I have been driving sticks for many years. Never have I had a clutch go out so early. To have a clutch problem at 30,000 miles is ridiculous... and it was not covered under my extended warranty. The Nissan dealer quoted $1400 to fix the problem. I am now looking for cheaper quotes. Don't buy the extended warranty and I'm not sure I will purchase another Nissan truck. My last truck was a Toyota. Spend the extra money and get the reliability. I drove my Toyota for 225000 miles and only replaced the clutch once.

I'm a veteran stick shift driver since age 21years (I have been driving only stick shifts for the past 34 years). My previous truck, a Ford Ranger stick purchased new with 9 miles did not have clutch failure until after 11 years and 87K miles with me as sole driver; I had it for another 6 years after that, then donated it when I bought my new 2010 Nissan Frontier SE V6 stick. Drove it for just 13 months and 20,160 miles before the clutch went; it had gotten very stinky on previously occasion, usually when backing, but I had never smelled a bad smell with the Ranger, more experienced the clutch itself becoming harder to get into gear, the Nissan Frontier clutch didn't show any symptoms, and the smell went away within minutes. Easter Sunday, drove to friend's house 3 miles, clutch feel really soft not catching; return drive, it was so soft and smooshy, gears not catching that I didn't dare drive home, drive right to nearest Nissan dealership which was closed, left it there with service envelope filled out, and walked home 8 miles. Late next day,dealership (Maroone Nissan) called and said they had not had time to check car, but had pulled it in service bay and it certainly seemed like it was the clutch; since car was withing 36K 3yr bumper-to-bumper warranty, clutch would be covered. Next day (Tues), got call that clutch was worn and would not be covered under warranty because it was driver error and "normal wear'n'tear". Argument that clutch failure by a veteran stick driver of 34 years was not normal wear'n'tear but a defective clutch fell on deaf Maroone Nissan ears. Quoted cost of $1,144 to repair and 2 days to order parts. Weds, called Nissan Corporate to ask for help in getting Maroone to honor warranty; case 7155063 was opened; called Maroone to advise, and they said Nissan Corp would probably help with costs. Called Nissan Corp on Thurs to followup on case; no new info but assured I would get call back. Maroone called and said no case had been opened for me, it was not in their computer system, expect to pay full price. Repeated case number to Maroone. Called Nissan Corp on Friday; no rep yet assigned to my case; finally got a rep Travis assigned to case, spoke to him, he said Maroone was not returning his calls. Called Maroone, they said they were not getting any calls and there was still no case open for me. Rode my bicycle to Maroone (now without a car for five days), made service director call Nissan Corp on speaker phone in front of me; Nissan Corp said I DID have an open case; we asked Travis to call; meanwhile Maorone continued to deny getting any calls from Nissan despite proof I had an open case that they had denied. Advised Maroone my dog was sick and I was in hardship to take her to vet; received loaner car for 24 hours only on Friday evening; Nissan never called back Maroone during the 1-1/2 hours I waited at Maroone for call back. Returned loaner to Maroone on Sat at 12Noon; told mechanic called in sick and to keep loaner til Monday because car would not get worked on over weekend. Called Nissan Corporate multiple times on Mon (day 6 since opening file); Travis out sick, spoke to supervisor who promised to help. Called Maroone, whose voicemail never seems to work right, complained to receptionist at Maroone that srvc mgr's voxmail not working,s he checked, verified it was not working, manually put me thru to voimail, asked for callback, never got it. Did not return loaner bec no one would tell me if truck was repaired. Tues, got call from asst srvc mgr, said truck was ready (finally), cost $1144, never heard from Nissan, and never did open a case file. I told him I had opened a case file and Nissan had tried to reach Maroone multiple times; I was called a liar by Maroone, then told to get there right now and pay for truck or they would report the loaner stolen! I said I was at work and would not get there until after I finished my shift. I called Nissan again, and again and again, no call back. Maroone genl mgr called me and asked what my problem was with returning the loaner; told him. Got call from Maroone srvc mgr half hour before I left work saying Nissan Field Ops Mgr had denied my claim, tough luck, had to pay. Gassed up loaner, and returned it to Maroone by 4:16PM; paid for truck, noticed grease stains all over front passenger seat, could not stomach Maroone for another second and left without reporting it. Wed, finally got someone at Nissan corp to talk to me; they said they denied my claim because the Field Ops Mgr said to deny it; I asked for name of Field Ops Mgr; they did not know; why didn't they know? They said Maroone told them that is what the Field Ops Rep said. They never talked to the Field Ops Mgr themselves, didn't even know who he is, just took the word of a hostile dealership, and used that to deny my claim. I want restitution for being called a liar repeatedly by maroone Nissan, along with restitution for five days of having to ride my bicycle to work because they did not provide me with a loaner during that time, reimbursement of the $1,144 paid for a prematurely failed clutch that was not driver error but probably a piece of crap, and reimbursement for the worthless $2,903 in extended and service warranties that I purchased with the new vehicle that aren't worth the paper they are printed on. I have detailed phone logs, names, documentation, etc., that I will gladly and gratefully provide the investigators. Thank you for helping to make Nissan and Maroone do the right thing -- for once.

Update from May 18, 2016: I feel like the replaced clutch is slowly starting to fail again. This is the one that was replaced at 20,000 miles and 1 year of age. Now at 57,000 miles and 5 years of age. I am disgusted with Nissan products and Nissan not standing behind their warranties and blaming drivers for clutch problems. I am considering trading it in towards a new vehicle that is not a Nissan but I can't afford to take on new car payments right now. I cannot afford to replace a transmission again, either, for that matter. My extended warranties specifically exclude manual transmissions -- now isn't that convenient for Nissan!