2023 Nissan GT-R

Nissan’s varied lineup of SUVs, pickup trucks, and EVs usually perform well in our road tests, but their Overall Scores suffer because of up-and-down reliability and average to below-average owner satisfaction. Inconsistent quality across the brand means some Nissans are a better choice than others. Many of its gasoline vehicles use small turbocharged engines and continuously variable transmissions to give owners both competitive fuel economy and sporty performance. Most new Nissans come standard with a full suite of active safety and driver assist systems. It’s also one of the few remaining brands that sells a sub-compact sedan, the Versa. The compact Sentra, a mainstay within Nissan’s lineup, earned a high score in our road test and is recommended. Nissan was an early EV trailblazer with the Leaf hatchback, and now sells larger five-passenger EV SUVs. Used Nissans have average reliability according to our surveys.

The GT-R is the latest generation of Nissan's premium sports car that was previously known worldwide as the Skyline GT-R. It is powered by a twin-turbo V6 that drives all four wheels through a six-speed automated manual gearbox that is very jerky when driving at parking lot speeds. The car is very quick and has impressive performance, but handling lacks some finesse. It competes with the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 or BMW M3.