not easily, however. When you get it to the dealer, have them check the shift plate. Unless they changed the design, it still could be incorrectly installed. It was an early recall item. There also is a "Car Talk" solution. Set the parking brake before you shift to park. This primarily was related to parking on an incline and putting it in "park" then setting the parking brake; it makes it hard to get out of park. I rarely remember to do this...

Ford Transit has a Quigley version at the Chicago Auto Show. No details, just a photo.

"There you go again" as Reagon put it. I doubt you or anyone else would not pick up a pre-paid part. Nuance often is lacking or missed in email, so if you intended otherwise... Twice now, Jim Click Nissan has ordered a part for me when I scheduled service. I paid for the part (sensor) and glove box latch, covered by the warranty, when I paid for the service. In another instance, I needed an antena for my 10 year old VW, so I dropped by the VW dealership to order one. The parts department had one another customer ordered but did not pick up. They called him to see when he was coming in, and as it turned out the one I ordered would come in before he planned. He was fine with them selling me the one he ordered. I was happy and the parts department did more than I expected.

Part of the problem is dependence on low to no inventory. This is a great business model but not so great for the consumer. The remedy is to order the part, then bring your van in, particularly if you bought the van there. How often will the dealer get stuck with a part, mirrors, sensors etc, that will be replaced often? At least the next van owner needing the part will be happy because the part was "in stock."

You will have to let us know which of the 10 dealerships you settle on for service. Easy to fix mirror, but also easy to break the plastic swivel after a few summers in our heat. Not that metal would be much better... Wonder when mirrors will be replaced with "all around cameras" that Leaf offers as an option.

I hope over time more NV commercial dealers join and participate in this forum. Rick's point about the broken mirror is a good one. I believe he is a commercial NV owner who needs his van and doesn't have time to come in twice to have his problem resolved by the dealer. Assuming, and this is a big assumption, Rick has a dealer he likes and goes to for service, the question from that dealer's parts department should have been right or left? If not in stock, order it and have Rick come in. As a group, we are almost a cashless society. We deal with retailers and service providers all the time on the phone and online. When is the auto industry going to catch up? Why couldn't Rick use his credit card on the phone to order the part or better yet order and pay for the "known" part online from the dealer or Nissan to be delivered to the dealer. Why does this work with Amazon and not Nissan?

Starting a new topic doesn't imply ownership or responsibility, just intent or "theme" to quote Mc2guy. I didn't read the second post but assumed it was a joke, probably indicative of no need for or no interest in this topic. It was a month before anyone posted a positve dealer service. Lack of need/interest is most probably true for businesses who cover a relatively small area not far from the selling dealer. Feedback for poor dealer service/maintenance would be no future sales. Still would like to hear from them. The 5th post offered up a positive and negative experience, the latter in 3 lines. Rick, you could have done the same, naming both dealers you found lacking and briefly why. 6 lines? This time, however, you came up with a solution. You will have to tell us how to replace the mirror.

I love this... Actual, factual communication for our benefit, dealer and owners.

Welcome Capital Nissan. Where are you? Looking forward to your continued input and solutions.

If you are a business and use NVs, it appears Nissan Commercial has a solution for the car based tech option. There was a previous post that Nissan Commercial acknowledge this and will reimburse business owners for the purchase of commercial based GPS units. You will have to contact Nissan Commercial to verify this and get the details. Right now, the dealer will only get you another car based card, that really should be discounted. When the 2014 card came out, I received a letter from Nissan offering the card for $100 not the $150 they charge now. Since it seemed to offer only map and place upgrades, it made no sense to buy. With the info in the above post, it makes even less sense to buy the 2014 card. Non-business owners are out of luck or at least will be out of pocket if we want a stand alone GPS unit.

I hope Truck Trend, or someone else, gets around to a head to head comparison of all vans in this sector and not exclude NVs. (Or at the very least, add the Transit and ProMaster to their long term test fleet.) I think NVs will be superior in dependability, sturdiness, versatility and cost of ownership, but will fall well short in interior load space due to not having an extended van. Appearance won't matter even if mostly due to getting used to it. I bet most of the "It's not a van" Ford E-series critics of NVs have never sat in a NV, let alone driven one, to appreciate all the leg room and comfort when driving a NV.

Shore power when we can get it. No genny because there is no place to store it or fuel. Do not want to go with a big box on the back. SMBs come with a microwave and sometimes a propane cooktop. NV SMBs only have a microwave. (We were told they could not vent the cooktop due to the proximity of the gasoline intake. Could be, but in the "Magic" video they put one in.) You need shore power or run the engine to use the microwave. We also take a toaster and coffee maker that can run off the house batteries and inverter or shore power. Everything else is 12 volt but can still deplete the house batteries in a matter of days. Without shore power, a 80 to 100 watt solar panel, if I recall this correctly, with keep the house batteries from depleting. We would still have to start the engine to be able to use the microwave; the toaster and coffee maker would work fine, but not running at the same time. Too much of a power draw. I have only seen one portable solar unit in use, a motorhome and he had to keep moving it around. Sort of like a solar shower bag. My hope is someone on the forum has used this... After 2 years of only using the microwave and quite a few recipes, we wanted a more varied menu. We bought an inexpensive Coleman propane stove, mainly because you can find fuel everywhere, and decided to do what most campers do, cook outside. Hence, the periodic (my wife says delete periodic) need for a bug shelter. Car camping ones run around 14 lbs., fit over a picnic table and can be folded up fairly small to stash in a vehicle. One thing I would add about solar during the build process. Have it pre-wired for solar. If you go with a pop top roof, go with electric, not manual, to have the option for solar panels on the roof and whatever rack you need for bikes, kayaks etc. There is one other option, a solar generator. In theory this should work, but works better for emergency use during residential power outages to run lights and a refrigerator. To make a pot of coffee in our van, you need a $1000+ generator. Too costly and too big.

We know NVs work well for both, but I have several questions not necessarily related to the van or choice between conversion or towing. 1. Solar? Although the raised "pent house" on our SMB can support 100 lbs. and fixed solar panels will work, my concern is manually raising the roof, parking the van in the sun when you really want shade and only needing solar to keep the 2 house batteries charged. Zamp makes a portable system ($700+) with 16-25' cord. There are cheaper and homemade systems, but my question is: Are they worth it and do they work well enough when parked/camped for awhile. Driving and overnight camping negate the need for solar. 2. Bugout shelters for car camping? Kelty, REI, Eureka and others make them. Wind, rain, collapsing and cheap materials/construction seem to be the most frequent complaints. We need one to set up for a cooking area outside and not become the main course. Any suggestions? If others have questions related to getting out into the great out doors, ask and I'm sure there are enough forum members with answers, maybe even opinions. Update: 3/21 Solar. All the ads and research can only give you so much info. Real world use; that is, somebody who has used this over time can only say it works effectively. For now,again, this in on the back burner. Bug screen rooms: If it doesn't say "noseeums," it isn't. LL Bean sells one that is very sturdy and heavy like the old family tents. "Gnats get in ..." We bought the REI screen room and rain fly. $300 is pricey for something that can collapse in wind or rain, and the poles may bend. But, if it works, we use it. If not, REI gets it back.

There are a lot of firsts, navigation, backup sensors and backup camera, for us with our NV. The only feature not on the general complaint list is the camera, unless it was included with the inside rear view mirror and head rests. Our backup sensors do not like shadows or drop offs. So, how do these options compare with those on Nissans or other manufactures? Are we talking about Nissan using old technology across the Nissan line? Just NV? "No vehicle is perfect" is not a great response; we heard this previously in a service complaint, not mine. Is "It (current technology) is what it is" any better? I did not know what to expect, but I'm surprised the sensor (and navigation) problem was not known by others prior to purchase and thereby a deal killer. So, we are left with an annoyance or work around. Or, Nissan comes up with a solution and fixes it

There are at least 2 posts regarding switching to Apple's system. (My current phone won't work with it, even with updates, so there is no point in switching out.) Nevertheless, I am interested in whether or not this is a better system and how it works relative to what we have. So, any NV Apple user reviews?