Qashqai and Carry On
Discussion
With the untimely death of my daily Ford Focus Estate Titanium X recently it was time to find a new daily. The Focus was struck by a DHL lorry who straight-lined a two lane roundabout with me on the inside lane. Minor damage sustained but with the car on 127,000 miles the repair cost outweighed the value. Insurance pay-out was £2000. I thought about arguing for a bit more but it was a fair valuation.
The Focus was both brilliant and terrible all in one. Nicknamed the Silver Bullet, it did every single family duty you can imagine from family holidays 4 up + 2 dogs, to tip runs, Ikea errands and jaunts abroad. It was the perfect family tool. However, being a cheap mass produced Ford is was also notorious in the family for consistently having a fault.
Suspension was a real weak point, it developed knocks and clunks and went through bushes quite quickly. The catalyst had failed enough to consistently illuminate the EML light. Yet it still passed an MOT so I ignored it and turned it off every week. It chewed through o2 sensors at a rate of around 1 every 6 months. The engine failed at 76k due to a crack in the water jacket around the manifold. The turbo failed, the coolant overflow hoses failed, the header tank cracked. Not to mentioned the wet belt which didn't fail but I was very weary of it so I carried out oil/filter changes every 8k miles.
So despite being great, it was rubbish. RIP KCY:
(picture from when I bought it)
With 2k from the insurance, I doubled it up and set myself a £4k budget. The philosophy - Simple is best. The least that can wrong the better. I do ~12k miles a year so something economical, petrol, family sized, low miles and something which can withstand the worsening roads and gajillion speed bumps round here.
I shortlisted a whole bunch of stuff, Dacia Duster, Mitsubishi ASX, Honda Civic etc. Nothing that will set your hair on fire with excitement that's for sure.
I ended up looking at the Qashqai. 2nd Gen. Some research showed that the 1.2 turbo engine had an oil consumption historic issue. 2.0L probably a bit juicy. The 1.6....now we're talking...non turbo, chain drive, no hybrid, no stop start and cheap to insure. Just an NA engine that has a good reputation. Gutless but 40mpg was achievable.
I found this, base spec model 12miles away in Leicester.
Aforementioned 1.6L:
Base spec is good. I looked at the 360 which came with satnav and pano roof etc. While attractive, a 14year old nav and screen setup isn't worth having and the pano roof novelty will wear off. The seat material is nicer in the higher spec models but I can overlook that.
This particular car was a 2012 on 52k miles. 2 previous owners. Had sat around for ~2 years with very little movement due to being in rebate. Priced at £3250 we had a haggle and I picked it up for £3150. Welcome to the family, nicknamed the Silver Slug.
Service history is 80% complete, original purchase invoice in the paperwork. A whole bunch of Nissan receipts. Clean-ish MOT history. Its got a bunch of battle scars but nothing serious. I'll only add to them so it wasn't a detraction. Previous lady owner had embellished it with a National Trust sticker. If that's not a good sign I don't know what is!
What I like about the Accenta entry model was the 17" wheels. Big old chunky tyre walls will be great for our British roads. Not to mention cheaper tyres than the optional 18's.
Issues:
Quite obviously the MOT man was a friendly guy having passed the car with a non functioning screen wash.
For a mid sized family SUV I think these aren't all that offensive looking. It operates under the radar but it's subtly good looking. Lets hope it's more reliable than the bullet!
Updates to follow.
The Focus was both brilliant and terrible all in one. Nicknamed the Silver Bullet, it did every single family duty you can imagine from family holidays 4 up + 2 dogs, to tip runs, Ikea errands and jaunts abroad. It was the perfect family tool. However, being a cheap mass produced Ford is was also notorious in the family for consistently having a fault.
Suspension was a real weak point, it developed knocks and clunks and went through bushes quite quickly. The catalyst had failed enough to consistently illuminate the EML light. Yet it still passed an MOT so I ignored it and turned it off every week. It chewed through o2 sensors at a rate of around 1 every 6 months. The engine failed at 76k due to a crack in the water jacket around the manifold. The turbo failed, the coolant overflow hoses failed, the header tank cracked. Not to mentioned the wet belt which didn't fail but I was very weary of it so I carried out oil/filter changes every 8k miles.
So despite being great, it was rubbish. RIP KCY:
(picture from when I bought it)
With 2k from the insurance, I doubled it up and set myself a £4k budget. The philosophy - Simple is best. The least that can wrong the better. I do ~12k miles a year so something economical, petrol, family sized, low miles and something which can withstand the worsening roads and gajillion speed bumps round here.
I shortlisted a whole bunch of stuff, Dacia Duster, Mitsubishi ASX, Honda Civic etc. Nothing that will set your hair on fire with excitement that's for sure.
I ended up looking at the Qashqai. 2nd Gen. Some research showed that the 1.2 turbo engine had an oil consumption historic issue. 2.0L probably a bit juicy. The 1.6....now we're talking...non turbo, chain drive, no hybrid, no stop start and cheap to insure. Just an NA engine that has a good reputation. Gutless but 40mpg was achievable.
I found this, base spec model 12miles away in Leicester.
Aforementioned 1.6L:
Base spec is good. I looked at the 360 which came with satnav and pano roof etc. While attractive, a 14year old nav and screen setup isn't worth having and the pano roof novelty will wear off. The seat material is nicer in the higher spec models but I can overlook that.
This particular car was a 2012 on 52k miles. 2 previous owners. Had sat around for ~2 years with very little movement due to being in rebate. Priced at £3250 we had a haggle and I picked it up for £3150. Welcome to the family, nicknamed the Silver Slug.
Service history is 80% complete, original purchase invoice in the paperwork. A whole bunch of Nissan receipts. Clean-ish MOT history. Its got a bunch of battle scars but nothing serious. I'll only add to them so it wasn't a detraction. Previous lady owner had embellished it with a National Trust sticker. If that's not a good sign I don't know what is!
What I like about the Accenta entry model was the 17" wheels. Big old chunky tyre walls will be great for our British roads. Not to mention cheaper tyres than the optional 18's.
Issues:
- Last service was in 2022, having covered under 500 miles since then it's not desperate but I'm going to chuck a full compliment at it regardless.
- AC doesn't blow cold enough, hopefully a re-gas is needed.
- Washer fluid pump doesn't work. Bottle is full, fuse is good. Have ordered another pump.
- All 4 tyres are different and were ~20psi. Tread is healthy so i'll run on them for the time being and swap them out in the new year. Pressure's sorted.
- Discs and pads. Having sat around for a while they've gotten rusty and you can hear them catching. Maybe they'll clean up with some use. If not then i'll do a full set.
- Radio is basic at best. Doesn't have DAB. I'll swap that out for something more modern later down the line. Has BT so it does the job for now.
Quite obviously the MOT man was a friendly guy having passed the car with a non functioning screen wash.
For a mid sized family SUV I think these aren't all that offensive looking. It operates under the radar but it's subtly good looking. Lets hope it's more reliable than the bullet!
Updates to follow.
I had a mk1 ntec 1.6
Only had two issues
One was wiper mechanism which was fixed by a clip
And second was down to me I changed oil and filter washer wasn’t seated so it was coming out as quick as going in
All over the road.
It was clean oil and incredibly the council resurfaced it a week later
So got away with it
Just got a nearly new tekna and we love it.
Every week we find a new feature
Last night it wouldn’t budge cos there was washing in front of it on the line. Great cars though
Only had two issues
One was wiper mechanism which was fixed by a clip
And second was down to me I changed oil and filter washer wasn’t seated so it was coming out as quick as going in
All over the road.
It was clean oil and incredibly the council resurfaced it a week later
So got away with it
Just got a nearly new tekna and we love it.
Every week we find a new feature
Last night it wouldn’t budge cos there was washing in front of it on the line. Great cars though
I had a mk1 ntec 1.6
Only had two issues
One was wiper mechanism which was fixed by a clip
And second was down to me I changed oil and filter washer wasn’t seated so it was coming out as quick as going in
All over the road.
It was clean oil and incredibly the council resurfaced it a week later
So got away with it
Just got a nearly new tekna and we love it.
Every week we find a new feature
Last night it wouldn’t budge cos there was washing in front of it on the line. Great cars though
Only had two issues
One was wiper mechanism which was fixed by a clip
And second was down to me I changed oil and filter washer wasn’t seated so it was coming out as quick as going in
All over the road.
It was clean oil and incredibly the council resurfaced it a week later
So got away with it
Just got a nearly new tekna and we love it.
Every week we find a new feature
Last night it wouldn’t budge cos there was washing in front of it on the line. Great cars though
I also had a 1.6 Tekna Qashqai on a 3 year lease back in 2011.
As means of transport, it did the job, but that's about it. I didn't have much positive to say about the car. Even my wife was glad to see the back of it even although it didn't cause us any issues. We just didn't gel with it.
As means of transport, it did the job, but that's about it. I didn't have much positive to say about the car. Even my wife was glad to see the back of it even although it didn't cause us any issues. We just didn't gel with it.
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