When Nissan was still know as Datsun, their cars were very reliable though more expensive to maintain than a Toyota or a Honda. There were even rumors then that Datsun had pirated some people from M-Benz that made their vehicles reliable. Since the 1980s to present, there were no car models of Nissan that is at par with those of Toyota and Honda. Their Pulsar and California did not make well. Their Sentras are struggling in the market.

As for the Versa, it is quite new and still much to be learned from it. From looks alone it has similarities with the 1990s Honda Hatchback. The 1.8 litre engine is more powerful than of the Honda Civic Hatchback (before) and Toyota Echo. I am not sure if Nissan has improved the clutch system of their manual transmissions. The clutch will not show any sign of being worn out. It just would not work anymore when the disc is worn out. It happened twice to a friend's Sentra in less than a year and also to my brother's Vanette. Unlike other brands that you can still drive it to a shop, their vehicles needed to be towed. I hope Nissan would have done some improvements on their clutch to warn the driver that it is about to give up.