Nissan Almera 2.2dci (136ps)

[joebongo]

My wife's 03 Primera T-Spec has plenty of toys (inc radar cruise).

2L petrol, 30 ish mpg and has by far been the most reliable car we've ever had by a country mile.

I'm not a massive fan but the reliability and spec level is monstrous for the tiny cost.

[nottyash]

I had one. A 2003 facelift 6 speed model.
it was fine until the boost pipe burst.
I took it to Nissan, who did 2 grand worth of outstanding recall work to fix it.

[Rammy76]

E63M6 said:

To be honest I have thought about the 1.5 but diesels seem to be more refined compared to 4 cylinder petrol's.

That's definitely not true, my dad has a 1.5 petrol and apart from being a bit "gruff" at higher revs its quite a sweet little unit. It is also very economical and has never given any trouble apart from needing new can/crank sensors. It is now on 110000 miles and still going strong.

I've been in a Nissan with the 2.2 diesel and it didn't seem very refined at all.

Would an Almera not be a bit of a let down after a mark 1 Focus anyway?

[ED209]

Axionknight said:

Liquid Tuna said:

They're very cheap though, yes?

So is a haircut that costs a fiver, but would you?

I would my haircuts are free, clippers, don't even use a mirror.

[MagneticMeerkat]

What's wrong with a newer Focus? Given a selection of that type of car (Focus, Astra, Almera, Megane, Hyundai of some sort) there really isn't a great deal to choose between them if you're going for a normal spec diesel.

Ergo the Focus is nicer to drive than its rivals and does everything else acceptably. The 2-litre petrol variant is refined without being exceptionally fast or noisy or anything. My parents have one, I've driven it a few times and it's a good car.

Wishing for change is perfectly natural - but I'd point out that they already have the best car in the group, so wishing for change will mean having to pick an inferior product by definition.

[E63M6]

Thinking about an Almera will be a downgrade from the focus. This is one of the reasons why i have turned my search to a Golf mk4 GT TDI and also due to the reliability of the PD engines.

What's your views on the mk4 PD130 and what do i need to look out for mechanically.


Thanks

[MagneticMeerkat]

E63M6 said:

Thinking about an Almera will be a downgrade from the focus. This is one of the reasons why i have turned my search to a Golf mk4 GT TDI and also due to the reliability of the PD engines.

What's your views on the mk4 PD130 and what do i need to look out for mechanically.


Thanks

Afraid I can't help with that one, all I can say is that VW Golf diesel engines are one of the few things I genuinely have no views about lol!!!!

I've never driven a VW Golf, or even knowingly sat in one. Quite how I'm not sure as they're everywhere but I really don't know anything about them.

I used to work for a company with a large selection of Ford Focuses and have driven pretty much every version (except automatics, they were all manual). They also had Astras, Fiestas and some kind of Hyundai. The Fiesta was my favourite, in fact I've got one now, simply because they're such good fun to drive and the facelift old-school ones look nice.

The Focus is a close second, feels a bit more detached but probably better handling. If your parents are enthusiastic drivers then the Mark 2, especially in hatchback form, can corner at speeds totally unsuited to a family car.

[E63M6]

The focus mk2 is another car i have been looking at due to how great the mk1 has served them as a runaround. It all depends on if i can find a decent example in the golf or focus. I am going to be viewing a golf later in the day hopefully and see what it is like.