Few notes to the article that were missed.
The Quest was produced first in mid-2003 as a 2004 in a new factory in Mississippi. This new plant also produced the new Titan and Infiniti QX56. All these vehicles had first year, first model, new factory issues. After Nissan corporate became aware in early 2004, they sent a team of engineers to the plant to address all the issues. Point being, if you bought one of these, that were first out of the factory until spring 2004, you will have issues. However, Nissan released many many Technical Service Bulletins to their dealer network to address all the customer issues. Beyond the assembly issues, there were new vehicle design issues which were also addressed in the TSB. Carlos Ghosn (corporate CEO) personally became involved and issued the resolution of issues. Some research on the Quest will reveal that most all the issues were addressed in the 2004 Quest after ~40,000 build mark. So, if looking at a 2004, check the VIN and buy a model with a ending number higher than this. Otherwise, make sure you take it to the dealer to have all the TSB issues resolved.
We have a 04 Quest SE, which was built after this 'magic build number', we followed up with all TSB's issued after our purchase date and other than those, we have not had it back to the dealer for build/quality issues in about 4 years. That initial 2 year period was annoying as we had many TSB's. Also of note, Nissan has a 'secret warranty' for the 2004 model in which they increased the powertrain warranty to 100,000 miles for original owners. Of course, there aren't powertrain issues for the SE 5-speed model. The 4 speed auto does have some issues and associated TSB's.
We have 80,000 miles on our SE. We have replaced the rear brake pads twice, we have replaced the front brake pads once and had the front rotors turned to reduce brake vibration. The battery died last year, 5 years old, so that was normal. We have the occasional front sunroof leak because the drain tube stops up. I just unclog it and all is fine. We have replaced the tires three times.
We love our van and will be buying the new Quest model, just not the 'first year'.