Nissan Note (2006 - To Date)
BY ANDY ENRIGHT
No mainstream car maker has reinvented itself quite as radically as Nissan. You dont need to wind the clock back that many years to find a me-too company producing dull but worthy and good. The Primera, the Almera, the Terrano, the QX: all technically decent cars but about as exciting as radio coverage of coarse fishing. The catalyst for this change was the takeover by Renault. Within a remarkably short space of time, Nissan was turning out exciting niche vehicles that people wanted to buy. The late shape Micra, the 350Z, the X-Trail and the Navara were just a few.
To this list add the Note, a small MPV-style vehicle that thinks big. Used examples are now starting to appear in decent numbers and are well worth further investigation.
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Most would never know that beneath a flat loading deck theres a 250mm deep second layer that can keep valuables out of the way of prying eyes. Cup holders, bag holding hooks and umbrella stowing points also hint at the Notes attention to detail. Although the exterior design isnt going to set pulses racing, the Note has an athletic, wheel at each corner stance that gives it a rather more masculine look than the rather mimsy supermini-MPVs that have become the norm. The dashboard isnt going to have designers in black turtle necks swooning but its a tidy piece of work with even the entry level models offering a level of fit and finish thats rare in this sector.
Colour and material choices are far from conventional and the cluster of instruments around the centre console is rapidly becoming a Nissan trademark.
Prices start at £7.850 for an 06-plated 1.4-litre S with the better-equipped SE version tacking another £1,000 onto that price. The 1.
6-litre models are a little more plentiful and these open at around £8,300 for an S with automatic versions commanding around £9,000. The range-topping SVE trim will still fetch around £9,800, again on the 06 plate. Go for a diesel-engined car and youll need around £7,800 for the entry-level S, around £8,800 for an SE and around £9,400 for the SVE. Insurance is modest, ranging between Group 4 and Group 6.
Nothing to report here. The Note is a very reliable car and runs on mainly tried and tested mechanicals. Check for parking damage and ensure the car has a full Nissan service history and buy with confidence.
(Approx. values for a 2006 Note 1.4) A clutch assembly will be around £195 and front brake pads are around £45; its around £40 for the rear set. An alternator should be close to £250 and a radiator around £175.
The underpinnings of the car are nothing too novel with MacPherson strut suspension up front and a torsion bar at the back. A sporting RX version is on sale in Japan although its doubtful that enthusiast drivers here will queue up for such a Note, especially when Vauxhall seem to have that sector of the market squared away with their 180bhp Meriva VXR. For the majority of supermini-MPV drivers, however, the Note is a model theyd be ill advised to overlook. The diesel is the one to go for.
The 1.5-litre dCi engine that powers this version of the Note is, as you may well have intimated, a unit shared with Renault. Clio owners will already be familiar with its 86bhp output and Micra owners may well also have a sense of déjà vu. In addition, the co-operation between Nissan and Renault sees the Note running on a lengthened version of the platform that Renaults Modus sits on. This combination of sunk investment and modular versions of existing technologies allows Nissan to turn out new niche models relatively inexpensively and the Note, assembled in Britain at Nissans Wearside plant, has come to market in a relatively short period of time. Performance from the 1.
5-litre common rail diesel is respectable if not rapid, getting to 60mph in 13 seconds, but of more interest to most customers will be a combined fuel economy of 55.8mpg. Naturally, this will dip if you load your Note up to the gunwales but not by a disastrous amount. Whats more, this engine has a beefy 147lb/ft of torque to rely on, which means that itll pull a loaded vehicle without too much rowing with the gear lever.
Thats as much as a BMW 320i by the way.
Go for a clean-looking Note with a full service history from a reputable source and you shouldn't go wrong. For the young family, theres not a whole lot better.
