Nissan Almera 1.5 16v Hatchback

...latest model 1.5 SE five-door Nissan Almera. We loved it so much, we bought it. Six months on (and way over the average mileage in that time!), here's my views of our new baby...



Looks

Sorry, did I just miss that? It's very much a blink-and-miss it car. Take the new Vauxhall Astra. Then curve it round a bit more. Still missed it? It's likely, as this model from Nissan has hardly set the world alight with ...
...the bumper, and the cahoosive Nissan badge on the front. Oh, and Lexus-style clear-lens lights front and back (2003 facelift).

I have the five-door version, bought purely because the three-door versions that I've seen suffer from 'long-door-syndrome' (ie, they're very hard to exit graciously from in tight spaces). Our five are very nice solid doors, with chrome door handles inside and out. Yes, outside. On a silver car (like mine) ... more

Finally we are rid of our horrid Fiat Punto (see earlier review) and have opted to consolidate the two vehicles (see even earlier Civic review) into one lump of metal. Months of research later, we ignored all we'd read and opted to go and test drive the latest model 1.5 SE five-door Nissan Almera. We loved it so much, we bought it. Six months on (and way over the average mileage in that time!), here's my views of our new baby...

Looks

Sorry, did I just miss that? It's very much a blink-and-miss it car. Take the new Vauxhall Astra. Then curve it round a bit more. Still missed it? It's likely, as this model from Nissan has hardly set the world alight with it's looks. It's a bog standard hatchback, that's all I can really say about it. Just open your eyes, you might see the odd one on the road..

You'll know them from their strange curved bonnet which rolls over into the bumper, and the cahoosive Nissan badge on the front. Oh, and Lexus-style clear-lens lights front and back (2003 facelift).

I have the five-door version, bought purely because the three-door versions that I've seen suffer from 'long-door-syndrome' (ie, they're very hard to exit graciously from in tight spaces). Our five are very nice solid doors, with chrome door handles inside and out. Yes, outside. On a silver car (like mine) this is forgivable, on any other colour, it looks plain daft.

Body coloured bumpers and wing mirrors come as standard, which is a nice touch - no cheap-looking plastic bumpers for me, thank you very much. The only non metallic colours are red and white, thus any other colour will set you back an additional £275 on your purchase price.

It really is a car favoured by the flat cap brigade... and that's all I can say!

Engine

Tucked under the bonnet of ours is a 1497cc 16v lump which gives out just shy of 100bhp. I’m no tech-head, but what I will say is that pulling away in city traffic from roundabouts and T-junctions poses no problem.. if you've selected the right gear. Second gear (which I'd usually select when rolling) is impossible to accelerate in from under 15mph, thus a jerky switch to first is required. This took some getting used to, and it's still a bit of a guess as to whether I've got it right at times.

The car is more than comfortable on the motorway, it cruises nicely and overtaking is problem-free.. especially when accelerating above 70mph.

Fuel economy is average-good. I've pretty much returned Nissan's official figures, which are (in mpg):
Urban Cycle: 32.5, Extra-Urban: 51.4
, Combined: 42.2

(for me, this equates to City driving, vvvv long distances at 70mph and no more, and my normal motorway driving).

Petrol-wise, the car has a 60 litre tank; on average I fill up with about 15l left.. 45l @ 81p/l (March '05) is around the £36 mark.. it's about £48 for a full tank.

Nissan are spot on with their quoted figures of 0-60 in 13.1 seconds. As I say, it's hardly going to set the world alight.

Road Fund Licence is a band D, which in February 2005 set us back at £125 for a year's licence. Insurance Grouping comes in at a 5, which with my other half being deemed as a 'young driver' still, made for fairly economical insurance for us both.

So.. is it comfortable? What's it like when out there on the road?

The seats are very comfortable, with nicely rounded edges that feel as if they 'hug' you into the seat. The driver is provided with adjustible lumbar support and the ability to raise and lower the seat, as well as the now-standard steering wheel adjustment. The doors give a nice solid clunk when closing, the whole car feels very solid although I do have a gripe with the amount of wind noise that enters the cabin - for the first few weeks, we kept thinking we'd left a window open. It transpired that we hadn't, and thus the radio was turned up! Wind noise at speed can get irritating, but it's one of these things I've learned to live with.

Braking is problem-free and the addition of ABS is a safety feature we were impressed with. As is Nissan's EBD (Electronic Brake force Distribution*), included as standard on the SE, an optional extra on the lower model.

Power steering is included, I believe, on all models as standard. The power steering isn't light, although it is "engine speed dependent", which means that the car automatically changes the steering according to speed. This is useful when slowing down to navigate tight bends, and I have to admit I've never felt that the steering was 'too light'. Nissan clearly researched this one carefully and it works very well.

The suspension doesn't give too harsh a ride, and ours is well tested on the speed bumps near our house!

Tyres are 185/65/R15 in size, ours came shod with Bridgestone tyres. The spare wheel is also full-sized (I don't like the 'get you home' space savers).

*The EBD system automatically adjusts the brake force applied to the front and rear wheels, as well as to the left and right wheels. It reduces the braking distance dramatically, and maintains stability, even during heavy braking and cornering manoeuvres.

... and on the inside?

We thought the Fiat was clever... the Almera knocks it for six.

The front of the car houses a passenger airbag, and a drop-down glove compartment which is big enough for half of my CD collection. The centre console is fitted with a through-section to the gearstick and handbrake, and an arm-rest housing extra CD storage between the seats. This makes the Almera seem very solid and full inside, which I (personally) like - none of this extra carpet and space around the gear stick for me.

The centre console encompasses a display screen at the top, detailing everything from the CD/radio to the outside temp, inside temp and climate settings. The vehicle has an inbuilt single radio/cd with brushed aluminium surround on the buttons. On the SE model, air conditioning with automatic climate control is included - heaven on hot days!

The controls for the radio and air conditioning are the same - there are two main rotating buttons which can be pressed to enable the relevant control to take place. This took some getting used to, but the display screen shows which buttons are enabled by labelling the controls.

The sound system is nicely adjusted. Our model has 6 speakers as standard, and as previously mentioned, a single slot-in CD player. The radio has RDS FM, as well as MW and LW (a rareity these days). I've tested the six speakers *very* well, and can report no buzzing or crackling ;-).

The driver's main dashboard contains 4 main dials, all with a smart chrome surround. The two main dials indicate speed and RPM, with the other smaller two being reserved for petrol and engine temperature. The mileage / tachometer is recorded on a digital display at the bottom of the speedometer.

Also within the driver's reach are steering-wheel mounted audio controls (SE model and above only), electric door mirror adjustment, and headlamp adjustment (the latter two tucked out of the way on the right-hand side lower section of the dash). The driver's door has electric window controls for all four main doors, of which the driver's has a one-touch closure option (useful to quickly get the window shut in one motion when driving).

The seats are - as previously mentioned - comfortable both on long and short journeys. The standard cloth is very hard-wearing, ours being a tungsten grey colour, with no silly patterns. It looks very smart inside. The rear seats have a 60-40 split option, with all three rear belts being of the three-point variety (the centre belt tucks nicely out of the way on a clip on the roof when not in use). When the centre seat isn't in use, a wide arm-rest can be folded out from the middle.

Space-wise, both front and back give plenty of room, and the car copes with 4 adults inside. The boot is large for a model this size, and Nissan thoughtfully included a 'luggage net' to stow away small things on the left hand side of the boot safely.

Also worth a mention are:
- the cup holders - a snazzy push-popout mechanism at the bottom of the centre console in front of the gear stick,
- the glasses holder (on non-sunroof models): this is a small compartment to store sunglasses in the centre of the roof. No more leaving them on the top of the steering wheel, or in full view in the car itself.
- the 'curry hook' (as we've nicknamed it): a small fold-out hook on the passenger side which was actually designed for hanging takeaway bags on to avoid having to sit them on your lap. Nissan's official line for this is 'convenience hook'.

This car is very well thought out inside.

Anything else?

Well, there's the standard lights-left-on-buzzer (which sounds like an alarm clock), two additional passenger/driver lights which are situated next to the cabin light. The cabin light itself switches on as soon as you take the key out of the ignition, and has a time delay to let you get out of the car.

There's also keyless entry - in fact our doors don't actually have key slots on show (they're covered over). All entry is controlled by the lock/unlock buttons on the keyfob. A nice safety function on this is a single press to unlock the driver's door only, and then a second press to unlock the remainder of the doors. Useful if you're on your own.

Inside, there's a deadlock option to lock all doors when driving (useful for when driving solo in a city).

The car comes equipped with NATS - Nissan's immobiliser, and the audio system is also linked to this. There's no chance that you'll leave your stereo on when the car's empty!

Yes, yes, but is it reliable?

It's based on a Japanese build. Of COURSE it's reliable!

When I sold the Honda, I swore I'd never buy anything other than Japanese again. I still stand by that. Nissan provide - as standard on all new cars - A three year warranty (or 60k, whichever comes first), 12mths RAC cover (from first registration), three year paint warranty and a twelve year anti-corrosion warranty. Peace of mind if nothing else.

The only things that we have had a problem with so far are:

- an overtightened nut on the rear wiper arm, causing the arm to split. The replacement cost us £12.75 (big spenders that we are)
- a puncture (see, not even Nissan's fault!).

One thing I will mention here is that I changed the tyre on the Almera myself. I have to admit that I'd never changed a wheel before in my life. The instructions in the Almera manual were spot on, and the jacking point is incredibly easy to find (oh, and the jack and support are included with the car).

So, should I get one?

If you're after a safe, reliable car, aren't bothered about looks but want frugal economy for long journeys, I highly recommend this car. Nissan is renowned for quality build cars which are sturdy and reliable, and so far my experience is just that.

The car has achieved a 4-star NCAP safety rating, with particularly good rating for the driver area.

Be wary that the new Almera will be released in 2006, which is using the new Megane body - so another ugly batch of 'fat-arsed' cars will be on the road. In the meantime, ours is here to stay.

If I've missed anything out - let me know and I will edit accordingly. Many thanks for reading. 

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