2011 Nissan Quest

The Nissan Quest is a minivan manufactured since 1993 by Nissan, now in its third generation. The first two generations of the Quest were a joint venture with Ford, which marketed a rebadged variant as the Mercury Villager. The vans debuted at the 1992 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Both vehicles were initially powered by the 3.0 L Nissan VG30E V6 until 1999, when the Quest received the 3.3 L version of the same engine. The Quest was completely redesigned for 2004, while the Villager was discontinued and replaced with the Freestar-based Mercury Monterey. The current model is built on the FF-L platform, which it shares with the Altima, Maxima, and Murano. It also shares the award-winning 3.5 L VQ engine with those cars.

The first two generations of the Quest were rather anonymous and subpar, but the current, third-generation Nissan Quest made a huge leap ahead in terms of styling and performance. But the cabin was criticized for its oddball design (which placed the instruments in the center and many too-similar buttons on a large pillar-style center stack), flat seats, abundance of hard plastic and inconsistent build quality. Thankfully, a recent midcycle refresh brought about significant interior improvement via a redesigned dash and center stack, and upgraded materials.

In general, the Nissan Quest remains a mid-pack choice for a minivan, as it's never been able to match top vans like the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna in terms of quality, refinement or reputation for reliability. The first- and second-generation vans are mediocre picks on the used car market, while the current Quest, though improved, has never quite caught on with consumers. This model is on a one-year hiatus as an all-new version is readied for production.

Nissan addressed some, but certainly not all, of the Quest's misgivings in 2007, when it smoothed over the instrument panel, brought the gauges in front of the driver, upgraded interior materials, and introduced integrated headrests for the second and third rows that automatically tilted forward, making folding easier.

Nissan opted to skip the 2010 model year, with an all-new Quest on the way for 2011.

What the Auto Press Says

Members of the press have yet to see the 2011 Nissan Quest in the metal, however opinions are already beginning to form based off of the teaser shots.

“Nothing too outrageous has been done to the interior, but we expect overall refinement to be substantially better than what we've seen in previous Quests, and the usual host of cubbies and cup holders will surely be on hand.” - Autoblog

“The design looks pretty wild for a minivan, with a boxy back end and lots of glass visible.” – Cars.com