Re: Almera (96P) just purchased (uk)

#1

joe waffled on in a quite bewildering manner to produce...

Quote:

Hi all,

I've just purchased a 96P Nissan Almera 1.4 GX with 60K on it for the
wife.
Paid £2050. Maybe £300 too much, but I consider that irrelevant if I
get 5 years of trouble free.
I took a chance as it had minimal MOT, but I got it done with no
problems except an advisory on one brake pipe (rust) for next time.
It had a local owner with 6 years of main dealer service history.
According to the vendor, it has never been in a collision or had
anything repaired! I believe them.
Prior to that, it was an Enterprise Rent-a-car for its first 6 months
and 9K miles.

I've included below my initial impressions, but welcome other comments
and rebutals.

I'd also welcome any insight on problem areas to look out for, etc.

1. Power steering is very light (too light really).
2. Front suspension is soft. The MOT guy mentioned this, but said they
are like that.
3. Engine is superb. Very quiet and smooth.
4. Gearbox is very nice and precise.
5. Gearing. Does about 45mph at 2000 rpm (in 5th). To me it seems to
have enough power to do 50mph at 2000 rpm, so in my view the ratio
could be a bit higher.
6. Noisy. Road noise, not engine noise. I've just replaced the tyres
with 4 x Michelin Energy (£168 on special at ATS). Very slight
improvement.
7. Limited boot capacity.
8. Fuel Economy. Not checked in detail yet, but seems excellent.
9. Rust. Closer inspection underneath showed one or two points where
that might be the very first stages of development.
10. Battery (the original, so we may be near the end). The vendor told
me it was left for 3 weeks and flat when they returned (with loss of
radio code - now fixed). I've had no problems, but it's not winter.

TIA for your thoughts.
I'm happy so far.

Cheers,
joe

As an ex car hire company boss and an ex Nissan salesman I've had a fair bit
of Almera experience. (too much for my liking)

Fuel economy = crap, diving fuel gauge syndrome, seems great until you do
the maths. I used to run my own private Vauxhall Carlton 3.0 GSi 24v Auto on
days off to save money. (salesmen really don't earn much selling Nissans)

reliability = excellent

Power steering is normally light on these, they were designed for frail old
women to go shopping in

Rust is something I don't know about, never saw any in 3 years I was
involved with them and there were only ex fleet cars ever for sale on
forecourts because Nissan used to weld unsuspecting customers into the damn
things with finance deals. This meant all the cars I used to deal with were
either new, ex fleet, or ex "demos" with 12 miles on the clock and had only
ever been shuffled round the forecourt by opportunistic sales managers for
the past 18 months. Alternatively they were ex-hire cars (Avis had hundreds
of them), which were returned after 10000 miles or 6 months and then spent
the next 12 months being shuffled round the site.

The batteries do tend to go flat after 2-3 weeks of inaction.

I'm not an Almera fan to be honest, they caused me many a sleepless night as
a salesman. They were however excellent to use as hire car fodder.
Unremarkable, reliable, and actually handle quite well. Most buyers seemed
to be upgrading from knackered old Sunnys or Bluebirds and they were always
happy with them.

Pete M

#2

Mine's a 1996P Almera 1.6GX, which I've owned for 3 years - 42000 on the
clock.

Quote:

1. Power steering is very light (too light really).

I find the power steering perfect - have you checked your tyre pressures?

Quote:

2. Front suspension is soft. The MOT guy mentioned this, but said they
are like that.

Seems fine to me.

Quote:

3. Engine is superb. Very quiet and smooth.

I've driven quieter & smoother 1600 engined cars.

Quote:

4. Gearbox is very nice and precise.

I agree.

Quote:

5. Gearing. Does about 45mph at 2000 rpm (in 5th). To me it seems to
have enough power to do 50mph at 2000 rpm, so in my view the ratio
could be a bit higher.

In fifth, mine does RPM x 0.02 mph, i.e. 40mph at 2000rpm, 70mph at
3500RPM - it does seem to be low geared for a fairly light car, especially
with the 1600 engine.

Quote:

7. Limited boot capacity.

Very limited, although I like the near vertical tailgate. With the rear
seats folded, it takes a chest freezer or a dishwasher without a problem. I
think I could sleep in there at a push.

Quote:

8. Fuel Economy. Not checked in detail yet, but seems excellent.

37.5 average over 3 years. I think that with higher gearing, 40+ would have
been possible for this car.

Quote:

9. Rust. Closer inspection underneath showed one or two points where
that might be the very first stages of development.

Same here. I've also had to replace a centre exhaust pipe and a back box
due to corrosion. External bodywork fine apart from one small area of rust
on the rear wheel arch which I didn't catch early enough.

Quote:

10. Battery (the original, so we may be near the end). The vendor told
me it was left for 3 weeks and flat when they returned (with loss of
radio code - now fixed). I've had no problems, but it's not winter.

Original (?) Panasonic battery still going strong, and most of my motoring
is local. Reliability overall is first class. Apart from the exhaust, my
only problem has been a faulty heater blower rheostat. Fixed it myself at
zero cost. I have no doubt the car will last me another 5 years.
Depreciation is now low enough not to worry me.

Terry D.

#3

It's probably worth checking out www.almeraownersclub.com for UK Almera
club.

Cheers,

Lee.

"joe" <almerajoe (AT) almera (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

Hi all,

I've just purchased a 96P Nissan Almera 1.4 GX with 60K on it for the
wife.
Paid £2050. Maybe £300 too much, but I consider that irrelevant if I
get 5 years of trouble free.
I took a chance as it had minimal MOT, but I got it done with no
problems except an advisory on one brake pipe (rust) for next time.
It had a local owner with 6 years of main dealer service history.
According to the vendor, it has never been in a collision or had
anything repaired! I believe them.
Prior to that, it was an Enterprise Rent-a-car for its first 6 months
and 9K miles.

I've included below my initial impressions, but welcome other comments
and rebutals.

I'd also welcome any insight on problem areas to look out for, etc.

1. Power steering is very light (too light really).
2. Front suspension is soft. The MOT guy mentioned this, but said they
are like that.
3. Engine is superb. Very quiet and smooth.
4. Gearbox is very nice and precise.
5. Gearing. Does about 45mph at 2000 rpm (in 5th). To me it seems to
have enough power to do 50mph at 2000 rpm, so in my view the ratio
could be a bit higher.
6. Noisy. Road noise, not engine noise. I've just replaced the tyres
with 4 x Michelin Energy (£168 on special at ATS). Very slight
improvement.
7. Limited boot capacity.
8. Fuel Economy. Not checked in detail yet, but seems excellent.
9. Rust. Closer inspection underneath showed one or two points where
that might be the very first stages of development.
10. Battery (the original, so we may be near the end). The vendor told
me it was left for 3 weeks and flat when they returned (with loss of
radio code - now fixed). I've had no problems, but it's not winter.

TIA for your thoughts.
I'm happy so far.

Cheers,
joe

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Re: Almera (96P) just purchased (uk)

Cars Maintenance General car maintenance (uk.rec.cars.maintenance)

Re: Almera (96P) just purchased (uk) - 07-24-2003 , 01:17 PM

Re: Almera (96P) just purchased (uk) - 07-25-2003 , 07:05 AM

Re: Almera (96P) just purchased (uk) - 07-29-2003 , 07:03 AM