You Can't Buy A 2017 Nissan Quest At A Nissan Store, But It Exists

by Timothy Cain

Published: February 24th, 2017

you can t buy a 2017 nissan quest at a nissan store but it exists

Skeptical of the Nissan Quest’s future in the latter portion of 2016, we demanded — on more than one occasion — to know whether there would even be a Nissan Quest in the 2017 model year.

Despite all the signs that pointed to a discontinued product, Nissan eventually confirmed that there would, in fact, be a 2017 Nissan Quest in the United States. Much rejoicing was heard among enthusiasts of JDM vans.

Yet nearly two months into 2017, Nissan still isn’t displaying the 2017 Quest on its consumer website and has only just added the Quest to the list of 2017 models on its media website. With only a handful of vans at dealers at the beginning of the year, Nissan somehow managed to reported an 11-month high in Quest sales in January 2017.

You didn’t buy a 2017 Quest. Your neighbour didn’t buy a 2017 Quest. There aren’t any 2017 Quests available at your local Nissan dealer. The 2015 and 2016 Quests are very nearly gone. Yet Nissan sold nearly 1,900 Quests in January. How curious.

Sure, the 2017 Nissan Quest exists, but it doesn’t exist for you. Instead, it’s apparently a fleet special for consumers named Enterprise, Budget, and Hertz.

We were suspicious of the Quest’s future late last year for a number of reasons.

First, the Quest had already been killed off north of the border, in more minivan-hungry Canada.

Second, during a four-month span between August and November, Quest volume had slowed to a crawl, sliding 73 percent to only 805 units.

Finally, inventory was virtually nonexistent.

Yet Nissan assured us there would be a 2017 Quest, so we were surprised when an industry insider tipped us off, saying that there wouldn’t be a 2017 Quest for retail customers.

We decided to inquire with Nissan anew while once again prowling for available 2017s.

Inventory levels at Nissan dealers across America haven’t changed. According to Cars.com and AutoTrader — which won’t show the inventory for all dealers but provide a fairly accurate depiction — there are fewer than 125 Quests in stock. None of the Quests listed by AutoTrader are 2017 models. The one 2017 Quest listed on Cars.com is photo-less and isn’t actually featured in the dealer’s own inventory.

On behalf of Nissan, spokesperson Dan Passe told TTAC, “Unfortunately we cannot comment on 2017 Quest at this time as to its status regarding fleet sales only.” It seems as though, in this case, cryptically not commenting speaks quite loudly.

Nissan also encourages “interested customers to visit www.nissanusa.com to see what Quest vehicles are available in their local areas.” Of course, a search through Nissan’s own inventory listings likewise reveals no new 2017s, although you’ll find a few new 2014 models still unsold.

The soap opera-like twists and turns of this dramatic minivan story could yet take another turn. The Quests Nissan is currently steering away from retail customers and toward fleet buyers could, in theory, end up at a dealer near you.

But the fourth-generation Nissan Quest, like the Quests before it, won’t soon become a success. Over the last decade, only 2 percent of the minivans sold in the United States were Nissan Quests.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

#2017NissanQuest #FleetSales #January2017Sales #Minivans #Nissan #NissanQuest #RetailSales #Vans

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23 of 53 comments

Whitworth on Feb 24, 2017

I honestly think it's the best looking of the minivans even though it struggles with market share.

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- FreedMike on Feb 24, 2017
  
  You know, I kinda agree with you. The Quest is a box, and doesn't apologize for it. On the other hand, I find Honda's Flash Gordon styling on the Odyssey to be incredibly silly.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @FreedMike I still like the last Villager best.
  
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- JohnTaurus on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @Corey Lewis As did I, especially in Sport or Estate trims. I do like the current Quest, kinda. It looks better than the Sienna but not nearly as stylish as the far-newer Pacifica.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @JohnTaurus I think the interior on the Quest in upper trims is about tops for a minivan available in the US today. But the crash test ratings are poor, and just kill it for family duty. And the 3.5 VQ means it won't get great MPG. And it has a CVT. Meh.
  
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- GermanReliabilityMyth on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @Corey: The small overlap crash thing has been done to death, but it's just one type of accident. The rest of the test results are good. I don't think that a small overlap is going to make or break whether you family walks away from a crash at least 90% of the time or however often it statistically occurs. Having never had an accident, I find that defensive driving and vigilance is the best safety feature installed in every car I drive. Please refer to this for clarification (if you care to): http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/nissan/quest/2015 Also, the Quest has the best fuel economy of its peers, with a 20 city MPG and 27 highway MPG rating. The only thing that gets close to that is the Sienna with the new fangled 8 speed automatic. Lastly, having driven the Quest I can verify the acceleration is damn nice with a CVT. It provides prompt acceleration and a nice slathering of torque throughout the powerband. A good CVT is, in my opinion, better than a majority of regular X speed transmissions out there. No rubberbanding. Unless your commute involves stretches of Autocross, a CVT is fine.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @GermanReliabilityMyth "The rest of the test results are good. I don’t think that a small overlap is going to make or break whether you family walks away from a crash at least 90% of the time or however often it statistically occurs." So in your opinion, 10% risk of crippling injury is OK, if you get to drive a Quest. If you want to play that game, go right ahead. I'd never recommend one to a friend or family member.
  
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- GermanReliabilityMyth on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @Corey Lewis I think the IIHS is due a lot of respect for their marketing. They've done an excellent job justifying their existence by implementing new and interesting tests that have a marginal chance of occurring in the real world. This, of course, is accomplished in the spirit of fear-mongering, thinly veiled as a public service. My decisions are made independently of that sway and I sleep like a baby at night knowing it. Before the small overlap test was conceived, plenty of people recommended this or that car because it was safer than the rest. All the while we had no clue it was actually a coffin on wheels. So that Sienna or Odyssey you recommend today might actually be more apt to kill friends and family than a Quest in a specific scenario. It's just that the IIHS hasn't figured out that scenario yet. And that is why I take the IIHS with a grain of salt. Although they've established a good reference for safety between vehicles (within reason), their modus operandi is not dissimilar to smashing a Swiss-made watch with a mallet and then complaining about what a piece of junk it is.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @GermanReliabilityMyth "If I don't use the information available to me, then the event which happens relevant to that information will not happen." Also, see cognitive dissonance.
  
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- GermanReliabilityMyth on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @Corey Lewis Until the IIHS can break down the percentage of deaths caused by a certain type of collision and tell me the approximate likelihood of it killing me or my occupants, it’s not particularly helpful to say how a vehicle fares in a certain test. And again, the sword cuts both ways. Any current IIHS top safety pick can be given a black eye under a new test until the manufacturer teaches to it in a refresh. Regardless, I don’t feel the need to defend my decision to buy a Quest, I just have a problem with the dissemination of misinformation.
  
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- FreedMike on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @Corey Lewis Audi 5000s had an INSANE IIHS rating.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @GermanReliabilityMyth Sure, the test results aren’t relevant. Perhaps I can interest you in an Astro.
  
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- Adam Tonge on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @GermanReliabilityMyth The best part of the Astro crash test is when the seat comes and gets the test dummy. The dummy just thinks the airbag will save it. Then the driver's seat comes out of nowhere and ruins the safety party.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @Adam Tonge I tried to link it, but I have forgotten the proper format for including YouTube links. #surpriseseat
  
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- FreedMike on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @GermanReliabilityMyth Remember the Astro commercials, with the van flying through space? "Chevy...Chevy...Astro...Astro..."
  
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- Adam Tonge on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @GermanReliabilityMyth youtube.com/watch?v=8kuSghb7P7U
  
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- Corey Lewis on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @Adam Tonge That test result doesn't matter. Just remember that.
  
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- Zamoti on Feb 24, 2017
  
  @FreedMike I was really hot on them until the small overlap ratings came out. I still like the shape and the interior is really nice in top trims. The seat configuration was kind of a letdown though because unlike every other minivan for sale today, the seats just bend at the waist, but do not fold flat into the floor. I'm sure it's not a huge deal for most, but it seems like an easy reason to say no and move on. The cvt wasn't great but it's a box on wheels, if you are looking for sporty perhaps don't look at a minivan.
  
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- Walker42 on Feb 24, 2017
  
  It's always been my favorite too. I remember when Edmunds had one in their long term test fleet. The editors loved it for the unusual styling and premium driving characteristics and it racked up the miles fast. There were a couple of magazine tests too, including Consumer Reports, where it did well and earned the nickname Infiniti of Minivans. The 4th gen Quest is an obscure cult classic that could have reached the level of quirky hit, with perhaps a more descriptive name and focus on the upper trims. The design is timeless so maybe they are going to freshen it and sell it at a competitive price like the Frontier and QX50. All it needs really is a more modern front end.
  
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- HotPotato on Feb 25, 2017
  
  @JohnTaurus Nautica Edition, baby.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Feb 27, 2017
  
  @FreedMike C3 C3 C3 C3 C3
  
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- La834 on May 13, 2017
  
  @zamoti Yes, that alone is a dealbreaker for me. It's not just that they fold down above the floor rather than into it, but that the cargo area floor is *raised* to meet up flat with the folded seats whereas every other consumer-oriented minivan has a deep well behind the 3rd row with a *lowered* floor when the seats are in use, that the 3rd row seat folds into. The usable behind-the-3rd-row space in the Quest is about half that of other minivans as a result. Nissan points out that their arrangement gives you a little storage bin below the floor and you don't need to remove odd items in the cargo space to fold down the seat. But if you want underfloor space to store odds and ends, you can get it in either of FCA's vans between the first and second rows and still have the deep well behind the 3rd row. Of course you'll need to remove anything stored in the Stow-and-Go storage if you fold down the 2nd row, but it gets folded much less frequently than the 3rd row does. And Chrysler offers a handy carrying bin that perfectly fits the underfloor space to make it easy to remove your stuff before folding the 2nd row seats.
  
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Sector 5 on Feb 24, 2017

Edmunds were very positive on Q's driving dynamics. The musical chairs lacked melody. I can hear Niss NA saying: okay, H & T can have the shrinking pie and eat it. We have Rogue and squashi. Me thinks Carlos is trying to duck MX way putting a cost-cutter in place. Dangerous things can happen.

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