Nissan PRIMERA 2.0 16V RANGE
If
Nissan Is To Shift Its Required Number Of Primeras This Year, Then Sales Of These 2.0-litre 16v Versions Will Be Crucial. Jonathan Crouch Checks Them Out
If Nissan really are to achieve a 50% increase on sales of their medium range-sized Primera, then much will depend on the 2.0-litre petrol models featured here.
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Its an ambitious target given the excellence of Mondeo-sized rivals like Vauxhalls Vectra, Renaults Laguna and Skodas Superb. Then weve the avantgarde Mazda6, VWs 2.0-litre 130bhp Passat and Citroens aggressively priced C5. Which, even if you ignore Toyotas Avensis, Rovers 75, Peugeots 407 and Hondas Accord, means too many makers chasing after too few buyers.
The general market trend is, after all, towards downsizing out of cars like these. Still, thats not much use if youve a family and all the associated paraphernalia to cart about. You could of course go for an MPV People Carrier but you may find the idea of that almost as boring as being mistaken for a photocopier salesman in your Mondeo/Vectra clone car. Which is where
Nissan hopes its Primera will step in and score.
Love it or hate it, this car makes a fashion statement and does so with a megaphone. The swoopy lines resemble a styling sketch that in most car companies wouldnt have got past the designers doodle pad. But here they are in the metal and looking rather good. The latest Primeras have had their equipment levels boosted too.
Primera prices start at £14,600 for the entry-level 1.8-litre petrol versions and from £15,100 for the 2.0-litre models featured here. There are saloon or hatch alternatives, or you can choose to pay a £1,100 premium for an estate.
The base price gets you the uprated S-level trim, while an SX with sat nav costs from £16,250, 2.0-litre SVE variants from £17,750 and impossibly gadget-laden 2.0 T-spec versions from £20,150. In case youre wondering, these are pretty competitive figures, particularly bearing in mind the generally excellent spec on offer.
Rivals like Fords Mondeo and Renaults Laguna cost approximately the same.
"On paper, theres not that much to set this 2.0-litre Primera apart from any of its main rivals. In the metal, its a very different proposition"
And offer much the same under the bonnet. In the Nissan, youve 138bhp to play with, meaning rest to sixty in just under eleven seconds on the way to 116mph. At the pumps, you can expect to average around 33mpg. Though some rivals (notably Fords Mondeo) can better these figures, most merely equal them.
Only the CO2 figure (at 209g/km, the dirtiest in the class) really needs work, a problem
Vauxhall also has to solve. Take a
seat inside the latest Primera and youre faced with a plethora of technological wizardry. A revision of the dashboard means that theres now more storage and the facility for an on-dash CD autochanger whereas before it resided in the boot. The steering wheel is redesigned, as is the centre storage box, the larger door pulls, the head lining and the higher mounted armrests.
Small tweaks are everywhere. The in-dash clock now stays visible irrespective of whether the audio selection, climate control or satellite navigation is activated, the ice warning tone doesnt chime on and off if the temperature is fluctuating around zero and the climate control is more sensitive. One of the more delightful features of the Primera has always been the reversing camera. This does exactly what is says on the tin, giving you a clear view of whats behind without the need to turn your head.
Put like that, it sounds like a gimmick, but in fact if you think about it, theres an awful lot you cant see in a conventional car by twisting your neck. The next door neighbours cat for example, or, most horrifically, a small child. This was only available on the premium specification models and it was only ever a monochrome display. Now every model bar the base S trim gets the display and its in colour.
Nissans Birdview DVD satellite navigation system has also been rolled out to more models across the range. Recognised as one of the most innovative navigation packages around, rather than a simple map, Birdview offers a perspective view from above and behind the driver, giving an idea of scale and distance. The latest Primera models also add traffic information to the screen so the system can direct you around any snarl-ups. A dedicated FM tuner listens to RDS Traffic Message Channel broadcasts so you dont have to.
This system works in eight other European countries too and Nissan pick up the tab for the traffic broadcasts. Which is nice. Though the shape of this Nissan is few inches shy of Passat and Mondeo dimensions, its longer, taller and wider than its predecessor and uses many modern packaging tricks to increase interior space. Widening the track and stretching the wheelbase have helped in this respect: the boot on the four-door car is a useful shape and able top swallow 465 litres. Running counter to many contemporary designs, the four and five door cars have been styled to look nigh-on identical whilst the estate version goes for a trendy Sportwagon-style sloping roofline. Nissans engineers claim to have made ride and handling a key priority and boast that of all the cars selected to benchmark the Primeras chassis and suspension set-up against, only the
BMW 3 Series produced a better all-round result. As would be expected, they decline to mention what those vanquished by the Primera were, but many would question why Nissan would go out of their way to fix something that manifestly wasnt broken: the old model was, after all, very good to drive. Still, such is the Japanese culture of continuous improvement that wide ranging changes have been made. A useful by-product of these revisions is that noise and vibration in the cabin have been usefully reduced, although wind noise is still slightly more insistent than youd expect to find on such an aerodynamically efficient car. On paper, theres not that much to set this 2.
0-litre Primera apart from any of its main rivals. In the metal, its a very different proposition. And all the more refreshing for that.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Nissan Primera 2.0 16v range
PRICES: £15,100-£21,250 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUPS: 10-11
CO2 EMISSIONS: 209g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 116mph / 0-60mph 10.1s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 21.1mpg / (extra urban) 42.1mpg / (combined) 33.2mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front, side and curtain airbags, ABS, EBD
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4567/1760/1482mm [4dr]
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